The Darkest Corners by Barry Hutchison

pads and held them by my side. The wires attaching them to the machine were coiled like old-style telephone cables, which meant I’d have plenty of room to manoeuvre.
    â€˜OK,’ I said. ‘Open the door.’
    The monster on the other side thumped hard against it. Ameena stared at me in disbelief. ‘Open it? Are you nuts?’
    I shrugged. ‘We’ll find out in a minute.’ I readied myself. ‘Do it. Now. And stay out of sight.’
    Ameena yanked open the door just as the brute hurled itself again. It came charging through, its long arms swinging, a serpent-like tongue flicking across its bulging eyeballs.
    It ran straight for me, grunting and snorting through its snout of a nose. I dodged as it made its final lunge, brought up both pads and clamped them down on to the monster’s head.
    There was a sound like a camera flash going off. I felt a jolt travel the length of my arms. The creature’s whole body went rigid for a moment, then it clattered against the wall, bounced off and fell to the floor.
    We watched it for a few moments, hoping it wouldn’t get back up. After a while, I nudged it with my bare foot. It didn’t react, and I realised it was quite probably dead.
    â€˜I think you’re supposed to say “Clear” before you use those things,’ Ameena said.
    â€˜Oh yeah,’ I said, still staring at the fallen monster. ‘ Clear .’
    I put the pads back into their holders on the side of the defibrillator and switched the machine off. My fingers traced along the button and down the metal case.
    â€˜I made this,’ I said. The idea seemed alien. Yes, I’d used my abilities to create things before, but nothing this complicated. And I hadn’t even been thinking about it. My head spun. Just how powerful had my abilities been? Now I would never know.
    â€˜So,’ Ameena began. She had her hands in her pockets and was swinging one foot idly above the floor. ‘We OK?’
    I should hate her. I wanted to hate her.
    â€˜No,’ I told her. ‘We’re not.’
    â€˜Oh. Right, yeah,’ she said. ‘I mean… that’s fair enough.’
    â€˜Why you?’
    She raised her eyes to mine. ‘What?’
    â€˜Why you? Why did he send you?’
    Ameena shrugged. ‘He brought me up.’
    â€˜He what?’
    â€˜He brought me up. He’s your dad, but you see… Well, he’s my dad too.’ She smiled weakly. ‘I’m your sister, kiddo.’
    My mouth dropped open. ‘You’re my sister ?’ I spluttered. ‘But… but… I kissed you !’
    â€˜Yeah, I know, ya sicko,’ she said.
    â€˜My sister ?’
    A smile cracked across her face. ‘Nah, not really,’ she grinned. ‘Just kidding.’
    I almost smiled. Almost. But a sudden swelling of anger pushed it aside. ‘You don’t get to do that,’ I said, grabbing her by the shoulders. ‘You don’t get to do that any more! You don’t get to make jokes and laugh and pretend like everything’s OK. Everything is not OK! Everything is never going to be OK again!’
    I shoved her harder than I meant to. She gave a yelp as she tumbled to the floor beside the fallen thing. She peered up at me through a curtain of hair and did her best to fight back tears.
    â€˜You hate me. I get that,’ she said. ‘But what you said earlier, about me picking him over you, that’s not right. As far as I knew there was only ever him. He’s not my dad, but he may as well be. He saved me when I landed in the Darkest Corners.’
    She glanced at the monster lying dead on the floorboards. ‘Saved me from things like that. I would’ve been killed if it wasn’t for him. Or worse. He looked after me and fed me and kept me safe.’ A tear broke through her defences. She whipped it quickly away. ‘And now I see he was using me the whole time. He was preparing me