Obliterate

five

SOPHIE STARED AT her hands in disbelief. The flowery smell of blood disrupted her senses. It covered her fingers, staining her skin dark red. Dried flakes crusted beneath her fingernails. The dried blood trailed upward, spreading across her palms toward her forearms. Her stomach twisted with unease and her throat burned.

Her thoughts were a jumbled mess, and her memories nonexistent. The last thing that she remembered was falling asleep in Eli's arms.

Just then, Eli sighed in his sleep. The covers pulled against her slightly as he rolled onto his side, toward her. Panic washed through her and she glanced over at him, eyes wide. His nose twitched.

In one swift movement, she jolted from the bed and threw herself into the bathroom. The door clicked shut and she immediately twisted the shower faucet on. Water spilled through the pipes, beating against the shower floor in a torrent of droplets. She squeezed her eyes shut and listened hard. Eli was already stirring in the other room, no doubt able to smell the blood. Horrified, Sophie shoved her hands into the water. It pelted her skin, steaming hot. The blood liquefied, fanning out from each droplet of water as it hit, desperate to escape a watery death.

When the blood was washed from her hands, Sophie stepped away from the water and pressed a palm to her forehead. Her thoughts whirled around wildly. What happened? Where did this blood come from?

She sucked in a sharp breath and lowered her hand. Maybe this was all a horrible dream. A nightmare.

Something red flashed in her peripheral vision. She squinted at it, and realized that her palm was still painted red. A strangled sound escaped her. She wiggled out of her pajamas, which were splattered with blood. She jumped under the stream of water and scrubbed furiously at every service of her body. Shock bristled through her, followed by a stark realization.

This much blood would have definitely killed somebody.

Her panic multiplied, as did her frantic thoughts. Who did she kill? The blood didn't smell human. She couldn't quite place what it smelled like, other than its strange flowery twinge.

"What happened?" she whispered to herself, staring at the miniscule particles of blood caught beneath her nails.

A knock rapped against the door. Her heart jumped and she reached out, snagging her pajamas. She quickly ran them under the water, urging the blood from the fabric. She could hear Eli's sleepy yawn from over the roar of the water. "Sophie? Are you okay?"

"I'm just peachy," she answered. "Just taking a shower."

There was a pause. And then he asked, "At two thirty in the morning?"

Sophie grimaced. Only a few hours had passed since their visit with Wolfe, and since she'd fallen asleep. That notion terrified her. In only a few hours, she'd somehow left their room and came back coated in someone else's blood. Her hands worked hastily at her pajama's, squeezing the smaller particles of blood from the cloth.