"I'm not really sure why. But... do you stop loving someone just because they betray you? I don't think so. That's what makes the betrayal hurt so much - pain, frustration, anger... and I still loved her. I still do."

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

I have to admit that I was pretty scared.

As much as I need to admit that Joanne and I never had a good relationship, I never imagined that she would attack me with a knife. Never ever. Not even in our worst days.

"I'll never forgive you!" she shouted, picking the knife up from the floor and pushing it hard towards my neck. Terrified, I just rolled away from her, still staring at the knife in surprise.

"But I never wanted that job! I didn't even take it!" I screamed, jumping away from her again when she ran towards me with the knife in her hand.

Good heavens, she really wanted to kill me, right?

"Ah, Maisie! For God's sake, I never fell for that innocent face of yours! "Joanne retorted, her face distorted by hate. There was something strange there, it was almost as if she was possessed...

My eyes strayed to Izak, who watched the scene with a watchful eye and an amused smile on his face. It was the kind of expression you would expect to see on the face of someone watching a comedy show or a particularly funny scene in a movie or something. It made me angry.

Anger, anger, so much anger.

The feeling bubbled up inside me, it was hot like fresh coffee, and it burned, it burned like it was made of pepper.

Something inside of me was burning...

Joanne gave a loud cry, jumping in my direction again. I dodged it quickly, my anger bubbling up stronger and stronger inside of me.

"Joanne," I started, trying once again to talk to her. "Okay, you can even hate me... but look at what you're doing to them! You're hurting Miss Savannah! Ingreth! Jace! Jace, our brother Jace, do you remember him? He never did anything to—"

"They are a bunch of blind people, that's what they are!"Joanne interrupted me, pushing the knife against me once more and once again I dodged ... Or I thought I had. My cheek burned, and Joanne's victorious grin made me sure I was right.

Well, that didn't matter to me. Although the cut hurt, after all I had been through, the burning was nothing much.

When this was all over, I'd patch it up and it would heal in a few days.

Focusing on Joanne again, I took a deep breath.

"They didn't do you any harm, Joanne. Even if you hate me, you have no reason to—"

"Oh, for God's sake Maisie! Try to fool someone else!" Joanne laughed, picking the knife up from the floor once more. The blade shone in the moonlight, its silver glow now tinged with red drops. Joanne seemed enchanted by the red liquid, following its trajectory towards the ground in silent fascination. "As much as I hate to admit it, Ingreth has good taste. She's beautiful, she could have been my friend, but she didn't want to ... No, she preferred to be your best friend. It was better that way, of course, as stupid as she clearly was, she never would have been a good friend to me... And Jace, Jace was my twin. My brother."

"Joanne," I started, trying to find words to explain something that... to be honest, I wasn't sure I had an explanation for.

I loved Ingy as a sister, and she loved me too. I had no doubt that Ingy would have been friends with her if Joanne had wanted to...

Although Ingy did seem to hate Joanne sometimes.

"Shut up!" Joanne shouted, coming towards me with the knife again. "My life was so much better before you were born, you know?! After you were born, everything was about you everything! Our parents were always talking about you, and Jace, ah, Jace! He was so happy to finally have a little 'doll'. Suddenly, he didn't even want to play with me anymore, he just wanted to help take care of you!"

I felt my stomach churn, my compassion rising with everything inside me.

"Joanne, I never knew who you felt like that..." I murmured, widening my eyes. "I'm sorry..."

"Of course you never knew, always with your head inside those books!" Joanne shouted, raising the knife once more. "I was always a perfect daughter, a perfect model, a perfect woman... And you, you never did anything! You never sacrificed anything! And everyone likes you! Everyone always likes you!"

It was then that I realized that, in the end, Joanne and I were not that different. Each one of us living our own lives, facing our problems in our own way, we were so focused on ourselves that we were unable to see what the other one was going through.

I never thought, not even in my wildest dreams, that Joanne - the always popular, always praised Joanne - had that same feeling of not being loved. Strange how we can look at a person, live with a person for years, and never really know what she's going through, or what she's thinking, how they are interpreting the facts and events in their life.

"Joanne,"I started, trying to ignore a knife she was aiming at me again. "I'm sorry I didn't see what was going on, but we're sisters," I tried to smile. "I love you."

And it was true, as much as the hatred was still present in Joanne's eyes, I still loved her. We were sisters, and all her pain, all her resentment... it hurt me too.

I wanted to help her...

But Joanne seemed unable to hear my words, as she raised the knife towards me once again.

I tried to deflect, but I was slower than Joanne this time and soon felt the cold metal of the knife slicing through my flesh in a sickening burst of blood.

The pain was severe and destabilized me, causing me to stagger until I hit my back on a tombstone. I fell, and Joanne wasted no time, grabbing the knife that was still attached to my shoulder and turning the blade twice before yanking it out.

My vision became blurry, my stomach churning from the pain. Disoriented, I only noticed the knife coming towards my neck when the blade was so close, it was impossible to deflect.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain... that didn't come.

Surprised, I opened my eyes to see that a hand was holding Joanne's wrist tightly, preventing her from attacking me.

"Jo... for God's sake." The voice was hoarse and a little tangled, but I soon recognized Jace. I didn't know how he got there so fast, but it was clear that he was still kind of doped up with something. Although it was too dark to see things clearly, the flickering lights of the flames were bright enough for me to see the red marks on his hand.

Both from the rope and from nails.

I looked around in fright, looking for Izak or one of my friends, for someone who could have helped Jace free himself... but if there was anyone else there they had been swallowed up by the darkness.

How can it be?, I wondered, staring at the candles in surprise. Although they continued to illuminate the three of us inside the circle, on the outside the pitch black darkness seemed to get more and more dense...

What's going on here?

"Jace," Joanne finally spoke. "Why are you doing this?"

"This?" Jace looked confused, until he looked at his hands still holding Joanne's hand back, even as she held the knife tightly. "Joanne, you want to hurt Maisie, you've already hurt Maisie! Look, everything will be fine. If you drop that knife we ​​can go home. I help you talk to our parents, I'm sure we'll find a way to help you—"

"And again, you take her side!" Joanne screams, the flames of the candles reflecting in her tears. "You are my brother Jace, mine. Why do you always side with her?"

The suffering on Joanne's face was clear, and it was impossible for me not to feel sorry for her. Jace sighed, looking unsure how to respond.

"Jo, you are my sister," he started, taking a deep breath. "But so is Maisie. I'm not on either side, I just want to see you both well. I love you both--"

"Lie!" Joanne shouted, and with a strength she shouldn't have pushed Jace away. Before he realized what was going on, she was already going after him with the knife. "Lie, lie lie, you liar! You always had to take Maisie to school, you helped Maisie with her homework and tied Maisie's shoelaces! You never did anything like that for me!"

"I helped Maisie with these things because she was two years younger!" Jace's voice was exasperated as he dodged Joanne's blows. "You are my twin sister, for heaven's sake Jo. We were going to parties together, remember? I never took Maisie to a party!"

But if Joanne heard his words, she gave no outward sign. Afraid that she might hurt Jace, I jumped in front of him and tried to push the knife away.

I say 'I tried' because I didn't even have to do a little strength. Suddenly, Joanne and I were thrown away from each other by a strong invisible wind.

Suddenly silence fell, broken only by solitary clapping.

"Ah, that was extremely interesting," Izak interrupted, a friendly smile on his face. "but Joanne, dear, we don't have all the time in the world, you know? After all, our friends are coming, and I think they'll be terribly disappointed if they don't see a big show."

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Hello everyone!

Thank you so much for not giving up on me! >.< Life has been crazy, but finally I seem to be getting back on my feet... maybe...

That said, now I'm able to share with you the new update schedule for this story! I'm going to update a chapter every Friday, until it's finished!  As of right now I've finished writing this and I'm starting the rewrite of The Keeper of the Fog, the sequel for The Fog of Airyll. (YESSS!)

Thank you for being patient with me! This pandemic really caught me unprepared - then again, I believe it caught all of us this way. Thank you for your amazing support and understanding.

Originally published: August, 15th 2020

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