Save Riley(34)

How the hell was I supposed to teach her when I couldn’t bring myself to punish her accordingly? I walked down the hallway toward the stairs with purpose. I had to get to the Alone Room. I had to punish myself for not following the rules as they were set out to me.

I went into the basement and ran down the hallway toward the coded door. It took me three tries and one shout of frustration to open it. I walked in and looked around wildly. There had to be some way to punish myself but none that I could see in the room. Until the glint of Riley’s razor caught my attention. I saw it out of the corner of my eye and walked over to the bed and dropped to my knees to fish it out. I held it in the palm of my hand and stared at it before I did what I knew I had to do.

I got to my feet and walked to the center of the room where the ropes that held Riley and Perry were frayed and still in partial tact. I reached up and wrapped my left arm as tightly as I could before I drew the blade across my forearm and watched the stream of crimson flow down.

I gripped the rope tightly with my hand and quickly cut myself again allowing for another flow of blood to pour forward. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, but not from the pain; from the euphoria I was feeling.

My mentors had never cut me before so I never knew what this felt like, but it wasn’t the act itself. It was because of Riley; it had to be. I had accidentally cut myself numerous times before repairing things and building new doors and I reacted as a normal person would. Scream, cuss, get angry, calm down, and continue on.

But because I was doing this for Riley, it was stirring a new kind of monster inside of me. Now I was left wondering how I would feel if it was Riley herself who drew the blade across my skin.

I quickly undid the rope from around my arm and went into the Last Day room. I used a leather blindfold to create a tourniquet for myself so I wouldn’t bleed all over the damn house.

I’ll find her a new Perry. A better one. One that won’t fight us. One that would do anything for Riley. One that she would enjoy. She won’t be sad anymore because of it. I’ll find one and bring her back to the Alone Room before I ask Riley to cut me. It’ll be so perfect because after she does I’ll take her to her new gift. She’ll never want to leave me. Never.

I went straight to the den and grabbed Evan’s body. I slung him over my shoulder and left the house through the back door. I walked far out into the back of the property where I had a huge fire pit that I only used one other time before. I had killed one of my lessons accidentally and my mentors made me burn the body and watch. The smell was horrific and I became ill as the skin started to turn black and fall off.

Today I would have to use it again. For Evan and Perry then I would take what was left of them, bag them up, and throw them into the Tasman Sea when time allowed. I threw him on the side of the empty pit and turned around to gather some of the wood I had chopped a few months before I found Riley. I was frustrated that day, emotionally and sexually, so I just spent the day sawing trees down and chopping wood. I laughed when I looked at the pile and realized just how frustrated I must have been to have this much wood lying around.

Nonetheless, I covered him partially in wooden blocks, wiped the sweat from my forehead and went around to the side of the house to collect Perry’s body. It took me a few moments to find her body where it had apparently rolled into the bushes, but when I did, I carried her back to the makeshift pyre and tossed her onto her boyfriend. A few more blocks of wood and some accelerant and they would be ready.

I stretched my arms over my head before I went toward the shed that sat nearby. I grabbed a chair from inside, a bottle of lighter fluid, and a book of matches. I soaked the wood and went back to open my chair. When I was ready and comfortable, I lit the entire book of matches and tossed them onto Perry’s body.

In the distance, over the raging fire, I saw Riley appear in the windows of the den. She had her hands pressed tightly against them and she was watching me, but I couldn’t tell if her face was one of horror, understanding, or wonder.

I watched her small frame pressed against the window for a few minutes longer, with the flames raging between us, causing us to look like mirages to each other. At least that’s how I felt and I didn’t like it.

I got to my feet and started to make my way toward Riley when I noticed that she wasn’t dressed as I had left her. Curiosity caused me to walk faster and when I was finally able to see her clearly, she stole my breath away.

The lace nightgown I had put her in she had ripped a strip off and wrapped it around her eyes. She was wearing one of my button down shirts, but it was open and the only other thing she had on was a pair of my boxers. She had remade herself almost as if it were the first day she had woken up in my home.