Insanity Never Ceases to Exist

     We walked for days, Lucy and I, and at times, I had to carry my little sister. She was so fragile, so tiny. If I lost her to something as stupid as the cold wind, a chill at the most, I would never forgive myself. So therefore, I had given her my jacket.
    Lucy began to slow once more as she became tired. Her face was pale from blood-loss. Her wound, I thought to myself, but we couldn't stop, not yet, it was not safe. I could hear her bones cracking with every step she took. Like gears. Actually, I laughed softly to myself, they were gears. Not entirely, there were still human organs, and bones, and all that important stuff, but my dear sister had needed a replacement ankle, and my father, I don't know how, had given it to her.
    He never told me what to do if she needed one again, so I assumed she would never need one again, but to my horror, she was suffering now, Her foot became stiff frequently from the cold, and it always pained her to walk. Her foot was always purple, from blood shed within, and I believed, again to my horror, some part of the gear for her ankle was tapping against veins, which in her case, was not good.
    When I went to school, I never finished though in order to take care of my sister, I had learned about the skeletal structure, and the arteries, and all that good stuff, so if I wasn't mistaken, I'm sure there is something called a Dorsalis Pedis artery near her ankle, which is near the gear. That, indeed, was life threatening.
    Now the reason we were out here, walking alone, in the wilderness was mostly because of our damned village. They murdered my father, called him unholy, a monster, and then went after my sister.
     She had only been eight, now nine, and she had known how to use the phone. I had been working at my father's factory at the time, and brought me the phone saying someone was there to talk to me. They also had added how that person sounded like he/she was in a panic.
   
      My only thought was my sister, and when I answered, she had told me everyone in town was at the door, trying to break it down. Then I heard a loud crash, followed by a scream as the phone hit the ground. It was horrid. I told everyone I worked with that I had to go, and ran all the way back home, not bothering to take my bike. It took up to three minutes to get home, so I must've been running damn fast.
    I went around to the back of the house, but I heard no one, none at all. Fear had wrapped his hand around my heart by that time, as I broke down the back door, yelling out her name.

     "Lucy! Oh dear god, Lucy! Where are you!"? A groan followed my shouts for her, as I entered the room it had come from. My eyes watered, as I fell to my knees beside her. Everyone from town was gone; they had ruined the house, and my poor sister. There was a large gash on her side, and it was bleeding heavily, but it wasn't the worst. Her replacement ankle, or at least the skin around, had been cut open, as I watched blood spew.
     "Oh Lucy, I should have never left," I whispered. The replacement seemed to stick out slightly, and I knew I'd have to push it back in. Scooting over to her legs, whilst wiping the tears from my eyes, I told her my plan.
     "Do it, get it over with," she whispered. I nodded, and placing my hands delicately upon the metal, I pushed it back in as a scream tore through her throat, and filled the night air.

     I sighed, now we were on our own, we could never return to our home, the Villagers feared us, or hated us, or both. Luckily, I had packed some food before we left, and brought some spare clothes, along with 4 bottled waters. The gash on her side oozed red sludge, and Fear once more grabbed hold of my heart, and this time, he did not let go, and I don't think he ever would. I grabbed hold of Lucy's hand, and made her look at me as we stopped walking.
"I'm going to carry you little sister, OK?" I smiled softly, trying to seem calm. In return, Lucy straightened her back, but she made a pained noise, and slouched again, but waved my statement off.
"No, Vern…no." Her cheeks flushed, as her eyes watered.
"I miss dad!" she spurted. Tears poured down her cheeks this time, the first in a long while since our father's death. I scooped her up in my arms, and she rested her head on my shoulder as she sobbed, wrapping her arms around my neck tightly. I ran my fingers through her long blonde hair, which had been dirtied from days of walking. In return, she calmed, and entwined my short blonde hair around her fingers, and I felt her smile. I felt the warmth of it. I kissed her cheek, or whatever part I could reach, and patted her back as I continued walking.
     My father had once told me stories of an abandoned factory in this general direction, and so I decided that was where we must go, but within about five minutes, she began crying again, and I set her down before me.
"Lucy, we don't have time for this honey. I know of an abandoned factory up ahead, father told me of it. We need to get there soon, it is almost sunset Lucy." But my mentioning of father only seemed to make it worse, and I cursed to myself. Searching through my pouch, I grabbed a pair of goggles. Father's goggles. I held them out to Lucy, and smiled.
"These were father's, keep them close, and he'll always be with you."
Her eyes brightened, tears gone now, as she snatched them from my hand, and cuddled them childishly. I smiled, and picked her up once more, and started walking again.
    She had fallen asleep, and slept soundly on my shoulder as sunset neared.
"Come on, that factory has to be here somewhere…" I whispered silently.
And as if on cue, a large shadow of a building could be seen from where I was. A grand smile lit up my features, as I quickened my pace a hair's-breadth.
"Thank you Father …" I whispered once more, but I did not fully forget his tale of this factory. Apparently there was some wild animal that lived there, but it was just a story to scare younglings, wasn't it?
     As we neared building, I shook young Lucy slightly, and she stirred.
"We're here, " I said. She looked up sleepily, and as she was about to say something, her words were replaced by coughs, and not the little kid kind, flu coughs. The coughing lasted for 13 seconds, I had counted, whilst patting her back and fearing for her life. She would make it. Krishna wouldn't be that cruel.
     I set her down after her coughing fit had stopped, and she looked at the building and shivered, clutching the goggles I had given her to her chest.
"It is so scary, Vern." I nodded, but pushed her toward the door.
"Well, none the less, it's a shelter." She nodded too, and poked the handle. I rolled my eyes, and opened it. A rush of cold air, and leaves greeted us. The leaves danced around us for a moment's pause, then fell silently to the ground.
     I scooted her forward into the building, and then took her hand, as we walked in together. It was dark, cold, and cobwebs could be seen hanging from everything. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, but I knew I was being paranoid. I could here the sound of gears turning, for it was a factory, but it was old. Why would it still be running? I stepped forward, to only almost trip, but I kept my balance by hanging on to a poll my hand had luckily found.
"Are you alright!"? Lucy shrieked.
"Yeah, just tripped on something stupid. Let me grab a flashlight."
"That would have been a good idea," she said innocently. I laughed, searching around in my bag. My fingers gripped the handle, as I pulled it out. Pointing it on the ground, I turned it on, and startled.
"Eeeek! You tripped on bones! Human bones!" She shook, and I handed her the flash light, kneeling. I poked the bones, as the light shook around.
"Keep the light steady Lucy, I know you're scared, but whatever did this is long gone." I hope, I thought to myself.
I picked up, what seemed to be a femur bone, except it had been split, giving it a nice sharp tip. I held the bone out to Lucy, and grinned.
"Ewwwww, no!" She coughed again, and my smile disappeared.
"Take the damn thing Lucy, it is now your weapon. You already complained about not having one, so don't stick your nose up about this one."

     "Hmph." She took it unwillingly, as I stood, taking the flashlight back.
I walked around; her following closely behind, and soon found what I was looking for. There was a cloth, a few cloths, upon the ground. Workers would use them to wipe off tools, and their dirtied hands.
"We sleep here, on those cloths," I said, and she gladly walked over to it and sat down. She squeaked, and clapped a hand over her side.
"Ow," she said, her voice pained.
"What is it?" I sat beside her, and lifted up her shirt enough so I could see the wound.
"It still oozed red sludge, and it wasn't healing properly. The skin around it was a sickly yellow color, and I knew this was all wrong. I felt her forehead, and it was warm, maybe even hot, I couldn't tell.
"I don't feel to well, now that I think about it, and I'm hungry."
"We'll have a bite to eat, and then hit the hay, OK?" She nodded, and I retrieved a water bottle from my bag, and half a loaf of bread. We ate silently, as I noticed her pale. And as with anyone with the flu, she soon turned her head and puked. She groaned, wiping at her mouth as I quickly laid her down. To my surprise, she fell asleep quite quickly, but to my horror, she was even hotter than before. The flu, I thought.

"No," I whispered. I quickly checked her ankle, and as many times before, it was purple.
    She would get better, she had to. We just found a safe place. I couldn't let anything go wrong, not this time. I laid down besides her, wrapping my arms around her, as I breathed in the scent of her hair. Lavender. I would never forget. I began to cry into her hair, but she stayed sound asleep.
  
     I awoke the next morning, for Lucy was shacking badly. I shook her, not like it would do anything seeing as though she was already shaking, but I shook her, and called out her name. It had gotten worse, and just over night! Fear now threw a noose around my neck, Fear constricting my voice, disabling me to speak anymore. Lucy opened her eyes for a moment, and they were far off, as if she wasn't even here, but her eyes shut quickly, and then her shaking stopped, and she fell back into a deep sleep.
This repeated for two days, and I had taken care of her throughout those days. Force fed her, and wiped of her face from the tears, and cleaned her wound, and sometimes I was even rewarded with a minute or two of the flu letting go of her, and we would exchange 'I love yous' and smiles, and then she would pass out.
On the third day, I had wandered outside of the factory, looking for prey to kill, when I was startled by a scream. I ran as fast as I could, but I feared I was already too late.

                                                                                 ****
                                                                                (Lucy)

     It hurt so bad, this burning in my lungs, in my ankle, in my side. I would go insane, I truly would this time, and it hurt too much. I had had a dream while sleeping, a dream of perfection, me with Vern, and Daddy, but when I awoke, it was not true, and the pain told me so. I didn't want to live anymore, it would not get better. Sweat dripped off my forehead, as I looked at my ankle. That damned thing, that stupid replacement. It causes me pain everyday. My mind raced, I was going insane, truly. It was the replacement's entire fault. Where was my sister? Where was she so she could relieve me of my pain, and take this piece of metal out of my body? It hurt so much. Sobs racked my body as I clutched my ankle in pain.
     I could take it out myself, I could. Just one little rip would do it, one little pull, and then the pain would cease to exist. That was it. That was the idea. Insanity curled up within my mind, as it urged me to do so, without thinking of the possible consequences.
     I grabbed the bone Vern had given me, and giggled hysterically, as I cut my flesh. The pain was unbelievable, but worth it, knowing it would be over once this stupid piece of metal was out. Once it was exposed properly, I wrapped my hand around it, and began to tug. I could feel it giving, it was almost there.
     "Lucy no!" Vern screamed. Insanity deserted me, as I looked at her, I was so happy to see her, but I guess I hadn't stopped pulling, my body wouldn't let me stop, and I ripped the metal replacement from my flesh, as I screamed.
I heard Vern's gasp, and saw her as she knelt before me. She shook me, she shook my body, but I couldn't feel it.
And then everything went black.

                                                                                 ****
                                                                                (Vern)

I screamed in fury and loss. I wish I would have known, I truly do. Why did I leave her all by herself? Why did this happen. I didn't know it was going to happen. How could it have! She was doing better!

      My breath caught in my throat as I looked at her body. I was not going to give into emotion, no, or I'd fall apart, but Sadness crept up my throat, pushing and prodding, as my breath hitched, and I could no longer hold the tears back. My eyes stung, and before I knew it, tears were pouring down my face.

    I ran a hand through my short blonde hair, as I backed away, sitting upon the floor, my back against a wall, my eyes closed. It was now, only now, after I grieved, that I looked upon the body of my little sister. I clapped a hand over my mouth to stifle a scream, as my sister's lifeless body lay there.

      "No!" I gasped. My sister's lifeless eyes bored into my soul, and I swore they glowed with disappointment. Insanity soon followed Sadness, as I began to talk to the deceased body of my sister.
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry Lucy, please, don't leave me, not like father." I pulled my knees up to my chest, and sobbed again, and after a moment, the room chilled, as I felt a hand upon my shoulder, a tiny hand. I wiped the tears from my eyes, and looked up into the transparent eyes of my young sister. Her entire body was transparent, with a tint of light blue adorning her figure, as if she were a …ghost. More tears poured down my cheeks, as I held my arms out stupidly. Lucy, or her ghost hugged me, and I wrapped my arms around her fragile body.
"I love you…" I whispered to it, to her, to my sister.
"I love you too," she whispered in my ear, and then she was gone.

After a moment, of staring at the floor, I realized what really had just happened, and smiled slightly. It wasn't that bad, she had been in so much pain, but Sadness would always rain heavy upon me, and maybe even Insanity would follow soon too, and I wouldn't care.

Lucy's metal replacement for her ankle lay on the ground, just in my reach, as did father's goggles. I leaned forward, and grabbed both, putting the goggles on, and holding the replacement in my hand.

I would always remember.