Short chris's POV
When she said that against me, it struck me hard. The small conscious in me that I had managed to suffocate over the years with my blood-tainted hands reminded me that what she was saying was exactly correct and it was what no one for years dared to tell me.
The enraged words had seared my broken heart forever...
But all I could feel then, to cover up the emotions I had dreaded would once resurface, was motherfucking rage. How dare she say that to me, especially when she was a walking target for me to murder.
She didn't have the goddamn right and I told her as much in the fucking speech that I bellowed as I gripped her throat. If she thought I would have gone soft and easy on her she thought wrong.
Immediately, at the contact of my warm hand encasing her cold skin, her eyes squeezed shut and I wanted to fucking laugh at the coward hanging limply in my hands. But it was when she opened her eyes again and they bore into my green ones was when disbelief coursed through me.
It was as if I was looking through an empty window to already see a corpse lying there. It was as if she had given up on life before I even made my decision to end hers. It was the most fucking terrifying thing I had seen in my life, the hollowness and emptiness, the resigned decision, the exchange as she gave her life willingly into deaths hands.
I had seen many more gruesome things in my life, people's heads severed, blood choking their throats as they slowly died a slow, painful death that no one but myself had dealt them to but nothing made me feel as much fear that was coursing through me at that moment.
Because all of my other victims still had a fire till the last minute, still had the fight to live another minute, still wanted to live but she didn't. And for some reason, I let go when I was a minute away from ending the burden she placed on my shoulders.
I may have not killed her but the guilt was still there, the guilt that I had resigned her to look so dejected and hopeless when her smiles made my heart flutter ever so slightly, the guilt that the only reason I didn't kill her was that she wanted to die.
I forced myself to believe that a small, twisted and cruel, part of me wanted to snatch her away from her wish, not that I wanted her to be alive to see her laugh once more.
Though just because I didn't end her didn't mean I was going to take her to the infirmary. Before I left her there, I couldn't stop myself from checking that faint yet beating pulse.
She would hate me but she would live and maybe it was easier that way, for both her and the resurfacing emotions I took years to control....
Hazel's POV
My eyes fluttered slightly, adjusting to the bright light that shone down upon me. Was this heaven? Was I finally dead? Was I happy to be dead?
But as my eyes adjusted to the light streaming in, I recognised my surroundings immediately and the events of last night flashed in my head, my jaw clenching. That cunt didn't even have the guts to finish me off.
With shaking legs, weak from being crumpled under me for god knows how many hours, I stood up, resting my back against the wall behind me. Just the moment I closed my eyes, tears prickling slightly at the near-death incident, did the door swing open.
Please don't be him, please don't be him I hoped silently because I never ever wanted to talk to him ever again after what he did. I wish I could just leave, run away and escape but I knew that hope was futile.
Instead, a feminine voice rang out, "hazel, there you are. I have been looking for you to ages and..." It cut off abruptly and I opened my eyes to see Izzy staring at my neck, her face slackened with
I absentmindedly brought my hand to the throbbing area, regretting it immediately as I flinched back. Right, there must be a massive bruise where he gripped me. "What the hell happened," She asked incredulously and I shook my head, not wanting to talk about it.
It wasn't the fact that talking would be incredibly painful at this moment that halted me but the fact that when chris was doing this to me, I was extremely vulnerable and I didn't want to revisit that
moment again.
Yes, I have had a few near death incidents before but I had never wanted to die as much as I did in that night and the fact alone scared me shitless.
But here I was standing on two shaky feet and forcing the corners of my mouth up in attempt to smile the pain away.
I knew Izzy came to a conclusion from the way realisation had dawned upon her but I shook my head, a silent plea to not bring it up.
She understood because she nodded, wiping away the worry and replacing it with a grin, interlocking my arm in hers. She dragged me to her room and I was not surprised most of the decor was purple since it was her favourite colour.
She steered me to sit down at her vanity desk and in the mirror did I see how bad it actually looked. I now could understand how confused Izzy had felt by the huge mark on my neck.
I reached out to trace it with my fingers, remembering the feel of chris's hand as he cut out the oxygen supply my body desperately needed.
At that moment, he was no longer a human to me but he was a monster, a monster that I wanted absolutely nothing to do with.
Izzy quickly, with the help of multiple brushes and makeup items that I had no knowledge of, concealed the mark that everyone's eyes would surely draw too. I felt immensely grateful that she understood my need to hide it instead of heal it and my shoulders sagged slightly in relief when I could barely make it out myself.
She took me downstairs for breakfast and I immediately could feel Chris's eyes bore into the side of my head but I paid no heed to it.
He no longer intimidated me compared to the amount of hatred my heart held for him.
"Today, we are having an assignment in which we have to bait someone out of a club. Our normal baiter has got her face damaged temporarily in an unfortunate incident so our replacement will be Hazel for tonight," He announced once successfully catching the attention of the four of us.
The two boys continued chewing their food while both chris and Izzy's gazes were on me as I forced another forkful of food down my throat, feigning normality.
I was not going to give chris the satisfaction by breaking down and pleading not to do this despite the silent urging in which Izzy was telling me to do so. Instead, I just got up and returned my plate to the sink once their and returned my plate to the sink once their gazes got too uncomfortable.
"Izzy, will you come with me to the mall, I have no appropriate pieces of attire," I asked her and she nodded, going to the kitchen for a second to dispose of her plate and cutlery before following me out.
I had thankfully taken a shower last night before giving chris his food and since I didn't want to let him see me in my pyjamas, I dressed in a casual outfit which I saw no problem in going out in now.
The two of us sat in the backseat of a BMW, one of the many cars chris owned and waited for the driver to bring us to our destination. I wondered how many cars in the garage was stolen instead of earned like most people.
Pushing that thought out of my head, I focused my eyes on the scenery outside. I felt Izzy's gaze constantly flicker towards me, probably making sure I was okay and me, probably making sure I was okay and not having a breakdown and so I made sure to hide the inner turmoil carefully.
The mall, a familiar trademark in my childhood, was a ten-minute drive away. Once we reached, I was slightly taken aback when the feelings of excitement and adrenaline failed to appear.
Shopping used to be something I always look forward to, so why wasn't a smile appearing now? I just stared at the mall through emotionless eyes, as if it were any other building that didn't hold tons of shops that I would normally beg to visit inside.
Thankfully, Izzy paid no heed to my lack of enthusiasm as her own was enough for the two of us as I watched her bounce on her toes with such positive energy radiating out of her. This was how I wanted to actually feel yet everything was hollow inside.
She took me by the hand and instead of dragging us to the normal, average shops
I used to go to, steered us in the direction of the fancier and pricier shops. As if she could sense my protest, she held up a gold credit card that probably had an unlimited balance.
"Chris is paying for this one since it's for a job," She chirped and immediately, at the sound of his name, a sour taste came back into my mouth. Right, we were on a mission here for something I didn't even want to do. Though it wasn't like my opinion mattered here anyway.
We entered into one of the poshest places, where a lady rushed up to us and greeted Izzy warmly with a hug. "Janette, this is Hazel. I need something extremely sexy, don't matter about the price and the more revealing the better."
The lady nodded before taking a glance at me, circling me like she was a hawk and I was her next prey, all the while muttering to herself. After a minute of me standing awkwardly, she nodded like she had gotten
what she was looking for.
Izzy, clearly familiar with this place, took me to the changing room where Janette was fussing over three outfits that look equally as stunning and slutty. I was immediately pushed into the changing room, a curtain drawn shut but not before I spied Izzy and Janette settling themselves down in a plush couch.
Lucky idiots, while I had to try on these stupid outfits.
The first outfit I tried one was a white dress, with laces and ended just past my butt and a dangerously low cut. I took one look at myself and shook my head. It fitted me in all the wrong places, too loose at the bust and too tight at the chest.
I opened the curtain and both the ladies stopped their conversation to look at me. Izzy was the first one to shake her head and Janette seconded her gesture and shouted, "Next," like this was some movie film.
I groaned and turned around, exchanging my outfit for a black dress that I immediately felt was right. It wasn't as slutty as the other two and ended modestly a few inches below my butt.
It didn't have a dropping neckline but was an off shoulder and still showed my high collarbones. It hugged my body like a glove yet didn't give too much away either.
I stepped out with a slight smile and nodded my head. Thankfully, the other two women agreed almost immediately with gushes of praises. We, of course, ended up taking that outfit and buying it immediately.
I thought we were finally done but it was a mere half an hour that had passed and I should have known that with Izzy, anything under two hours is way too short. Suddenly, she got a phone call, which gave me a rest from our speed walking as she stepped to the side to take it.
I could see from the corner of my eyes, that she was extremely frustrated and was whisper-yelling to whoever was on the phone. But it seemed like whoever the person on the other side was not having any of her nonsense today and she ended it with a harsh 'fine'.
She took my hand and dragging me to the car, like a woman on a mission, and all the way I was extremely confused. We had entered the car when she let out an exhale, showing how frustrated she truly was.
"That was chris," She started off and I knew that with that man, nothing good could have gone down.
"He's saying the venue has been changed from a night club to a beach club and has been moved up a few hours. We have two hours to find you another outfit and get you ready." She continued stressing and I wouldn't be surprised if she started pulling her hair out either.
"I got an outfit for the beach," I told her with a slight smirk, remembering the outfit I had been gifted by one of my friends for my birthday last year. Just at the remembrance of my friends, I felt a tug at my heart.
Yes, it had only been three days since I had seen them but it was the fact that I may never see them again that made me go slightly quiet. The smirk fell from my face and I felt my shoulder's droop slightly before I forced myself to sit upright and paint a happy expression on my face.
I saw Izzy open her mouth to argue but I placed a reassuring gesture on her shoulder. "Trust me, it is extremely slutty and brand new. My friend that gifted it to me is surely one crazy person."
That calmed her down slightly and she directed the driver to head home. "You can use the dress for another occasion trust me, its fabulous on you." I nodded my head, too tired to argue as I rested my head against the window.
When we reached, we headed up to my room all the while Izzy lecturing me that it better be a good outfit or she was going to make sure I would never have babies. Somehow, I believed her and so I really hoped that this convinced her.
I opened my swimsuit drawer, spying the dark blue dress and snatching them up quickly, slightly flustered as I remembered exactly how revealing they were. I slipped into the bathroom and quickly put on the three pieces, not taking the time to look at myself in the mirror lest I change my mind.
The minute I went out, Izzy let out a small squeal before a devious smile took place on her face and a smirk on mine.
"This is perfect."
TBC
Soooo that just happened
I really hope they stop hating each other soon otherwise some things are going to be going down with how stubborn these two really are.
Who is the man Hazel has to be baiting?
What does her outfit look like?
Why is hazel agreeing to do the job?
Do vote and comment ✨💝