The Invisible World

Chapter 16: Shock the Monkey

I made it out of the convenience store successfully with my razor blades. No calls to the cops so far. Now, who to kill first?

Oh, wait. Why is this even a question? I had to kill Jack first! That jackass (pardon the language–the pun was too good to pass up) never cared a bit about me, and I already lived with him, so he was already an easy target, and since it was closer to 2:30 AM now, he was probably fast asleep, making him an even easier target.

I drove back home. The lights were all off, just like I left them, and I couldn't just turn them back on. That might wake Jack up. I just had to tiptoe through the house.

I made my way up the stairs to Jack's room in the dark. When I entered, there he was fast asleep, just like I was hoping. Then there was the matter of opening the pack of razor blades and taking one out without making too much noise or cutting myself. I'd have to do it as slowly as possible.

I pulled back the flap keeping the cardboard box shut and opened it up, the cardboard rubbing against itself only making a gentle shh. I tipped the box into my hand to let one fall out of the box and into my palm, hoping none of the others would come tumbling out and slice up my hand. Maybe I should have worn gloves for this.

Once one had slid out enough that I could pinch it with my thumb and index finger, I pulled it out and tipped the box back so that the others slid back in. Good. I was safe. Now, all that was left was to hold the razor blade up to Jack's neck and give it a quick slit. He wouldn't know what hit him.

Then I had to wait. Which part of the neck was the jugular vein in? I was worried in this deep darkness that I'd end up cutting him in the wrong spot and just inconvenience him instead of killing him. Should I just assume that any part of his neck had an important vein in it and start spewing blood instantly?

It was in that moment of hesitation that Jack woke up. He looked down at me holding my arm out towards him. He grabbed my arm and held it so that my hand was visible in the window. "Is that...a razorblade?" He hit my arm, knocking the razorblade out of my hand. "Whoa! What was that for? I haven't called the cops on you!"

I shook my head. "I mean, you are a complete jerk who's done nothing but antagonize me since we met, but that's not the only reason. I have to kill you before you stop existing."

"What, do you think I'm going into the void next?" he asked, hearing me out a little more this time.

"Yes, with the rest of Allwine when the book ends." Why did I just say that? I thought I wasn't going to tell anybody.

"Book? What book?"

I held my hand out towards the audience of people I could feel watching our every move. "You mean you don't see them?"

Jack sat up and looked in the same direction. "Katie, that's a wall."

"Yeah." I could make this into another pun. "The fourth wall." Nailed it. "Now, the entire town is bound for nonexistence, and I don't want you to see that nightmare."

Jack was slipping out of hearing-me-out territory. "And how is killing me supposed to help that?"

"Uh, hello! I'm putting you out of your misery! How do you feel knowing we're all going to stop existing when we reach the back cover?"

"We're not going to stop existing," Jack tried to assure me. "Even if this a book, what's the chance this is the last time anyone's going to read it?"

Crud. Logic again. "It could be a book no one wants to read," I reasoned. "It could be a bad book. I don't want to be in a bad book. I don't want my life to suck, Jack."

Jack sighed. "Katie, if you'll just listen to me..."

But I didn't want to listen to him. I just wanted to be a little deranged. I wanted to have my moment. "Or what if this book isn't meant to be read? What if there is no audience out there? What if this is being written for the author's personal pleasure, never to be published?"