Seeing Red

Chapter 5 - The Crematorium

It was early morning when Katarina woke up in a cold sweat. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw him again. The cold, lifeless body of Bill. The blood on her hands. It was all too much.

And when she finally did get some sleep, she saw her killing him. Replaying what had actually happened, what Joe said was not her fault. She couldn't believe him now; not after what she had really done.

With a deep breath, she rolled out of bed. She stood up, stretching, and then made her way to her door. She paused before opening her it, then with a shrug of her shoulders, continued down towards Joe.

As she reached the door to the living room, she paused, then put an ear against the grainy wood. She could hear voices; Joe and someone else, someone female. Resisting the urge to barge in on them, she settled for remaining unknown and listening to their conversation; whatever it was, it sounded urgent.

"I don't know about this; it sounds too dangerous." Katarina narrowed her eyes, pushing herself a bit closer to the door. Whatever they were talking about, the woman sounded unsure. A small part of Katarina knew that this was a bad thing; it led to mistakes and plans could fail because of this. Shaking her head, she ignored her thought and returned to following their conversation.

"Sandy, relax. There's nothing wrong with it, no harm-"

"No harm?" Katarina smiled a bit. Knowing Joe, this plan was most likely life threatening. And while he looked at it in an almost light-hearted manner, she knew that most people would probably scorn his pacifistic ways. The woman didn't seem that bad. Reasonable and realistic, not a dreamer.

"Sandy-"

"Joseph Alexander Matthews! The both of us know what your plans lead do! Do you not remember Venice?" There was a pause and the woman- Sandy-sighed irritably. "Well, neither does Jessica; she was put in a home after she was lobotomized."

There was a long silence. Katarina found herself pushing herself even closer to the door to try and catch any tell-tale signs of a fight or-

"Well, what do you expect me to do?" Joe's voice had gotten softer, almost as if he had suffered pains beyond anything she had ever heard of. "I can't just leave her around. I can't just give her up." He took a deep breath. Katarina could imagine him pacing, pulling his hair. "You can't expect me to let them take her and use her."

"Joe, I don't expect you to give up. I expect you to realise that you can't do this alone."

There was a pause. "You'll help me?"

"Of course I'll help you! Jeez, what do you think I am? Unreasonable?" There was Joe's mumbled answer of 'yes' followed by a loud thump. Katarina snorted, imagining what this woman must act like.

"After all, you can't just abandon the ones you love." There was a long pause, then Joe's coughing. She could just imagine them there, all awkward, not even daring to glance at each other. For some reason, it brought another smile to her face.

"So, where's your little houseguest?"

"Upstairs."

"You sure?" Katarina frowned as the sound of Sandra's sneakers came closer to the door, and just before she was able to spring back, the door was wrenched open.

She lost her balance, landing on her side and glared up at Sandra. She saw the brunette's smirk, then reached out and took the hand extended towards her. With a mumbled 'thanks' she looked down, afraid to look in Joe's direction.

"Sandra, was that really necessary?" Joe chided, shaking his head. "Really, you could be more respectful."

"Sorry, I just wanted to see if the rumors were true." Sandra turned on Katarina. "You know, I expected you to be able to catch all of that, maybe even jump away. Guess I was wrong."