A First Love to Die For

Chapter Forty- Eight- Spinning Narratives

(Josie's POV)

The creak of the stairs alerted me to the fact that Candy was coming back down. I opened my eyes and took in the scene before me.

Her chair was on the ground from where she had thrown it back in anger. There were new blood splatters from our last interaction caked on the ground in front of me. The knife sat over on the top of the drawers, glistening in the soft light of her lantern.

She got closer and picked up the chair, giving me a toothy grin and then wincing.

Hurting a little bit.

It looked like she had treated her face because it wasn't as bruised or as swollen as it should have been. I wondered if she would be more cautious with me now. She probably regretted not tying up my legs but if she wanted to tie them now, she would have to get close enough. I had a feeling she now understood the risk, I wasn't going to be a docile victim.

It's a hard thing when your prey fights back.

"I've come up with a plan to get Lincoln here. Want to hear it?"

I could tell that the silence was getting to her. I wanted to press her, push at her but recognized that if she was going to come back in cautious, I should let her.

Buy more time. Be smart.

"Oh?"

"I'm going to wait until he gets home tonight. Till he isn't surrounded by all the other cops and then tell him that I think I know where you might be. Tell him that my new boyfriend has been freaking me out, coming back with blood stains on his clothes that he can't explain. Tell him that I need his help."

There were so many holes in her story that I knew Lincoln would figure out right way. I had to hope that they had even figured out that it was Candy by now. The fact that I went missing while Harold was in custody should have been a red flag.

That line of thinking had me ask, "What do you have against Harold?"

"What do I have against Harold?" She looked confused at my question like she had never considered the fact that her actions were hurtful towards him.

I struggled to not show my disappointment at her lack of humanity, barely managing to keep my annoyance to myself. How was it that she was so self-absorbed? That she gave no thought to the destruction that she left in her path?

She had just set him up for murder but couldn't understand why I would ask what he had ever done to her.

I simply nodded and said, "Yeah, everyone you've told me about, everyone that you've hurt has wronged you in some way... what about Harold?"

She shrugged like his life was a trivial thing to her and I could feel my ears start to burn as the anger took hold of me. "I figured it would throw them off my scent. Looks like I was right."

"You are such a narcissist monster." The words pierced the air as they left my mouth.

Shut up. Keep it in.

But it was too late. Her anger rang through the air. "Fuck you Josie! You've always been such a perfect little cunt."

"Honestly. Why have you always hated me so much? I know you say it's all cause of Lincoln, but you hated me long before that. Why?"

It wasn't even a game. I was actually curious. Why did she hate me?

Her response was surprising. "You've always had everything handed to you on a silver platter. Your parents never struggled for money, you always got good grades and then without even trying, you got the guy. My guy!"