A Descent into Darkness

Showdown

I listen from upstairs as the front door opens, and the feet I guess to be Erin's step in. Silently, the knife in my hand, I slide out through the bedroom window onto the roof and close it. From there, I pull out Erin's father's phone and call her back.

"Oh Nate," she answers. "Where for art thou, Nate? I've got a big surprise for you. You hiding behind a corner waiting to jump me? Got a tripwire rigged to a shotgun? No, you haven't been here long enough to rig that up. Are you a mile away and just toying with me to waste my time?"

"Well wouldn't we both have a lot less fun if I just gave that away? Besides, I have a feeling that once we see each other, one of us will die pretty quick. And I need answers first."

"Nate," she replies, surprisingly dryly. "You didn't make these guys suffer. That was just a wasted opportunity."

Clearly, she's referring to the two people downstairs. I guess she's searching the kitchen now.

"I couldn't have them screaming," I reply. "Cops were on their way."

"Well, your not going to get another chance to kill someone, but whatever floats your boat."

"Let's talk about that," I say. "You claim you know what it feels like to kill someone. What's that about, and what the fuck did Rachel have to do with all of it?"

"Nate, Nate, you still don't realize, Rachel was just a pawn. All of this, and I do appreciate the irony given what you just did to my family, was meant to get you to embrace your dark side. I just thought it would be directed at Rachel instead."

What the fuck?

"Wait," I can barely believe my ears. "You're saying that all of this, you befriending Rachel, setting her up with Veronica, manipulating things so that she ended up with me, what was that, some kind of plan to get me to kill Rachel?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

You gotta be shitting me.

"But why? More importantly, how the fuck did you know about my dark side?"

"You revealed it too me online, JD."

I freeze at the mention of the name I used in the online forum where I described nearly killing Rebecca Ross.

"See, your story caught my eye, so I had a hacker I knew find your real identity. afterwards when I realized another homicidal psycho lived so close to me, I thought it may be a chance to find someone who could truly accept me. But I not only had to see if you were for real, I needed some kind of leverage over with you. The plan was, after you and Rachel were together, I would organize for you to learn what she did to Liza, you'd lose control and kill her, then I would cover it up for you."

"So, this was all meant to be some kind of romantic gesture?"

"I guess you can say that. A deeply manipulative and devious one, probably more born from infatuation than true love. I mean, once I met Eve, I dropped the idea of being with you pretty quick. Guess I should have done something to put the brakes on my initial plan before stepping away from it. Quite the mess that's happened without my supervision."

I realize that I actually believe her. And now that I think about it, this actually seems to answer some hanging questions. "So, that person outside my house, the fibres from the same clothing outside of Rebecca Ross's house, that was you? You've known about me and been following me this whole time?"

"Yep."

Knowing it was her doesn't explain everything though. "But why were you hiding in the bushes outside my house that day? I knew who you were, you could have just come to the door and said hi without revealing what you were up to."