I couldn't really hide my surprise that he was here, and buying me a drink at that. He looked just how I remembered, maybe a little older. He was smiling at me, and his smile was beautiful. He had darker skin, being Hispanic and all. He had shoulder-length brown hair and brown eyes. I turned away from him for a second. I had two options here: I could ignore him and keep thinking up a plan for myself, or, I could chat with him and possibly convince him to let me stay with him. The second one was a long shot, but after thinking it over, it was a shot I was willing to take. I stood up, leaving the drink on the bar. I may be a murderer, but I'm not a drinker.
His smile grew as I neared. I sat down across from him and regretted it immediately. What was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to strike up a conversation? Jump right into a reason why I need a place to crash?
"I'm Vic." He said, breaking the short silence. I nodded.
"I'm Kellin Qu--Bostwick." I caught myself. If I had said Quinn, he probably would have known automatically who I was. I was putting a lot of faith into my hair at this point. He gave me a curious look, but he didn't question me.
"You look younger than twenty-one." He commented, I slouched a little, making myself comfortable.
"I could say the same about you." I said evenly. He nodded.
"Fair point. I'm only twenty. You caught me." He said with a chuckle. I laughed a little too.
"Nineteen." I lied. I'm not quite sure why, but it was probably because a twenty-year-old chatting up someone who was barely seventeen didn't sound appealing, and I was scared that Vic would diss me. He smiled.
"You're cute." He pointed out, making me blush. I stared down at the table. I've never been good with compliments.
"Tell me about yourself." He demanded, leaning closer. He seemed interested in me, and I had no idea why. I wracked my brain for a good, yet simple life story.
"Well, my dad is a cab driver, and my mom teaches the first grade." That was actually factual.
"I was raised Christian, and I had a great relationship with my parents. Until...well, until tonight. I 'came out of the closet' because quite frankly, I was sick of lying to them. They took it worse than I was expecting, and here I am." Wow, smooth. I was actually really proud of myself for that. The words just seemed to roll of of my tongue effortlessly. He gave me a sad look of what I assumed to be sympathy. I wasn't used to the look, honestly. The only looks I ever got were ones of disgust or fright. I wondered what his expression would look like if he knew the truth about who I was and what I'd done. It didn't really matter though, because he wouldn't find out. If he found out and went to the police, they'd lock me up in Radley and never release me.
"That's terrible. No parent should turn on their child for being their self." His eyebrows were knitted together, and I got the feeling that this bothered him a lot. I shook my head.
"It's fine. I'd been meaning to move out anyway, but I would have liked to have a job first, or a place to live." I laughed for effect. I needed to make this as real as possible. I stared down at my hands. They were shaking badly under the table. Nerves. Annoying little fuckers. If I didn't calm down, Vic would get suspicious.
"I'll be right back." I said abruptly, walking toward the men's room. When I got in there, I was planning to just give myself a minute to take in everything, but something stopped me. That something was Mike. He appeared in front of me as soon as I closed the door behind me. I stared up at him, and I was a little worried, but not much. Even unarmed I could handle him if I needed to.
"Kellin, you need to listen, and listen good. You are not well. You're a serious danger to people, and I'm not saying this to get under your skin. I'm saying this because it's the truth, and I want to help you. Did you really think new clothes and new hair would somehow delete what you've done? Well newsflash; it didn't. Your parents are still dead. Jenna is still dead, and whoever else you've killed are still dead. You can't run away from this, Kellin. You can't run away from yourself." He said. He looked exhausted, and I wondered how he'd found me. My eyes went to the blood on the side of his head. That must've happened when he hit the ground earlier. He took a step toward me, and I took a step back.
"Kellin, just come with me. The police will find you eventually, and it'd just make everyone's life easier if you'd just come with me." He took another step toward me, but I didn't step away. I stayed in place, daring him to take another step. I didn't want to hurt him, but he can't be that smart if he's willing to test me.
"Stop being stubborn! For Christ's sake, Kellin!" He took another step and grabbed ahold of my arm, too tight for my liking. I tried to shake him off, but he wouldn't.
"Let. Go." I seethed. His eyes held fear. I knew he was scared, but if he was scared, then why wasn't he backing down? He grabbed me tighter and tried to pull me to the door, but that wasn't going to happen. I slipped my arm out of his grip and slammed his face into the wall. I pushed him onto the floor. His head was bleeding pretty bad by now, but I wasn't done. I needed to finish this before he became an even bigger problem than he already was. I kicked him in the jaw, and he coughed, spitting blood all over his shirt. I kicked him a few more times, but I wasn't strong enough to kill him, and he was a little too heavy for me to pick up and snap his neck. I sighed and dragged him into one of the stalls. He was trying to fight, but he was much too weak at this point.
"Shouldn't have come for me, Mikey." I breathed before shoving his face in the toilet. His body was jerking up and he was desperately fighting me, but it was really no use. It only took minutes for his body to go completely still underneath of me. I rolled my eyes and pulled his face out once I was sure he wasn't breathing anymore. I lifted him as best I could and set him on the toilet, letting him lean against one of the stall walls. Someone would come in and find him sometime, but I'd be gone by then. I closed the stall door without another glance at Mike's lifeless body.
I walked over to the sink and rinsed the blood from my hands. I stared at myself tiredly. Who was I? I honestly didn't have any idea. I'd been in Radley so long that I forgot who I was. How did I act, when I wasn't killing people? Was I decent? Quiet? Rude? I guess it didn't matter, because that was then, this is now. I stared into my dull, lifeless blue eyes. My reflection reminded me of a totally different person. But I kind of was, in a sense. I can be a new person. I can help myself become better than I used to be, I know I can. I wasn't proud of the things I've done, but it didn't matter now. I just needed to focus on helping myself become someone else. The guy in the story I had just told Vic, that was going to be me. That was going to be my past; normal within exception. I closed my eyes for a few seconds before I opened them again. I pushed the door open and left the bathroom, leaving being Kellin Quinn as well. I didn't want to be Kellin Quinn anymore. He wasn't okay, and it took me until now to realize as much.
I was Kellin Bostwick now.
