Chim - Every Mark On My Body

Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

I'm running. Fast. Whipping and turning around dark corner after dark corner, me trainers bouncing off the cool tarmac with no street lights to guide me view. But I don't even think I'm getting anywhere. And I'm not sure what I'm running from, I just know I have to get away. Away from the toils and troubles that will inevitably befall us if I don't escape. Escape. Where to? I don't know. I can't think straight. Me skin is too hot and the wind too cold as I dash through the night air, hoping with every sinew that this will soon be over. Me nails are too long as they dig into the skin of me palms, leaving pink marks indented into the olive surface. Me muscles are writhing in agony. Me mind is swimming, screaming. But I can't stop. I just know somewhere in us that I have to keep going, get to safety. What is safety to us now though? Kimberley? And as soon as I think of her, she appears. A while ahead of us, but she's something to aim for. Her hourglass silhouette is glowing slightly, the edges blurred hazily as she smiles her sweet smile. Her blonde hair spills out around her head like a halo, flowing in the breeze. She's calling us. Flicking me name off her tongue, seemingly lost. Like a child would call for their mother - her voice too sickly. A little too innocent. Unlike her.

'Cheryl? Cheeeerrrryyyyylllll'

'Kimberley..'

'Cheryl.' She smiles wickedly. 'I care about you, Cheryl.'

'I do too.'

I'm getting closer to her now. But she seems to be getting further away with every yard I gain, her smoky silhouette fading ever so slightly. She's getting further away? No!

'Kimberley! I care about you too!'

'Really baby? Are you sure?'

'Yes! Of course!'

'Turn around, Cheryl.'

I turn me pounding head, still not breaking the pattern of me run. And behind us, splashed against the darkness I see a dog. A big, rabid animal with strings of sticky saliva swinging from its jaws. And I shriek wildly, upping me pace further as it growls a deadly growl. I turn back to Kimberley and the corners of her mouth are turned up slightly. This isn't Kimberley. And yet, I still know that she is me best shot. She is the lesser of two evils now.

'See that, Cheryl? Come to me now and I can protect you from that. We could escape that together.'

'I'm coming, Kimba! Stay still I'm coming!'

'But, see, I can't protect you from that.' She raises a steady arm and points behind us. 'Not when you lie to me and continue to do his dirty work like some kind of whore.'

Her sour words sting us like a hot slap across the face. And I know what's going to be there before I turn around. So surely that I contemplate not bothering to look. But I can't stop meself. It's like me head is turning of its own accord. And although I expected him, I didn't expect this. 

It's Tony, but it's not. The dog has morphed but not fully. The twisting swirl of shape and colour has faltered somewhere in between man and animal. I can see Tony's too dark eyes and greasy, dank hair, his large shape still prominent. But his bared teeth are still those of the dog - jagged, uneven and too sharp as he froths rabidly at the edges of his hot mouth. His hands and feet now resemble those of a wolf - fur too long and pointed claws that look ready to shred us to pieces. Sticky bile rises in me throat and I turn back sharply, black dots popping in front of me eyes. And yet I'm still running as fast as me wobbly legs will allow us as though I can actually get away. As though I believe in meself. 

'Kimberley, please!' I moan pathetically, me strength slowly ebbing away. And her smirk is too callas. Too satisfied as I beg before her. This isn't Kimberley.