Lethal Confessions
Fourteen

Cassandra lay on the floor, unable to move. Her head was pounding and any slight movement she made only made it worse. She could keep just an eye open. For once that night, she actually felt death knocking at her door. Even if Philip didn't kill her - which was highly unlikely - she was going to die on the ground from a concussion.

The thought of it was terrifying and she couldn't even cry because of the pain she was feeling.

She watched Sophia run towards the door but get caught by Philip even before she reached it. Served her right for being selfish. She immediately regretted her thoughts when Philip gave Sophia a slap so strong she fell.

Then he began to kick her really hard; her stomach, her legs, her back, her face.

"Please." Sophia cried. "Stop, please Philip, you're hurting me."

Philip stopped and picked her up by her collar, shooting daggers into her eyes. "You deserve more than that." He spat.

At that moment, face-to-face with a murderer/ex-boyfriend, Sophia felt her self weaken. He was going to kill her, and she had no way of stopping him. As if to reiterate her thoughts, he rose her up into the air and threw her on the ground.

Cassandra closed her eye yet felt the impact of Sophia hitting the ground and her screams rang in her ears. No matter how much she disliked Sophia it wasn't her wish that she die like this. And besides, once Philip was done with Sophia, she was next - he wasn't going to play favourites.

The thuds that followed told Cassandra that Philip was really hurting Sophia.

Concentrating very hard she compelled herself to turnover onto her stomach and in doing so she caught sight of the shard Sophia had abandoned. Pushing herself forward, she crawled towards it. Slowly she put one hand in front of the other and pulled herself. Her vision started becoming hazy but that did not stop her and she pushed harder. Her fingers brushed the tip of the shard and she stretched her arm to take it, when someone roughly grabbed her leg and dragged her back into the living room.

Cassandra rolled over and met his eyes, the figurehead firmly in his grip. She looked at him, then at the figurehead, then back at him. There was blood on it, Sophia's blood. Cassandra stole a glance at her, lying on the ground, unmoving and bleeding from her forehead.

She turned her attention back to him. He just stood there watching her. She thought she saw a flicker of recognition in his eyes and decided to exploit it. "Philip, t...this is not you. I know you and t...this is not who you are. You've n...never been t...this violent before, ever. Please, put down t...that thing and ... let's talk a...about this. As family. Listen to me. P...please." Her voice was shaking from fear.

He stepped closer, towering over her. Then he bent down and brought his lips to her ears, whispering to her in a vile voice. "Don't be so sure. I was certainly very violent when I killed my uncle."

Cassandra couldn't stop her tears from falling. It wasn't his fault. She felt the evil emanate from him and sweep all over her. And when he looked at her again, his lips were twisted in a smile so sinister, it distorted his features.

As quick as lightening he raised the figurehead in the air and brought it down. But there a sound of broken glass and his hand stopped midway. She shifted her attention to see Sophia standing beside them with a broken bottle, one of the beer bottles they had left lying around. She had smashed it on his head. The glass of the bottle was sprayed all over Cassandra and she felt stings on her face as some of them had imbedded themselves in her skin.

She saw Philip's face contort with rage and he turned swiftly ready to strike Sophia. But she was a split-second faster and drove the jagged edge of the bottle into his neck with newfound strength. She wrenched it and drove it back again and again.

Philip groaned in pain and staggered backwards, tripping on his shoelaces and falling down. He struggled to breathe, gurgling as blood dribbled out of his mouth.

He struggled to breathe as he choked on his blood. He was dead in seconds.

Sophia dropped the bottle and placed her hands on her waist taking in deep breaths.

Cassandra's tears stopped flowing and she crawled to her cousin. Wrapping her arms around his upper body, she hugged him tight to her chest. Her tears refused to fall but her heart ached for him.

"You killed him."

"I had no choice."

"You could've just knocked him out. You didn't have to kill him."

"In case you've forgotten, I tried that and it didn't work. Look, it was either him or us and I sure as hell don't want to die. I was doing us a favour."

"What kind of favour involves killing my cousin?"

"One that saved your life. Don't you get it? Shawn, Alexandra, John and Philip are dead. Some k...kind of being, demon or s...something that probably possesses bodies is involved and it's obvious that we're next."

Cassandra thought about it. "Whatever it is, it's using us to kill us. Philip killed Alexandra and John, after he found out you were cheating. And you killed him—"

"Because he would have killed us instead if I didn't." Sophia cut in.

"But something doesn't add up. Shawn. How did he die? If we're being used then who killed him? It can't be Alexandra - she loves him too much; not John either - because he got there after Alexandra and Philip didn't even get to see the body. I was here the whole time so that leaves... " Her voice trailed off and realization dawned on her face. "You killed Shawn!" She exclaimed in certainty.