How the…?
Amara stared disbelievingly as Maria moved towards her.
“Mari?”
Maria smiled again. Her entire body glowed with an otherworldly light. Amara shivered.
“Long time no see, Amara,” Maria whispered, the words reverberating around the room eerily. She took a step towards Amara, who backed away. “Yet I can’t say I missed you.”
Amara nodded. She understood: she had killed Maria. Even though she swore it was an accident.
“I’m sorry, Mari.”
“Death isn’t something to be forgiven.”
Suddenly, a cracking sound and a flash of light hit Amara squarely in the chest. She stumbled back. A gust of wind knocked her to the ground, and she was left looking up at Maria’s smiling face, sadistic with revenge.
“What happened to you?!” Amara screamed as the feeling of stabbing knives dragged up her arm.
“I’ve realized my full potential. I should be thanking you, really. Without you, I wouldn’t have become this powerful spirit.”
“But everyone will die.”
“Yes, but we are only created by our living souls being murdered.”
Amara gasped as at least twenty more spirits came up from behind Maria. “Don’t do this, Mari!” she screamed as they started advancing.
“Do you know what you took from me?! From my parents?! I don’t care if it was an accident! I don’t care if you didn’t mean it! I would rather be alive!” Maria screamed insanely. Amara had gotten up to her feet, just to be knocked down again by a burning pain in her chest. She looked down, only to see a ring of white-hot fire carving a hole into her flesh.
Her piercing screams filled the room as the fire dug farther into her body. It burned through fat and sinew and spread inside of her.
Please, God, let me die.
“Oh, you’ll die. Don’t worry,” Maria laughed maniacally. She reached her hand out to Amara and placed it on the burning area, making the flame grow bigger and hotter.
Amara knew that she was going to die. She looked up one last time at her former friend, and her body was engulfed by the flames.
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Maria stared at the charred body of the girl who had killed her. And walked away.
The Lighthouse 