by K. L Hart
“Let's play.” I say in a low, creepy voice. I quickly point my gun at him and fire, the rounds come quick and he is soon a corpse on the floor with multiple bullet holes. I walk further in the hallway and step over the dead shooter. I keep my eyes forward but I see the students looking out of their class windows and I hear them all start to cheer and then out of nowhere the sound of birdcalls echo through the school one by one, the boys come into step with me and all do the bird call too. Tyler grins at me and I figure it's something I’ll have to ask about later. Another masked man darts into our line of sight from the corner of the hallway and Rick shoots before he has raised his gun, the bullet hits him right in the forehead and he is down. We hear more guns firing near English block so we walk in that direction. A boy student is wrestling the gun out of one of the shooters hands but is failing, Oliver very stealthily comes up behind the shooter and snaps his neck,
“Is he like James bond or something?” I whisper to Tyler,
“Theres a lot Oliver can do, and the best part no one expects it from his geeky self.” I nod in agreement, yup never expected that from him, Rick or Harv look like the trained fighters not Oliver. The Student hands the gun over to Oliver and then runs off the way we just came. We carry on walking the hallway and we come across the body of a girl, I think she was one of Emma’s friends, we hear a load of screaming and we pick up the pace, we burst into a classroom, the door was open and there are two shooters, guns to kids' heads.
“Oi Dickheads” I shout and they spin around, their guns and their attention now on us. The students all duck under desks and get as low as possible! They are not stupid they can see a lot of fucking guns in the room. I fire my semi-automatic and don’t stop until its empty. I watch as the bodies fall to the ground and blood pools from them.
“Everyone ok in here?” Harv asks and the students all start getting up nodding their heads.
“This was my class; they know our schedules.” Rick states,
“One left.” Oliver whispers as we exit the class, I throw my gun on the floor and grab the on in my waistband. We search the hallways, we can't see anyone, we don’t hear anything other than random birdcalls.
“Where is he?” I ask,
“Don't know.” Harv states as we continue to search. One of the classroom doors unlock and we all spin to face it guns raised, Jules pops her head out, one of them took the new teacher, they headed towards the cafeteria.” She says, the guys nod their heads,
“Thanks, Jules.” I say, when we get to the cafeteria, Oliver pops his head up to look through the small window in the door.
“Shit, there's more than one left!” Oliver whispers,
“How many?” Rick asks,
“Five all facing this way.”
“The teacher?” I ask,
“Dead.”
“Me and Oliver will go in through the kitchen, give it five minutes exactly and we all go in, just start shooting Railey, don’t give them a chance!” Harv says and they run off. Me, Tyler and Rick hide round the corner, giving us some cover. Rick stares at his watch, waiting for the five minutes to pass. We don’t speak we just wait, and it feels like time has stopped. Finally, Rick nods and we all move in front of the doors, ensuring we can't be seen through the little windows, Rick moves first and we follow, we step into the cafeteria and I do what I was told I start shooting, I hear Tyler hiss in pain and I look round to see his arm has blood dripping down it,
“Railey, shoot!” He shouts when he notices my attention on him, Oliver and Harv shoot from the back and the minute it takes for us to get them all feels like an hour. There’s one still alive but not for long, the boys surround him as he writhes on the floor.
“Who sent you?” Rick growls, the guy doesn’t talk so Tyler kicks him in the side, he cries out in pain and I wince a little.
“Who fucking sent you.” Rick repeats, leaning down.
“There will be more, He wants the Knights gone!”
“Who?” Oliver asks, the look in his eyes sends a chill down my spine, that guy is scary, menacing even.
“You know.” The guy says with a coughing fit before his body goes limp. My guys turn on me and we walk through the hallways, the boys all do that birdcall again, this time louder and they do it for a while, the classroom doors all start opening and students and teachers all start cheering. This is weird, why are they cheering, two innocents died, but for a school shooting that is minimal casualties. I hear sirens from outside and they get louder and louder, we exit through the main entrance still holding our guns and the cops get out of their car, I'm expecting to have to throw the gun get on the floor, hands behind my head and everything but instead the cops nod at us and rush past us, one stops in front of Rick.
“All dead, two innocents died as well, we haven't moved the bodies.” Rick informs him
“Good, well done, your father will be proud. Now get rid of the guns and get out of here, we will clean up!” The cop says, my face must look fucking priceless because Tyler snickers at me. We all carry on walking getting to the boys' cars and throwing all the guns in the trunks. I get in Ricks car with him and we speed out of there like we are being chased, which obviously we aren't because apparently the guys have bent cops in their pockets!
Chapter Eighteen
“What the fuck was that?” I snap as we all walk in the front door of the boy's house. “People at the school trying to shoot you, Cops who turn a blind eye to us killing people and walking out with a fuck load of guns, and why is everyone bird calling and cheering! This is not normal, even for me who is used to fucked up shit, this is weird.” The boys all try to hide a smile and I just stand there waiting for some sort of explanation.
“I think we should get a drink; this could be a long conversation.” I wait impatiently in the dining room as the guys fuss and grab snacks and drinks. Harv hands me my coffee when he enters the room and sits opposite me, Tyler throws bags of chips on the table and sits next to Harv, Oliver places some folders on the table and sits next to me on my left, Rick sits on my right he brought in a small backpack but has put it on the floor.
“So, you have heard that we run the town, right?” Tyler starts and I nod.
“Well, we really run it, the cops, the hospitals, the criminals, the politicians, they do what we tell them too.” Oliver states
“It's up to us to keep everyone safe and keep this town going.” Harv adds,
“But how does that even work? How do you even have that much power, you're not even legal to drink!”
“Because we are the original families of this town, we are the Knights, and that’s how it has always been. But things are bad right now and not just for us, the other towns in the council are getting hits too, someone is trying to get rid of all of us.” Rick tells me,
“Who is the council and who is hitting everyone?”
“The Council is made up from Nine other towns close to here, we protect ourselves and the council ensures that the power doesn’t go to our heads, of course our Dad runs this town and is part of the council but with him being in jail and everything we are his proxy.” Harv explains.
“Theres another family involved and have been trying to muscle in or take over for hundreds of years, one of the original families was involved in affairs and divorce and back then was quite the drama! Anyway, a bastard son was born but he had no right to be part of the Knights, he was shunned and so was his mother. He passed on the hate and the wrongful idea of entitlement to his children and so on. The newest generation is the worst yet, they want in and made it known when the council and our family rejected them, problems started for all of the council and it's just getting worse.” Oliver informs me,
“Why though, what's the point of it all?”
“We have more power and more money than you can imagine, Rails, who wouldn’t want that, just because we don’t show it every second of the day doesn’t mean that we don’t. They want what we have, the power, the funds and the control! They just don’t realize our fami
ly is loved by the towns people and they won't stand for a takeover and we won't either, we will end this!” Rick explains, I nod my head trying to make sense of it all.
“So, Rails, you want in, you want to be an official part of this family?” I stare at Tyler in confusion,
“Railey, we want you to be a Knight! Properly, in for everything the good and the bad.” Harv adds, I look at them all and they are all waiting anxiously for my response.
“I thought I was already a part of your family.” I state a bit sadly, Rick puts his hands on my face and stares into my eyes, a small smile on his face.
“You are baby, if you say no that won't change but if you say yes, you will be equal to us too, you will be a Knight in every way!”
“Can I think about It?” I ask and they all nod in sync.
“Here, this is some of our family history, it's for our eyes only.” Oliver states sliding the folders over to me. I flick through the papers and photos in them, they range back years and years and there are always four men in suits standing together in major town events. Some are family photos with wives and children in them too. I look at all the pictures, then they start becoming more recent, I think this one is Ricks grandfather, they look so similar. I flick through the last few photos and I spot something strange, I take out the picture of all four families and their wives and children in a big happy group photo, I stare at the woman holding a baby, I bring the photo closer and closer to my face to inspect it. It's her, its defiantly her!
“Mom?” I whisper,
“Mom? What are you looking at?” Tyler yanks the photo out of my hand and stares at the picture,
“Railey, why did you just say Mom?” Rick asks, I snatch the photo back from Tyler and point out the Woman holding the baby, she's next to Man holding another baby and he’s smiling at my Mom.
“Thats my Mom!” I say, my hands starting to shake.
“No, that’s Ty’s Mom.” Rick says giving me a look,
“I'm not fucking crazy, that is my Mom.” They all look at me like I'm taking a ride on the coo coo train, I get up and run upstairs, I grab the little chest off the shelf and take the locket, my mom's locket. I run back down and give it to Tyler,
“Open it!” he does and his eyes go wide as he examines the picture.
“Somebody needs to get Ms. Ellie here, right now!” Tyler demands, Harv leaves the room I'm assuming to get Ms. Ellie,
“Hold on.” Oliver says as he now examines the picture, “that must mean...”
“They are brother and sister?” Rick interrupts, Oliver gives him a slight nod,
“Twins! We always thought she was holding someone else's baby, but that must be Tyler and that must be Railey.” I look at Tyler and he looks at me,
“We are not twins! Look at us, we don’t even look remotely related.” I snort a laugh.
“Yes, your birthdays are different as well, exactly one month apart.” Oscar says quietly, deep in thought, thinking of every possibility here.
“but it would be impossible for her to have two children a month apart so what, one of them isn't hers?” Rick asks and Tyler gives me a worried sort of look, not for him but for me, could I be adopted?
“We are just going to get everyone worked up, Ms. Ellie will know, let's wait for her.” I sit next to Tyler and he takes my hand in his under the table.
“If you are my twin, I'll be so lucky to have a sister like you!” he whispers and I softly jolt him with my shoulder.
“Suck up!” I say back with a smile. I can't help but go over it in my head though, new questions popping up, if that is me in the photo then my dad wasn’t my dad! Why didn’t we stay here, with our family? Was Layla dads? Did dad know? Were there murders to do with the Knights and their drama? So much is running through my head and I'm anxious to get some answers, we sit in silence for ages, Oliver and Rick staring at me and Ty. Finally, Harv walks in the door and Ms. Ellie follows, she takes a seat next to Rick and stares at me with a guilty look on her face.
“Is that my Mom in that photo?” I ask and Oliver slides it across the table to her, she doesn’t even look she just nods.
“Explain! Everything!” Rick says, he's mad but I can tell he is reigning it in because Ms. Ellie is like a Mom too them, she has been there for everything and cared for them, she taught Harv how to cook, Oliver how to study, Rick how to lead and I'm not sure what she taught Tyler, but I'm sure I'll find out.
“Isabel, was always the light in the family's eyes, she was the favorite, and everyone adored her. She was a lot like you Railey, or should I say you’re a lot like her, Strong, independent but kind in the core of her soul. She married your father quite young but they were so happy, a real loved up couple they were. Because Isobel was a born a Knight, Richard took her last name.”
“I always thought she married in.” Tyler states, Ms. Ellie shakes her head.
“She was always the target of any threats any attacks it was all intended for her, they saw her as the weak link, the first girl born in decades that wasn’t a younger sibling, she dealt with it all well, she shrugged threats off like they were nothing, until she had you two, she was diagnosed with post-natal depression, she wasn’t sad but she became paranoid which made her anxious and on edge, she hated not being around you and she hired forty-five men to guard you one time. It would take the whole family ages to talk her down when she was bad, and it got worse when the threats started to come about you two.”
“But she must have known they were mostly scare tactics, the almost never come to fruition.” Oliver states,
“She did deep down, but the illness wouldn’t let her see that, it took over, she didn’t sleep, she became manic, it just got worse and worse until she fled, she took Railey in the middle of the night, we know she tried to take you too Tyler but your Dad was in your nursery room with you, we think she had a small shot of getting out, hoping taking one baby would be enough to save you both.”
“Ok I get it she was seriously Ill, but why did no one come and find us, why when she was murdered did no one come and get me?”
“We searched everywhere, she changed your name, she changed your birthday, she changed everything about her, even got married to the man who raised you, even after Richard died, we searched, for years we found nothing. Until one day she called, she wanted to see Tyler, she wanted her baby boy back. Michael met with her a few times, he begged her to come back where they could all be a family again, told her to bring her new husband and baby they would be welcomed but her fears got the better of her, Michael wouldn’t let her see Tyler face to face but she watched as the boys all played in the park, Michael never got to see you, Railey, they both were scared the other one would take the twin they had. Michael accepted that she wasn’t coming back but he checked in every now and again without her knowing. When she died, he begged the cps to place you with him but they refused, he set up the girl's home, hoping you would be placed there, but until now you hadn't. I'm so sorry Railey, you should have always been here, you should always have been with your family.” A tear falls from her eye as she looks down at her hands that are nervously twiddling with a handkerchief on the table. I stare at her and the room is silent for a while until the sound of my chair scraping on the floor brings everyone's attention to me, I leave the room and go outside in the garden, I take a seat on the lounger, light a cigarette and stare at the stars.
Chapter Nineteen
“Rails?” Tyler comes and sits on the lounger next to me, he's facing me with a small smile on his face.
“I'm ok, it's just a lot.” I say knowing what he was going to ask.
“Yeah, a lot.”
“Are you ok? I mean you just found out a lot of stuff about your, our Mom.” He shrugs,
“I'm pissed, if I'm honest, she abandoned me and separated me from my twin sister, who by the way has had five lifetimes of pure shit, pain and trauma thrown at her which could have all been avoided!”
“Yeah, I get it! But as strange as it is at least we
have each other now.”
“I had another sister too, though, one I will never get to meet.” A tear falls from my eye as he mentions Layla,
“She would have loved you; I would have been pushed out as best sibling.” He smiles and I do too.
“If I knew I had a sister I would have found you and dragged you here, I'm so sorry Railey.”
“It's not your fault, and you kind of did that anyway, even without knowing we are related.” He chuckles.
“Yeah, kind of did.”
“Right, well.” I say sitting up and facing him. “I have no choice left, I best go and announce I'm in. I am a full Knight whether we like it or not!” I stand,
“Really?” Tyler grins,
“Really!” Tyler stands too and I loop my arm through his and we walk back into the house.
“It's been a fucking long day!” Rick says as he shuts the bedroom door behind us.
“You're telling me, what's going to happen next, a bombing and find out me and Tyler are really triplets?” I tease and Rick glares,
“I cannot handle another one of you two, you are both more than a handful!”
“Rude.” I smile sweetly, He comes to me and kisses me, our lips touch softly in a gentle kiss and its over just as quickly as it started, leaving me feeling bereft.
“I need a shower.” He says as he walks toward the bathroom, I hear him turn the shower on and I sit on the edge of the bed, I need a shower too, I might fall asleep and be all dirty if I sit here waiting for him to leave it. What should I do? I can't possibly get into bed like this and I'm so very tired. I know, I'll have to join him, I'll just have to burden myself with showering with the god of a guy who loves me. I start to walk to the bathroom stripping off my clothes as I do, I push open the door to see him standing in the shower face up staring at the shower head, steam billowing around the room his back muscled, rippling and drops of water dripping down him, I open the shower door and he doesn’t move. I step in and run my hands up his back which is just as nice to touch as it is to look at. I stare at his tattoo on his shoulder blade, a blue nightingale with a sword underneath. My hands trail to the front of his body and I press my cheek into his back. He spins around and wraps his arms around me. He pulls me under the showerhead with him and warm water beats off both of us. He leans down and grabs my face with both hands, I tip toe and our mouths crash together, we become frenzied and I reach my hand down and wrap my fingers around his very hard cock. He groans into my mouth when I start pumping him, varying my pressure on him as I do. He doesn’t let me play with him for long, instead he picks me up and presses my back against the wall, the water is dripping on him more than me now, I wrap my legs around his waist and he lines himself up to my entrance, I run my hands through his wet hair as he thrusts into me, hard! I cry into his mouth as his movements find a rhythm, a fast hard rhythm that sends me into a frenzy, I orgasm quickly and while I recover from the aftershocks, he carries us out of the shower and into the bedroom.