Pages scattered across the floor of a desolate room. The sound of their weight resting on the ground, was all that could be heard.

Amidst this chaotic sea of literature, Elara, dressed in a pale yellow gown, sat alone at a worn-out wooden desk, her haggard gaze fixed upon the disarray before her.

She held a pen in her hand, but it hung listlessly, as the reflection of black words swam in her eyes.

'I hate this.'

A single thought bounced on the walls of her mind.

'I hate this, I hate this…I'

The pen broke in her hand and the abyss of black ink poured out; polluting the remaining papers. Scribbled words quickly joined the black mass disappearing from reality.

The girl was entranced, as if the pages and ink were a black hole, consuming her existence.

The isolation was so profound that even the sound of her despair was inaudible, lost in the boundless emptiness.

Suddenly, a loud, jarring noise ruptured the stillness, yanking Elara back to reality.

"Hey! What the hell, Elara! What are you doing in there!"

A man shouted while recklessly banging on the door. His shouts equally as furious as his slamming fist.

Elara cast a weary glance toward the door before, kicking her chair back and walking over. With a dead pan expression, she swung it open to meet the gaze of her brother.

From his active movement's his shouts had turned into huffs and puffs, but his previous madness was still apparent from his bright red expression.

The man's eyes meet her own, and she could see rage and the promise of violence brewing underneath.

She sighed. Her brother was always so tiring.

"What do you want Alec?" Elara asked lazily resting her head against the edge of the open door.

"The manuscript where-" Alec began, his tone frantic and impatient.

"Oh I quit… was that all?"

Elara waved him off and moved to close the door, but Alec quickly blocked it with his foot and pushed it back open. A bit of hesitation entered his voice.

"What do you mean? The publishing office is breathing down my neck about the next book in the series. Stop joking around, Elara. Where..."

The man trailed off, his sight pointed directly behind her on her disheveled desk.

"Oh you fu*king bit*h…" without much effort, Alec shoved her aside and entered the room. His hands were stained in ink as he grabbed at the paper's with shaking pupils.

His fingers tightened around the destroyed paper, crumbling it into a ball. "OH YOU FU*KING BIT*H!"

Turning on to his sister, Alec stalked toward her in a daze, allowing the crumbled pages to fall out of his hands.

"Tell me you didn't destroy the manuscript. Elara please tell me you didn't do this to me... Do you know how much debt I owe? Are you trying to kill your little brother?"

His eyes were still murky as he grabbed her shoulders. The ink spread onto her pale yellow dress.

With a desperate expression he shook her softly. "If you destroyed it, we won't get enough money in time… If we don't get enough…"

He trailed off, Elara stared at the distraught man in sadness.

"Alec, it's gone. I am done writing. This is done."

Elara stepped out of his grasp and walked around his towering figure. She didn't know what his reaction will be, but she knew that she could never continue her life the way it currently was.

"So you are choosing to end my life."

"I have already ended your life. Alec."

Elara started to pick up some of the mess she created.

"I ended it the day I agreed to your plan. You promised me once we made enough money to live comfortably, I could write what I wanted. Now where did that go? Gone? Along with all of the money you threw away on alcohol, whores, and gambling. Alec you've turned into a monster. Look at you."

Elara could feel the guilt manifest into tears in her eyes, but pushed them away. Her family was taught to abhor crying; It never solved a thing.

"I am a monster? What are you!"

Alec swung around to meet her eyes allowing her to see the crazed flames igniting inside.

She took steps back, her hand securely wrapping around a fountain pen on her desk.

"I created you! The name that your books exist under are mine! You are nothing but a woman, nothing without me."

After every huffed out word, Alec came to

stand in front of her.

The act was made in an effort to intimidate her, but all Elara could see were the dark circles under his eyes and the lack of awareness in his eyes from constant alcohol consumption.

If she continued this way, she would more than sell out her writing. She would be signing the deal of her brother's and her own soul to the devil. She couldn't do this anymore, she wasn't saving him, she was only feeding his issue.

Alec attempted at reasoning one more time. His large face twisting into a pitiful expression. His big sister seemed cold, but always did whatever she could to support him. There is no way she would let him die.

"Ok, let me pay off the people I owe and I'll stop. Thank you Elara for talking sense into me. Haha. You said you wanted to work for some feminist magazine? I know someone I'll arrange it." He let out a quiet laugh and took her in for a hug.

Elara nonchalantly hugged him back, "Of course brother, but unfortunately you said those words the last times I tried to reason with you."

His hug went slack and one of his hands moved toward her neck.

"When your alcohol addiction grew to a harrowing amount leading me to get rid of your stash here, do you remember what you did to me. Interesting enough, you said the same words then. With that in mind you should stop drinking and get a d*m job."

Alec's hand had firmly grasped her neck and he stepped back. Laughing dryly again, his eyes were pitch black as he looked at her.

"It's too late regardless. If I don't pay them at least three-thousand dollars by next Monday, I'm dead. You've always hated the fame I received didn't you."

The hand on her neck tightened slowly until Elara struggled to breathe. Her hand tightened around the fountain pen. Her eyes focused in on his neck, however when she lifted her hand it came plunging down on only his hand.

"FU*K!"

Alec stumbled back holding his now gushing appendage. Not giving him time to recover; Elara dived past him and into the corridor.

That wasn't her brother anymore, she needed to get out now.

Elara went to open the door of their New York apartment before a shot went off. A pain engulfed her body causing her to slouch down against the edge of the sofa.

In the hallway, Alec stared at her behind a smoking gun.

His bleeding hand sat limply at his side as he walked up to her.

"Without me, you won't survive Elara. Consider this my way of returning the favor for trying to help me."

Elara stared silently as her brother lifted his gun.

Outside of the apartment a flash came and went from the windows, officially marking the end of Elara's life.