Strangers

"So you going to tell me why you murdered your own mother?" Michael wonders, as we walk about on the hilltop of his house.

"I uh-she was on drugs and she totally snapped and went after my sister. She held a knife to her heart, but luckily she was able to direct it away. It was either my mum or my sister. I had to."

"So if it was self-defense then why didn't you just wait for the cops?"

"I can't go to jail. Whether it was self-defense or not, I still killed someone."

"Well don't you think that if you hadn't of ran, you'd get a shorter sentence and not be in so much trouble? Now that you ran, the police think that you did it with a motive and will charge you like a criminal."

"Who's side are you on here?" I ask, stopping in my tracks.

Michael shrugs. "No-one's. I'm just observing."

"Okay well, if I'm observing, then won't you get into trouble as well if the police find out that your hiding a 'criminal'?"

"That's a possibility." Michael nods, placing his hands behind his back and admiring the neighborhood below him.

"Then why are you hiding me?" I chuckle, finding this really stupid and confusing.

"Like I said. Everybody's got their demons. Everyone deserves to be helped out, no matter what you've done to be needing help."

"Huh." I stand there stumped. "I'd better get back in to check on my sister."

"You should give her a rest." Michael smiles. "She'll be fine, she doesn't need a monitor every 5 minutes."

"Who are you to tell me what my sister needs?"

"I'm not. I know that it's wearing you out having to check on her. You're gonna drive yourself mad."

"I don't want her to wake up alone." I breathe as the pain in my chest starts coming back. I enter the door and traipse back up to Amara's room that we shared. She lay in the same position that I had left her in when I left.

I sigh and sit on my bed once again and clutch my hand to my chest. Why am I having these pains? Maybe it's the shock from everything that has happened and my heart is having a hard time registering it. Since I left the door open, Luke walks in a offers me another plate of food. "I don't want it." I shake my head, still drawing in deep breaths.

"You didn't eat breakfast, so.."

"How come you guys are helping me?" I wonder again. "I've told you what I've done, but you guys won't give me any answers about yourselves."

"That's a story for another day, okay?"

I roll my eyes and lay back on my bed, not touching the food that he had sat down on the platter.

~*~*~*~

Later that day, I had finally come down the stairs and joined Michael and Luke for some telly time. "Police are asking that the Irwin children turn themselves in whilst they still can. We understand that they are probably scared and unstable, so if they just come back to Sydney and turn in, we will help them the best we can." The reporter girl on the T.V says, reading from a piece of paper.

Michael and Luke look at me with questionable faces. "I'm not going back." I shake my head. "I know what will happen. They're just saying that so that I can feel understood because they've probably put the pieces together and realized that my mother was shit. They probably think that I want love or whatever, but that's not true. I haven't needed anyone since I was a child, and I don't need anyone now."
"Seems like you need us." Luke says.

"But I don't need anyone to help me." I say. "If I go back they'll just take me to jail anyways."
"You're smart." Michael bites the inside of his lip.
"Observing again?" I mock him.

"Indeed."

"Hey do you like FIFA?" Luke ponders.

"No!" I shake my head, remembering when Amara and Andy used to sit in front of a television screen for hours competing against each other. "My sister does though."

"Well I know what we will be doing when she wakes up." Luke smirks.

"When she wakes up we're leaving."

"Who's says she can walk when she wakes up?" He argues.

I look around and sigh, knowing that I've been defeated. "Fine, play FIFA with my sister when she wakes up. I guess she'll need a since of normality."

"I'm going to go see how she's doing." Luke smiles and heads her way.

I beginning to stand up, but Michael pushes me back down. "Rest child. She's in good hands, I promise." The he gets up and wanders up to our room. I lay against the couch and think about really turning myself in. I could just turn myself in a leave Amara out of it. She'd be better off without me anyways seeing as how I'm a killer.

I killed our mother. Suddenly it sinks in that I killed her. The woman who birthed me. I killed her. I killed her....

Notes