Children's Games: A Story of Modern Consequence

Chapter 31

~Emilia~

She got up from her chair and tried to calm herself. Something's obviously going on, she thought as the room flashed with red, trying to bring herself back to reality. This isn't the time to be thinking about guilt!

But all she could think about was the blood. She imagined it being warm against her killer's face, sticky and smelly, running down Dominik like sweat, running down her body like sweat.

Her breath seemed to get stuck in her throat as her mind raced before she could figure out what she was actually thinking. Because what she was thinking was wrong. No, she was thinking of nothing. Her mouth was dry yet warm and salty. She looked down at her hands as they flashed red, and the room went silent.

Rosie had to die. Rosie could have been saved. Dominik is a monster. I am a monster. This is wrong. Australia. Russia. The Empire. Terrorism. Guilt. Blame. Hate. Blood on my hands... so much blood...

Suddenly Joshua was in front of her face. His mouth was moving but nothing was coming out... the silence was deafening. His eyes were so dark, complimenting his other dark features like his chin beard, and lips moving so frantically. What he was saying was important, his eyebrows knitted together in concern. He reached out for her hand and held it loosely while cautiously watching the others on the other side of the room whose attention was still glued to whatever was going on outside. He blocked her view of them with his body and leaned in close so that no one would hear them. She couldn't hear him.

Instead, she felt her face go all red. She tried to reduce back into herself, to find Jane. That sweet girl that made friends with Billy, that longed for an identity full of purpose and dignity. She wanted safety, security, a home. Instead, she was left with-

"Emilia," he warned again, tugging on her fingers and trying to nudge her away. "Come on love, you've had one shot over an hour ago, get out of here before they see you. Think about what you can do, not what you can't do."

She looked up at him and finally registered what he was saying. "What?"

"Dominik can't see you like this- Emilia, come on, go!" he said urgently, pushing her towards the stairs.

She roughly pushed his hands away and headed towards the stairs. Looking back, she saw Dominik looking as she exited, but it was too quick to see what he was thinking.

She found herself in the bathroom. Before she closed the door, she heard Anna grilling Joshua about her whereabouts. But she couldn't concentrate on his reply as she felt her gut retching, causing her to gag towards the toilet. Luckily, nothing came out, but her eyes watered as she gagged on the smell of blood, the feel of it on her skin. It madr her shirt cling to her skin until she ripped it off and flung it to the wall.

Then she did actually hurl; a disgusting mush of pasta, cheese, and minced meat made it into the toilet. It had come in creamy white, but now it was tinged in red, and she couldn't decide whether she was seeing funny because of her glassy eyes, a cruel trick of the light. She flushed the bloody mess before she could decide.

The memory was so real, so vivid; a combination of the barbaric killing of Rosie, and the cruel dreams last night that had shown her as the killer of an unfamiliar face. It was like she could feel the dirtiness of the mission cover her body like a splatter of blood... then she realised that it was sweat making her skin warm and clammy.

She heard someone barrelling through the house... but not towards her... downstairs. To the computer that operates all the cameras! She couldn't even get her thoughts in order before she threw herself into the shower and away from the cameras view.