Page 36 of Twisted Ties
“M-m-m-me?” he says.
“You.” I reach the hard floor and pull out the knife from my pocket. I like holding it in my hand. Like the way it feels, like the way it makes a fucker like this boy piss his y-fronts. Mostly, I like that it’s hers.
A wispy cobweb hangs from one corner of the room and a spider scuttles along the ceiling, its silver eyes flashing for a moment. It’s caught a fly and I watch it hurry towards its victim to deliver the deadly bite.
Things like that have always fascinated me. They say I’m cruel. But it’s nature. Nature is cruel and bitter and doesn’t give a fuck if you suffer.
I shake my head, draw my attention back to the knife, spinning the thing in my palm.
“I don’t have friends. Never saw the point in them. But you were her friend, right?”
He cringes.
I snap my gaze in his direction and he jumps.
“Right?” I growl.
He hesitates, then nods.
“My mom was always saying,” I rub my chin, chuckling at the memory, “play nicely, Renzo. Be kind to your friends. No pushing. No hitting. No …” I chuckle some more, “strangling.”
The boy’s eyes flick around the room, looking for a way to escape. Something he won’t be doing. He’s like that fly in the web. More he struggles, more he’ll be trapped, my magic already winding invisibly around his body.
“You’re meant to be nice to your friends. That right?” He stands there dumbstruck. “That right?” I yell.
“Y-yes.”
“Hmmm,” I say, “then you weren’t her friend.” I take a step closer to him. He smells rank. Like someone who hasn’t washed in days. Like someone afraid.
He should be afraid. I’m going to make this painful for him. It’s what he deserves. My mom spanked me every time I hit one of those neighborhood kids. So it’s only right. Only right I punish him too.
“You didn’t give me a choice. If I hadn’t done it …”
He trails off as my expression grows fucking murderous.
“There’s always a choice. And you chose you over her. You think you’re better than her?”
He shakes his head.
“Nah, I don’t think you are either.” I smile to myself. “I think my little rabbit is fucking special. Really fucking special.”
“She’s a-a-a-live?” he says, amazed.
“Yeah, she is,” I say with pride. “Told you she was special.”
“Where is she?”
“Back at the academy.”
He looks at me with disbelief.
“Yeah, she’s there and you’re here. Hiding. Hiding from me?”
“The authorities. For the moment. Until it’s safe to return to my parents.”
I laugh so hard my belly shakes and tears pool in my eyes. “Oh, you won’t be going back to your parents. You won’t be going anywhere.”
“We had a deal.”
