The Crack in the Side Wall

Chapter 3

17th June 2012,

I slowly backed away, trying to scream but no words came out. Suddenly my legs gave way and I grabbed on the handle for support, shaken and half paralyzed with fear.

"Wh-What have you done?" I stammered, unsure if I should feel relieved that I have finally found some words.

"Was it yours?" She asked, surprisingly nervous for a murderer with a knife.

"Wh-What?" I was still stammering.

"Was the cat yours?" She asked.

"Wh-What are you talking about?" I almost shouted.

"The cat?" She said, pointing towards the body, "was it yours?"

That's when I made out a tail and protruding ears of the body that now lay dead. I heaved a sigh of relief and sat down on the ground, laughing uncontrollably.

"Are you okay?" She asked as she came closer, tucking a braid of hair behind her ear.

"Was it yours?" She asked again, trying unsuccessfully to not smile at my antics.

I shook my head wheezing with laughter. She sighed in relief and sat down beside me.

"Why are you laughing?" she asked my joyful self.

"You screamed... I entered... thought you killed someone." I answered, still wheezing and gasping for air.

Suddenly she stood up and stared at me with her hollow eyes.
"Did you think I murdered someone?" She asked with a tinge of anger in her words.

I looked at her in utter silence, wondering what to say.
"I was just... It was just that your scream, the bloodied knife, and a lifeless black head made me a victim of circumstance." I blurted in fright.

The corners of her lips twirled into a smile and she started laughing. Her icy laugh was the most melodious sound at that moment as I too started smiling sheepishly.

"Can you help me clean the mess?" She asked after a few minutes of us sharing smiles.
I nodded and made her lead the way.

I bent down and took the poor lifeless cat into my arms and wrapped it in a newspaper that Ella gave me. I then put it aside on the kitchen counter and poured some water on the floor to wash off the fresh blood.

Soon we were scrubbing the floor of blood stains.

"How did it happen?" I asked my scrubbing partner.

"Well, it's a bit funny, how it happened, like dark humor funny." She replied, going all red like the blood we were cleaning. " I was dicing potatoes near the stove when I heard the shuffling of feet behind me. I panicked, thinking it was a robber trying to kill me, and quickly threw the knife at the source. Unfortunately, the feet were the poor stray cat's. On realizing what I had done, I shrieked and ran towards it. I knelt down beside it and took out the knife to ease its suffering. That's when you arrived and thought..."

As her voice trailed out, I couldn't help but laugh at the series of unfortunate incidents. We laughed together at it and resumed our work.

Finally, after an hour of scrubbing, we were able to completely rid the floor of blood stains.

"Phew", Ella sighed and went to the sink to drink a glass of water. I followed behind her to quench my thirst as well.

She bent down to fill the glass and then looked up at her reflection in her mirror. She stared at it for a few seconds and then began adjusting her hair by running her fingers through them.

" What are you doing?" I asked

She looked at me through the mirror and smiled. "It's a habit of mine, adjusting my hair whenever I see my reflection."

I nodded and smiled back. She then turned towards me, her loose hair lightly slapping my face.

" Sorry", she giggled and gulped down the content of the glass, licking her lips after drinking her fill.

I slowly went to her and tucked a hair strand behind her ear, taking a deep breath as I did so. I could hear her stop breathing for a second as I stood so close to her. Maybe it was because we were too intimately close or maybe because we were two lonely souls who secretly lusted each other but were too afraid to admit it.

I smiled at the thought and looked down at her neck which was adorned with a beautiful chain.

"It's a beautiful piece", I said pointing towards the golden key with intricate designs, adorned by small gems and diamonds that bound around her neck by a thin gold wire.

" Thanks", She smiled and looked down at it, rubbing her thumb and index finger on the symbol. "It was my mother's."

"Where is she now?"

"In heaven", she said in a sad tone.

" I am sorry."

"It's okay, you didn't know," Ella said, a sad smile gracing her lips. "She died when I was thirteen, gave this to me on her death bed as her last emblem and heirloom for me. I never take it off for this is the only thing of my past that I still have with me."

"Why did you come to this city?" I asked, wondering if I should have, considering the swirl of tears that made her eyes gleam with grief.

"Because", she leaned towards my ear, so close that I could hear her pink tongue move as she spoke grimly, " The past I am running from is very dark and dangerous."