Sacrifice

• Mikaela Chiang, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2019

Aliya tumbled to the ground, panting.
"C'mon, hurry!" her sister, Sylvie, urged.
The cloaked figure was gaining on them. They sprinted through the trees.
"I-I think we might've lost him," Aliya panted, flopping down on the ground.
"OR WE HAVEN'T!" Sylvie screamed. She yanked at Aliya's hand.
They ran. The path grew rocky and narrow. Aliya slipped. Her face was bleeding and hard, cold rocks jabbed into her face. Damp earth and soft leaves. A figure loomed over her.
"NO!" she heard Sylvie's desperate cry. All was a blur as Sylvie slammed into the figure, knocking him off Aliya. Aliya leapt up to see Sylvie desperately clawing and yanking his hair and tackling him.
"Sylvie, don't! Oh, don't!" Aliya screamed.
"Go! Don't make this all for nothing! Gods curse you, Aliya! Go!" Aliya's dark hair whipped her face as she turned... then stopped.
"GO!" Sylvie shrieked, as the figure yanked out more of her identical hair and pulled out a knife. He sliced Sylvie's arm, leaving a cut, oozing with dark red blood. Aliya gave a cry of despair as the masked man lifted his knife, aiming at Sylvie's heart.
"SYLVIE!" Aliya shrieked.
"ALIYA!" Sylvie screamed, just as Aliya turned and fled. Sylvie's dying scream echoed in Aliya's ears as the trees closed in around her. She collapsed on the soft dirt. The wall of rock in her eyes crumbled and her vision blurred. Then, after holding back for so long, she let the tears come. Sylvie was gone. She was gone, and she was never EVER coming back... Now Aliya was more alone than ever...