𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡

𝟏𝟔 | 𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐬

At the nearest gas station, I forced Otto to stop. I got out of the car with my hands hidden in my sweatshirt and resisted the temptation to grab my stomach with them. I feel sick. I'm gonna throw up. I rushed to the women's restrooms like a devastating hurricane, locked myself in the cabin while falling to my knees, and let the burning liquid go out from my throat. When I felt that I was done and nothing else would come out of me, I had made sure that no one else was in the bathroom. The surrounding was clear, so I was able to wash away the visible signs of my sin, undisturbed. However, I couldn't erase the sin itself.

Just as the water flushed the last touch of red into the drain, a tall, slender Asian woman entered the room. With her long legs, she headed straight for the sink next to me. She looked in the mirror and began to style her hair – first, she ran through them with her fingers, then tied them into a ponytail. A strange feeling started to drill in me. I wasn't sure if I was being completely paranoid or if my worries were justified.

With the decision not to leave anything up to coincidence, I gave her a long examining gaze. I had to admit, something about her was strange. She looked... weird. My tip was that she wasn't much older than me, could be around 25.

In the mirror, my eyes met hers. In a friendly way, I lifted the right corner of my mouth and was pleasantly surprised when she smiled back.

Yep. I was just overreacting. It's okay.

"It's damn scary how much you look like your father, Ria," she said in a deep voice. What?! My legs had frozen in place, and my eyebrows lifted into the middle of my forehead. Before I could do something, the woman grabbed my hand and wrapped her fingers around my wrist. She made sure to hold it so tightly that blood could barely flow into my hand.

I gasped. I barely managed to stop her other hand, which held a knife about to be used. Not only did she have a strong grip, but she was physically strong overall. I had trouble pushing away the dangerously approaching blade. Grabbing her by the hair, I pulled hard. The Asian woman groaned but didn't soften the grip. Instead, she leaned harder, causing me to have a cut on my left forearm.

My scream was carried through the room.

That bitch! She will pay for this! I growled angrily in my mind.

I let go of the black ponytail, put my palm behind her neck, and pulled her down with all my strength. The woman hit her head at the porcelain edge of the sink, leaving a rattling sound which I surely did enjoy.

She seemed to be stiff. I kicked her in the shoulder with my shoe, just to be sure. No answer has come. Definitely, she was not dead, only passed out, as evidenced by her regularly rising chest.

"Okay, Ria, what now?" I asked myself, pressing my fingers into the ugly wound in which the knife has been still inserted. Damn. With this in hand, I will never go through the store unnoticed. Well, if I pull it out, I run the risk of bleeding faster. I needed to calm down. I got this.

I gritted my teeth and pulled out a blade inserted into the flesh with one flick of my hand. Somehow, I suppressed a scream coming from my throat.

As I was holding the knife in my hand, a sick thought ran through my mind. One notch, one stab would be enough, and it would be over for her... She could never hurt me again. What if she gets up and follows me? Or worse – what if she hurts Otto? I can't allow that, never.

I knelt down next to a motionless body, almost wetting my pants in a stream of scarlet fluid coming from the woman's head. The gleaming blade shaking in the air was deadly near the enemy's throbbing neck. I came here to get rid of the blood, not to bathe in it again, I reminded myself.

Another person's life was, literally, in my hands. It was up to me to choose how I was going to behave. I have done it before, so why should it be hard to do that again? I gasped for breath and shook my head wildly, trying to get out this crazy intention of it. No. This is not me. I stretched out my hands, watching the knife crash to the floor. I must get out of here as soon as possible. NOW.

I jumped to my feet. From the corner of my eye, I saw a person in the reflection of the mirror that I had known until recently. Who is this new Ria O'Donnell? Why does she look more like her father than herself?

Disgusted by myself, I ran out the door of the ladies' room, leaving a half-living woman behind. There was only one goal in front of me - the door, representing salvation from the hell I was currently in. But it would be too easy, so some bad shit had to happen, right?

I looked at all customers, being one hundred percent sure that this woman was here with them. Who are they anyway? And what do they want from me?

My eyes and attention got stuck on a tall man with long hair tied in a bun. Even though we've been separated by several shelves of groceries, I was able to hear his conversation clearly. I pretended to be choosing between several flavors of tasty chips, but the truth was, the food was the last thing I could think of.

"Boss, things got a little messy," the muscular man whispered nervously into the phone. It was easy to tell that the person he had been talking to didn't seem to enjoy the coming news, as they screamed so loud, that the man had to put his cell phone away from his ear. "I know, I know... we still don't know exactly what happened. His phone is deaf, but the tracking device says he's here, at the gas station... No, we haven't found him yet."

I subconsciously took a step back, looking carefully at the caller through the gap between the cereals.

"That little bitch knows what she's doing, sir. She probably killed him, and now she's trying to cover it up. Don't worry, we'll find David today." My lower lips quivered with fear, as well my hands did, and it caused me to accidentally slam into the cereal that was hiding me. The box crashed to the ground, but just before, it knocked down two more, like the domino effect.

Shit!

I bent down quickly, trying to keep the man from noticing me.

"Hard to choose one, miss?" the stranger asked amusedly. My head was bowed, and my tongue was tied in a potato-sized knot. I didn't have to look at the person talking to me. Right away, I knew it was a man, who was looking for David. The only luck I had, was that I had put a hood on my head in the toilet, which helped me to cover up better. David wanted me, this man wants David. Does he know what I look like? Will he follow me? What would he do to me if he knew I had beaten him to death?

I didn't feel like finding out. Without a word, I nodded and tossed the boxes back on the shelf. My plan was simple – to run.