It’s become a part of my identity. A part of me.
And she makes it visible. Reminds me of the pain that simmers underneath.
My heart races in my chest.
My instinct is to pull away. To ignore her and storm out.
But I manage to control myself only by gripping the chair.
“Not a chance.” My voice is raw and filled with emotions I can hardly contain.
“You want me to tell you something about my life? Fine, but only if you tell me something about you too. I’m not giving away information. I’m not that stupid,” she huffs.
I growl. “I’m not playing games.”
“I’m not either,” she growls back.
Grinding my teeth, I say, “You have no idea what you just asked of me.”
“Oh, and you do when you talk about my parents?”
“That’s different.”
“No, it isn’t,” she says as she gets up from the floor. “I’m not afraid to tell my story, but you are.” She pats her legs and turns around. “If you don’t wanna talk, then I’m done.”
Adrenaline rushes through me as I jump up from the seat. She’s not getting away from me that easily.
***
Alexis
Out of nowhere, he grabs my arm and twists me around. “Don’t you walk away from me like that!”
“Or what? You gonna call the cops? What’s new?” I shrug, trying to pass it off as indifference.
He shoves me against the wall and places a hand on the wall next to me, trapping me inside. “You have no clue what you’ve unleashed. I wear this … thing for a reason.”
“To hide.” My eyes don’t even show the slightest hint of fear, even though I feel like trembling. Only now do I remember how tall he really is. He towers above me … and he looks furious.
“To stop girls like you from screaming their lungs out,” he barks.
I take in a short gasp. “It can’t be that bad.”
“It. Is.”
His voice gets darker and darker, and I find it hard to breathe with him in my face. Especially when I can feel his breath on my skin. And even though I want to deny it, it does something to me; it makes me want to lean in. It’s stupid and irrational in every way, but I can’t help the way my body feels when it comes near him. It’s his eyes … The way they look at me with complete and utter obsession is enchanting.
“You’d be scared if you saw me …”
“I won’t be.”
“You should be.”
The pause that follows is raw and full of unspoken words that die to be out in the open, but neither of us dares to make the first move. His face hovers closer to mine, and every passing second feels like minutes as we engage in a stare down.
“You should’ve never come here …” he growls.
“But I did. For my sister.”
“And now, you’re trapped here … with me, the monster.”
I swallow as I hear the word I said to him. It sounds painful, and from the look in his eyes, it was.
“There’s more to you than what you’re trying to hide.”
“I’m not a good man, Alexis. I’ve done some shit that can’t see the light of day. Just like me.”
“I don’t believe it.”
He slams his fists into the wall, making me flinch. “Dammit. You have no fucking clue what I’ve done!”
My hands ball into fists. “Then tell me. Who are you and why are you keeping me here? Tell me the truth.”
He breathes in and out loudly, his eyes focusing solely on mine, as the air between us grows thick. And then his lips part and the words roll out like thunder.
“I’m a murderer.”
The oxygen is sucked out of my chest.
My lungs feel tight, and it feels as if the temperature in the room has suddenly risen by twenty degrees.
“Are you scared yet?”
I shake my head, determined to learn more. I don’t know why; I just know he’s not telling me everything.
“I’m not a good guy. I’ve killed people. Both on purpose and by accident. I’m the bad guy, Alexis.”
“Not if they deserved it.” The words slip off my tongue before I realize it.
He leans in. “None of them deserved it … and I gave them death. And it gets worse. Some lived … as servants.”
My eyes widen, but I slam my lips shut before I say anything I’ll regret.
“I picked up girls from the street and trained them to become nothing. Empty shells of the girls they once were, just so they could serve their master.”
He searches my eyes for something, but there’s nothing I can say. Nothing I can feel. Nothing I can think. The more he says, the more empty I feel.