• j a d e •
i scoff and go back to reading my book, waiting for him to respond, if he does at all. when i usually challenge men about my beliefs, they argue until i win and then leave because they don't want to be outsmarted by a woman. it happens every single time.
"you like psychology?" he questions, eyes fixated on my book. or they change the topic.
"i suppose so," i mumble, flicking the page to see an image of a mass murderer from eighteen fifty-two. he was a horrendous man.
"oh yeah? what's your favourite murder case?" he asks, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head, smirking like he was trying to prove something.
"i have an interest in the white chapel killings. jack the ripper was so smart, though he got caught out in the end. they always do," i say with a faint chuckle.
"not always," he adds on quickly, but shuts his mouth tight straight away.
he was strange, and he was peculiar. but, i liked him. he seemed to be the type of person that i could argue with, without him giving up in the first five minutes. he seemed intelligent.
"eleanor pearcey," he says, my eyes locking with his. "that was pretty funny," he sniggers.
"you find the murder of a woman and child funny?" i enquire, to which he shakes his head rapidly.
"no, i find her excuse funny. she said, when the police came and saw the blood, that she had a nosebleed and was killing rabbits before they came. and why would she kill her husband and her own child? just shows how stupid a woman can really be."
he laughs, but stops when he realises that i'm not laughing with him.
"and you just show how stupid a man can be, sir. because eleanor pearcey claimed to be killing mice, when the police questioned her. not rabbits. she also killed her husbands lover and the child she had with her husband, not her own child. but nice try."
he looks at me in awe as i grab my bag and walk out of the library doors, my borrowed books in hand.
and as much as it disturbed me, i couldn't get the image of him out of my head for the rest of the day. and as much as it disturbed me even more, i didn't mind one bit.
