ISOLATION

10.

The bathroom door swinging open almost collides with me frantically running down the hallway. I tip backwards before the presence of a large figure causes me to lose my balance. David catches me. His hand twists my forearm and forcefully pulls me into him. His heart beats rapidly. Going feral and rushing with fear, I pound his chest a couple times. "She's here- we have to go!" I desperately look up at him to see his reaction and notice a jerk in the shadow behind him. Our bedroom door is wide open. Straight from the crypt she emerges from the darkness. Quick and like a camera adjusting its focus, her face zooms in beside David's. He turns around and looks up at her. Before he can scream in terror, pain stabs him in the abdomen. His lips part as he yelps. Two impaling squishing sounds queue a smile across the woman's face. It's the first time seeing her face like this. She repeatedly jabs a knife into his gut. David's expression is one of trepidation and agony. With a blank smile, Her eyes: dead, seared over with malice, set ablaze to any lasting life within me, and my self becomes less than ashes. A hollow hole absorbs my heart.

David's body collapses onto mine. I sent myself frontwards to try and lift him back up. My hands clutch his now soaking wet shirt. The red tar slips through my fingers. The two of us fall to the floor. I pathetically drag us toward the light while the woman stands still. David gives out. I physically feel his weight become heavier as he rests against me. My legs ache from the pressure and they become difficult to move. He weighs so much it's crushing. I can barely scoot us more than an inch. With one straining hand, I slap the wood floor and squeeze my bicep. My teeth grind together. It's helpless, but I'm so desperate.

Her face is null again. She just watches me struggling to keep everything I had left, alive. Blood curdling screams incinerate my throat. The physical pressure crushing my chest makes it painful to breathe. This is anguish like no other; I never knew something could hurt this bad and so suddenly. Tears strip me of a part of myself; pieces of me fall down my cheeks. His light dims, and everything goes dark.

Her long legs and gaunt knees slam against the wood by his feet. Her thin thighs squeeze together and she sits comfortably in a prayer-like position. The palms of her hands gently float to her lap. The knife lays flat between the folds in her dress.

My mind cannot even fathom the pure devastation making my entire body shiver. Another pinching stabbing sound sets me off. She strikes his leg and keeps the knife lodged in his left thigh. Her perfect face doesn't even twitch. She shows less empathy than the birds eating dragonflies.

A red film fogs my vision and wraith is the only thing I see. My feet kick myself out from underneath the bleeding corpse. I skid over the blood as I launch forward. With as much hatred as the monster from my nightmares, I become just that. Both of my hands wrap tightly around the woman's neck.

Every single one of my dams breaks. All of the walls I have built up come crashing down. I jab more pressure down on her neck, her adam's apple pinches between my thumbs. Tears flood my eyes. The woman's face becomes distorted. I see nothing but what I have lost. And then I perceive myself.

Despite my claws gashing across her nape and my arms thrashing her back and forth, I notice the woman isn't even reacting. Does she feel anything at all? Her face stays as disgustingly perfect as it has always been. My hands loosen their grip as I stare down at her. Black and blue bruises already form underneath my fingers. Dare I even look into her eyes? Death consumes my entire world and it projects from that gaze. Her face takes over every shot in my film of memories. She is all that I'll ever see, and she is no one at all. Just a face haunting me wherever I go.

What's the point if not revenge? A tired part of my consciousness allows tension to be released from my hands. They glide off of her neck. My nails slide out from the indents they created. How can she just look at me? Her hair is all sprawled out like she's been electrocuted and her dress is decorated with my lovers blood. The paint smudges over my own skin. There is so much of it. "Just tell me why?" I sob. "Why?" I don't even bother thinking about what I'm saying. Everything is lost to me now. Any hopes for normality is stripped away by the haunting presence of the disciple of evil itself. Her doll-like mouth slowly opens. Without any creases and deprived of joy, she smiles again.