“Viviette, it really is time to get up now! Faye will be waiting for you to arrive before she goes out to work!” The sound of her mother’s voice pierces through the soft dream world that Vivi was exploring a few seconds ago. She groans and reluctantly swings her legs off the side of her bed, rubbing her eyes with a fist.
“Whatever, Mum,” she grumbles. Faye was her older sister and recently all the attention had been on her. A couple of weeks ago, she’d moved out of the family home and into a house on the other side of town with her annoyingly perfect boyfriend, Dale. In Vivi’s opinion, this was pointless as she only needed to hop on a bus to collapse back into the ever welcoming arms of their parents. Still, Faye had invited her over to see her house as Vivi hadn’t managed to make it over yet due to her judo lessons that always seemed to conveniently clash with the times when her parents wanted her to join them. Not to mention the fact that her Mum had forgotten again to deliver the housewarming card they’d signed, so the deed had been finally passed to Vivi. She thinks about refusing as she got ready but decided that it wasn’t worth the fuss. Especially as the main thing she’d been avoiding was Dale, yet today he had the early shift at the hospital so she could have some quality time with her sister.
Taking the stairs two at a time, Vivi swings round the house, grabbing the essentials; phone, keys, purse, etc. Just as she unlocks the door, her Mum taps her on the shoulder, handing her the card that she’d almost forgotten.
“Have fun, Vi. Just make sure you cross over at the traffic lights and don’t go under the subway. It’s out of sight so anyone could do anything to you under there without anyone else knowing.” Her mother kisses her head. “Stay safe,” she says, smiling. Vivi returns the smile and backs out the door. Her Mum could be so paranoid sometimes. No way was she going to go the long way round over the road. She’d been under the subway loads on her way home from school with her friends, it’s not like a monster would suddenly materialize today. She turns out of her road and heads down the steps to the subway, defiantly.
Confidently, Vivi strolls through the subway, mentally rolling her eyes at her Mum’s words. Suddenly a figure appears at the other end of the tunnel and starts walking towards her. Her heart skips a beat as she curses her carelessness. But as the figure approaches her, his features come into the light. It’s only Dale. He stops walking and smiles at her.
“Going to visit your sister?” he asks, cheerfully. Vivi nods and forces a grin.
“Yeah, she’s been wanting to show me around the house ever since she moved in! Hang on, I thought you were working this morning?” she replies.
“Oh, I’m just on a tea break at the moment, one of the perks of an early morning shift,” Dale says perkily and winks at Vivi.
“Oh, okay. Why are you so happy, though? It can’t just be about the tea break, surely!” Dale laughs softly to himself.
“Ah, you got me there! No, it’s not just the tea break; your sister and I have just signed a pre-nup. We decided to get married next year! We weren’t going to tell the families yet but seeing as you asked, I couldn’t help myself from spilling the happy news.” For a second, Vivi stands there, shocked. She knew her sister was close to Dale, but she didn’t know they’d consider getting married so soon. Then she remembers her manners.
“Um, congratulations,” she says pasting a grin on her face. “I feel like I should be giving you something, but all I have is your housewarming card and it would be easier if I just gave it to Faye seeing as she’s already at home.”
“Oh no, that’s fine, sweetie! I don’t need a gift; I’ve got what I wanted. It probably wouldn’t hurt to grab some chocolates from Tesco for your sister though.”
“Oh yeah, that’s a good idea actually,” Vivi says, imagining the look on her sister’s face when she turned up with a box of her favourites. “Thanks for the advice, Dale, but I better be on my way as I’ll be holding Faye up, no doubt! Enjoy the rest of your tea break!” Dale bids her farewell as she heads back out into the sun and resumes the walk to her sister’s house, stopping off briefly at the Tesco Express for some Heroes. Vivi smiles as she walks along. Somehow, that conversation with Dale had cheered her up. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all.
She reaches the front gate of her sister’s house, looks down, and realizes it is already open. Faye probably just left it open, she thinks. But as she walks up the path, she sees that the door is already open. Frowning, Vivi pushes it wide and steps inside tentatively.
“Faye?” she calls as she closes the door behind her. It was probably nothing; Faye had just gone out to the garden and forgotten to shut the door behind her. But something at the back of Vivi’s mind told her that it was something more serious than just an accident. Hoping it is just the former, she peers through the door to the kitchen. She gasps.
Laying on the floor in a pool of blood is Faye. A man crouches over her holding a knife shining with plasma. He looks up and Vivi screams. It’s Dale. She steps back shakily as he stands up and his eyes bore into her. Smiling, he steps over Faye’s body and stares at Vivi.
“Why?” she breathes.
“Why?” Dale repeats back at her. “Well that would be because I am a psychopath, silly. Your sister was my richest fiancé yet, you know. All that money she was willing to give to me in the pre-nup. Of course it helped that I was the perfect partner to her, but a little jealousy of the male models she works with and she was more than happy to ‘show me she loved me’.” He shakes his head and laughs. Vivi’s eyes widen. “What better excuse to rid her of her precious money.” He glances back at Faye lying on the floor. “Unfortunately for her, she won’t live to tell the tale.” He pauses and seems to think for a second before finishing. “And neither will you.” His body jerks forward and presses against Vivi’s, pinning her against the wall. Panic flares up inside Vivi until she remembers why she didn’t come to her sister’s house before. Her judo. She loosens her body, making it seem like she’s defeated, and in response, Dale loosens his hold on her, the knife still in his hand. She uses his looser hold to free her right hand, wrap it around his right shoulder and flip him over onto his back using the technique she’d been practising recently; an ‘Ippon Seoinage’. He lies there, winded for a few seconds, to Vivi’s advantage as she kicks the knife away from him and crushes his hand under the heel of her flowered Doc Martin. He screams and she whips around, grabbing a saucepan from the utensil rack. Vivi brings it down heavily, knocking Dale out of consciousness. She steps back from him and her boot nudges something soft. Faye! Vivi drops to the floor and frantically feels for her sister’s pulse. It flutters in her wrist but she’s losing blood fast.
* * *
Vivi sits outside the hospital room containing her sister, the beeps of Faye’s heart monitor soothing her. A doctor in green scrubs emerges from the room and Vivi leaps to her feet.
“Is she going to be okay?” she demands. The doctor smiles warmly at her.
“Yes,” she says. “Thanks to you, Dale Williams has been put into custody and the pre-nuptial agreement signed by your sister has been voided under extreme circumstances. And your quick thinking meant that she didn’t lose as much blood as she could have done. We’re hopeful that she’ll only have to stay in hospital for another week.” Just then, Vivi’s parents rush through the door at the end of the corridor. They spot her and hug her tight.
“How are you, Vi?” her Mum asks. “We were so worried and got here as soon as we could.”
“I’m okay, I guess,” Vivi says. “Just a bit shaken up I think.”
