Echo in Her Mind

Forty-Three.

As Darla gathered things from her vanity, Bethany slowly made herself visible from behind the clothing rack, and tip-toed over to her. Her heart was pounding in her chest with adrenaline, and she realized how long it had been since she felt this rush. All those thoughts of regret instantly faded as she swung her arm around Darla, and placed her hand over her mouth to silence the scream that came afterwards.

Bethany did her best to hold Darla still as she struggled to fight her off. She began to trash as Bethany grabbed hold of her arms with her free hand. Darla was slightly larger than her, so it was hard to keep hold of them with one hand. Her body was screaming at her from the rough movements, but she knew if she halted for even a split second, Darla would certainly overpower her.

She looked around the room, in hopes of finding something to tie Darla's hands together, or place over her mouth to keep her silent. On the rack of the clothes, a long black scarf could be seen, and Bethany forced Darla's body to move towards it. How the hell she was going to pull this off, she had no idea.

Moving her face closer to the rack, Bethany grabbed hold of the scarf with her teeth. Taking a chance, she removed her hand from Darla's mouth, and forced the scarf over her head and tied it tight, to recover it. She was surprised by her quick reflexes, but it was then that she received an elbow to the ribs and almost fell to the floor from the pain of it.

She watched as Darla attempted to remove the scarf that was covering her mouth, and then Bethany was back on her feet in a flash, and tackled her to the floor. Darla squirmed beneath her, and a punch was thrown at Bethany's jaw. At that point, she had had enough of the wrestling, and decided it was time to get it over with.

Forcing her head back, Bethany rammed herself into Darla's as hard as she could manage, knocking her unconscious in an instant.

"Gah," Bethany mumbled, pain instantly entering her forehead, and she knew that was going to feel 20 times worse in the morning.

Walking over to the chair that the metal plaque of Darla's room was placed on, Bethany aggressively ripped it off the back of it. It was definitely heavy, and would officially make a very good weapon to take out Darla for good. She was breathing heavy as she reached Darla again, and was reminded of the last vessel, Kyle Rodgers, that she had beaten to death with his own shovel.

Bethany hesitated that time. She was weak then, but she definitely wasn't anymore as she rammed the plaque into Darla's cranium without even a second thought. It only took one blow for the pink mist to begin to flow from her lifeless body, and be safely returned to Bethany.

The feeling that she received after retrieving this emotion, was different from the rest of them; her heart swelled, and she almost felt warm on the inside. She watched as the circular ball flew from Darla's chest, and disappeared into the air. Bethany knew her job was done.

A knock at the door brought her attention away from Darla's body, and to the direction of the door.

"Darla, are you in there? The press is getting impatient," the familiar voice of the Gary character sounded through the metal.

Bethany moved to stand on the chair, and jumped up to the vent, and pulled herself up into it just as the opening of the door could be heard. She stayed out of right, staying still so that she didn't draw attention to herself. It wasn't until she heard the broke voice of the man scream, that she began to move as quietly as she could throughout the vents.

No matter how far away she got, she could still hear his screams, and Bethany was afraid that the sound would forever be etched in her mind. She allowed a single tear to escape her eyes as she mourned for the man who just lost the love of his life, but that was all.