Whispers to Screams (Lesbian) (GirlxGirl)

Chapter 22

Valeriya locked herself away in the bathroom for nearly an hour, trying to wash and scrub away what she had done in the basement. Murdering Petrov wasn't necessarily the problem, the bastard had it coming, but the way she felt when she did it was the concerning part. The only feeling she felt was rage, which was common, she thought, but then beneath that there was simply nothing. No sadness, fulfillment, satisfaction, happiness. Just blinding rage. The act itself didn't take a lot out of her, as she remembered, serving him his dues felt empowering, but that was all.

It felt similar to the first time she had killed someone, which as irony would have it, was a boat yard thug that looked like he could very well be Petrov's twin. Of course, many people had fallen to her. She had taken the lives of so many men in her line of work, but none of them made her feel like this, none of them except the first one. It was odd how numb you could become to things like that, but then when you're awakened again it all comes back like a freight train. For Valeriya, that was hard to swallow, and it was even harder to swallow that Toni didn't completely hate her anymore. Maybe she knew that Valeriya didn't kill her to begin with. Then again, she doesn't know that Sentinal was the one that did it, either.

Stress crept underneath her skin, making the water that ran down her body feel like pin pricks. She tried to ignore all the thoughts racing through her head by concentrating on the sounds the shower made. It was old, so it creaked slightly when it was turned on, but it was a familiar type of noise. Old houses that moaned like the way this one did had a lot of history, and how this one did. At this point she wasn't sure how long she'd been under the heavy stream of warm water, but she figured it was time to get out. She couldn't hide away from the world forever in here.

She sighed as she stepped out, wrapping a towel around herself so that she could tend to her hair and teeth in the mirror. The minty paste left her feeling a little more refreshed, running a brush through her hair to make it even. Going about her normal hygienic routine at her old house felt idiotic. Deep down, she hated being back here, mostly because of the memories of her awful mother. There was a bigger part of her that was alright with it, though, because Toni and Sentinal were here, but mostly Toni. It made it feel less wicked in a sense, despite all the things that had transpired since coming back.

If it was up to her, she'd stay in the bathroom all night to escape for a little while, but a knock on the bathroom door told her no.

"Yes?" Valeriya called out, stripping off the towel and gathering her clothes from a shelf above the towel rack.

No answer.

How odd, it either had to be Sentinal or Toni, so she quickly went about slipping her lounge clothes on and went to the door. She opened it to find no one there, but a folded sheet of paper attacked to the wooden door frame with a small piece of tape. Valeriya plucked it off with a raised eyebrow and opened up the note.

Meet me in the kitchen when you're done, I want to ask you some things.

-T

Valeriya blinked slowly, processing the fact that Toni actually wanted to talk to her for the first time since she'd been here. Now was the best time to ask how much she really remembered after earlier. Hoepfully they could get their thoughts out onto the table with each other, maybe Valeriya's name could be cleared, too.

She folded the paper back up into a small square and slid it into her pocket, making her way down the corridor that lead to the kitchen from a small hallway off to the left. Valeriya didn't stop to think that she may have looked a little rugged, what with wearing a pair of loose black sweat pants and large t-shirt with holes in various places. Her feet stopped her just short of entering the kitchen, afraid of actually entering for a reason she couldn't quite place. She considered turning around and leaving to go back to her room for the night.