Page 34 of Escape

Her skin was still her skin, but with her entire neck covered with blackout ink and her cheeks decorated with more, smaller tattoos. I ran my fingers over the tattoo just above her eyebrow, Jasmine, and she leaned into my touch. The last difference was two small metal horns sticking from her forehead. Some kind of piercing I’d have to ask her about later.

As I connected the new adornments to the sweet face I’d loved in the past, I recognized her as Kel. My Kel. She was an entire piece of artwork for me to admire.

As she rubbed her cheek into the palm of my hand, I felt my eyes sting with unshed tears.

“Kel, what are you doing, baby?” I managed to choke out. “What’s going on? Why am I here?”

When she opened her mouth, I expected a response. Instead, her tongue stuck out from between her lips, a small key hanging from the ball of her tongue ring. I’d almost forgotten about the last, unopened black box in the backpack.

A smile spread across her lips as I peeled the key from her glistening tongue. My core tightened at the sight. It would be so easy to shift my hips just a little bit closer…

Kel tilted her head with a smirk, like she knew exactly what I was thinking. I shook the thought and dug into the backpack, pulling out the last locked black box. Her eerie, dark eyes watched my every movement as I placed the key in the lock, twisted and lifted the lid.

Inside, there was another satin, black bag. I almost couldn’t bring myself to look inside, scared I would find the same thing as last time. But I’d come too far to stop now. So I grabbed it, immediately breathing easier when I felt its light weight. Reaching inside, I felt something cool and smooth.

Inch by inch, I pulled out a long, chain leash with a leather loop on one end and a clip on the other. I looked down at Kel, confused. She let her head fall back, giving me a better look at what rested on her neck. A thick, leather collar with silver studs and spikes decorated her throat, a large, silver hoop dangling from the middle.

“Choose again,” she said.

“What do you…”

“I’ve always been yours, Jasmine. I’ve lived and breathed you since the moment I laid eyes on you. I can live no other way. All these years without you have been like walking through the desert with no water. Free me from my torment and make me yours again, babydoll. Please.”

Letting the cool metal rest in my fingers, the entire last ten years of my life played on a loop in my mind. The mundane days at work, dodging Jared’s abuse, feeling like I was just counting down the days until I died. All of that because my best friend was mad she couldn’t have me.

But was that the truth?

Yes, Ariana’s betrayal had been a huge reason I’d run from Kel and straight into Jared’s arms…but ultimately it was my decision. I was scared. A coward. I didn’t want to be the butt of anyone’s jokes or cruel bullying. I didn’t want to disappoint my parents even more than they already were. I didn’t want to be isolated. I didn’t want the persona I’d built up my whole life to crumble…and for what? It was all for nothing. I’d left her. I’d hurt her. The only person who had ever truly loved me…for nothing.

But still, here she was. Devoting herself to me. Begging to be mine again when I’d left her so abruptly. I didn’t deserve her. I deserved the shitty life I’d lived because of my own stupid, selfish decisions.

But that life wasn’t out there waiting for me anymore. Jared was dead. I’d come out to my mom, who would no doubt tell my father, who would no doubt be disappointed. I had no friends left after Jared isolated me. There was nobody out there whose opinion would affect the choice I made at this moment.

Frustration scorched my skin as I thought about everything I’d gone through that night. Yes, I could see how these things needed to happen. I could see how they opened my eyes to the truth and brought me back to myself. But the fact that it took all of this to achieve that pissed me off.

Throwing the backpack down beside me, I rummaged through it until I felt the cool, hard surface of the gun that I used to take Jared’s life. With irritation swimming through my veins, I ripped it out of the bag and pressed it into Kel’s forehead.

Who was she to make these decisions for me? Who was she to force me into becoming myself? To make me realize what a pathetic fucking coward I’d become?

I pressed the gun harder, digging it into Kel’s forehead as tears built in my eyes for the millionth time that night. It was stupid. Even with her hands cuffed behind her back, she could kill me quicker than I could pull the trigger. But instead, she leaned into it with a smile on her face.

“Put me out of my misery, babydoll. If I can’t be yours, I am nothing.”

Heat scorched my skin. Why now? Why was she choosing to tell me this after years of suffering? Why not save me from myself sooner?

Kicking off the ugly sneakers, I planted my foot on her sturdy chest and kicked her over with all the force I could gather. She fell on her back, her knees still folded under her and her hands still cuffed behind her as her head smacked against the tile.

She leaned her head up, gazing at me with a crazed smile and ran her tongue over her lips. A deranged chuckle ripped from her chest.

“That’s right, baby. Fuck me up. Show me that beautiful rage. Show me how pissed off you are. At me. At Ariana. At your dead. Cold. Husband.”

Her words fueled me, kicking me into overdrive. Slowly sucking any control I had from my body.

I stepped over her, lowering myself down so I was straddling her waist. My knees spread wide over her thick, solid torso. Her chest heaved, panting as the anger tore through my every bone and muscle.

On its own accord, my arm lifted to the side and shot forward, slapping the gun across Kel’s face with a loud crack as her head snapped to the side.

The deranged chuckle morphed into a full-on cackle as she turned to me again. Blood dripped from her lips in a shining, crimson trail. I stared as it leaked over her damp skin. Heat coiled in my belly.