Chapter 24 #2
The image that he paints has more bile spewing from my lips, and I dry heave, even when I have nothing left, as he watches and laughs cruelly.
I force myself to keep going, closer and closer to my cape, but I know I’m not going to make it.
A glint catches my eyes in a beam of moonlight and I realize it’s the blade he dropped when he chased me.
It’s closer than the cape, and while Noah doesn’t seem to be in a rush to murder me just yet, his psychotic and unpredictable behavior won’t allow me to bet my life on it.
I veer toward his blade and make it look like I’m trying to dart into a deeper part of the woods to get away from him.
"Just stop and beg me for forgiveness, sweet baby girl, and this can all be over with.
I'll take you to our new home, and treat you like a princess. "
"A princess in chains, Noah?" I gasp. He quickens his strides, reaching me and kicking at me with his heavy boot, which lands on my thigh, forcing me to stumble into the dirt, but I refuse to stay down and give in meekly to him. I will not die in these woods at the hand of a man I once loved.
"It doesn't have to be this way, Cordelie.
Don't you see all I've done for you, baby?
I killed that disgusting monster from the club.
He'll never touch you again, or anyone else.
" Just a few more feet, keep going, I tell myself over and over as I drag my body forward, my asscheeks raw from scraping across the forest debris.
He lands another kick, this one hitting me in the side.
He does it again, and I feel something break in my abdomen.
My upper body falls down into the dirt, my chin and cheek smacking hard into a broken branch as I gasp with pain, and breathe heavily.
The wave of pain is excruciating, and I'm positive I can taste blood in my mouth. Regardless, I force myself to keep crawling forward, my skin tearing against the hard ground, even as he laughs at my expense. He’s trailing me slowly once more, his cock back in his fist, as he toys with me as if he’s getting depraved satisfaction watching me pitifully trying to get away.
He’s a spider and I’m a fly trapped in his web.
“Sweet baby girl,” he cackles and taunts me, the sound filled with malevolence and rage, and I'm afraid to look back at him to see his expression.
He killed the guy from the club, not just mutilated him. Oh my fucking God.
"I even left Josslyn for good for you, baby.
She won't be coming between us ever again.
" He laughs manically once more. "She won't be coming ever again, the dirty whore, you can't come if you're not breathing.
" What is he saying? Did he kill Josslyn too?
If it's possible, a new wave of misery and terror swamps over me, at the realization that Noah is a killer.
"I'll confess, baby, I had to fuck her one last time before I put her out of her misery.
You'll have to forgive me for that trespass.
I couldn't help myself from taking one last turn with her cunt. "
Just a few more feet, I can almost reach out and grab the discarded blade. Keep him talking. Distract him. You need to stay alive until help arrives. It’s a fervent prayer inside my mind.
If help arrives. You're banking on that little watch saving you? Pathetic. You're going to die here, murdered by a madman who's killed at least two other people.
"Why, Noah?! Why kill them?! Why do any of this?! You and I are over. I don't want to be with you. Why can't you leave me alone?!" I risk looking back at him, watching an evil scowl break across his face. He looks monstrous right now. His hands clench at his sides, and I can see the rage permeating off of him in the tension in his body. He wants to hurt me some more. He’s confident no one will stop him, that’s why he’s taking his time and playing these sick games with me. He’s trying to break not only my body, and spirit, but my mind.
Gone is the man who used to walk me to class, and give me finger kisses.
Gone is the man who would stay up late at night, and whisper sweet nothings in my ear.
Gone is the man who once promised me a future that I couldn't wait to reach for, filled with a home, children, and a dog.
We were going to have the perfect life once, but he destroyed that with his lies, and now he's trying to annihilate what's left of my sanity, and kidnap me to make me live a future filled with pain in captivity.
I use my body to shield what I’m doing as my fingers finally tighten around his blade, slicing my digits in the process, but I refuse to release my hold on it.
I tuck the blade between my injured arm and my heaving chest, using my thumb to hold onto my damaged arm’s wrist and pressing it firmly against my chilled ribcage, in an attempt to hide it from him.
My grip is precarious, my digits slippery with blood, but I pray with everything in me that it will stay put.
I groan with pain as I take in a labored breath.
My body is begging for rest, even though my mind knows that's a death sentence.
My ears listen for the sound of sirens, but the night air is silent other than our heavy breaths.
You're going to die. This will be the end of you.
"I will forgive you, Noah, if you let me go, please," I beg, even though I know there's not a chance in hell of that happening.
He's already past the point of no return, and the madness inside of him has turned him into what I see before me tonight.
The Noah I knew never existed; it was all a facade.
It was always what he wanted me to see, and I missed the signs of how insane, unhinged, and obsessive he truly was.
"Forgive me? Sweet baby girl, I don't need you to forgive me.
You belong to me. What happened in the past will remain in the past, and we will start a new future together.
You'll see I'll make you happy now." He crouches down before me, reaching forward and grasping my neck, and I'm powerless to stop him. I refuse to release my hold on the blade, and my other arm is useless at the moment. His eyes are pitch black as they meet mine, and I have to swallow the lump in my throat, and clear it a few times to get any words out. I can’t die at this monster’s hands. If he thinks he’s taking me out of this forest, he has another thing coming.
I would rather end my life than live one as his prisoner.
"You'll make me happy, Noah? Promise?" I question, clearing my face of all my emotions.
I lean closer to his face, and as if he's entranced, he allows it.
He licks his lips, like he can't live without a taste of me.
His eyes flick back and forth over my features, and I'm not sure what he sees, but it must reassure him that I'm done fighting him.
I can feel blood trickling down from the corner of my lip, as he reaches forward and swipes his thumb, wiping it up, before bringing it to his lips and licking it away, and groaning with satisfaction. "I promise, sweet baby girl. I'll make you so happy. You'll want for nothing."
A soft look crosses his features, and I get a quick glimpse of the Noah I knew from before.
The one that I thought loved me like I loved him.
Instead of breaking me, it strengthens my resolve, and I press my nose against his.
"Then kiss me, Noah. Make me believe that you have always loved me, and that I will be happy at your side. "
He doesn't hesitate to press his lips against my mouth, his tongue instantly breaching through my lips and tangling with mine.
His hand rises gently to cradle my face, and the other tangles in my hair at the back of my head, angling me so he can kiss me deeper.
Little growling sounds vibrate in his throat as he kisses me passionately with his eyes closed.
I never bothered to close mine, and I stare at the man that was once my everything, all of the sunshine in my world, who has now become my darkest nightmare.
I allow my limp arm to be cradled between our bodies, as he tries to move impossibly closer.
He's so lost in the kiss, and my surrender, that he doesn't see my hand move with the blade as I shift it out from below my other arm, or when I shift it in my grasp so that I’m holding the hilt tightly in my bloody, clenched fist. He moans sweetly into my mouth, as I tangle my tongue with his, and I thrust my arm forward with my last remaining strength, and the need to survive at all costs.
I slam the blade into the side of his throat, and his lips stop moving against mine, a gasp ripping into my mouth.
I keep pushing it through his vulnerable skin, even as I bite down as hard as I can on his tongue, as he tries to pull away.
I keep kissing him, my lips trembling as his eyes dart open, and he stares with pain and horror into mine.
He makes a ragged sound in his throat, his mouth falling open and his eyes wide, as a tear slides from the corner and makes its way down his high cheekbone, lost between us.
I pull back, releasing my hold on the blade that's now firmly lodged in his throat, and I peck his lips once more, which now have blood tinging them.
My hand rises, and I cradle the side of his face in my palm, as I stare deeply into his pained gaze as tears cascade down my face.
"I'm sorry, Noah, but I choose me, and a life without you. "
He gurgles, his hand reaching uselessly to pry the blade from his neck, but I swat it away, and I propel my body away from him, scrambling the last couple of feet to my cape, my body feeling numb with the shock of what I just did.
I frantically tear out the pocket knife, engaging it and tightening my grasp around it.
With a rage-filled scream, I shuffle back, my body swaying, and slam it into his eye, as he clutches uselessly at his bloody throat.
"Josslyn was a bitch, but she deserved better!
I deserved better! You hurt everyone you ever came into contact with! I hope you rot in fucking hell!"
His body falls sideways, as blood rushes out of his eye and from his neck, tainting the hard-packed dirt around him.
I lean forward and remove my stupid shoes, with trembling fingers caked in his blood.
Once I'm free of them, I cradle my injured arm against my body, as I force myself to my feet and limp back toward my car.
It feels like it takes hours to reach it, and when I do, I realize I left the keys in the cape.
I stare at a large rock, but I don't have the energy to try to lift it to shatter the window.
I slide down the side of my car and press my naked body against the wheel, as I shake from exhaustion, pain, cold, and the fact that I just killed someone.
In the distance, I can hear the faint sound of sirens blaring.
Help is finally coming, but it's too late.
I already saved myself.
My eyes close as my breath wheezes out of my chest. I'm not pathetic or weak. I may be broken, but I'm also a survivor, and no one gets to hurt me without my permission.
I survived the big, bad wolf, and he's the one who got eaten. It's the last thought I have before darkness takes me, and for once, I allow its sweet oblivion to take hold of me, and don't fight against it.
I'm finally free.