Chapter Nine
Gwendolyn
Three weeks ago
The dimly lit basement reeked of sweat and fear, pathetic.
I knelt beside my victim, a man who had made a sport of stalking women, or girls, relishing in their fear as if it were a fine wine.
He lay on the cold concrete, bound and gagged, his eyes wide with confusion and his body trembling with terror.
I had planned this moment meticulously, like I always did.
As I tightened the last knot of rope around his wrists, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
I paused, a flicker of annoyance crossing my mind.
I pulled it out and glanced at the screen, it was Clara.
Always the one to check in, always the one with the worst timing.
I answered because I always answered her calls.
“Hey, Gwendolyn!” Her bright voice carried through the line and I smiled at the irony. “I was just thinking about you. I wish you would have decided to come here with me.”
I forced a full smile, even though she couldn’t see me.
“You say that every time you call,” I replied, struggling to keep my tone free of annoyance as I focused on the task at hand.
I could hear her chatting animatedly about classes and parties, but my mind was elsewhere, my adrenaline spiking as I was prepared for what was to come.
“I’ve made some new friends, met some cool people…” Her tone shifted and that finally got my attention. “There are these guys though, they…well they give me the creeps. You wouldn’t believe the way they stare.”
I felt that surge of rage and protectiveness in me, and also a sense of excitement.
“Clara, I wouldn’t worry too much about them, you know how to handle yourself.
” My voice was deceptively calm, but really I was mentally making a list of all that I had to do.
Research the grounds extensively, get a little bit more information, make a plan, and then attack.
They wouldn’t stand a chance, no one ever did.
“I know, but it still creeps me out. I just wish they would leave me alone. The one guy, Jake, he’s the worst, and he’s huge. I just wish I had a little backup.” I heard her shudder over the line.
“Hm…” My mind started racing with my new task.
“Gwen? Are you listening?” Clara’s voice pulled me back, but I was already lost in my plans.
“Of course,” I lied, my hands deftly working as I finished securing the ropes. The man on the floor squirmed, realizing he was no longer in control, the fear bleeding from him felt like a balm to my soul.
“Just be careful, okay? I worry about you,” Clara said, her concern palpable even through the phone.
“I will,” I promised. With a final glance at my captive, I was ready. “I have to go Clara, I have something to take care of. I’ll call you tomorrow with a date I can visit.”
I hung up, the weight of her words lingering in the back of my mind. But at that moment, all I could focus on was this.
I leaned closer to him. “Do you remember the faces of the girls you stalked? The ones you watched without permission, touched without consent?” He looked away from me, swallowing hard, pleading whispers falling on deaf ears. “Please, I didn’t mean…”
“Your pitiful lies are just that, pitiful lies,” I hissed, stepping back to survey my options, grabbing a dull knife from my selection.
“You see, justice doesn’t always come from the law.
Sometimes, it comes from someone like me.
” I stepped back toward him, his sobs starting to fill the room mixed with pleading.
“I’ll never do it again, I promise, I'll never do it again.”
I studied him for a moment. “You’re right, you won’t.”
He started to squirm, his breathing quickening as I brought the knife closer, scraping the blade across his cheek so only a small pebble of blood formed. He was shaking his head back and forth pleading, promising.
“Fear looks good on you.”
His pleading was now fully muffled and consumed by his thoughts as I took my blade and drug it across his throat, his tears finally relenting on garbled words of blood.
“Dead men tell no lies,” I whispered to the now corpse.