Epilogue - Quinnly #2
“Let’s go then,” Naomi says, heading to the right, away from the noises.
There’s a living room, with an obnoxious amount of pillows and blankets on the cushions.
A television that’s playing some cheesy romance movie Naomi and I have seen a few times.
The hallway has a lot of doors, and while Naomi heads to the first, I head to the second.
There’s a bedroom, unused. Boring.
“Gym,” Naomi says, passing me to the third. “Ooooh, bathroom.”
“Guest?” I ask, peeking in.
She nods, and closes the door. “No guests though.”
The next door is another guest bedroom, and the last door is the main bedroom. Its dark walls and golden accents look pretty, but the bed is unmade and there are various clothing pieces on the floor.
“Lincoln would be disappointed,” I tsk, looking back at the unmade bed.
Naomi chuckles and heads into the closet. There’s a painting that catches my eye, reminding me of the artist I killed near the start of this and I stab it, taking my scissors and ripping into the canvas. Strips of it hang, brushing the mantel they have above a fireplace.
“Get in here!” Naomi whisper-shouts.
Joining her in the closet, I laugh at the scene. She’s pulled all the ridiculous fur pieces off hangers and piled them up on the little island in the center of the room.
“Do you think these are all real?” She asks, looking them over with disgust.
“Maybe we should skin her and make her into a coat,” I shrug, “see if she likes it.”
Pulling open one of the drawers on the island my brows pull in and I rummage through the odd items. These aren't the same size as the other clothes in the room, nor are they the same quality. Sure, they’re still silky and lacy, but nowhere near the cost of the fur.
“What are you–”
Spinning around I see a young woman, pretty with dark brown eyes, standing in the closet in a loose t-shirt and undies like the ones in the drawer.
“Are you fucking them?” I ask.
She scoffs and backs away, opening her mouth… Naomi rushes her, knocking her head against the floor before she can let out any sound. Picking up her feet, Naomi drags her prone body into the closet before she glowers at me.
“I really wanted to know,” I pout, “I have questions.”
“I don’t think she would be willing to gab with you, Q,” she says, placing her hands on her hips. “Looks like we’re going to have to deal with the couple now, play later.”
Skipping off into the other room, I find the kitchen with ease. It helps that the couple called out for Rachel, I guess that’s our friend in the closet.
“Rachel, don’t keep us waiting.”
The woman in the kitchen jumps, spotting me leaning against the cabinets. “Uhm, Dick, did you invite…” she looks behind her and then back to me, “I’m sorry, who are you?”
“You call your husband Dick?” I giggle, twirling my scissors around my finger.
Her eyes round when she realizes what’s in my hand and she steps back, right into Dick who’s being held by Naomi. The two of them hem and haw, as Naomi and I get them settled on their very nice, very pillowed couch.
“Now,” Naomi starts, “I think we’re going to play a little game.”
“I love games!” I shout, jumping up and heading for the closet. Grabbing all the fur items from the pile, bringing them back into the living room and dropping them at Naomi’s feet, she laughs. “One more thing!”
Going back, I grab onto poor Rachel and drag her into the room too. I like Rachel, she’s quiet, doesn’t wail and cry like these two.
“For every endangered animal you killed to have these made, my sister here gets to flay a piece of your flesh from your body.” Naomi says with a smile, leaning down to pick up one of the offending pieces. “So, how many?”
The couple looks at each other, then to us, and blubbers some more. “We didn’t kill any–”
“No–shush, I’ll guess,” I shrug, walking toward the wife he called Dee earlier.
Ladies first and all. Placing my scissors against the base of her finger, I make a swift cut and start peeling the skin back from her tendons and bone.
She screams, rocking back and forth as if that will stop me.
Her legs are tied together and pinned to the sofa.
Following the first finger, I work quickly and add the other four to my pile of skin then nod, satisfied at my work.
“Do you think that’s enough?” I ask, looking at Naomi. She nods and walks to Dick who’s screaming and cursing, while his wife looks a little green. I’d hate for her to lose consciousness and miss out.
Naomi’s already on it. Cracking open some smelling salts, she runs the tube under the woman’s nose. Her eyes widen and when she looks down at her fingers, the screaming starts again.
“I think Dick here might need help with keeping his eyes open too,” she smirks, and I laugh. Lifting his eyelid, she cuts the whole thing off with perfect precision, repeating the same process on the other side.
“I might be in love,” I joke, looking at her handiwork up close. “Why must everything be perfect with you?”
Naomi smiles and taps his face with her knife. “Force of habit, Q.”
Rachel groans and reaches back to touch her head.
“Yeah, I’ll bet it’s tender, but we can’t have you running off now, can we?” I sing. Standing over her and gripping her under her shoulders, I hoist the woman up and over to the couch.
Sitting her down with her companions, I make sure she’s bound the same and then I sit on the coffee table in front of them. Waving my scissors, booping Rachel’s nose, I tilt my head to look at her. “You weren’t part of the plan.”
“We can take care of her last,” Naomi says, looking down at the couple of the hour. “These two have a lot of sins to answer for, and they aren’t going to last much longer.”
“Boring.”
Rachel catches a glimpse of Dee’s hand and screams, my scissors punch right through her throat and the screaming stops. “That’s enough of that.”
Rachel slumps forward as I pull my scissors from her neck.
Dee screeches, and Dick kicks against the bonds of his feet. We spend the next hour flaying small pieces of skin off Dick and Dee, until their hearts uselessly give out.
“These two weren’t as fun as I wanted them to be,” I admit, kicking Dick’s legs in frustration.
Naomi flicks a lighter and looks at me, “At least we can watch some pretty flames dance on our way out.”
“I like the way you think, Sis.”
Using everything we can find in the house that’s flammable, we set it ablaze and sit on the beach to watch the show. Pulling Paps’s last bit of ashes out of my pocket, I look at Naomi. Her eyes are watery and she looks out into the sea.
“I think Paps would be proud,” she sniffles and lays her head on my shoulder. Our knees touch and when sirens wail from down the way we stand, pouring out the last of Paps into the ocean.
“I still have one more thing to do,” I tell her on the walk back to the Jeep, her hand twisted in mine as we walk. We’re far enough away that the rescue vehicles don’t see us as we make our way back to the rented house. Both Killian and Lincoln are waiting on the porch as we arrive.
Lincoln smiles, holding up two fingers. Between them is my lucky penny. “You’re almost done, Menace.”
I nod, pulling the card out of my boot and scratching off the very last state to complete my board.
“It’s over. Now I need a new game.”
“You can’t be serious.” Lincoln chuckles.
I look over my shoulder and wink at him, before answering with my widest smile. “When am I ever unserious?”