SLAM

Someone barges into Betsy’s room right after she’s made her naive wish. A woman with porcelain skin enters the bleak room, which carries a gloomy atmosphere. It was Cassie, considered to be the most radiant girl, renowned for her fame, skills, and beauty in the village. Compared to Cassie, Betsy perceived herself to be ugly as sin next to her sister due to Cassie’s constant wounding insults over the years. Betsy assumed it was one of the many reasons why she wasn’t allowed to be in the public eye. Betsy never understood why her siblings saw her as such a burden or why she was so different. Hiding her in the shadows from everyone else, she figured it out as soon as she had obtained her genie. She was their actual downfall and nemesis since she could destroy the Storms.

Cassie enters with disheveled hair, but it only makes her look like a princess in distress. Her face was filled with fret and worry as she ran towards Betsy, who was wide-eyed on the floor, staring at Cassie like a deer caught in headlights.

“My poor misshapen sister?!” Cassie wails like she’s been reciting this act for hours.

“Mishap pen?” Kaleb blurts out and takes a few seconds to realize she was talking to Betsy.

“Just because my sister looks a little awful doesn’t mean violence is the answer,” Cassie says as her eyes turn glassy, making her lime-yellow eyes shine.

Kaleb stands there dumbfounded as the most renowned hunter that can hunt down any beast cries while holding her little sister in her arms as if he were an unbeatable monster.

Cassie would always put up a false front towards the villagers, disguising herself as a kind, warmhearted person. She’d always try to cheer them up by giving them free hunts like deer, fox, wolf, birds, and o, giving them joy and bliss, completely unaware that she was the cause of their misery. The Gasyer family would relieve the people’s despair while causing it at the same time with the Storms. Betsy was the only one who could relieve their distress, and yet no one even knew of her existence. Even so, Betsy had no interest in helping them, unlike Kaleb, who had seen the good and evil of the cannibalistic village, yet he still wanted to help them even after they took all he had away from him.

Betsy had the power to destroy the storm. The only problem was that her family would stop her at all costs. So she has never tried to save the people. The people who would reject her at the moment of mentioning the Gasyer family downfall.

Cassie hugs Betsy tighter, and Betsy can feel the warm hug in her older sister’s embrace. Knowing it is all an act for their sole audience, Kaleb, she hugged Cassie back, knowing this hug was the beginning of a hunt, performance, and control otherwise known as war in the Family. If Kaleb makes it out of the house alive, rumors will spread, which will hopefully give Cassie a bit of control. Her family was based on lies. Its main structure and foundation were made out of deception, making themselves look like heroes. She didn’t want her life to be built the same way.

Cassie noticed that Betsy had recovered her eyesight the moment she walked inside the room. “How are you able to see?” Cassie asks while covering her hand in her mouth. She already knew the answer while she was eavesdropping on their conversation.

Betsy was now determined to see if Cassie would tell the truth.

“Was this a plan to kill me?” Betsy asks, brushing off Cassie’s question.

Caught off guard, Cassie stops hugging Betsy and lets go. Cassie almost drops the friendly front she puts on and remembers that Kaleb was in the room. She turns her attention to Kaleb’s injuries.

“Oh my… You seemed to be hurt badly. I’ll be right back. I’ll go get the first aid kit right away!” Cassie exclaims while covering her mouth with both of her hands in worry.

Betsy grunted in disgust at Cassie’s behavior. Betsy knew Cassie wasn’t going to look for the first aid kit. She was on her way to tell the whole family that she had somehow gained her sight and speech. Betsy’s fists tighten, not knowing what to do, so she decides to follow Cassie.