“Your Knight in Shining Fucking Armor”
My heart beats faster as I pull through the open chain-linked fence.
Rows of red, pulled-down doors seem never-ending.
I drive around until I can find any clue or create an idea of what I need to do next.
It seems like half an hour until I see Alan’s silver Lexus.
A small sliver of light shines from under the door. They have to be in there .
“There you are, you fuck.” I say under my breath.
Quietly as I can, I park behind his car.
Now, what the hell am I supposed to do? I can’t just get out of the car without a plan.
He wouldn’t be stupid enough to leave the door unlocked.
How the hell would I go in? Just knock politely and hope he answers?
Honestly, that might be my only fucking choice.
With the only terrible scheme I could muster up, I reluctantly get out of the car and quietly shut my door.
The eerie silence in the area is deafening.
The hair on my arms stands on end as I continue to make my way to the storage unit.
With each step, my blood heats under my skin more and more.
She fucking let him touch her! The image repeats once again in my head.
I bang on the door loudly with what feels like all of my rage coursing through my body.
No one answers, but I can hear Alan’s voice and the sounds Thalia makes that I am all too familiar with.
“Alan! You better not be fucking my girl!” I yell and pound on the door once again.
Alan’s voice stops, and I can hear his footsteps get closer. I can tell they’re his by the way the soles hit the concrete. Alan and his expensive fucking dress shoes.
My body vibrates with anger and anticipation as I wait for him to open the door. The lock from the inside clicks open, and my heartbeat picks up more than I thought was ever possible. I stare down and watch as he slowly pulls it up.
“Oh, Lee. How nice of you to join us.” A smirk covers his face, but all I can focus on are his clothes.
His pants are soaked in blood, and his white shirt is slightly open with even more drops of bodily fluids covering his chest and sleeves.
He continues to smirk while he digs under his fingernails with the tip of a bloody switchblade.
“Lee! Turn around! Get back in your car and leave! He’s fucking crazy! He’s killed everyone!” Thalia screams. I watch her struggle to break free from the metal chair she’s tied to. Why the fuck is she strapped to a chair?
“I AM NOT FUCKING CRAZY!” He turns his head and yells back at her.
“What the hell did you do to her, Alan?” My eyes quickly notice her bloody body, starting with the large gash going up nearly the entire length of her leg.
“I just updated the body modification she's already had done to herself.” His voice abnormally switches in an instant back to his normal tone .
“Why the fuck did you do that?”
“She needs to know, Lee. She needs to know how bad I feel knowing that I love her, and she thinks she can fuck us both.” His tone changes again, this time cracking. I stare in shock as his eyes begin filling up with tears. I’ve never seen him like this before.
“What about Ashley, Alan? Where is your wife?”
“Oh, she’s been missing for some time now.” He spins the tip of the blade on the pad of his index finger.
“Did you do something to her?” He gives a wide, creepy smile, letting his mouth stretch across his face. Grinning like the fucking Cheshire Cat.
“Won’t you come in?” He moves out of the space between us. I can feel his glare as I walk in.
“What the fuck, Alan?!” My loud voice echoes in the unit. The sight in front of me makes me want to vomit. I scan over the room of carnage and gore. It looks like someone already has.
Quickly, I cover my nose and mouth the best I can with the collar of my shirt.
“Whose body is this?!” Pieces of a torso with a few limbs still attached are in a fucking bloody mess on top of a clear tarp.
I notice a miniature saw sits upright on top of the rechargeable battery attachment.
Drops of blood are still dripping off the chain and blade into the puddles on the plastic tarp.
“Lee, you need to get the hell out of here. Don’t worry about me. Just run to the police. Don’t look back,” Thalia’s sobs can only be heard between the two of us. I look closer at her body and notice the two bloody M’s on her chest.
“Thalia, what did he do to you?” I step closer, trying not to step in the gory mess in front of me .
“Just get out of here, okay?” she pleads. I can’t stand to look at her like this.
“I can’t just leave you here. I’m going to find a way to get you out.”
“What are you two love birds talking about?” Alan moves towards both of us.
The look in his eyes sends a shiver down my spine.
“Oh, Lee, you’re thinking of taking her away.
But I worked so hard at getting her here.
Would you like that, Thalia? You want to leave and go home?
” He mocks. She nervously watches him walk around to the back of her chair.
“I suppose it’s okay.” He squats down and cuts the middle of the constraint holding her wrists in place. She flinches as he runs the flat side of the blade up the back of her forearms. Menacingly, he glances at me and moves the blade down to the black zip ties holding her ankles in place.
“Aren’t you so happy he decided to show up after I left everything out for him to find?
Your phone in your apartment, my empty house, and the invoice I left on the desk.
All clues so your knight in shining fucking armor could see what I’ve done to you.
” His eyes gaze into mine once he trails his switchblade down her ankles above the black zip ties holding her to the chair.
She lets out her first scream as he cuts one of the tendons in her ankles right above the zip tie holding her to the chair. He cuts her restraints right after he gets what he wants from her– the sound of her breaking into smaller and smaller pieces of herself.
"Just one more, Listener." I cringe at another sound of his knife going into her other tendon right before she cries again. “What are you waiting for? He’s right there. Get up and walk to him.” He jests and cuts the other zip tie off her ankle. I’m in a permanent state of shock as she falls on the gory mess in front of her.
“What, you didn’t catch her? WHAT KIND OF FUCKING HERO ARE YOU!?” He yells and I continue to watch her struggle to get up off the bloody corpse in front of me.
“Whose body is this?” I press once more. Do I want to fucking know ?
“Oh, that-that was Jace.” He takes in Thalia as she sobs over her best friend’s lifeless cadaver.
“You’re a sick fuck, Alan.”
“Yeah. I guess I am.” He shrugs.
“Come on, Sweetheart. I need to get you to a hospital.” She reaches over what is left of Jace’s body as I pull her up through the mess of vomit and bloody limbs.
Her heart beats fast on my chest, and I hold her close.
“I’m so relieved I found you. I had no idea where you were.
” I kiss the top of her head and try to stop the tears from swelling in my eyes.
“I’m sorry, Lee. I’m so sorry.” She weeps against my chest.
“It’s okay, Thalia. Let’s just get you out of here.” I hold both of up on the tarp, doing my best not to drop her.
“Well, isn’t this a lovely sentiment?” Alan interrupts.
His loud claps move through the small, concrete space.
“You, my listener, really put on another great performance. I almost believed this one as much as I believed that you gave a shit about either one of us.” He stops until he’s front and center.
“Do you think that I’m just going to let him take you out of here?
I worked so hard at getting you here and planning this surprise for you. ”
“You said you would let me go.” She continues to cry.
“Oh, baby. I’m never going to let you go. ”
“Just leave her alone, Alan.” I try my best to keep my voice stable.
“After all I did for you, and you chose him. I DID ALL OF THIS FOR YOU! I KILLED ALL OF THESE PEOPLE FOR YOU!” His calm voice turns into loud wails as he scans over Thalia’s shivering body.
The look of defeat moves over her disheveled form.
I need to get her the fuck out of here. The calm and collected version of Alan that I once knew has long gone.
The blood, Thalia’s and Jace’s blood, he wears on his once stain-free business casual attire, mixes with his tears and sweat that stream down his face.
“Let’s just take her out of here. She’s lost a lot of blood. She needs a doctor.”
“I’m not ready to see her go.” He shakes his head. “You can’t take Thalia from me. Not again.”
“Let’s just all just leave. Get a doctor to look at you both. You and I can have a drink and talk this out.” I start to walk around Alan, still carrying Thalia limply in my arms. He watches us carefully the closer I make my way over to the door.
“Please don’t do this, Thalia.” He looks down at the floor with his fists clenched.
“Please don’t leave me.” I notice him sidestep a few short steps to the closest wall.
“Do you have any idea how it feels to want someone so badly, and you can’t do anything about it?
” He pauses. “How do the thoughts of that person consume your mind constantly?”
I pay close attention to his hands as they reach for something propped up against the wall.
“Of course you wouldn’t.” I can hear the words catch in his throat. “Thoughts of you have made me do so many things that I would have never done before I met you.” He smiles to himself. “I feel like a whole new man now.” He grips the mysterious object in his hand. I know what I have to do.
“Thalia, Sweetheart. I need you to go to the car.” I whisper next to her ear. “I don’t care if you have to fucking drag yourself over there. Just go and don’t look back.”
“I can’t leave you,” she cries. Please don't cry, Thalia. I don't want my last memory of you to be like this.
“Just fucking listen to me. I’m going to let you go, okay? Reach into my pocket, grab my keys, and get the hell out of here. Don't fucking look back.” This time I can’t stop my tears from falling. I kiss the top of her head as she grabs my car keys.
“I’ll meet you there, Thalia. Just get in the car, and don't look back.” I kiss her one last time and watch her as she falls to the gravel.
Within a split second, all I can see is Alan swinging a long metal bar.
I feel a crushing pain on the side of my head.
My vision goes dark, and I fall to the ground.
“LEE!” I scream as he falls on the hard gravel.
I drag my worn and weak body over to his.
“Please, don’t die! Please, stay with me.
" Heavy breathing interrupts my sobs. "You're going to be okay. It'll all be fine. Please, don’t die.” My pleas are loud cries.
More of my tears cover his black shirt. I didn't think I had any left. “Please don’t leave me, too. You have to wake up. Please, Lee, just wake up.”
“We have to get out of here, Thalia.” Alan reaches down for my arm.
“No. I can’t leave him here." Lee's body lay still. "You killed him. Why did you kill him?”
“He tried to take you from me. You were made for me , Listener. I won’t let anyone else have you.” Seeing his face covered in tears, and with his forced smile, is terrifying. “Please, Thalia. I need you.”
“You killed him.” I shake my head and watch more of my tears fall on Lee's chest.
“I killed him for you. I would kill anyone so I can have you.”