Page 11 of His

Kat

The world bled into my vision. Dizzy, I raised my head and looked up. I was in a hallway. The front door was right there. I was inside. Inside his house.Oh, god.

“Wha… what?” I mumbled. I blinked hard, the dizziness making the floor under me fuzzy and indistinct. It was hard. Wood.

“Who are you?”

I turned my head to see Fabio standing next to me, his knife in his hand. Don’t be afraid, he’d said, and then he’d stuck me with something in my neck.

Well, I wasn’t afraid. I was fuckingterrified.

“I’m sorry,” I gasped. My hand shook in front of me as I shielded myself with one arm. My other hand was planted on the floor. Another wave of dizziness swept through me. How long had I been out? “I didn’t... I didn’t see anything!”

“Really? You were running quite fast for someone who didn’t see anything.”

“I didn’t!” I touched my neck and my hand came away with a small smear of blood. It must have been a needle. Something to paralyze me. My mouth was cottony. He leaned toward me and I cringed back. “Please! Please! I didn—”

“Are you with the police?”

I stared in blank terror at the knife he held in his hand. The sharp edge glinted in the dim hallway light. If I told him yes, would he kill me? Or if I told him no? I looked up to his face, trying to make out his features. He didn’t... he didn’t look angry at all. He looked calm. I swallowed. Maybe it was okay. Maybe I could reason my way out of this.

“Please,” I said, trying to speak calmly. “I’m sorry for trespassing—”

Big mistake. The man grabbed me by my hair and pulled me to my feet. I screamed and tried to reach for the door, but he jerked my head back against his chest, raising the knife to my throat.

“Shhh,” he said. I stopped mid-scream, my mouth still hanging open. The metal edge of the knife was cold as ice on my throat. If I shifted my weight, it would slice me open as easy as anything.Ohnononono.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” the man said. “But I will if I have to.”

“Please, no,” I whimpered. “Please—”

“No more talking,” the man said. “Just smile and nod for yes, or shake your head for no. Okay?”

I opened my mouth to say okay, then realized my mistake. I pressed my lips together and nodded slightly. The edge of the knife was sharp against my skin.

“One more time, then. Are you with the police?”

I shook my head no.

“Is your car out on the road?”

I nodded yes.

“Is there anybody else out there?”

I hesitated, then shook my head no.

“Does anybody know you’re gone?”

What would he do to me? Would he kill me if he knew somebody was out there looking for me? Or the other way around? I didn’t know, and I was so scared that I fell back on the truth. I couldn’t help the tears running down my face as I shook my head.

No. Nobody knows I’m gone. Nobody knows I’m here. There’s nobody coming to save me.

Gav

Spring cleaning was my favorite time of year. Cleaning itself was glorious. The shiny sink, the gleaming floors. The bright windows looking out on the pine trees.

And in spring I allowed myself to kill early, before the shadow crept in on me and began to rot me from the inside out. I hadreallybeen looking forward to this kill, to getting rid of the shadow. And then she had to pop into my nice clean world and mess everything up.

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