Fractured Minds (Rebels of Sandland 3)

She had a curtain of bobbed brown hair that she used to hide her face, and she knelt down to take something out of her bag. Without a word, she pulled an apple and a chocolate bar from inside and slipped them into the kid’s pocket. He didn’t even notice and she didn’t tell him. Her act of kindness was a silent one, one she thought would go unnoticed, but I saw.

This girl was beautiful. Stunning even. Her beauty shone quietly, making me feel all out of sorts. It was a beauty that radiated from goodness. I could tell from one glance, one selfless act, that she was everything. Good, kind, honest, unassuming. She made me want to stand up and call out to her, let the whole school know what she was doing and why she was so fucking awesome. I’d never seen anything like what I’d just witnessed. In my world, people took. They took advantage, stole your trust, your innocence. But not her. She gave. And right now, she was giving me goosebumps.

“Earth to Knowles. Come in, Knowles.”

I hadn’t noticed Zak joining us. He clicked his fingers in front of my face and broke through my hypnotic state. I shook my head slightly and stared right back at him.

“What?”

He nodded his head in the direction of the angel in the shadows and laughed.

“Don’t tell me you’re getting a thing for Danny’s sister, Emily, too?”

He threw a chip into his mouth and smirked as he ate it. I swallowed back my answer, choosing instead to keep my thoughts to myself. If he wanted to think I liked Emily, then I’d let him. It didn’t bother me. But she wasn’t the girl I saw when I looked over into the corner, and I didn’t want to share that with him. I didn’t want to share her with anyone. I had secrets, and the way I felt when I looked at that girl was another one. A better one. The best kind of secret.

Present Day

I woke with a start as I heard the click of the door to my hospital room closing. Feeling like my body was made of bricks, I reluctantly rolled over in my bed to see who was invading my space, and heard a low, whispered voice in the shadows of the morning light.

“What did you do?”

Alice stood against the door, looking as pale as a ghost, and the horror painted across her face made me feel both anger and guilt. I hadn’t told her what I’d planned to do that night, when I sought him out. I didn’t want her trying to change my mind. She’d fought her battle already. Now, it was my turn.

“I did what needed to be done. Well… I tried.”

She sighed heavily and stepped out of the shadows to take a seat by the side of my bed. She had a brown paper bag in one hand and a disposable coffee cup in the other, and once she got closer, I could see the familiar logo and smell the delicious breakfast that lay inside. I didn’t realise I was hungry until that moment, and right on cue, my stomach caught up with my brain and growled in protest at being ignored for so long.

“Here,” Alice said, plonking the coffee and food onto the side table. “You look like you could do with a decent breakfast.”

I took the coffee first, wincing as my arm ached from the movement. I figured a shot of caffeine would help me get through this conversation, and possibly numb the pain, but the sting from my lips as I tried to sip reminded me that it’d take a lot more than a decent cup of coffee to solve my problems. Despite my discomfort, I went to open the bag, but stopped when Alice spoke.

“I don’t want you going after him, Finn. I know he’s out of jail, but I can’t cope with it. I can’t deal with any more heartache. Do you hear what I’m saying?”

I heard her. I didn’t like what I was hearing though.

“I don’t want you playing the hero,” she carried on. “You need to put a stop to the crazy, vigilante thoughts you’ve got going on in that head of yours. If you really want to help me, stay away from him. Forget he exists. I have. It

’s the only way I can survive the nightmare. He is nothing as far as I’m concerned.”

But he did exist. He was still as big, as ugly, and as brutal as ever. And that was something I’d never forget.

“You going after him again, Finn, it’s dragging it all back up for me. I know you feel like you need to get justice, but this isn’t the way. You’ll never win like this. He’ll always be one step ahead of you. One punch harder than you. One fucked-up thought away from destroying you too. Do you think I want to see my little brother go to prison because of that man?”

I’d happily do time if it meant he was out of our lives and our minds.

“No, Finn. I don’t,” she answered, before I’d even had the chance to gather my thoughts. “I don’t want him tainting another inch of our lives. Not anymore. Mum and Dad might be hopeless. They never believed me, no matter what I said. But you? You kept me going, Finn. I can’t lose you.” I heard her voice break as she spoke the last part, and my heart ached for my silently strong sister all over again. Just as it always did when we were kids.

“You won’t lose me. Not ever.”

She wouldn’t.

If there was one thing I could guarantee in this world, it was that I would always be there for Alice. We shared an unbreakable bond, forged from a broken history that only we could comprehend. One that tethered us in a way most siblings would never know, but secretly, they’d be thankful they never had to experience the horror that we did.

“I will lose you if you keep going down this path you’ve chosen,” Alice pleaded. “It’s a dead end. A road to destruction. Anything that leads you to where he is is going to take you straight to hell. If you’ve got any sense, you’ll do what I’m gonna do.” The way her eyes implored me to listen made me sit up straighter in my hospital bed. I knew I wasn’t going to like what came next.

“What are you gonna do?”

“I’m leaving.”