Page 65 of False Idols

“And he’s going to fucking get you too if we don’t call the cops! Is that fucking door going to hold?” I bark at her and pull my cell phone out to call the cops. I look around the lobby for something to use while the phone rings and spot the Fireman’s Axe behind the glass emblazoned with Break In Case Of Emergency.

“Yes, it’s bulletproof. They upgraded it last year after that guy shot up the capitol,” The student worker whispers while she watches The Reaper continue to beat at the door.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

I slam my elbow into the glass and yank the axe out of the box while I answer the dispatcher. “I’m at Morris Hall on Bloom State Campus and-”

“That is out of our jurisdiction, ma’am. You’ll have to call campus police. I’m very sorry.”

“I’m not going to fucking call campus police, because The Reaper is here!” I scream the last two words and turn to face him with the axe in hand. I put them on speaker and hold the phone out towards the glass windows and doors where The Reaper kicks the door. “Do you hear that? That’s him! He’s trying to get in to Morris Hall, and if you don’t figure out your goddamn jurisdiction he’s going to fucking kill all of us!”

BANG!

The Reaper throws their shoulder against the door and the student worker screams. “Please help us! He’s here, she’s not lying. He’s going to kill us. Oh god, I don’t want to die!”

The dispatcher is silent before they start to talk. “We need a description. What does he look like? We have units in route.”

“He’s dressed in black, all black. Black robe and hood, I can’t see his face. He has gloves. He’s big.”

“Big?” she asks and I throw the phone to the student worker.

“I don’t have time for this. You deal.”

“Oh-okay,” she stammers while I stare at The Reaper and heft my axe. He stops when he sees the weapon in my hand and tilts his head to the side. The hood still hides his face, but I can read his body language. He’s interested.

“Fuck you,” I bite out and take a step forward. “Fuck you, you coward. You kill girls and think you’re a big fucking man?! You can’t even kill me! I’m nobody, you sick piece of shit and you can’t even kill me!”

The Reaper hears me. I know he does when he raises a hand and drums his fingers on the glass. A second later he steps back and points at the handle. He wants me to come outside. I watch as he raises the knife and wipes it clean of my blood with his robes. It shines dully in the lights from the lobby when he’s done and he beckons me forward with it.

He’s taunting me. Trying to draw me out with that display. What he doesn’t know about me is that I’ve eaten people’s shit for years. A little fucking taunting from a serial killer isn’t going to get me to go outside.

“Please hurry! I think she’s going crazy. Hurry!”

The student worker is crying, but she’s wrong. I’m not going crazy. I’m finally seeing things straight. I grip the wood of the axe handle and the weight in my hands comforts me. I like having something to hurt him with, but I don’t need to beat The Reaper. The only thing I need is to outlive him. So I don’t go outside. I do walk right up the doors though and stare into the place where his face should be. There’s only shadows there and the curve of a chin and lip that I see raised in a snarl to me. He’s pissed.

“Not used to someone talking shit, huh?” I ask him and smile. All my life I’ve tried to be the good girl. The one that does the right thing and never breaks any rules. The girl that doesn’t draw too much attention to herself and is sweet to a fault. I never drank, smoked, kissed boys or stayed out late. I listened to my mom no matter how crazy her rules were and she abandoned me here. I tried to be a good friend to Minnie and she dropped me the second I wasn’t perfect. I tried to tell the truth about what I saw that night but no one listened.

None of it helped. None of it worked. I still ended up with The Reaper’s knife marking me. I ended up right where I should have been all those years ago. But this time it’s different. I’m older now and the veneer of fear that kept me trapped and docile, forced me to make myself small within the walls of the church, is gone. Fury floods my body, steady and strong in its hatred. Church. How I twisted myself to fit in the only safe place in my mom’s world. Her faith in church demanded so much from me. If I stepped even a toe out of line, I was not worthy—I was not valuable. She made sure to beat that into me and that lesson breaks now. I feel it slipping off of me with each second I stare down The Reaper.

He’s death. Evil incarnate and he could not kill me. I fought and clawed my way until he couldn’t stop me from living. Not even the devil himself could end me. For the first time in my life, I feel powerful. It’s the same feeling I brushed against earlier when I fought Beau. That’s only a fraction of what I feel now. As banged up as I am right now, I’m electric. Pure energy and rage. An army couldn’t take me down, let alone one fucking serial killer.

I bare my teeth at him and consider unlocking the door for the sheer fact that nothing would keep me from him then.

I want to fight. I want to scream. If I could, I’d swing the axe and take The Reaper's head clean off. I want him to suffer and die. I want to see his fucking blood and guts spilling out onto the sidewalk for everyone to see. People said I was the girl who survived The Mineral Belt Murder, but I don’t want to survive anymore.

I want to live.

I’ll kill The Reaper if that’s how I’m going to get the life I should have had. I’m done letting the past control me.

“I hate you!” The words rip out of me. They bounce off the walls and floors of the lobby and out to The Reaper. I watch as they lean forward. They hear that too, but this time they don’t taunt me. They slide the knife away into their robes and head down the stairs. I watch them, craning my neck to try and see which way they go. But, like magic, The Reaper vanishes into the night the second he’s past the stairs.

“Where did he go?” I ask and walk the length of the windows. I look out into the bushes for him but I don’t see him. “Where is he?” I scream and slam my hand against the window.

“The police are on their way.”

I turn to see the student worker staring at me with wide eyes. She holds my phone out to me and her hand shakes. “I-I just thought you should know.”

I take a step forward and she takes one back. She’s scared of me. I don’t care.

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