THE CALL OF HER

12.5

The TV is quiet, the bowl of cereal in your hands is cold. The man who owns the house left early this morning, shortly after Tim and Brian left to go to the grocery store. His black hair was messy and his hand held a cutting knife. 

"You going to go cook with one of your hoes or what?" Toby spat, walking out of the bathroom to lock eyes with the black haired man. 

"No." He simply said, before stepping out onto the porch.

Kate's hand on your thigh tightens at the tension in Tobies words. You try to focus on the TV, go along with the story of Looney Tunes. 

"I swear, that guy is bound to make me beat his ass one of these days. Like, Nina texted me last night saying Jeff cut it off with her, in like, the rudest way possible." Toby explains as he walks into the kitchen for a can of Pepsi. You can't look at the television anymore, you're to interested in the information Toby says without thought.

"How many times in a sentence do you have to use the word like?" Kate mutters, leaning closer to you to fall back to sleep.

"Oh shut it, bitch." Toby rolls his eyes as he walks past the two of you on the couch, and back down the hallway to his room.

You slightly smile at the little spat between Kate and Toby, maybe killers do have a little bit of humanity in them. 

His hand gripped the blade, twisting it in her stomach. You suddenly latch onto Kate, making her jump. "What?! What's wrong?" She instantly sits up, and looks around. Tears swell in your eyes as your stomach twists.

"How do you do it?" Your bottom lip trembles, your hands grasp at her shirt and you pull yourself to her chest. "How do you..." Kate relaxes, and lets her hands rest on your shoulders.

"I used to drink, you remember?" You feel her fingers slide to your face, to guide your attention to her eyes. "But it got worse when I joined them, when I had to kill." Her eyes are layers and layers of brown and hazel, they come together around her pupil.

"I'd be, to drunk to even remember the face of my victim. But all I knew, is that I had to kill them. And if I didn't, something bad would happen." Her voice is soft, the scars are physical but her love is internal. 

"That's how I did it. At least, back then." You watch her swallow her words. "About last year, I found a way to stop drinking. It was by spacing out, like, in class or something. Except, I did it whenever I was close to taking a life that wasn't mine to take." 

"Do you understand?" Kate whispers. You slowly nod.

"I didn't want you to do this so early, and, I fucking knew how bad it would hurt you." Her breath becomes shaky. "But, but that fucker Brian." You watch her eyes squint close in frustration, annoyance, hatred.

Her fingers slightly curl into your cheeks. "When you get those images in your head, focus on the present. Not, the bad in the past." Kate's eyes are open now, and are on yours. You take in a breath, feeling her lips press against yours.