Page 208 of Ominous: Part 1
“I don’t care.” Eli’s words ring true. He really doesn’t. “I’m not going to repeat myself. Do you understand what I said?”About Eden,he doesn’t add, but I hear it ringing in my head.
Dominic looks as if he might nod, his nose arching upward a fraction of an inch, but he seems to realize if he completes the motion, he’ll impale himself on the knife.
He settles with, “Yes.” A whispered, tangled word. “I understand.” I see tears stream down the side of his face.
I want to tell Eli it’s enough.Let him go.
But Eli doesn’t move.
I hold my breath, waiting.
Dom seems to be doing the same.
Then Eli steps back, lowering his hand by his side, and Dominic almost crumples, his hands on his knees as his body deflates, a ragged exhale leaving his lips.
I don’t celebrate just yet.
Eli still has the knife, after all, and the blankness of his expression causes the hairs to rise on the back of my neck. He hasn’t turned away from Dominic.
And when Dom picks his head up, straightening and taking the smallest of steps to the side, toward the front door, I see Eli’s fingers grip the handle of the knife tighter.
“I don’t understand you,” Dominic says, shaking his head, his body still shaky, his fingers twitching at his side. “You loved her too.” He tries to sound brave, but his voice cracks, like he’s unsure. “I really hope you didn’t… I really hope you didn’t see anything, okay? I just hope you didn’t.” With a parting glance toward me, Dominic turns fully toward the door.
I am not relaxed.
And a second later, I understand why.
Eli lifts his arm, flicks his wrist, and Dominic’s jagged cry pierces the air, causing me to startle, even though I watched it happen. Dom backs up against the wall edging the spiral staircase, cradling his arm close to his body, his back sliding against the wall as he swears under his breath, a sound laced with pain.
Eli simply watches him, and I see blood against the blade, just a thin sheen of it, but as Dominic sinks down to sit on the marble floor, his head bowed, shoulders shaking as he cries, I know Eli cut him, and I know too, Dominic cannot leave this house yet, not in this condition. Not because he’s severely injured, but because in his state, he’s likely to call the police and press charges, if only to get his sister some sort of misguided justice.
Dominic breathes in deep, picking his head up as he glares at Eli, and my suspicions are confirmed when he speaks. “You’re insane,” he says, his brows furrowed, lips trembling. “You’re fucking insane. You did it, didn’t you? You knew?” He doesn’t wait for an answer, but he releases his hand from his forearm, and I see a lot of blood, bright crimson against his pale skin. Dominic smacks his wound, crying out as he does, but he repeats the motion, violently hitting and hurting himself over and over and over, veins in his neck bulging, his skin turning a dangerous shade of red. “I fucking hate you,” he says, but he’s still staring at his arm. “I fucking hate you, I hate you, I hate you, Ihate. You.”
I don’t know if he’s talking to Eli or himself anymore, but when he bashes his head against the wall, over and over and over, thrusting his neck back more sadistically with each hit, I release my hold on the counter and come closer.
Eli is just watching him, the knife still in his hand, dangling by his side.
The sounds of Dom’s head plastered against the wall are loud, and I’m worried he’ll draw attention from someone outside, and I don’t know who would do what. It’s only a matter of time before someone comes inside anyway.
But what propels me to move quicker is Dominic struggling to his feet, swiping his hand over his bleeding arm, the cut thin but long down the inside of his forearm, blood snaking around his skin and dripping from the tip of his elbow. He looks dizzy as he stands, staggering sideways, and I don’t think it’s from blood loss or anything, but from his headspace. He’s having a breakdown of sorts.
He grins at Eli and steps again toward the door. “I don’t need you to keep my secrets anymore. You’re going to spend the rest of your life in prison,” he says, laughing as he shakes his head and takes another step back. “I can make it happen for you, you fucking psychotic—”
I push past Eli, who doesn’t move, and I gently grab Dominic’s wrist.
He cannot leave, not right now, because he cannot tell anyone about this.
Slicing someone with a knife is a crime, no matter how shallow the wound, and I think Dominic was waiting for something exactly like this to happen. It’s not enough to cause Eli to spend the rest of his life in prison, but it’s something. Violence, and with Eli’s history, with the place in Idaho he allegedly went after supposedly slamming a kid’s head against his desk, it would not look very good for Eli.
Dominic tries to snatch his wrist from my grip, but I hold tighter, unfortunately sliding toward him with his movement, my bare feet skidding along the floor.
“Let me see.” I speak softly, glancing at Dominic’s other arm, behind his back, like he thinks I might finish what Eli started and just slice the entire thing off.
“No,” Dom says, shaking his head. “No.” He’s still trembling, and I feel it beneath my fingers around his wrist. “No, Eden. You need to get away from him.You need to get the fuck away from him.”His nose is snotty, and I watch bloody mucus trail down his Cupid’s bow, to his top lip. “I don’t understand him.” His breakdown is nowhere near over. “I don’t fuckingunderstand him.”He’s crying again, but with the tears and the confusion come a physical weakness, and I gingerly reach for his shoulder cap, twisting a little.
He knows what I want, and in this moment, he gives in, bringing his arm forward. I take his fingers, dropping his other wrist, and I turn over his hand. Like I thought, the wound is shallow, but it spans from the crease of his elbow to the inside of his wrist, blood smeared across his skin, down onto his palm.
“I think we should clean this,” I say quietly. I glance over my shoulder, not at Eli, but at the back door to the pool. No one is approaching, but I don’t want to give them time to. “Right?” I look back at Dom’s bleary eyes, staring at his arm like he’s never seen it before. “I’ll take you upstairs and we can take care of this, and you, okay?” I speak quietly, and I think it’s my medicine and the drinks I’ve had, because I’m calm, now that I didn’t let Dominic leave after all, and I feel in charge.
