“I promise I’m going to do everything in my power to get you out of here.”

His brother stepped into the kitchen.

“Now why would you do that, brother? You know these two will almost certainly go straight to the cops. And I haven’t been hiding in the woods all this time for things to get messed up now.”

“What does it matter, Blane? You’ve had access to mom’s trust for a handful of years now. The creditors have given up on the estate generating anything.”

“You think Andy and his goons have just forgotten how much money dad owed when he died? You don’t think they’ll come after us if they know we’re alive? If they know that mom kept money hidden from dad and all his dirty deals? No, things have to stay chill a while longer.”

“Do they? Or have you embraced this whole psycho in the woods cosplay bullshit you’ve got going on?”

“Geez, Steff, when did you grow a set of balls? Is it this girl? Are you trying to impress a girl?” Blane gestured to Cassandra, who blanched at the attention.

Nathan spoke up from the hallway, with a smirk that was more grimace than grin.

“Can we just kill them already? I’m really tired of this guy. Besides, Cassie isn’t into guys.”

Blane turned to face him, and the blood froze in Nathan’s veins.
“Did you miss the part where ‘this guy’ is my brother? Why the hell would I want him dead? Who the fuck are you?”

“I’m just like you, man. I know that what happened with Tommy wasn’t as smooth as I’d hoped but it worked out. I proved that I have what it takes to follow through.”

“Yeah and leave your DNA splattered everywhere. I know the only reason Steff hid the body was because he wasn’t totally sure it hadn’t been me. But he should have. There is no way I would have fucked that up as bad as you did.”

Steff stepped away from the counter, and met Nathan’s eyes as he hovered behind Blane.
“You’re not the dark entity you imagine yourself to be. You don’t even have an identity of your own. You’re afraid to show yourself, and want to hide inside an imitation, because you’re worried that your authentic self is just a goddamn loser.”

With a yell, Nathan pushed past Blane and plunged a knife into Steff.

Photo by Jeremy Yap on Unsplash