Lamb To The Slaughter ✔️

15

"You need to kill her, Atlantic," Maria says in front of me. I hear her words, but I do not truly hear them, as I sit in this chair and stare at the wall. It felt as if inside, there was a stone wall, that was falling piece by piece. Getting ruined. Destroyed. "Kill her, and I can truly help you."

I think of her, the woman I've felt such loyalty to, the woman I was prepared to kill for. The woman I have killed for. I think of her perfume, her big brown eyes, her soft lips I've kissed that have spoken so much lies and deception. 

Slowly, after my eyes which are so empty have stared at the wall for far too long, I look at Maria who sits across from me. I stare at her as she awaits my response with her fingers intertwined on the table. 

"Kill her," I repeat. 

"Yes, Atlantic, kill her," she says. "The authorities are exposing her tomorrow for helping you this entire time. She would spend her entire life in jail - but we don't want her to be the focus, be the one people are looking at."

I just stare at her. I don't reply. I'm sure my expression is as cold as ice, maybe even colder, maybe if you touched me you would shiver. The woman I saw as the sun has turned out to be even darker than the moon, using me, lying to me. 

"I see the hesitation you are feeling," she speaks softly. She then sighs. She pulls her chair closer to me, being able to touch me from this distance. Which she does. She puts her hand on top of mine, I look down at it, and stare at it the entire time she talks. "You were never anything to her, Atlantic, just a way to get to fame. She would've killed you soon. You want revenge, right? That's what you truly crave? Get your revenge on Aria, and I will help you."

After she has finished her sentence, I pull my hand away from hers, and a bitter look is on my face. She crosses her arms and leans back in the leather seat. 

"How would you help me," I question. "And why."

She looks at me gently, and her tone of voice matches her face. She says, "I don't see you as a monster, Atlantic. You've been used all your life, and it's so unfair to you. I'm more influential than I think you realize. I could make the entire world love you again."

A vast abyss of nothingness, that is all that's inside of me. I barely even register her words, they aren't what I really think about. I think about the brown eyes and hair that I've forced my heart to beat for. 

My jaw clenches, as well as my fists. 

"I don't believe you," I force myself to say. "Aria would not have used me."

She sighs and looks at me sympathetically. 

"Get inside her head, then," she says. "And see it for yourself."

Because of Aria, I've felt for the first time. Experienced what I believe to be happiness. That's what makes this dark feeling inside me grow, this consuming rage and desire for revenge. Revenge is the one thing I've been able to feel my entire life, it can consume every nerve and drop of blood in my body. 

"When you get inside her head and see, I will be here, Atlantic," she says. She then smiles. "Ready to help you."

╰── ⋅ ⋅ ── ✩ ── ⋅ ⋅ ──╯

A R I A

I enter the bedroom again as quietly as possible. I don't want to wake him. As I enter the dark bedroom, the light from the hallway provides me the ability to see his large back facing me and his dark curls. 

I change nearly silently before slipping back into bed, causing the mattress to sink slightly. I lay on my side.

"Where were you," he speaks. I'm not sure with what tone.