The Criminal Calls Me Cupcake (Watty Winner 2013)

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

            Have you ever had that horrible childhood experience where you were playing with your favorite childhood toy one day, all happy and jolly, not bothering anybody, and then your brother comes and snaps it in half? Or when you left that toy at home one day, perfectly placed on your shelf between your math textbook and your alarm clock, and you come home just to find it in a millions pieces. Can you imagine the horror? The grief? If that toy was more than just a toy to you?

            Well, let me tell you, I didn’t have to imagine it. I felt the horror—the grief—make a dent in my soul. I felt it clear as day.

            Which was why I let out a blood-curling scream.

            “Fuck, I, uh, SHUT UP,” A stammered. “Stop screaming, okay?”

            My mind didn’t even register what he said. And so, I began screaming at him. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” I fell to my knees where the vase—my mother’s vase—had shattered into a dozen tiny pieces. As I picked up two of the shards, I finally let the tears fall. My voice had died down to a whisper so suddenly, “This was the only thing I had left of her.”

            “Your mother,” he said, as if a light bulb had just gone off above his head. “It was your mother’s vase.”

            “YES, YOU IDIOT. YOU BLACK-HOLE-FACED BLUBBERING IDIOTIC IDIOT!” I rose to me feet and stomped over to where he was standing, suddenly feeling to urge to put him in his place. My hands clenched themselves into fists and began wildly swinging at him. “IT WAS MY DEAD MOTHER’S VASE AND YOU BROKE IT! I HATE YOU!”

            Suddenly, A’s gloved hands latched around my wrists, preventing my clenched fists from colliding with his body again, not that it would have even hurt him. Through his grip on my wrists he pulled me flush against his body. For a moment, the only sound heard through the sudden silence was my labored breathing. Why was I breathing so heavily all of a sudden? It could have been the adrenaline, the anger, or the proximity between us.

I stared wide-eyed at the outline of his mask that was starting to creep through the shadow of his hood, just as I knew he was staring at me.

Then, both of his hands moved to my right hand, which was still clenched in a fist. He guided my thumb out from under my fingers, and placed it around my curled fingers. “This is how you make a proper fist, if you don’t want to break your thumb.”

I stared. That was random. “Oh.”

“As for the vase, I had to.”

The anger returned in waves. “What do you mean, you had to,” I sneered. I jerked my arm in order to get free from his hold, and took a step back.

He held out an item—the emerald necklace that he had taken from me.

“Yeah, that’s the necklace you stole from me. So what?”

He held out another item. This time my jaw dropped. It was another emerald necklace, but exactly the same as the first. “This one was in your mother’s vase.”

I felt like I was seeing double. “There’s two of them?!”

“Kind of. The one you bought was just a replica. This one’s the real one. So you can have this back.” He tossed me the first necklace—the replica.

“Wait! I’m not just going to let you take my mother’s necklace after you broke her vase!”

A dark chuckle echoed around the room. “Sorry, not sorry. Bye now.” He then attempted to walk around me toward the doorway of the room, but I wouldn’t let him leave.

I flung myself at the door, slamming it shut and then turning to face him. “Give me my mother’s necklace.”

“Aw, the little kitty wants to play, does she?” I knew he was smirking. I could hear it in his voice. “Well you could’ve just asked, instead of locking me in a room with you.” His shadow moved closer to my nervous form, which was already flattened against the door. “And I have to admit, it would’ve worked better if you were wearing one of those sexy schoolgirl outfits,” he velvet voice spoke, dying down to a seductive whisper.

I gulped.

“Unfortunately, as much as I’d love to hear you scream my name, that’s not what I’m here for. Let me through, cupcake,” he soothed. His palms suddenly connected with the door on either side of my head, making me let out a mini scream. “Because you know I could just as easily take you over my shoulder and fling you out the window without a single person questioning your death.”

Double gulp.

I took a deep breath and opened my mouth, letting the shaky words spill out. “I—I want to know what’s going on.”

“I bet you do, Cupcake, but I also need to leave.”

“I’ll show you how to open the locket!” I blurted, suddenly remember the conversation from the warehouse.

“You know how to open it?”

“Well, I, uh, no, but,” I stammered, feeling his eyes on me, “I could figure it out.”

His hand slid under his hood, combing through his hair. The sudden urge to find out who he was surfaced, but I pushed it down. He was thinking.

“You have to tell me everything, though. And I mean everything.”

Suddenly, he stepped back, and I could have sworn I saw the corners of his lips lift. “Deal.” He held out a gloved hand, and I tentatively shook it, ignoring the butterflies in my stomach that had seemingly just awoken from their slumber.

I had just made a deal with the criminal.

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