Mercy

Part 5: Push

She looks at me like I am crazy and to her, I probably am. I get off the railing and walk over to her.

"Do you want me to push you? I bet it is scary to make the leap, I can do it for you"

"Ok. Push me" I feel a tingle in my belly and I am a little excited. It is not what I expected but this could still be good.

I run my hand up and down her back, then I take a strand of her hair and twirls it around my finger. My hand goes to the back of her hair and I make a fist, roughly pulling her head backwards. A small gasp leaves her mouth but it is not fear, it is something else. She has let go of the railing and I all really had to do was to let go of my grip and her own weight would do the rest. I could just let go and watch her body disappear. I wondered if she would scream. This is when I remembered that this was not the plan. It was going to be perfect and not an impulse decision. She would not be another Deliah. I pull her head backwards to whisper into her ear.

"What's your name?" I ask. She is silent until I tighten my grip.

"Charlotte" She says. Her voice is strained and her words quiet.

"There is something you should know" I pause. There is beauty in the dramatic and I preferred to put on a show. "I've killed a lot of people" I feel how her body tenses up, strange seeing how I am about to kill her. What does she have to fear? "That is why I was looking at you all night. I really wanted to kill you"

"Why?" She sounds small.

"You're just perfect" I smile and I bet she can hear the grin on my face through my words. "This was not how it was supposed to happen... I was going to follow you for a couple of days, get to know you and then I would bring you to my house and I would spend some time with you until your passing" There is no way to gauge her reaction and I really hate that. I want to see the fear in her eyes or the curiosity.

"You think I am perfect?" That was not what I thought would come out of her mouth. Why did that matter? Did she really have low enough self esteem to be flattered by being a target for a murderer...

"Uhm... Yeah" I almost stumbled over my words. I actually started to get nervous. The situation had strayed so far from my plan and as I stood on the bridge I started to wonder about cameras and witnesses. Would I get away with this?

"How many people have you killed?" What the fuck was up with this girl. I started to wonder if I should just let go but parts of me wanted so badly to tell her. The downside of being a successful killer is that you don't get any credit. I worked really hard and no one knew. Well, now this girl on the bridge knew and I felt like finally somebody cared.

"To be honest, I'm not sure anymore. I think I would average about one person every other month, maybe more, over the last nine years sooo..." I was not good at math. "Let's say about 67" I felt proud of this statistic. In all honesty I was not sure of this number at all. One person every other month was reasonable but once I killed three people in the same month and the deviations were hard to account for. She starts to laugh, proper loud belly laughing. That was rude and I thought about dropping her, but I wanted to understand. In my entire life I don't think that I have wanted to understand another person the way I wanted to understand her.

"There is no way. I think someone would have noticed that many people"

"Not if they were sick... Not if they were old... Not if there wasn't anyone there to care about their passing" Charlotte went silent again. All of a sudden I felt her move. Her hands were back on the railing and she threw her foot over it to turn around. She sat on the edge and faced me. My hand was still in her hair making our faces incredibly close. Her eyeliner, the one she had reapplied earlier tonight, had been washed away by tears and her eyes were so blue even in the dim glow of the streetlights. I suddenly felt closer to her than I had anyone in my entire life. She knew more about me, the real me, than anyone and it felt great. I had expected more fear but she looked neutral. Her eyes flickered down to my lips and I got this sinking feeling in my stomach. I was almost a little scared. At least I think this is what fear feels like, I haven't really experienced it but I felt weird.

"You really killed 67 people and no one noticed" She whispers. I nod. "... and you were going to kill me next" I nod again. "Because I am perfect..." I nod. "I'm not old or sick, people are going to miss me. How are you going to get away with it?"

"I had a plan but then you ruined it. You noticed me and now everything is screwed up. Even if I just push you off the bridge there is a risk of me going to prison. There is CCTV and people who saw us interact at the pub. I shouldn't kill you like this" I tighten my grip on her hair and another soft breath leaves her mouth as a response. "You ruined this for me. I had finally found you and you ruined it" I was angry. I hated when things didn't go my way and this was honestly the worst case scenario.

I had said too much. I couldn't let her fall to her death but I couldn't let her go. I thought about that phone call I had made to Roger after killing Deliah, fuck... I really didn't want to call Roger to come clean up my mess. I was a big girl and I should be able to clean up my own mess. I assume she can see my mind race because all of a sudden she puts her hand on my cheek and strokes her thumb over it. It is calming and maybe even comforting.

"What is your name?" I am stunned and I just answer.

"Amelia, no Mia, no Amelia" And once again I sound like an idiot. She smiles.

"Well... Amelia. Take me home"

A/N: I thought it would have been super funny if I just wrote "Mia pushed the woman of the bridge. The end!" But then I remembered that I actually have a plan and I couldn't kill Char. So, you're welcome for that. Hope y'all have a nice weekend.

/N