Page 30 of Your Soul Is Ours

“As for the smell, it dwindled away until one day, I didn’t even notice it. But I have a weird thing about the floor. I hate when they piss or shit on it or, even worse, if I have to kill or hurt them before the table. I just hate when the floor is stained.”

“Did you used to get in trouble when you spilled on the floor?”

I think about it as I parallel park, letting my mind scan through my memories. “Yeah, actually, I think so. I can’t really remember. My father probably tried his best being the only one raising me, but he was a spiteful old bastard.”

“It makes sense. I hate cleaning. Remember my mother told you I can’t look after myself? I can. I just hate cleaning. Growing up, I would always do my best to help her and clean around the house, but it was never good enough. It didn’t matter how hard I tried, they always saw it as the worst job ever. Now I hate it.”

I turn the car off and nod. “It makes sense. I wish I could have found you sooner, because I would have saved you years ago.”

As we leave the car, I circle to Marla’s side and she takes my hand as we walk into her apartment.

“I wish we could have met sooner, too.”

“I just have to grab my laptop so I can try to work on some things for my clients.” I walk towards the back porch.

“There’s no reason to rush. Take your time.” I’ve kept tabs on her apartment, and I know everything has been going as it should. While I sit out back, I light a cigarette and pull out my phone to put in our order for tacos. We should probably try new food.

She comes out and lights a smoke. “I wonder who the new landlord is. They are doing a much better job. I can’t believe how clean the building is. They even fixed my sink, which has been broken for like a year.”

Not saying anything, I just watch her. Her dark hair falls perfectly on her shoulders. I love the way her face gets animated as she talks about things that are important to her. I’ve fallen so fucking hard. I knew for a long time I desired her to be mine, but I had no idea that I would give the air in my lungs if she wanted me to.

“Are you even listening?” I crack a smile and bite my bottom lip, and she groans. “Fine, whatever.”

“Your beauty, which sounds incredibly cheesy, distracted me. How many dates do you think we’ve had?”

She squints her eyes and curls her lips in a‘what the fuck is wrong with your brain’kinda way. “What?”

“Just wondered if we were coming up to our fifth date. You know what that is, right?” A smirk forms on my face.

“You are a doofus,” she laughs and stubs out her cigarette.

“A marriage proposal. You promised, fifth date,” I tell her, and we laugh as we walk through the apartment. She locks up, and we head to the car to pick up the taco order.

“It wasn’t a promise. We never even shook on it.” I pout as I get into the car and drive to the restaurant.

“If someone was going to put a ring on your finger, what kind of ring would you want?” I already know what I want to make. It’s another oddity to find, or so I’ll probably tell her. I have the tooth picked out. I’ve sealed it in epoxy resin so it will withstandchips and damage. The metal has been harder to form than the earrings were, but I think after a few more weeks I’ll be able to figure it out.

“One of a kind, obviously,” she says as we reach the taco place.

I smile as she gets out of the car to grab our order. I don’t know if eating before killing is the right move for her, but I don’t want her to pass out, and I know that afterward, the high is sometimes too much to want to eat.

"Can we eat by the water before we go back?" she asks. "It's depressing there, but I love the water. It always helps me."

I drive to the lake. The park has long been abandoned since the decay of the city has become worse. We get out of the car, walk to a rickety picnic table, and sit on top of it as we open our dinner.

“You ordered burritos?” She asks as she unwraps hers. “Yeah, I thought we should branch out. Maybe next time we can even get pizza.”

She rolls her eyes, inching closer to me so our shoulders are touching, and eats her food. While I look out over the water, I listen to her eat. “Well, what’s the verdict? Can we add a new menu item?”

“Yeah, it’s better than I thought it would be, and I guess trying new foods won’t kill me,” Marla says.

We stand and I grab her wrapper, and her hand with my other hand. “Ready to do this?” I ask, tossing out our garbage.

“As ready as I can be.”

“You know, I’ll do it all for you.”

She nods as we reach the car. “I know. I can say what I have to get off my chest and you’ll do the dirty work. But I need this. Being with you makes me happier. I don’t feel as cloaked by the demons wrestling in my head, but this adds something I can’t describe.” The feelings are indescribable. No words can expresshow it feels to take away the life of someone who has hurt you deeply.

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