Chapter Three - Cat
CHAPTER THREE
Cat
TURNS OUT I was right. Harry really had zero concern that I’d turn him into the police. In fact, he wasn’t too worried that anything would come from it at all. He just thought he could rape me, steal all my money and just keep on living his life as if it never happened. That made it easy for the roles to reverse. How easily the stalker can become the stalkee. It only took two weeks of scoping out other strip clubs in the area for me to find him. He didn’t even notice anything amiss all the nights I followed him home.
He lived in a small shack of a house in one of the worse areas of Rotlington. The same city I lived in myself, though my parents wouldn’t be caught dead in a neighborhood such as this one. Thankfully, not many lights on this street were in working order. With the houses packed in close together, I didn’t want to risk anyone peeking out their window spotting me. I waited for him to go inside before sneaking around and peeking through windows to see if he lived alone or had roommates. He didn’t. Poor little Harry, there wouldn’t be anyone there to save him either. I had it all planned out already. I’d park outside the strip club, wait for him to go in, then head back to his place to wait for him to come home, just like he did to me.
Earlier tonight, I had executed all the steps of my preparation plan. I had packed my stuff for the lake and I was going to head right there. I hoped the likelihood of me being tied to this was slim if everything went to plan, but it was good to have somewhat of an alibi. I hadn’t really worked today like I told my father, so unfortunately there was a small gap there, but I wasn’t worried about it. I hadn’t worked in two weeks, to be exact. I spent every waking minute consumed with plotting my revenge.
I wondered if he was there already scoping out what he’d hope to be his next victim, but there wouldn’t be a next time. Not if I had anything to do with it. I was sick of men like him, thinking that they were untouchable. That they could just go around ruining whoever they please and I couldn’t put faith in the justice system to put an end to it. I couldn’t let Harry think he’d just gotten away with what he’d done to me. If I were to just keep quiet about this, it would only embolden him. Solidify his thinking in that there are no consequences for his actions, encouraging him to repeat them. I was about to show him how devastatingly wrong he was.
As I sat in Harry’s living room in the dark, my thoughts raging around my mind, I found I was brimming with electric energy. I thought I would have more hesitation when it came to actually taking a life, but after everything I’d been through, I found my conscience void. In my life, I’d fallen prey to people who seemed to be above the law. The justice system wasn’t made to protect the little nobodies like me.
They didn’t care what happened to me at the end of the day, I’m just some stupid girl. A silly little whore that takes her clothes off for money. I’m sure in some way they’d justify it by saying I was ‘asking for it to happen’ or ‘what did I expect’ from working where I did. Well, I was done holding my breath, waiting for someone to bring justice on my behalf. I’d turn blue in the face and asphyxiate before that happened. I couldn’t put my eggs in the basket of a broken system. No, if I wanted retribution, I was going to have to take it upon myself.
I looked at the clock on the wall and it was almost time. After how long it took me to drive, park, then sneak over here, I was expecting Harry to be home any minute. When he came into my club, he was rarely ever there for longer than an hour or so. Just a drink, a dance. Then he’d be on his way.
As I was waiting, I was getting restless and started to pace around. I was near the front window when a muffled yell came from what sounded like inside the house across the street. Slinking up to the window and peeling the curtain back ever so slightly, I was just in time to see their front door burst open. A man came running out of the house, looking around him frantically before he took off running down the street. He was holding his arm and I could see splatters of blood on the pavement following him as he ran.
As concerning as this was to see, the strip club was also in a bad neighborhood and sights such as these weren’t uncommon. It was most likely the result of a lover’s quarrel and things turned physical, nothing out of the norm. A little piece of me hoped it was the result of a woman finally having enough, just like me, and finally fighting back against their abuser. She must have got him good because he ran out without even bothering to shut the door behind him. He was that scared shitless. Good for her, I thought. Then I spotted a car coming down the street and I scrambled to get into position in case it was Harry. Just as I got into cover, headlights flashed through the window as he pulled into his driveway.
This is it. This is where I once and for all end my losing streak. All I’m hoping is that I’ll be able to take him by surprise before he even knows I’m here. I had purchased heroin from one of the regulars at the club that was always bragging about how much money he made from selling it. Not the best local business to be supporting, I know, but I swear it was for a good cause.
My plan was to hit him in the neck with the syringe the second he walked through the door and hope he didn’t overdose before I could get out of him where my money was. Standing there with my back pressed to the wall, I was positioned so that when the door swung open, I’d be behind it. Then once he walked through, shutting it behind him: I’d pounce.
“Aah! Crazy fuckin’ bitch, what the hell are you doing?!” I heard Harry cry out from outside. “What the fuck!” Then he came bounding up the steps, I heard him scramble to get his key in the door and then it flew open.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. How did he even know I was in here? I’d parked my car far enough down the street that he wouldn’t have even had to pass it on his way back home. Either way, hopefully I’d still have enough time because he wouldn’t be expecting me right inside the door. He busted through the door at breakneck speed, then immediately slammed the door behind him, locking both the handle and deadbolt instantaneously. I only had split seconds to act, and it seemed like time slowed down for a moment.
He began to turn his head towards me upon noticing movement to his right. When he did, my hand shot out, and I jabbed the needle directly into the big thick artery in his neck. His eyes widened in shock, realizing who exactly was here in his home, and I pushed my thumb down on the plunger, releasing the drugs into his system. I saw his eyes roll into the back of his head as his limbs got heavy and he dropped to the floor. He landed with a thud and right before he slipped into the effects of what was coursing through his veins. He uttered something I almost couldn’t make out his speech was so slurred.
“Fuckin’ crazy bitch neighbor fuckin’ bit me,” he mumbled.
Then he just laid there with his eyes half-lidded facing up at the ceiling, making unintelligible noises. I grabbed him by the legs and started dragging him into the kitchen. When I got him there, I pulled a chair from the table and laid out the rope I had brought with me. After hoisting him up and tying him to the chair, I slapped him hard once across the face. His head shot upright and his eyes cracked open a little as they found mine.
“The fuck do you want...fuckin’...stupid…” he trailed off, his eyelids drooping back down. Fuck, maybe I gave him too much already. I slapped him hard again and his eyes shot back onto mine.
“You know what the fuck I want. Where’s my money?” I replied, staring coldly right back at him.
The second slap seemed to reacquaint him with his consciousness more than the first, bringing him out of the drug induced stupor with renewed vigor.
“Fuckin’ crazy bitch bit me. It burns! It fuckin’ burns!” He thrashed in the seat, trying to curl his body inward against the ties like he had a stomachache.
“Who bit you?” I asked skeptically, taking a step towards him. “Where?”
“That crazy broad that lives across the street! I got out my car and she just came running at me outta nowhere. She tackled me to the ground and bit me right on my fuckin’ side! It hurts so fuckin’ bad! Please let me go. I need to go to the hospital! Who knows what kinda diseases that nasty bitch has!” He shouted at me.
I closed the remaining distance and took a closer look at where he said he’d been bitten. I could see a tear in his shirt on the left side of his abdomen. It also looked dark and wet around the rip, so I lifted his shirt to get a better view. Underneath, I did indeed find a big, angry bite mark. It was bleeding pretty profusely and the veins around the wound were darkening as well; the color radiating out in all directions beyond the bite. What the fuck? Maybe he was right about those diseases, but I definitely wasn’t letting him go to get medical attention. He wouldn’t have to worry about the condition of his health very shortly.
“See, she really did fuckin’ bite me. I wasn’t lying! Please, I’ll tell you where your money is if you just please let me go so I can go to the fuckin’ hospital!” He pleaded pathetically.
It seemed like he was in so much pain it was cutting right through the drugs. With how much I gave him, he shouldn’t be feeling a thing. Well, at least it made him willing to tell me where my money was. That made my job easier.
“Fine, where’s my money?” I asked. He threw me with a look of complete relief.
“It’s in my bedroom, the painting above my dresser. Move it to the side and there’s a safe back there. The combination is 4-2-0-6-9-6-9. It’s all in there.” I scoffed at his response. Of all the possible numerical combinations.
I walked into the bedroom, unlocked the safe and almost teared up at the sight of the stacks of cash before me. There wasn’t enough time to count it, so I started shoveling it into the backpack I had brought with me for this exact moment. There was no way I was leaving this place without every single cent that was in front of me. By the time I finished and put the painting back the way I found it, Harry was blubbering like a baby.
“Are you happy now? Can you please untie me? The pain just keeps getting worse and worse. I feel like I’m dyin’!” He sobbed.
“Actually, no, I’m pretty fucking far from happy. While I may have been able to get my money back, as you may remember, you actually stole something else from me that can’t be returned so easily,” I purred darkly. Now, this was the part I had really been looking forward to. He continued to struggle, tugging at the bindings on his arms and legs. “Awh, that’s so cute. Look at you fighting. Come on, give it up. You know how this ends: I’m going to do whatever I want and there’s no one here to stop me.”
I playfully booped him on the nose and then he really started to panic, hearing his own words thrown back at him. Good, I wanted him nice and scared. I’m sure he was putting together what was about to happen. As surely as I had known and just the same, he knew no one was coming to save him. I took a few drawn-out steps, then slowly pulled the second syringe from my pocket, never breaking eye contact.
“Please, please, please! Don’t do this! I’m sorry. Okay, is that what you want to hear? I’m so fuckin’ sorry, Cleo,” he begged and begged, but it fell upon deaf ears.
How pathetic. I hadn’t begged once during his assault on me. He had to realize that this was the end. Did he truly think I was here for my money and that would be enough reparation for what he’d done? That he’d just get away with raping me. I honestly, truly think he did. And that’s why he needed to die. So I looked him dead in the eye, hit him with the second needle, pushing the plunger down with no remorse and a smile on my face.
His head slumped back as his breathing became labored. A moment later, he threw up all over himself. With his head back and no control of his body, though, he also began to choke. I stood there and watched as his body jerked violently and he struggled for air. After a few minutes, going completely still. I waited a few extra to be sure, then got closer and felt for a pulse. When I felt none, I got started on the last parts of my plan.
I untied him and then dragged him back over near the couch, positioning him on the floor as if he’d overdosed himself and fell over onto it. I then scattered the paraphernalia out on the table to stage the scene. After I pushed the chair back into the table and returned the ropes back to my bag.
Finally, I went into the kitchen, grabbed a pot, and filled it with water. I put it on the stove to make it look like he had been boiling water when he passed out, then turned on the gas but didn’t ignite the burner. In a matter of time, the pilot light from the fridge would kick on and the whole place would go up in flames. Hopefully, the body would burn so badly that the only evidence of his demise could come from a toxicology report.
I was heading for the door when I heard a thump and a gurgle behind me. What the fuck? He was definitely dead a minute ago. I’d watched him die. Had checked for a pulse, there was no way he could have survived an overdose then choking on his own vomit like that. I went back over to check. Maybe it was just a death rattle or something. When I got close enough that I was standing over him, I definitely saw his arm twitch. Well, what the absolute fuck indeed. I only brought two syringes with me. I had thought that would be more than enough. Harry couldn’t have weighed more than one hundred and fifty pounds. I had given him enough to kill two people with that last dose.
I couldn’t just leave him here though and just hope maybe he’d die eventually. If I did that, I risked him waking up and turning me in for attempted murder. I still had the rubber gloves on that I’d adorned before I came into the house. Fuck it. Looks like I was just going to have to get my hands dirty and hope that the police wouldn’t be able to link me to his murder. I went into the kitchen and grabbed the biggest knife I could find. When I went into the living room and stood back over him, I sort of lost my nerve for a moment and hesitated. This was so much different from jabbing him with a needle. Stabbing someone was pretty gorey and I hadn’t prepared myself to have to do this.
I got down to my knees, steadying myself with them on either side of his torso and contemplated where the most effective place to strike would be. While I was debating, his eyes suddenly shot open, but they weren’t the same as the eyes I had just looked into as the life left them. They were milky, almost like he had gone blind in the matter of the few minutes I thought he was dead.
There was also blood streaming down his face from his now open eyes. I had never heard of this being a side effect of a heroin overdose? All of a sudden, he threw me off him with an inhuman snarl. I went tumbling off him and managed to land a few feet away. I scrambled to my feet the same moment he did, and I took off running down the hall towards his bedroom in the back.
Before I could make it, though, I felt his hand grip my shoulder and yank me backwards. I went tumbling to the ground, falling on my back hard. His legs tangled with mine, sending him crashing down as well, landing on his stomach. He started pulling himself towards me with his arms as I scrambled backwards and realized the knife that was in my hand had fallen about a foot away.
I had a split second to grab it as he came closer, growling and gnashing his teeth like now he was going to fucking bite me . I lunged for it, grabbing it the second he reached me, coming at my leg with his mouth open wide. Right as he was an inch away from biting me, I slammed the knife up under his chin, right through the soft flesh there, forcing his jaw closed. I forced it all the way in, now all that was visible was the handle. All eight razor sharp inches now penetrating deep into his skull. I lifted my leg and planted a kick to his chest, sending his body sprawling away, wanting him as far from me as possible.
He landed in a crumpled heap against the wall opposite me and I just sat there frozen for a moment. What the fuck just happened? After thirty seconds passed with no movement, I released the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and got closer to make sure he was really dead this time. As I crept closer, I could see that what was happening to his veins earlier had spread all the way to the neck and was starting on his face.
I lifted the hem of his shirt and could see his torso entirely littered with it at this point as well. Was this a result of the bite or the overdose? At that moment, I realized I was supposed to be out of here five minutes ago and I had to move fast. I had left the gas on with the intention of the whole place going up in an instant and I did not want to be here when it happened.