Page 106 of One More Chance
She held her bloody hands over her heart and stepped closer. My mind screamed to run, to flee, but it was as if my feet had been frozen to the ground as she drew nearer.
"I wanted it to be a murder suicide," she pouted. "I wanted us to go out together; together in death forever, baby. It would have been a tragedy that made headlines… but I survived. I was trapped in the hospital, fading in and out of consciousness, delirious with the knowledge that I had killed you, but didn't get to die with you. After a few days of that personal Hell, I died from heartache."
You probably died from the massive internal bleeding and organ failure you incurred during your high speed vehicular murder.
"You crazy bitch." The words slipped out, reflexive.
"Levi, don't throw this second chance away. We can be together again. We can-"
“No.” The word barely made it past the lump in my throat. I forced myself to stand tall, to stay composed as my voice came out jagged, but firm. “There’s no 'we' Angie. There never was.”
Her face contorted as her eyes went vacant; the rage, love, sorrow, heartache, hope all snuffed out. “I gave you everything, Levi.”
“And you lost everything. This is over, Angie.”
She slithered toward me, back to being within arm's reach, back to being far too close. “Sloane will never love you like I do, Levi,” she hissed. “I know you. I know the real you. I know you in ways she never could. All the dark parts of you that you hide from the world, your rage, your hate, the rot underneath the mask you wear? You showedme.And I chose you.”
Her presence was electric and unstable. The distance between us shrank as she slinked closer, her body a gliding shadow, and there it was… that kernel of midnight in my soul. A shriveled, abhorrent fragment of the Old Me that still craved her.
She reached a hand out to touch my face again, as if she sensed my weakness. Maybe she did. Her fingers, now caked with dried blood, grazed my cheek.
And all I thought of was Sloane's radiant beauty.
I slapped Angie's hand away, recoiled from her, and backpedaled away. "Stay the fuck away from me, my family, my life, and my Sloane. If I ever see you again, I will bury you."
And with that, any semblance she had of sanity snapped.
There was no hesitation in her body, no restraint, only the heat of a thousand Hells bursting from her throat as she screamed an ear shattering, incomprehensible, banshee wail. She crouched, as if she were about to pounce on me.
My thoughts scattered, panic crashing through me.
Would she kill me again? Will Sloane be safe if she does?
I heard a rustle in the trees. Movement caught my eye as Angie spun toward the sound, startled.
“Police! Hands in the air!”
Lights exploded around us, blinding in the darkness. Officers surged forward, weapons raised. Angie looked monstrous; bloodied face, wild-eyed, feral. She didn’t run. Simply turned to glare at me, hurt and confusion etched deep across her face.
“You did this… to me?”
I held her gaze. “No. You did this to yourself the moment you hurt my wife.”
The metallic click of cuffs snapped through the air as an officer lunged towards her. Angie kicked, thrashed, and screamed awful, inhuman sounds. I watched as one of the officers desperately tried to cuff her, but, in this moment of adrenaline, she was freakishly strong.
“Leviiiiii,” she howled, “you’ll regret this!”
Then chaos. A flash of metal in her hand. A gun, drawn from her coat during the struggle.
Everything slowed. Shouts from the officers of,“Gun! Down! Get down!”Their movements blurred as my world ticked by.
There was a hand that grabbed my shoulder, yanking me to the ground as Angie turned the weapon toward me.
Her eyes. Fuck, they weren’t just wild. They were empty. Hollow. As if Angie had never even existed and it was some eldritch thing staring at me through her empty sockets.
I pitied her. Not only for what she’d become, but for all I had done to bring her there, to that moment. We were standing in the wreckage of choices I couldn’t undo, burned-out husks of a ruined life I should have never touched. Hatred crackled between us, fueled by every mistake I let fester.
And in that moment of brutal clarity I realized… if the universe was cruel enough to give me one more chance, then it was cruel enough to take it away.
