This Can't Be Love

Chapter 27: Endgame, Part 2

"Aaron...?"

"..."

"... Wake up, Aaron."

The crumbling and unsure voice sounds like an underwater echo that wakes Aaron up to a hazy blur.

"Are you back, Aaron?"

"Sam... Samantha?"

"It's me..."

Aaron raises his head and realizes he is in the bed he had designated to be Samantha's. He sits up on the bed, rubbing his eyes as they readjust to the lighting.

"Am I... dreaming?"

"No..."

"What... happened?"

Samantha points toward the middle of the room, where the dead bodies of Kennedy Stack and Veronica Russo lay.

"Sam... did you..."

"Yes..."

Samantha's nervous voice is shaking and she can't help but cry when she speaks. She sounds very regretful and in a state of panic.

"Aaron... The detective guy I saw you fight with in your living room that time... However it was that you got rid of him... Can you do with these two? Please... I don't want to see this any more..."

"Yes, Sam... I can... But... Does this mean you... finally accept my love...?"

"What the hell does that have to do with anything, Aaron?"

"It's okay, Sam... You don't worry about thing, Sam. I'll take care of-- iagh!"

He holds his injured arm in pain and Samantha quickly leans in with concern to hold him.

"Your arm...!"

"It's... okay..."

As close as Samantha is, her head is by Aaron's torso and shoulder. Aaron instinctively sniffs her hair. Samantha looks up at Aaron and he stares into her eyes.

"Sam... I've always dreamed of..."

"Don't... Ever... Smell my hair."

"I'm sorry."

"Lay down, Aaron..."

Aaron does as she says and lays back down on his back. Samantha unbuttons the blood stained shirt he is wearing, exposing his chest. She spreads his shirt open wider and sees a purple bruise on the lower front part of his shoulder.

"I have no idea what I'm doing, Aaron... So brace yourself."

"What do you mean, Sam?"

"Turn over. Lie down on your stomach..."

With a slightly confused look on his face, Aaron slowly turns over as she asked. His shifty eyes wonder what she is planning to do as she removes his shirt completely.

"Bite the pillow, Aaron."

"What?"

"Bite it!"

She grabs his injured arm and forecfully twists it upward. The crackling sound of wet bone permeating flesh resonates through Aaron and he buries his face into the pillow with a muffled scream. Samantha keeps his arm held straight as he raises his head out of the pillow to forcefully breathe and pant.

"Deep breaths Aaron, there's one more coming..."

"Why are you doing th--"

"Bite the pillow."

Aaron bites the pillow this time and Samantha snaps his elbow into place with a loud crack sound of the bone. Aaron' scream is once again muffled by the pillow he is biting. Samantha puts his arm down and he is hyperventilating.