Page 120 of My UnTrue Love
The coffee she’d poured for him was still on the kitchen island. She saw the purple tarantula mug from the corner of her eye. She reached for it, gripping it in her hand and then swinging it towards his head.
The edge of the rim slammed into his temple. The handle broke off. Coffee and bits of ceramic rained down. Johnny shouted in pain and surprise.
Clementine took off running.
He was between her and the front door, so she couldn’t go that way. Instead, she raced towards the back of the apartment.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Johnny yowled in astonishment. “Jesus, that hurt! I think I’m bleeding!”
She’d had the vague idea to reach the bedroom and somehow climb out the second-story window, but there wasn’t time. He was already chasing after her. He’d catch up with her within a few seconds. She broke left, darting into the bathroom and slamming the door behind her.
“Fuck!” Johnny bellowed again and began beating on the door. “Get out of there! I mean it. This isn’t funny, Clem.”
The puny lock was not going to hold.
Clem desperately looked around the small bathroom for something to save herself. The skylight in the shower was too high for her to reach and it was the only other exit. Maybe she could find a weapon and fight Johnny off? The back of the toilet tank was the most obvious choice, but it was too bulky to effectively swing at him.
Could she spray his eyes with cleanser and rush past him, while he was blinded?
It was worth a try.
She dropped to her knees in front of the sink, yanking open the vanity doors. Tissues, tampons, drain clog stuff, extra shampoo… A bottle of liquid bleach? That could burn people’s skin. Clementine held the bottle, trying to think. No, that wouldn’t work, because how could she spray bleach into Johnny’s face?
“You’re really starting to piss me off!” Johnny screamed, ramming the door with his shoulder. “Don’t pretend you’re better than me! You’re just a damn muse!”
Clem looked back towards the bathroom cabinet, desperate for akapow!
Inspiration struck thanks to Woody’s crappy repair job. Bill had fixed the leak under the sink, because he was the kind of man who knew how to fix things. He hadn’t replaced the drywall yet, though. All that stood between the back of the vanity in her apartment and the back of the vanity in Luke’s apartment was a couple of sheets of damp cardboard.
That was her way out.
She swept the remaining junk out of her way. A pack of disposable razors, a scrub brush, and that fancy soap that made her skin itch, all hit the tile floor in a jumble. Then, she ripped down the cardboard that Woody had halfheartedly taped up.
“Is this because of the Homecoming celebration?” Johnny whined in his whiny voice. “Because that was reallyyourfault. I would’ve taken you, if you’d lost weight and dressed better.”
Clementine tuned him out. Poking her head into the now empty vanity box, she looked around. There were pipes beneath the sink and Clem wasn’t a small woman, but she figured she could wriggle her body through that hole. When you didn’t have a choice, it was amazing what you could do.
“Clem!”
She squeezed into the cabinet. There were still some bits of drywall on Luke’s side, but it had been so saturated with water that she could push it down with her hands. The kid kept nothing but magazines and rolls of toilet paper in his cabinet. She shoved those out of the way, pushing open the vanity door from the inside.
With some heaving and effort, she quickly found herself sprawled on the bathroom rug of Luke’s apartment. She lay there, breathing hard.
Inside her own home, the sound of splintering wood echoed, as Johnny broke down the bathroom door.
Bill’s security deposit was lost, for sure.
“You bitch!” Johnny’s face appeared in the hole, as he saw where she had gone. He was too big to follow her. “You’rejust like all the rest of those whores, thinking they can lead me on and then change their mind, like I was still some teenage nobody!”
She was gasping for oxygen, so words were beyond her capabilities. She settled for flipping him off.
Maybe the Hasten-2 helped give him the idea for this madness, buthewas the one who decided to carry out the plan.Hewas the one who’d hurt all those girls. He wasn’t in a fog. Wasn’t out of his mind. Wasn’t changed into a monster.
He was revealed.
Johnny’s jaw clenched. “I figured you were better than the others. I really did. But you’re not.”
Clem slammed the cabinet closed, so she didn’t have to see him.
