This Blood that Binds Us by S.L. Cokeley

Author:S.L. Cokeley [Cokeley, S.L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: S.L.Cokeley
Published: 2022-10-11T00:00:00+00:00

The carnival lights’ buzzing only strengthened the nervous energy pulsing from head to toe. I walked in step behind my brothers as we strolled the boardwalk. The ocean air was comforting, along with the nostalgic breeze of fried Twinkies and turkey legs. I wished we were there for the carnival.

It was late, and the full moon hung overhead, lighting our path between abandoned stands at the edge of the carnival. We were following a group of four guys, who were noticeably drunk and belligerent. We’d spent the better part of two hours scouting the perfect group, pretending to be normal people. Zach smoked a cigarette and shared a casual conversation with Luke, while Presley tried his best to beat every carnival game we walked past. He carried around an empty fountain drink container, which he would loudly sip on occasionally. I, on the other hand, had not uttered a word since we got there.

The events of the dance loomed over us like an omen. The twins were particularly stressed about the brawl’s unneeded attention. Their strict rules were even more rigid. I was constantly trying to find time away from them and meet with Kimberly, who seemed just as fearful as Zach and Luke. I couldn’t get myself to feel much of anything. A strange sense of numbness chilled me when I remembered the dance.

The Ferris wheel stood in the distance, and my mind wandered back to Kimberly and her fear of heights. I imagined how different the night would be if I had come with her. Her red hair blowing with the cool night breeze as we swung from high up. She might have grabbed my arm and told me how scared she was by the swaying, and I could have said something cunning, like, “Do you think there is any universe in which I’d let something happen to you?” Yeah. Something cool like that. The dance was a steady blur, but had one shining moment I couldn’t stop replaying. Her hand on my wrist. The way she looked up at me. The heat from her body as she begged me not to go.

You just want to kill her. You don’t really care about her.

The voice had been nagging me all day. Every time I tried to think of Kimberly, the Thing would turn it around.

We need her.

I tried to focus on her face and the way she laughed. How much I enjoyed her company.

Her blood. Think only of her blood.

The Thing wouldn’t go. I looked across the lot at a group of people chatting. I focused on their pumping blood. Their hearts were beating in unison, but the voice didn’t respond, almost as if it wasn’t interested in them at all, just Kimberly.

I tried to put the thought out of my mind and focus on the task at hand. The drunken group continued to walk on by themselves, and as fate would have it, the large crowds in the carnival stayed away from the outer edges. It was good for us, bad for them.

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