Walk of life

Tears

A memory Keira had believed was buried forever resurfaced with startling clarity.

This time, it took her back to the rundown house in Backspire—the day she killed the family she had grown to despise.

It had begun as a mistake but quickly became something she had secretly longed to do for years.

That afternoon, her mother had ordered her to clean her room. While she was sweeping the floor, the man she was forced to call her father walked in. Without a word, he quietly shut the door behind him and turned the lock.

“Keira, you’re such a beautiful girl,” he said with a sickening smile. “If you let me have you just once, I’ll make sure no one in this house ever mistreats you again. I’m the head of this family. Your mother won’t have a choice but to listen to me.”

As he reached out to touch her, just as he had done so many times before, something inside her finally broke.

Her hand shot toward a broken bottle lying nearby. Before he could react, she slashed it across his throat with the speed of lightning.

His eyes widened in horror. Gurgling as blood poured from the wound, he stumbled toward the door, desperately trying to unlock it and call for help.

Keira was faster.

She grabbed him from behind, forced him to the floor, and drove the jagged glass into him again… and again… and again.

Each strike carried years of fear, humiliation, and helplessness.

Something had snapped inside her.

Why should I keep waiting for that useless woman to save me… when I have the power to save myself?

The thought echoed through her mind as she watched the life drain from his eyes.

Only after she was certain he was truly dead did she stop.

Breathing heavily, she dragged his lifeless body across the floor and shoved it beneath the bed, hiding it from view.

Then she wiped the blood from her hands and walked out.

Her next destination was Amelia’s room.

There was no reason to keep pretending anymore. No reason to continue enduring torture and despair.

Today, everyone in that house would die.

She pushed open Amelia’s bedroom door without knocking.

“I didn’t send for you,” Amelia said coldly without looking up from the newspaper in her hands. “Get out.”

She lay comfortably on her bed, completely unaware that death had just stepped into the room.Amelia was about to turn away when Keira’s hand moved.

A knife shot through the air with deadly precision, burying itself deep into Amelia’s shoulder and pinning her to the bed. She screamed in agony as blood gushed from the wound, staining the sheets crimson.

Before she could free herself or cry out again, Keira crossed the room in a few swift strides. Without a trace of hesitation, she gripped the knife’s handle, yanked it free, and, in one fluid motion, drew the blade across Amelia’s throat.

A wet gasp escaped Amelia’s lips as blood poured from the deep s***h. Her body trembled violently before collapsing into stillness, the newspaper slipping from her lifeless fingers and drifting onto the blood-soaked floor.