"Good-bye… sister.” She whispered. “I followed my heart, like you told me to.” Then she turned, reared her house and started off across the hills, heading for her new home, letting the wind whisk away her tears. “Two miles from the ocean there is a town. It has cobblestone streets, clear of refuge and two story brick buildings. Little houses made of stone and wood line some of the streets and shops many of the others. Normally the streets would be a hubbub of activity, people rushing here and there trying to get their shopping done and to meet friends and relatives. Today it is quiet. The streets are empty. Not even a dog barks. The city has been stone silent for over ten years. Nothing lives there, no plants grow and no animals shelter there. A properous city of thousands had suddenly stopped. The city seemed to be in stand still. Like the sleeping castle in Sleeping Beauty. There is still furniture in the rooms and food on the tables, as if life still exsisted. In the middle of town square, stands a tall clock tower. It rings at every hour every day of every year. It has never stopped. It is the only living reminder of the society that had once been there. The only thing that still runs in the town forgotten by time.
“Many years ago, in front of this clock stood two women who remembered the town. On that day, they stood more than twenty feet apart. A man lay bound in the middle. One was blonde with bright, clear blue eyes in a bright blue dress, about 5 foot 6. She carried a gun and held it with an unwavering hand at the captive. The other was burnette with firey green eyes in a green blouse and brown pair of pants, only stood 5 foot three.
““You can’t kill him! You have no right!” yelled the woman in green. “ You will accomplish nothing by killing him.”
“The woman with gun looked at her, but did not lower her gun; instead she cocked it.
““I will kill him. He is scum. He is a murder.” The man smiled at this comment.
““I am not defending you.” said the green. “I hate you just as much as she does.”
““Let her shot me then. I would welcome the chance to die.” The captive answered with a sneer.
““Do you hear that?” yelled the gun, “He wants to die! Let me end his horrible exsistence!”
“And what right to do you have to decide wether or not he deserves die, hmm? Who gave the supreme right to decide the wether a person should live or die? NOBODY!” yelled the green.
“Why shouldn’t I kill him? Do you know how many thousands of people he killed?” responded the gun.
“Of course I do!”
The man they spoke was the same who was between them. He was mass murderer. He had killed almost a million people. On their planet, he had the power to whip out entire cities. With a wave of his hand, sickness descended on the town. With his mind he turned relatives on each other making them kill each other. He had done many things much worse. The fact a someone was trying to save him from a death many thought he deserved was amazing. The woman carrying the gun had hauled him out to this city. The first place he destroyed. It was apparent she knew how to handle herself and gun. She was not a bonty hunter; she was not even a part of the police, she was simply there to end the suffering of everyone he had left in his destruction.
“He killed families! He killed mom and dad! He killed everyone!” yelled the gun, her voice raising dangerously.
“I know, but what would they think of you killing him?” asked the green, gently. “Do you think they would be proud of such a revenge. You still haven’t answered my question. What gives you the right to decide if he should live or die?!”
It was strange to see these two fighting. They were the only ones ever able to survive his attacks. They had come out of his first epidemic as toddlers alive, they were spared when he attacked their village and turned their caretakers upon one another. They had been many places where he had attacked and always survived. One had become bent on getting rid of the cause of such destruction. The other questioned the right of one to take the life of another after seeing so much death. From within such chaos and pain, two very different women emerged.
“His killing gives me the right to kill him. Isn’t that obivious? If I get rid of him, no one else will die.” Said the gun.
“What makes you think someone else won’t follow in his path? Just think you are killing someone’s son. Maybe someone’s brother, or even father. His actions does not give you –or anyone else- the right to kill him. Don’t think making him live and not being able to do anything would be a fate worse then death? What makes you any better than him if you kill him?” asked the green. The woman with the gun hesitated. She has a point, I don’t want to become as horrible or blood thirsty or feared as him. She thought. But all the people he killed, argued another part of herself. Isn’t his bloodshed some kind of satisfaction or redemtion for all the people he killed and made disappeared.
“Enough of this talk! Just get it over already!” yelled the man.
“Shut up!” yelled the gun.
She pointed her gun at him. She fired. The women with green firey eyes dived in front of the murderer. The bullet hit her chest. She fell to the ground, breathing heavily, blood pouring from the wound, covering her hands, shirt and making a pool on the ground.
“Alanna!” yelled the woman with the gun. She ran toward the girl lying on the ground. “Why did jump in front of him? I thought you said one person didn’t have the right to kill another? Why? Why would do this?”
“I did it,” Alanna said, breathing heavily and spouting blood as well. “because I wanted to. It was my choice. I chose to dive, I knew that I would probably die. Elena, I love you and I always will, regardless of your views. You’re my sister, you’re my twin. You’re all I had. We stuck together and yet grew differently. Follow your heart, sister.” Alanna died there in Elena’s arms. Elena cried. She screamed. She cursed the sky, the sun, and the earth. The man started to laugh. Elena got up and walked over to him.
“I guess that’s it then, isn’t it, honey?” the man said with a sneer.
"What makes you think I won’t kill you?” asked Elena.
“You’re sister just died by your own hand. I know you won’t kill me or she would’ve died for nothing.” Said the man, with a smug smile. Elena shot him in the head.
"That’s where you’d be wrong.” she said to the body. She turned around and walked over to her sister who she picked up and carried to their old house, leaving the man, dead, in the middle of the city.
Elena cleaned Alanna’s wound, laid her hands in a peaceful position and laid her on the bed in her room in their old house. Elena pulled a blanket up to Alanna’s chest, where the bullet hit, tears falling from her eyes. Elena said a prayer over Alanna’s body, apolgizing. She left the room, inhaling deeply. The house still smelled as it did when she was little. The smell brought back a sudden memory. Elena sagged against the wall in the kitchen. She could see them, as she was seeped in her memory: Alanna and herself sitting at the head of their table, blowing the candles out on their cake. Her mother was standing by with a large smile on her face and her father was getting ready to pass out plates. The table was full of presents. Alanna turned to Elena and said ‘Happy Birthday!’ and gave her a huge hug. And then memory was gone. Elena left the house, walking past the dead body in the middle of square, forever to be perserved as it was, to her horse. She got on her horse and started to ride toward the horizon. When she got to the top of the hill, she looked down on the city that time had forgotten. It gleamed in the setting sun. Elena could still see her house. It seemed to glow slightly more brighter.
