186

24.Oh shit.

Songs:
•Ghosting- Mother Mother
•High and Dry- Radiohead

Jane heard the sound of the blade sinking into her before she registered the pain of it. Her brain shut down for a few seconds and all she could do was gape down at the blood starting to seep around the handle of the blade, still lodge in her stomach just above the fabric of her skirt. Mary's grip on the handle tightened and the reality of Jane's situation sunk in.

"Oh shit."

She glanced up at Mary, who was no longer wearing a warm smile. It had been replaced by a mask of determination and that frightened Jane a little more than she was willing to admit. Mary's other hand came up behind Jane's neck and, almost gently, she guided her backwards until her back was against the brick wall of the bar. Once there, Mary leant in close to Jane's ear and whispered.

"I know what you did."

Jane, whose brain was still working overtime, didn't have a chance to reply before the blade was yanked out. Well, that's not good. Without the knife to staunch the wound, Jane was losing blood quicker than she liked. The suddenness of it all had her slowly sliding down the wall, her left hand come up to put pressure on the cut. Not quite believing what was happening, she looked up at Mary and tried to form an intelligible sentence.

"I don't- I- what?"

"I know what you did. You killed Jeremy Evans."

The effort to breathe was taking up the majority of her thoughts so it took a minute for Jane to process what Mary had said. When it eventually clicked, she internally cursed herself for letting JJ's everlasting optimism get to her. Remembering their conversation was a pinch of irony that Jane didnt really appreciate right now.

"How big is Ohio?"

"Well, its 44,820 square miles-"

"Okay and how many people live in Ohio?"

"11,693,217."

"So, what are the chances that you actually run into them?"

"Huh." Jane closed her eyes half laughed in disbelief, aborting when it sent a fresh wave of pain rolling through her body. Well, what do you know? Jane thought. Look at that JJ. I guess the chances were 1 in 11,693,217. Mary was stood over Jane, the knife in hand hanging by her side, still dripping blood. That's a kitchen knife. Am I actually about to be murdered by a kitchen knife?

"I knew the Evans'. They were nice people. And then they shut everyone out. They shut me out. I didn't know what I'd done for them to hate me. But then I saw your face in the news. They shut me out because of you. This is your fault. So, when I saw you tonight, it was an opportunity I couldn't miss."

Spitting the blood pooling in her mouth on to the ground beside her, Jane looked up at Mary with a pained grimace.

"I was trying mhm- trying to help. Jeremy was hurting someone, and I wanted to help. I just wanted to help."

The pain in her side was building and each breath hurt to take, every sentence coming out as nothing more than a rush of air. Jane tried to think logically about what she should do but all she felt was defeat. Defeat about her parents, defeat about Jeremy Evans, defeat about leaving the team. Slumped against an alley wall, bleeding out, thinking about how she could've helped. All she ever wanted to do was help, but didn't know how. As she blinked up at Mary, she still thought about helping.

"Mary, please listen to mhm- listen to me. I know that I've done terrible things, and I can't take them back. I wish I could. But I can't. You mhm- you can. You can call an ambulance, you can still-"

Jane was cut off by Mary crossing the short distance between them, leaning over her with a sneer on her face and the bloody knife in her hand.

"Can still what? Save you? Help you?"

Mary laughed in Jane's face, and it was a short, harsh thing. Black spots were dancing around the edges of Jane's vision, a thrum in her head threating her consciousness, but she was alert enough to watch as Mary's grip on the knife handle slowly loosened, the thrill of Jane's death written all over her face.

"I killed the other three because I felt like it. Sarah, Laura and Melissa, all gone just because I said they should be. But you."

Mary paused, triumph and glee pushing her to move even closer to Jane's slouched frame.

"You're going to die because you deserve it."

Moving with the last dregs of energy she had, Jane propelled herself forward off the wall and grabbed the blade from Mary's dormant fingers, driving the edge up until it found it's home settled in Mary's chest.

The suddenness of it all washed over Jane and she collapsed back against the wall, the force of it knocking the breath from her lungs. Her limbs feeling heavier than she would like, she watched the shock spread over Mary's face, along with the blood seeping into the fabric of her dress. Mary had enough time to look down at the knife and back at Jane, before she collapsed backwards.

"Help." The word was a whisper that Jane barely caught, tiredness sinking into her bones.

"Help yourself, bitch."

Sprawled on the cold ground of the alley, Jane let the dark consume her vision, and thought of nothing else.