Chapter 9 #2
Loyalty rages where secrets come out. That’s why, when drinks go down, a truth bursts out… or should I rephrase? When a knife falls, blood flows.
Great.
Another note.
“Did you write this note?” I ask, narrowing my eyes into slits.
“Not my style, Winnie. Someone must have slipped it into my pocket.”
“Call her, Winnie, one more time, and I will rip your teeth out one by one and watch you scream in pain with a smile.” Jason lashes out, tightening his grip around the knife’s handle.
I bite my bottom lip, the taste of copper flooding my mouth. Confusion washes over me in waves as thoughts swarm my mind.
He was the one dressed as a cop at the party. He is too young to be someone from the circus, given that it’s been sixteen years since it was burned. He should be around my age.
I shift my gaze to Jason.
What if the notes predicted what was about to happen to me?
There’s a bear out here, and a killer on the run. What happens if the killer dies?
Can the killer be replaced?
This is so twisted and fucked up. The more I think about it, the faster I reach a dead end. Again. I have more questions than answers.
I pull myself up, take a deep breath, and slam my hand into Jason’s chest. He catches the note as I walk away and pace along the ledge, dragging my boots through the mud.
My head snaps back to them when Jason yanks Spider-Web-Face up to his feet and whispers something. In the blink of an eye, he rams himself into him like a bull, pushing Jason forward.
The waves crash against the large rocks.
He uses the stream as a compass—he can’t see, but he can hear.
I move away from the ledge and scream. “Jason, he can hear the ocean!”
“Let’s dive, shall we?”
He only shoves Jason an inch from the edge before Jason throws him to the ground, getting his boot in his face.
The staccato repetition of his brutal strikes turns what looked like a beautiful forest into a death trap.
I’m caught in a dance of death with a vicious killer and a psycho with a morbid sense of humor.
Jason throws a middle finger to the sky and crosses every red line he can find, cutting the corners of his mouth.
“Who sent you?” Jason barks again.
“My dad!” Spider-Web-Face yells, spitting blood on the grass.
I don’t think he’s lying this time.
“Jason, stop!” I run to him, placing myself between the two. “He’s barely conscious and clearly on something.”
“He wants you dead.” Jason’s words come out harsh and resonant. “End his life, or I will. Go back to your tower or stay out of my way.”
With the mask still covering half his face, his unhinged look still encounters me. His eyes are dark and remorseless. I can almost taste his venom on the tip of my tongue.
I suppress my shock and wrap my fingers around the handle of the knife in his hand. With a quick nod, I pull it out.
My fingers brush against the handle, feeling a carving on it.
“Fine. He came here looking for my blood. He wants to cut me. Break me. Strip me of my body. I will kill him.”
His chest rises and falls quickly as he steps back.
I have spent too much time building fences around myself. I know my husband won’t appear magically, which still hurts, but I need to find my voice again, grab it with both hands, and shout it to the world.
Maybe this is the new me.
The one who takes action instead of being behind a screen, trying to help people, I can’t. That’s one of the reasons I left my former job.
I turn around to face my attacker. That voice rings in my ear again.
“Winona, I will do anything to protect you.”
“So am I,” I murmur.
“Go on, Winnie,” he says in a weak voice. “Kill me for the useless shit you call a husband. Don’t you want to move on and be with someone who will love you forever? That’s all I wanted to do. I am better than him.”
I climb on top of him.
“Yes, ride me. Let’s get this party started.”
His words dissolve as I plunge the knife into his eye, tearing a hole through the fabric covering it. Blood flows through it as I yank it back.
He shrinks in pain and screams, “fuck,” before the blade of the knife in my hand slashes his throat. I channel all the anger flowing through my veins, allowing my hand to cut deep just as my husband taught me.
Gargling sounds envelop me, and I inhale each one in.
It’s not enough.
I stab him again and again and again.
In the throat. In the chest. In the abdomen.
You deserve to die, and I deserve to live.
You deserve to die, and I deserve to live.
He deserves to live, and you deserve to die.
Die.
Fucking die.
You are not going to kill me.
You’re dead.
Dead.
I chuckle as my chest heaves with deep breaths.
Tears fill my eyes.
No one is going to take anything away from me. Not him. Not the Halloween Killers. Not the fucking person who tries to mess with my head.
I’m not his.
I’m not anyone’s.
I can save myself.
I will become whoever I need to be to put an end to this cancerous disease. If they get caught in the line of fire, they will burn with the flames I ignited.
A grin slowly spreads across my mouth.
“Winona.” Jason’s voice pulls me out of it, snapping me back. The knife slips from my hand onto the forest floor. My arms fall limply to my sides.
I heave loudly, sucking in the air greedily before I realize the extent of the damage I’ve inflicted. His blood looks black under the heavy shadows of the night, of the man behind me, but dark red when my eyes adjust.
I kick my legs away from him and drop to the ground. I gasp and wiggle my soggy fingers. The icy breeze paralyzes me. My hands become numb, and so do the tips of my toes. If this continues, my heart will stop beating as well.
Pressure builds behind my eyes, tightening its vise-like grip around my head.
My legs order me to get off the ground and into the tower. I gather my stun gun from the mud and step inside. My body is on autopilot. My mind is completely blank.
I didn’t expect my first time to look like this. I didn’t expect it to be pretty either, but… I don’t know.
All the pain I had bottled up inside was finally released.
I climb the stairs to my bedroom, barely feeling my heartbeat as I inhale through my mouth and lower myself to the floor.
What have I done?
The silvery glow of the moon filters through the window, drawing my attention until my sight begins to cloud with dark spots.
“Winona, please answer me,” Jason’s voice startles me.
I crawl toward the nightstand to grab the radio with trembling hands. But when I try to respond, no words come out.