Leave Her Hanging: A Noir Thriller

Chapter Forty-Six

I watched Megan die.

Her legs kicked wildly, trying to gain purchase on the fallen chair. But it was too far away, toppled over. She twisted in the air as she kicked, no sound escaping her mouth.

Her face was red, her eyes bulging. Her dark, slippery tongue extruded grotesquely from her mouth, like some kind of alien. With her bound hands she grasped at the noose. She couldn’t loosen it, there was no way to get her fingers between the rope and her neck.

The seconds limped on. I forced my hands into my pockets, forced my eyes to stay open. This was my revenge. This was my punishment.

For a moment, it was Ella up there, dying with a silent scream on her lips. Then I blinked, and it was Megan again, Megan my friend, Megan the shy girl, Megan the killer.

The front of her jeans grew damp as her bladder let go. Her eyes were wild, like an animal in a trap. Her gaze flicked across me, but she didn’t see me, not anymore. I don’t know what she saw.

But I could see her. I watched her kicks slow. I watched her arms go limp. And I watched the last vestiges of life leak out of her eyes.

After she died, she swayed for a little while.

~~~

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