Page 105 of Making Home with You
“Stop what?”she shouts, her voice shrill.“Stop loving you?Stop caring for you, caring about you?How can I do that…how?”Her voice cracks, the words coming out high and rushed like she’s barely aware of what she’s even saying.It scares the shit out of me to see her like this.To witness this strange obsession first hand.To know it really is a delusion.
“Please,” I say, hands out as I step toward her.“It doesn’t have to be like this.”
“Yes,” Carla says now, her voice strangely calm.“This is exactly how it has to be,” she adds as she lunges at Sarah with the knife.
“Fuck!”I scream as fear all but paralyzes me.
Chapter Thirty-One
Sarah
I can’t even process what is happening.I’m emotionally and physically exhausted from all the shit that went down with Andrew just hours ago and now I’m dealing with a psycho who thinks my boyfriend belongs to her.
She’s unstable, but she’s also weak and exhausted, and it shows on her face.The dark purple circles that rim her eyes and her matted unkempt hair, says she hasn’t slept or showered in days.Her normally heavily made up face is red and blotchy, aging her well beyond her early thirties.
She looks far from stable and when she lunges at me, she’s slow and awkward, and the knife is pointed down.
I grab hold of her wrist just as the sirens cry out in the distance.It won’t be long before the police arrive and arrest her, but she doesn’t seem concerned.
Her eyes shoot down to where my hand clutches her wrist and she yanks hard trying to break free, but I hold firm.My other hand wraps around the base of the knife, again holding it in place.
“Let go!”Carla screams in my face and her breath reeks of booze and cigarettes and dirty teeth, but I don’t relent.
“You don’t want to do this,” I say, shaking my head at her, our eyes locked together.“Just put the knife down.Listen, the police will be here any minute and right now, you’re in a good place.”
I’m trying to talk her down, bide time until the police arrive, but I can tell out of the corner of my eye, Finn doesn’t like the idea.He’s moving toward us and I know it’s going to throw Carla into a tailspin.
As soon as she realizes he’s coming to protect me, she’s going to up her game.And if Ryan has taught me anything about the crazy and the unstable, it’s that they’re unpredictable and that when push comes to shove, they lose their shit.
I can’t look away from her and risk losing the edge I currently have on her, but I can’t let Finn come any closer either.
“Stay away!”I yell, but it’s like Finn doesn’t hear me, too wrapped up in my safety.“Seriously, Finn!”
“Listen to her, Finn,” Carla chides manically, a high-pitch laugh ringing out above the sound of the sirens.
When Finn finally stops, the sound of his feet no longer moving along the worn wooden planks of the dock, I breathe out slowly.
“If you kill me, they will arrest you,” I whisper to Carla.She’s quiet, taking in my words and I use the opportunity to get inside her head.“I want you to put the knife down and go to Finn.”
Her eyes find mine, and she smiles, but it’s sad and I watch the tears well up in her eyes.
“If you kill me, you’ll never be able to be with him.”
She contemplates my words, and all I can hope is that she’s too manic to realize I’m setting her up.
I feel her grip on the knife loosen, but the pounding feet of the incoming police officers shake the dock and Carla snaps back to life.
She again begins to push the knife toward my body, the tip nearly poking my thigh and it takes what little strength I have left to force it away.
“Call them off!”I scream at Finn, my eyes darting quickly to his and then back to Carla.I know any disturbance in what I’ve already stabilized will just set us back and I’m not sure I have the resolve to see this out any longer.
As much as I despise Carla for what she’s done, I don’t want her dead, but with the way the police are aiming their guns at her, I can’t help but think that’s what they want.
It won’t fix the situation.Carla is sick, and she needs more help than the criminal justice system can provide.I need to walk away from this unscathed, because right now Carla is looking at minimal time in prison.But if she stabs me, they can get her for attempted murder.
I don’t want that for her.She needs to be in a mental health facility where doctors can treat her and help her find a way to a stable life.
Finn holds a hand up and the group of officers stop in their tracks, but one officer in particular doesn’t seem as keen as the others to back off.
