Page 22 of Snowman

"Disgusting," she spat.

"They were all bad people," I said so casually, as though that somehow excused it, that with one simple justification, the truth should be rewritten.

"I doubt that," she shot back. She pushed herself further away, creating more space between us.

She was a defiant one, and it irritated me, needling under my skin.

I blinked twice, my patience fraying. "I first torture them," I said, my tone growing darker and colder. "Before I cut them to pieces."

Her body went stiff. She turned back to me then, kneeling. Her eyes scanned mine, but I wouldn't meet them, facing instead the window I came in through. I could smell her fear, rising out of her, thickening the air around us. It was an infectious thing, it made me feel the need to keep going; to confess, to lay it all bare.

"It's so good to tell someone," I said, my voice smooth, almost amused. "To finally confess."

"You're mad," she said, her voice trembling as she fell back onto the floor. She crawled away, inching toward the opposite wall, her eyes wide and unblinking.

I moved my head to one side, observing her reaction with detached curiosity.

"No," I whispered, lying through my teeth as a faint smile curled my lips. "I just have a bad reputation."

I knelt again, my palms pressed flat against the floor as I crawled closer to her. The movements were slow.

"You know what I love the most?" I asked, my voice dropping to a near whisper. "When I get in while they're asleep when they're most vulnerable."

Her breathing was in sharp, shallow gasps, her chest rising and falling in quick succession. She did not move, frozen on the spot.

"I take my knife," I said, my fingers brushing the floorboards. "And I place it right here." I reached out, tracing a line along her leg, my touch light but intentional, moving toward her inner thigh.

She swallowed hard, her lips trembling as she pushed my hand away. Her movements were shaky, panicked.

I chuckled, leaning in closer. "You'd like that, wouldn't you,birdie?" I growled lowly, tauntingly, my voice low. "C'mon, admit it."

"Stay back," she stammered, her tone cracking. Her breathing now, frantic, came with a raw fear in each uttered word.

"Imagine," I said, my voice all but dripping with mock seduction as I leaned in closer. My hand moved onto her back, tracing along the line of her spine downwards to the curve at the bottom. "Imagine how it would feel inside of you. The way you'd twitch… but couldn't move."

I took a single, rapid step to pull her all the way into me; falling backward onto the hardwood floor and bringing her down with me. She lay on top of me shaking, my palms planted into her sides, urging her closer into my body.

"Can you imagine it,birdie?" I murmured low against her ear.

But as I shifted, rolling her beneath me, something inside her shifted. Her hand flew to her ribs and her face twisted in a silent scream into her palm. She pushed weakly at me, tears welling up in her eyes. I froze. The tension bled from my body as I stared at her.

Slowly, I rose to my feet, my eyes dark and searching. Her coat was loose on her, the zipper calling my attention. In one swift move, I yanked it down, revealing her shirt underneath. My hands lifted the fabric instinctively. Her skin was a field of bruises, dark and angry, sprawling across her ribs and sides. Faint red marks told the story of her pain and my chest tightened.

"What happened?" I demanded, my voice low but edged with fury.

She shook her head, her trembling hands pulling the shirt back down. Tears were streaked across her face as she whispered, "I fell." I snorted loudly, a harsh, acid sound.

"Aha," I hummed. My fists clenched as I stared at her, my mind racing with possibilities.

I stood, my body rigid as I moved toward the stairs. My blood was boiling in my body, my fists so tightly clenched that my nails dug into my palms. But before I could take a step, her voice stopped me.

"You can't," she said in a weak voice, shaking. "It's locked."

Locked. Beaten, and locked.

The words rang in me like a blow to the chest. My vision blurred with anger.

I will burn this place to the ground.

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