thirty one

I busted into the door, breathing heavy. There was fire in my lungs and thighs; I still had tears on my cheeks; the guy from earlier ran over to me. "Are you ok?" He asked, and I shook my head no.

"E- Alice- I don't... know... she..." I gasped, trying to breathe, but between the running and panic attack, I couldn't put a sentence together.

"Stop for a second." He mumbled. "Just think it." I don't even know where to begin; all I know is Alice was just standing still, staring into the trees. E told me to run. I'm scared; what if she gets killed? And all I did was run... "Honey, listen, you're going to calm down. The barmaid will get you some tea, and you will sit down and breathe. She needs you to be calm. If your calm, she can focus. I'll be back." He walked towards the door and stopped turning back to look at the barmaid who looked towards him; after a second, she nodded and went to work, making me tea. I laid my head on the table and tried to stay calm. I need to breathe.

"Here you go, dear." The woman said, laying the mug in front of me. I took a sip and glanced at the door, willing E to burst in unharmed. I can't just sit here, waiting... I pushed myself up. 'Stay.' E? No, I can't stay here. I walked out the door, and I could see smoke in the sky, it was coming from the direction of the cabin, and my brain went into a bad place. No... no E can do this. If anyone can, E can. 'That's what I needed.' E? I ran out the door and back through the woods. I ran that far once, who the fuck am I supposed to do it again. The girl who has never exercised a day in her life having to run for like 30 minutes twice? Fuck.

I bet over in the tree line heaving; I looked towards the cabin, and it was in flames. I closed my eyes for a second, and a loud bang made me jump; E was lying on the ground about 50 feet away from me with her hand on her head. I glanced around, and Alice was breathing heavily partly in the fire. I pulled herself out of it, and E jumped up, glancing in my direction; she put her finger to her lips 'sush' I looked towards the house, and Alice was trying to stand up. The guy from the bar was hiding in a bush, and he was flicking through a book; after a second, Alice was bending backwards, screaming. The man was pointing at her, and he lifted his fingers, making her lift off the ground; E pushed herself up and ran to the girls floating body. "Look away!" She yelled, but it was like a car crash. She put her hand in the girl's chest and ripped out her heart. It was black and looked like rotting flesh, E ripped the heart in two, and the girl's body fell to the ground. The man came over and pulled her body to the fire throwing it in; E threw her head in, and she looked over at me. She wiped her hands in the small sliver of snow that had fallen, I slowly walked over to her, and she wrapped her arms around me tightly.

"I'm sorry." The man said.

"Thank you, very much." E said to him.

"Alex." He said, putting out his hand, and she shook it. "You might know me better, has aleš Černý."

"Black-" E stopped. "Fuck...." She mumbled as he smiled.