World's Greatest Criminal Wife

Chapter 3

     "Monica! Oh, thank goodness you are alright!"
     She closed the front door as Octavia emerged from the kitchen. She should have felt relief that her mother was worried about her, but she almost felt uncomfortable seeing her. "Do not worry, nothing bad happened to your little golden child."
     "Oh, good. When your brother got back first, I thought something was wrong." Her mother gave her a tight hug, kissing her cheek. She pulled away with a disgusted groan as she finally noticed the blood, her fancy white dress now stained.
     "Sorry about that." Monica apologized, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. "I should have warned you."
     "Do not worry about it, dear." Octavia wiped her hands off on her dirty dress with a kind smile. "Just get changed and give me your clothes; I will throw them in the washing machine for a minute."
     Monica nodded and walked towards her room, leaving her wet shoes near the door. She heard Sean's voice call from his room. "Welcome back! I expected you to get back here before I did. You got caught in the storm, I assume?" As he poked his head out, his smile dropped seeing her bloody state. "Sweet Queen Mousetoria! You look like a disaster! What happened to you?!"
     "Shut up!" she scolded, kicking him in the knee. He giggled like a little kid as he leapt out of her way. "Look, I need to get new clothes so do not come in."
"Oh, come on! I have so many questions!" He sighed as she shut the door in his face, laughing softly. "At least tell me what happened! Why do you look like you just escaped a bloody hurricane?"
Monica held her breath as she thought of an answer. "I, uh, ran into the cops a while ago." She took off her stained suit coat and blouse. "They are dead, by the way. We will not have anyone our tails for a while." She kept her mouth shut about the stranger who saved her life. She wasn't going to let anyone know she let herself have help.
Sean giggled from behind the door. "Well then, I am guessing home since they were nearby, huh? Why did they go after you, anyway?"
     She froze, dropping her clothes at her feet. She hoped he wouldn't ask; she didn't want to admit what she did to him. Rose was his friend as well, so telling him would break his heart. What was she going to do? She opened her mouth to try and say something, but all she could spit out was incoherent gibberish.
A soft gasp came from her little brother as he seemingly put the pieces together. "You... you did something to her..."
     "N-No, I did not!" she lied, trying to sound innocent. "They just... they must have recognized me is all."
     "Monica, you have never even been spotted by the police before. How could they possibly recognize you?"
     "Well... uh... I stole something from the store one time. Maybe they saw me do it?"
     "No, I know you have never stolen anything in your life. Now, tell me the truth. What did you do?"
     No response.
     "Did you kill her? Please tell me you did not kill her!"
     Still no reply.
     "You killed her?!" He placed his hand on the door with a disappointed whimper. "Why? Why would you do that? What is wrong with you!?"
     Monica, again, didn't respond, hanging her head in shame and regret. She instead flung open her closet, grabbing new clothes and quickly throwing them on. She tried to focus on getting dressed, but she could still hear Sean yelling at her from the hall. Flashes of Rose's dead body suddenly flooded her brain, her painful screaming ringing in her ears. She could almost feel her friend's spirit lingering around her, staring over her shoulder with an angry stare. It bothered her. It filled her with guilt, and she hated it.
     Sean slammed the door open, snapping her out of her trance. "Answer me, damn it! What the hell is wrong with you!?"
     "What do you mean what is wrong with me?!" she snapped back with a snarl.
     "She was your best friend, Monica!" he shouted, shaking her vigorously. "Why did you kill her!? She had a husband and a daughter and you took her away from them! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!?"
     Monica growled and pushed him away. "I never meant to take her away from them. I wanted to take her away from HIM. I did what I did to get back at him from stealing her from me! I think what I did was rather justified."
     "So, you decided to kill her?" He scoffed with a mix of amusement and disbelief. "You murdered a loving wife and mother in cold blood because you were too much of a petty bitch to let her live with your high school rival?"
     Monica snapped, whirling around and punching him in the face. As he staggered backwards, she kicked him to the ground, grabbing him by the collar. She raised her fist, preparing another punch as he cowered beneath her, but a tapping noise caught her attention. Their father stood in the doorway, staring blankly in their directing with his cloudy eyes. "What is going on in here?" he slowly asked, his voice calm despite the heated argument happening in front of him.
She stared down at her brother for a moment. His face was filled with fear, his eyes welded shut as he anticipated the painful punch. One hand gripped onto her wrist, trying to loosen her grip as the other hand guarded his face. His terrified expression almost made her feel bad for him. Almost. With a heavy sigh, she released him, standing up again. "Nothing... we are fine..."
Darren blinked with a raised eyebrow. "Your tone tells me otherwise, sweetheart. You know better than to lie to your father. Now, tell me what is going on."
"Nothing, dad," Sean chimed in, covering for her as he scurried to his feet. "Everything is fine. I-I-I have work tomorrow, so I need to get some sleep." He quickly rushed past into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him.
Monica sat down on the edge of her bed, letting out a huff as her dad approached her. Resting his cane on the bed, he climbed up next to her, patting her leg gently. "Now that we are alone, I want you to tell me the truth," he told her. "What was going on in here before I interrupted your little screaming match?"
     "Rose," she hissed under her breath. "She is dead..."
     He nodded. "I see, but that does not answer my question. What happened?"
     "Sean just started getting mad at me for what I did. He called me a petty bitch so I punched him. He deserved it for that..." She glared down at her hand, balling it into a frustrated fist.
     "I guess you have a point." He hummed thoughtfully. "But from what I could hear, he had a point, too. There was no reason to kill her. I understand you were frustrated, but what you did was not exactly necessary."
     "Of course it was," she scoffed. "What else was I supposed to do? Did you expect me to let that bastard go unpunished for what he did to me!?"
     "Well, no, but all I am saying is that there were probably better ways to deal with him."
     "Like what?"
     Darren sat and thought for a moment before giving a defeated shrug. "Nothing I would say would be able to convince you what you did was not the right thing."
     "You got that right..." She rested her head on her knees, staring down at the floor. He didn't say it, but she knew he was also disappointed in her. His tone gave that away.
Her father slowly slid off the bed, grabbing the cane off the bed. "I can sense you do not want to talk anymore, so I will leave you alone for the night. I suggest you get some sleep. You might feel a little better in the morning." He left without another word, his cane tapping on the walls as he walked away.
Monica sighed as she fell backwards, staring up at the ceiling. Could he have been right? Was there something else she could've done to get back at Flaversham? But what else COULD she have done?
No, you did the right thing. She softly growled at herself. That bastard deserved what he got. You took what he loved most... just like he did...
As her mind continued to wander, she couldn't stop thinking of the strange man she met before the police managed to find her. How long had he been watching her? And why was he just standing there while she was being attacked? The questions that flooded her brain began to overwhelm her, running around in circles in her mind. She wasn't even sure why she was so interested in him at this point.
     With a frustrated groan, she slid out of bed, picking up her bloodstained clothes. Just forget about it for tonight. You can worry more in the morning once you get some sleep. Handing her suit to her mother as she walked by, she headed to her younger sister's room for a moment. For some reason, they were still awake, sitting at their desk as she frantically wrote something in her notebook. Monica chuckled. "Do you not have school in the morning?" she calmly asked, making Vitani fly out of their chair. "I thought you were supposed to be in bed by 10:30. It is 11 now!"
     "Trust me, I know," she replied with a yawn, shaking themself out. "I just got caught up in writing this thing. I have been trying to write this letter for ages now. It is oddly hard to put feelings into words..."
Curious, Monica picked up the notebook, scanning through the open page before turning back to them with a smirk. "And who is the lucky person you are giving this to, if I might ask?"
Vitani blushed, burying her face in her shirt. "I should not say," she muttered. "I do not want you to judge me..."
"Oh, please, do tell. You are my favorite person in the family! You can tell me anything." Monica knelt beside her sibling, tilting her head. "So, who is it?"
"Well, she is a kid in my English class. We are just friends right now, but I love her more than that." They sighed happily, resting her head on one hand. "I am sure you understand what I am going through, right?"
Monica smiled. "Of course, I do!" She ruffled her sister's hair as she stood up to leave. "I do hope everything goes well for you two. But, in the rare situation that she rejects you, do not go trying to kill her for it, alright?"
"And why would I want to do that, exactly?"
She paused, gripping the side of the door in frustration. "Nothing, forget what I said. Now go to bed. You can finish writing that in the morning if you need to. I do not want you getting in trouble for falling asleep in class."
"Whatever you say, mom," she teased ad Monica closed the door. As she headed back to her room, she spotted Octavia leaning in the doorway, staring at her as she approached. She gave her eldest daughter a smug grin. "So, do you have a boyfriend yet?" she asked, her eyebrow raising a bit.
"That is a rather out-of-nowhere question to be asking right now, but no, I do not." She pushed past her mother. "Why do you ask?"
The white rat giggled. "I believe you know why. You are getting older by the day, dear, and I was hoping you would be having a baby on the way soon."
"No, not going to happen," she quickly replied as she tried to close the door. Octavia blocked it, her smile replaced with a disappointed frown.
"What do you mean by "no"?"
"I mean..." she paused, trying not to suddenly lash out. "I-I mean I do not want to have this conversation right now. I am too tired to handle this tonight." Monica moved her mom's fingers out of the way before shutting the door, locking it. As Octavia tried to continue the conversation through the door, she collapsed on her bed and covered her ears with her pillow. Shutting her eyes tightly, she tried to drown out her mother's talking until her voice drifted away.
She soon fell asleep, but still, those yellow eyes she had caught stalking her were still watching her, continuing to follow her even in her dreams.