StAlKeRs

Eight

I turned around and turned the oven on to 350 so it could preheat. I walked over to the fridge, opened it, and pulled out the glass baking dish that had leftover lasagna from last night. I took the cover off of it and set it on top of the stove until the oven had preheated. I turned around to see Stu watching my every move. He was standing at the island, leaning on the counter with his forearms, hands clapped together. I pulled open the draw beside me, pulled out a knife and slammed it on the counter all without breaking eye contact. He looked down at it then back to me. "Now, since I'm not stupid, you can take the knife, I know you have on you, and put it on the counter," I told him.

He laughed a little, "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have a knife on me," he smiled. "Cut the bullshit! Put the fucking knife on the goddamn counter!" I yelled. I sighed, licked his lips, and stood straight. He reached behind him and pulled out the black handled, curved knife, the same one he used the night of the party, the same one he stabbed me with, and set it on the counter. "Slide it over to me," I told him. He slid it over and I picked it up, throwing it in the drawer. "I wasn't going to hurt you," he said. The oven beeped letting me know it was ready. I turned and slid the dish into the oven before turning around. "Just start talking." Stu sighed and nodded his head before he started to tell the story on how everything started.

"So, it all started after Billy's mom left. You remember how he was after that, right?" He asked. I nodded my head. I remember it like it was yesterday, he was devastated and not long after that me and Sidney found our mother dead. "Well, a couple weeks after that he came to me and told me that he found out why his mom had left. He said his dad cheated on her with you mom and he had proof. He showed me a picture of his dad and your mom. They were at a motel, his dad standing outside while your mom was in the doorway. He said he saw a video of it. When I asked him how he got it, he just said someone showed him the video.

"He had this whole plan on how to get revenge. He had it all laid out in detail on how to kill your mom and he wanted my help. I told him I didn't think that was a good idea, ya know? At first I thought he was just saying all of it out of anger. But then I realized he was for real. Then he started going on about wanting to kill Sidney too, ya know because she looks a lot more like your mom. She's almost a splitting image of her. We had just started dating and I didn't want to fuck that up. But he started talking about we could get revenge on Casey and Steve."

I held up my hand to stop him. "So, you thought why not kill your girlfriends mother so you could wait a year and kill your ex-girlfriend?" I asked. "I was pissed! She dumped me for Steven fucking Orth! That guy was so fucking full of himself!" He shouted. I laughed and shook my head, "So-- so you didn't breakup with her for me?" I asked. "Baby--" I shook my head, "Don't call me that!" I said, glaring at him. "Look, I didn't feel okay with killing your mom, okay? But Billy's my best friend! You're telling me if Randy or-- Sidney-- if Sidney came up to you and said she wanted revenge on the person that killed you mom and she had it all planned out on how to do it you wouldn't go along with It? You wouldn't help her?" He asked.

"No! I would tell her she needs serious fucking help!" I yelled. "Yeah, well, I'm fucking psychotic, sweetheart!" He yelled. His eyes had darkened a little, he was getting frustrated. "Just-- just keep going," I told him. "Before we-- ya know-- killed your mom, Billy and I, we both psyched each other up. We were full of adrenaline. We knew she was seeing Cotton, so we stole his jacket one night when he was here. We followed her home the next time she met him at a motel, waited for a little while and then sneaked in through your window. She-- she was laying in bed when we found her. We had bought the costumes a week before, Billy bought the knives a few weeks before that. She put up a fight but she wasn't strong enough to take us both.

I had tears in my eyes as he talked. When he noticed he stopped talking, the darkness he had in his eyes turned to pity then to sadness. "We heard you coming home so Billy rushed down stairs wearing Cotton's jacket and I went back out your window. It was Billy who Sid saw leaving, not Cotton. Billy is about his height and his hair looks similar from the back. When we left we went to the motel where Cotton was still staying. We put the bloody jacket and one of the knives back in his car. Then we left and went back to my place. After the adrenaline wore off I felt sick and started to freak out. Then when you had called me-- hearing you crying and knowing you were the one that found her--" he faded off.

"It wasn't supposed to be you who found her. It was supposed to be Sidney, but you two got home with in minutes of each other. I'm sorry." I turned around and check the lasagna. I turned the oven off, grabbed oven not A, and pulled the dish out of the oven, placing it on top of the stove. I took a deep breath, walked a little to the side and opened the cabinet. Standing on my tip-toes to try and reach the plates, a large hand reached above me and grabbed two of them, setting them on the counter. Breath hitched in my throat as he leaned down and whispered in my ear, "I'm sorry. I'm really really sorry. If I could take it all back I would. I would tell Billy to fuck off. I never expected to fall so deeply in love with you and I never expected to like the feeling of killing someone so much. I love you more than you know."