Monster Minds [completed]

Chapter 34

"I haven't blocked out the past. I wouldn't trade the person I am, or what I've done-or the people I've known-for anything. So I do think about it. And at times it's a rather mellow trip to lay back and remember." 

- Ted Bundy was an American serial killer, kidnapper, rapist, burglar, and necrophile who assaulted and murdered numerous young women and girls during the 1970s, and possibly earlier. Bundy was regarded by many of his young female victims as handsome and charismatic, traits that he exploited to win their trust. He decapitated  at least 12 of his victims, and kept some of the severed heads in his apartment for a period of time as mementos. He died from the electric chair in 1989.

Chapter 34

"You see, there's one more thing I have to do... and unfortunately, it doesn't involve you." Vans sneered and crouched in front of me.

The gun was cold on my forehead, burning a circle into my skin. My heart beat so wildly, I thought it would punch out of my chest and land in a bloody mess on the ground. What was I supposed to feel? I knew I was confused, but I couldn't identify the cause for the sudden burn in my chest, like my heart was set alight.

"W-what do you mean?" I stumbled, fidgeting with the handcuff on my wrists. "Vans, this is ridiculous, put the gun down."

I moved my head away from the gun, pressing myself against the bench. But, just as I did so, Vans pounced upon me and pressed the metal hard against my cheek, a wild animal at heart.

"What do you mean, what do I mean?" He cackled, throwing his head back in a fit of laughter, smiling at me once again. He cocked his head to the side, as if awaiting my answer, eager to know what I would respond.

Tongue-tied, my words caught in my throat. I blinked, and the gun was gone. My breast heaved in a sigh, releasing a breath I didn't know I was holding. Like a cloud pulled from the sun, Vans' presence was lifted from my being. The space allowed me to breathe.

Vans paced in front of me, but he was not agitated. Quite the opposite, in fact, he pranced.

"In all seriousness, Emily, what did you think was going to happen?" He crouched again, keeping his distance from me. "Did you think we were going to escape, run away, and then live happily ever after in a cottage in some remote country where the police couldn't find us?"

He paused for a considerable amount of time. He waited for my answer. I waited for my answer.

But I could not give one.

I wanted to say yes, that it would work. We could have travelled from place to place, away from the police and away from my father until we found somewhere we liked. We could have settled down, maybe even started a family. We could have lived until we got old and died. We could have done all of this in my mind, but we could have never done it in reality.

It was the paradise I had imagined into existence.

My head dropped, realisation dawned upon me like the rising sun, and the breath left my lips.

"You never intended to take me with you, did you?" I whispered, the pieces of the puzzle slowly falling together like snowflakes. I already knew the answer. He may have planned to escape, but he never planned to escape with me.

"Of course not, sweetie." He said, almost affectionately. He gripped my face in his hand and ran a finger down my cheek, collecting the tear I didn't know I had shed. I shivered. "We never planned to take you with us."

"We?"

"Yes; my brothers, they all wanted to escape too." He sighed, letting his hand drop from my cheek. "I don't know if they made it out, but hopefully they all did."