I sat at the edge of the curb, parched, as I watched the endless variety of cars whiz by. Kids on their bikes and skateboards rolled by too, yet I just sat there, scraping the fragments of detritus with my hole-filled Keds and chewing bubblegum. I was dying of thirst, but I didn't feel like getting up. Maybe I'd just sit there for the rest of the afternoon, the evening too, if I was really lazy.

"Karlie!"

There went my afternoon of doing absolutely nothing. Reluctantly rising from the warm cement, I left the rocks idle and spit my bubblegum out before entering inside.

"Yup?"

"There's a little something for Katie upstairs. Why don't you have some fun with your sister and help her open it? It would be something you two could play together with."

I had taken the word 'play' out of my vocabulary a few years ago. Being in middle school, saying the word play wasn't going to get you anything besides the villainous snickers of how childlike you were.

I turned to my mother and gave her one of my serious stares.

"I would've had more fun sitting outside by myself."

My mother's cold, blue eyes glared at me icily. Even with the same eyes as hers, I couldn't be that scary, no matter how hard I tried.

With nothing said, I darted upstairs to find Katie. Every time I walked into our room, I would either see her with barbies in her own imaginary world or dressed up in a princess costume.

The bedroom door that was slightly cracked open stood frozen. Through the crack, the vibrant pink paint glowed with luminosity and I paused before pushing it open to hear Katie's soft hums. I entered the room, shuffling closer to Katie, who had her back turned to me.

"What-chya got there, Katie?"

Katie didn't answer, her lush, brown curls jumping in delight as she bounced in place. It was not like Katie to ignore someone, no matter how much a certain individual displeased her. Frowning, I knelt behind her, unable to see her face or what was in her hands.

My sister and I weren't as close as most sisters were. We have an eight year gap in between, so sometimes I blame it on the year span as the reason why we didn't really talk to each other. It was our personalities that differed too. Katie was a quirky, bouncy little thing with her confidence, outgoing ways and her shrill giggles. I was more of the quiet, reserved type who really didn't feel the need of ever smiling or laughing. Katie would wrap her arms tightly around my waist, squealing out my name as her chubby cheeks and curly pigtails jumped, expecting a shower of affection in return. But I would simply squirm in place, my face scrunching in agony, as I would peel her arms off my body and place them at a distance of at least three feet away from me. And then it was that look that she'd give me. The tears watering in her puppy-dog eyes, her trembling lip, and her pigtails that seemed to droop. After that, she'd bawl. She'd bawl and howl, running in the opposite direction of me, crying to Mom about how I hated her. I can't say I felt bad, but I just wasn't that type of person. I didn't like hugs or kisses from the start. I was me.

There were days that we barely even talked. Some days in which we almost ignored each other, except for maybe a good-night in the evening before going to bed because we slept in the same room. Just because she was someone who had the same blood type as me didn't mean that she was a person I had to get closest to. She was just there.

So to me, her icing me out was a sign of something wrong happening. Normally she'd be overjoyed, above overjoyed to have me even cast a simple smile at her.

I sat in place as I bit my lip, trying to get over the awkward moment. I fidgeted as I decided to try again once more.

"What was the toy that mommy gave you?"

Something in Katie clicked, so that she suddenly got still. The humming ceased and the movement of her was no more. Slowly, she turned her neck halfway to me and I could see only part of her face.

"A monkey."

"Can I see it?"

That was a bit too abrupt, I thought to myself. I chewed on my lip as I waited for Katie's reply. What was with her?

Reluctantly, she tossed her hair over her shoulder, tucked her feet behind her, and swiveled around. She now sat facing me. I observed Katie quickly before taking a look at the toy. She looked quite normal, then again something about her wasn't. The eager smile that was usually plastered on her face was no more and the spark of light that danced in her eyes had disappeared.

She shoved the toy to me as I groaned in disgust staring at it.

It was an ugly purple monkey, its hair sticking out in every direction, stiff and daunting. It was positioned to sit in an upright seat and its arms and legs were held in place tightly. Its white, plastic teeth were spread in a screech and then, there were its eyes. God, they were the ugliest of all features. It was big and brown with yellow flecks in the middle, staring at me with a certain gleam embodied in them.
I pushed myself away from Katie and the monkey, leaning on the bedpost closest to the door.

Katie's mouth clenched and her eyebrows furrowed.

"He told me you would think it was ugly," she murmured angrily.

Katie glared at me, blinking her brown eyes in frustration. Looking into them, a knot in my stomach tightened and the muscles in my cheeks felt slack. Something was definitely wrong.

Suddenly, Katie jerked the sick-looking monkey to her ear, pausing for a brief second before she started to furiously nod her head up and down.

"I think so too," she muttered quietly, "Yes."

"Katie," I asked nervously, "What are you doing?"

She ignored me and continued to have her false conversation. Finally, she stood and I noticed for the fist time that she was dressed from head to toe in black. She never, ever wore black. The was a fact of life. I didn't even know she owned something in the color black.
"Nexus and I think you ought to be taught a lesson," she said calmly, gritting her teeth, "Isn't that right Nexus?'

And that was when I saw it. It wasn't a trick of my eye. I had perfect vision. It couldn't have been that the monkey had... moved.
I couldn't believe it. My heart pounded wildly as I clutched the bedpost and tried to scoot back, staring at the monkey. Its hand had moved, that was the truth. The gleaming brown eyes seemed suddenly full of life and madness.

As I was staring at the monkey I hadn't seen what had happened to Katie in the meantime. A droplet of sweat rolled down my forehead when I took my eyes off the monkey and onto Katie. I stopped breathing the moment I layed eyes on her. Even my wildest dreams hadn't ever pictured anyone like this. As my chest beat heavily, I was in disbelief staring at my Katie and my eyes grew wild. The pupil in her eye was no more. Instead, the whole eye was a dark, swirling brown like those of a stuffed animal's stick-on eyes.

Katie cocked her head to the side as she approached closer and closer to me. The color was drained from her skin and the monkey, as I looked to my right, was alive. It was perched numbly on Katie's shoulder, the head cocked to the side exactly like Katie's. The monkey's head jerked forward to glare at me as an evil smile spread from ear to ear across its face.

"She doesn't understand you," the monkey spoke. It had a shrill voice, which was as soothing as silk yet as dangerous as a blade.
"She doesn't deserve to walk on the ground," it continued, turning to look at Katie who looked dazed and had her mouth slightly hung open.
"D-doesn't deserve to live," Katie whispered. Then she said more loudly, "Doesn't deserve to live."

The monkey nodded, it's eyes becoming wider with a nefarious glare, "She hates you. Loathes you. Let's finish her off with."

"Lets," Katie answered evilly, a sick grin playing across her lips. Katie and the monkey stepped closer as I found myself unable to move. My legs were frigid as I frantically looked towards the door, reaching my hand to the edge.

Out of the monkey's fingers, yellow scarred claws sprang out and in a small clenched fist of Katie's, a knife, its tip sharpened, gleaming in the light. My lip quivered as a choked gasp escaped from me.

"Mom!" I shrieked wildly, reaching for the door, "Mom, help me! Please! Anybody help me! She's going to kill me!"

Suddenly, the scenery of my bedroom had disappeared. In fact, the whole new setting was nothing but ghostly whiteness for as long as the eye could see. I was nowhere, but I wasn't alone.

Katie and the monkey were in front of me.

I sobbed wildly placing one shaky foot behind the other until I banged into something. When I swiveled around though, it was just the plain whiteness, perhaps an invisible wall.

I was trapped.

Katie and the monkey approached closer with every second as I banged the floor and let out screams as loud as I could. But the next thing I knew, Katie was at the tip of my nose. I felt her uneven breaths on my wet cheek as I shuddered through sobs.

"Please," I begged, "You know I love you. Please--"

A sharp pain filled every inch of my body. It was then that I heard the most blood-curdling shriek of my whole thirteen years and it certainly made the hairs on my neck stand on edge.

I struggled through breaths as my legs felt weak. Before I knew it, I was on the ground and my vision started to get blurry. Through the blur, I could see the outline of a shiny metal with red liquid dripping from the sides. And I could see Katie in front of me, holding it, her smile getting wider by the second.

It was getting harder to breathe and I felt dizzy.

"Katie," I murmured drowsily, "What's hap--"

My gaze fell onto my hands, which dropped from my chest. They were fully red and wet, and a jerk of pain filled my palm as I tried to bend it. My chest too, especially my chest, felt strangely warm, as if water was falling from it.

It took me a moment for everything to fall in place. The blood-curdling shriek was mine. The red liquid was mine too. But so was the little devil who held the sharp knife.

"Katie, no," I whispered.

"Finish her off."

A surge of the most agonizing pain I had ever endured, overtook me as my senses began to slide away. My body slumped. I could see no more; I could only feel the strained breaths of none other than my own.

So this was it. My eyes closed as I counted the number of seconds I had left. 3......2.....that was as far as I ever got.