borderline

08| S T A G E

"Everything is going to be okay," I whisper to the baby even though in my view I can see the bloodied mess of his father down the hall and the choking of his mother was heard just inches away. I knew nothing was going to be okay and I wasn't sure who I was trying to convince with that statement the baby or myself.

I comb my fingers through his soft blonde hair that falls through my fingers like silk. I squeeze my eyes shut and embrace the baby in my arms feeling the warmth conducted between the two of us, a comfort despite the fear surrounding us. H's footsteps invade my thoughts when I hear him on the other side of the door shuffling around. I gulp down the lump in my throat and look down at the floor, a pool of light emitting from the slit in the door that grows when H pushes it open.

My head tilts up to meet H's silhouette, red liquid drips off him like he was fresh out of a shower. The crimson red unsettled me and twists my stomach into knots I can't digest.

"You killed them.." I whisper as soon as the baby quiets down. I can't breathe through my nose with it being backed up from my crying. "You took away their lives,"

"Things never end well for a peeping Tom Kitten. They knew too much, we couldn't have that now could we?" H asks me bending down to my level where he strokes my cheek, blood residue staining my face as I wince at the feeling.

"Oh my god..." I trail off sobbing unable to get ahold of myself. I had just witnessed a murder.

"Alright, we gotta clean this place up, stage it if you will," H tells me nonchalantly walking down into the kitchen that illuminated with multiple lights.

I stumble to get up but still hold the baby close to my chest as if he were a comforting teddy bear. The smell of baby powder invaded my nose and clouded the smell of the metallic.

"Stage? What the fuck H?!" I stammer with an unsteady voice. "What the fuck are saying right now?"

"You know like stage the house. We have to set it up as if it were a murder/suicide," H says focusing on Johns dead body and how to set it up.

"You are disgusting! You killed the both of them and now you want to move the bodies and..."

"I'm thinking we stage it as if he killed the wife then killed himself," H tells me as I shake my head and try to shake the previous screams from the now deceased people.

"I'm not going to be part of this! You fucking murdered them! You murdered a family H!" I screamed putting the palm of my hands over the baby's ears so he didn't get too afraid of the loud volume of my voice.

"I'm sorry to break it to you kitten but you are already part of this. Not only do you have DNA all over the baby but you fingerprints are over all of the dinner utensils," H points out cooly while he begins to "stage the scene" as he called it.

I am silent and begin to panic seeing my shoe impression that lead to the nursery, my heart beat pounds in my ears loudly like drums.

"Now, I need you to go shower off and change the baby's clothes, it has you all over it," H tells me going into the kitchen where he switches on the facet and throws his knife into the sink. He rinses his hands and my eyes can't tear away from the blood that stains the white water pink and red.

H glances at me with free dark green eyes and walks over to me, his hands still not thoroughly washes of the stained blood. I close my eyes and stifle a breath when I feel his hands cradle my face. I could smell the thick metallic blood on his hands as he roughly tries to kiss me.

"Hurry now, we don't have all night," He whispers into my ear as the baby wiggles around in my arms. I turn on my heels and feel his eyes on me while I find the bathroom down the hall to my right, my eyes tracking my blood footprints on the wood.

H had managed to erase any trace of us, wiping phone messages, bleaching and sanitizing plates and utensils that we had used. Everything was done with precision, like it was a fine art. The unnerving question that rose from the back corner of my mind was had he done this before?

I look at myself in the mirror of the bathroom with sopping wet hair, purple rings around my eyes develop over the stress-induced situation. My skin was paler then normal and my hair damp and flat as water dripped onto my discolored skin.

I refused to believe anything had happened, it couldn't have happened. Yet here I was in the bathroom light unable to process that there were two dead bodies outside this door.

The baby crawls at my feet and begs for my attention. I stare for awhile into my complexion before picking up the chubby baby that begged for my attention. He lays on my bare chest sucking his thumb carelessly while I take heavy breaths to deal with the impending anxiety that burrows into my bones.

The bathroom door swings open and I jump at the suddenness of it. I wince at the cold air that hits my bare body and feel a deep-rooted sickness in my stomach when I feel those green eyes scanning my body.

"Come on, we gotta get out of here," H tells me licking his lips after taking in my body. "You didn't leave any hair in the shower did you?"

I don't answer, rather I just stand still with the baby in my arms. He checks and praises me for the way I had followed his instruction. I notice paper bags that hold out personal belongings like my bloodied clothes along with his as well.

"Alright give me the baby, we gotta get out of here," H tells me but I look down at the baby's soft blonde hair. I run my hand over the back of his head and feel the silky soft hair against my hand and fingers.

"We can't just leave him here by himself," I reason with H knowing that this was a baby we were dealing with. He would die on his own if he wasn't given the proper care. I couldn't imagine another dead body inside this slaughter house.

"Someone will call the police eventually, we don't have time for this," H huffs while I hold the baby like a teddy bear in my arms.

"We didn't have time to cover up our neighbors murder either yet here we are!" I stammer rocking back and forth slowly when I realize that the argument could cause the docile baby to cry.

"I don't know what you want me to say," H runs a hand through his freshly washed hair sighing out in frustration over my stance on the matter.

"All I'm saying is we can't leave the baby here, who knows when someone will come upon the bodies!" I stress to him codling the baby that sucks his thumb for comfort.

"I think I have an idea," The baby's crystal blue eyes wander my face and search for something, comfort, soothing, I wasn't sure. Somewhere inside me I felt protective over him even though he wasn't mine. I felt responsible for him now, he had no one.

He had that taken away from him. He didn't know that yet because he was too young to understand but he was there to witness his parent murder. He would grow up assuming H wasn't caught; that his father murdered his mother then himself. That he was left behind in a cold and unkind world filled with deceiving monsters.

N: okay anyone that hasn't seen "the end of the fxxking world" y'all need to watch I highly recommend! Any predictions on what his "idea" is?:)