Oni Highway Beginning

A balmy, rusty-scented breeze brushed past Anthea, tickling the hairs standing on the back of her neck. She touched it, leaving a streak of sticky crimson draped across her shoulderblade. Roaring engines and screaming women above her were quieted by the soundproof walls of her mind. Haziness enveloped her, leaving all the world dimmed. The scalding, twisted chunk of metal before her frustrated Anthea. Devoid of rhyme, reason, and concious thoughts, she clasped the heap and pulled. Her hands slipped away from the burning surface. With a gutteral growl, she rubbed her stained palms against her coarse wool sweater and threw the obstacle behind her.
Auburn hair fanned across the asphalt, the few strays twisting across awkwardly positioned limbs. Anthea gently pulled away a matte of blood thickened hair from stark white cheeks. Pools of sparkling green colors gazed, unseeing, towards her. Crimson regrets poured endlessly from gaping wounds in the willowy body before her.
"Anthea...are you there?" rasped the young woman.
"Liana?" Anthea sputtered as pain exploded in her chest. Salty rivers swam down her cheeks, dripping on Liana's flawless features. Her face contorted in rage.
"Anthea, I told you...how many times...?!"
Anthea's breathing became more erratic as Liana's rough voice rose. 'Is this...my fault?' she thought, panicking. Jerking her head around frantically, she saw a white truck with flashing lights approaching the scene.
"Anthea...listen to me..." whispered Liana. She reached up and brushed Anthea's face with her trembling hand. Upon the feather-light touch, Anthea's full attention came back to Liana's broken body and fading spirit.
"Mother loved you very much. She'd never be able to bear it if something were to happen to you. I was trying to protect you when I told you to stay away from here. I trust you, I really do..."
Deep coughs tore away at her throat and fragile words.
"Please, be still. Help is almost-."
"No, stop it, sweetie. It's time...I'm going to see Mother..."
The little girl's delusions started fading away. She began to realize the full extent of the damage. Liana had barely a body left, and her sister's possible death started to slowly sink in.
"Liana, don't...please, no..." she sobbed. Her sister gave her a warm, faint smile. Oddly enough, she began singing.
"Leaves...are falling from the trees...feathers flutter in...in the breeze..." she sang in her soft, sweet voice. 'My...she's singing my lullaby...' thought Anthea as her heart began to implode. She gripped her sister's hand for dear life, allowing her shaking voice to join Liana's.
"To the sun we say goodbye...as we sing Anthea's lullaby..."
The EMT doctors finally began to unload the stretchers from their trucks. They approached the others and began their work. Liana and Anthea were left unattended.
"Rest your eyes, my little dove...Mother's watching from above...Her spirit rests beyond the moon..."
Liana began coughing violently. Her body quivered, and her lips were beginning to resemble blueberries. She tried to sing, but no words escaped her mouth. Anthea leaned in and held her, Liana responding with a one armed hug. She sang, quiet as a mouse, into her sister's ear, "Mother's going to see me soon..."
Anthea cried into her sister's shoulder, Liana's blood staining her clothes, her soul.
"I...I love you, Liana..."
Her frame went limp in her arms just as an EMT approached her.
"Miss, back away, quickly! Backup! Over here!"
A spark of hope lit up in her chest. Fire swam quickly into her veins. She jumped back and let the men and women do their magic. They moved frantically and spoke in tounges of medical terms that Anthea didn't understand. Fear and anxiousness began to numb her as they began shouting, "Clear!" and making her body jump. After several tries, they began shaking their heads, muttering, "What a shame," and "That's just horrible." As a medic dragged a tarp towards her, Anthea approached him and asked, "What's going on? What's going to happen to my sister?" The man pulled the tarp of over Liana's body, then held Anthea's shoulder and said, "Sweetie, I'm terribly sorry, but...your sister is dead..."