20:22
There's a special place in Hell just for him.
Forrest looks at his watch then he stares at me in this strange way. "You never cared for what would happen to her?"
The words feel unreal coming from him yet he doesn't do anything, but he will.
I could see it happening before it happened. Her suicide was predictable. Aliza was predictable. She felt wronged or maybe she was just looking for someone to punish for what was done to her.
Dumb met dumber. Maybe Forrest was the Prince Charming she had been waiting for.
The only smart thing Forrest can do right now is to turn around and leave. It's what he usually does anyway.
For a long moment, Forrest ogles me and he seems angry enough to hit me. That feels like a cold embrace.
"You let her die." An acute description of bullshit comes out of his mouth.
Or so you think. But do you know me at all?
There's something behind Forrest's eyes and it ain't good. He is traveling down his own dark path.
Aliza is a feeble person with a hideous past. Her teeny-tiny world crumbled to her feet for she was only ecstatic soaked in someone's blood from head to toe.
She made dying hurt and she liked it.
She has never expressed remorse.
Aliza craved the moment of death; she would smile when their hearts stopped.
The victim became a victimizer. She felt powerful instead of helpless.
I know I took a path that Father would have never wanted for me. I let him down, broke his heart and in the end, I crushed him like a bug but I'm still my father's daughter. The one who lives to kill.
20:27
The human seems to be in his mid-forties. He smells like tobacco and gasoline.
I can hear his heartbeat quicken, his blood rushing through his veins, his muscles tighten.
"I hear your fear, son," I look at him "You think if you understand everything, you'll sleep better at night?"
The human's teeth are grinding. Why is he hesitating?
"Leave us."
And he does. The human runs as fast as he is able to. Bigger problems will soon follow.
"So this is what you meant," I've been holding it in for a while "Foolish man, you don't understand."
This life never looked so lonely. Ever since I could remember, everything inside of me wanted to fit in, to be loved. I never asked to be a monster, but Hell will always come for me.
I walk past Forrest to go to her - saunter in her direction. The woman is the reason I dragged myself here after all.
20:31
The woman smiles and I smile back. This is my chance to fix her.
She recognizes me based on the disease I carry. Every infected recognizes me, like a queen, like something superior, like I'm in sitting on a throne and they are my subjects.
The difference between us is simple. Patient zero has the power to make them do things. Father thought it might be handy one day.
She stands up a little straighter even though her bruises open more. One small flinch and one uneasy stare make me stiffen.
I sink into my skin a little deeper because I feel her pain like it's my own.
"Come to me." I open my arms and wait; I try to act like things are normal.
Forrest shoves me in the right shoulder and I fall down watching him slice her throat. The woman's blood hits me in the face.
My entire body ends up in this cold sweat. Forrest wants to test the limit of my endurance.
His face reads it should have been you dying, not Aliza. And just like that, everything comes into focus. Me and my target: Forrest.
I make myself at home in her blood.
Forrest stands there in front of me and I stand in front of him clutching my stomach, trying to calm down.
Rage is my trigger; it makes me want to eat his soul.
I open my mouth, but nothing comes out.
I hear Forrest saying "Heartless whore." He drops the blade and laughs while running his hands through his hair.
That's what he calls me because that's what I am.
I look at the dead woman and it hurts. I feel the fury prickling in my bones, skin, and blood.
No more numbing the senses.
"She was my world." Forrest comes across more than disappointed than hurt. He wants me to react, fight back.
I hold my breath; my arms keep shaking while I listen to his next words. "She wanted to marry me."
I see red. If there is a Hell, it looks a lot like this.
20:40
Swallowing hard, I close my eyes as I try to compose myself. He can't suspect a thing.
"There's nothing for you here, Sapphire," He kneels in front of me. He is inviting me to his personal disaster.
So I guess I'll have to take him deeper into his own bitter convictions and strip him of his guilty conscience.
"End your own misery," Forrest hands me a clean blade.
We are so close that I am able to feel his breath on my skin, feel the warmth radiating from his body.
"Aliza would have wanted this for you,"
He takes my hand and whispers "Do it."
There is no limit for a desperate man or what he will do when pushed.
Something inside me dies as I watch the blade hit the snow. "Goodbye, Forrest."
Forrest looks confused for a moment, but then a wave of lucidity oscillates through him.
Before he could do something I toss him on the snow; forcefully kiss him while holding him in place. My saliva renders him immobile in seconds.
I taste the poison on his tongue. My vision goes black and I let the darkness appease me, swallow me completely.
"This is the end of your story. Can you remember who you were before?"
Venom overflows him, fills every inch of him. The damage is done.
"You came to my Father for you wanted to be fixed. You chose this life and you can die for it."
I feel myself withdrawing from him. Sweat covers my forehead and my entire body seems to be shaking slightly. I still feel a bit dead. Nothing changes that.
"You can't make me disappear. I'm the poison in your bones."
I straighten my body completely and look down at him. Forrest's face seems familiar but remains a stranger and that makes me feel too good.
"I'm underneath your skin."
And the air goes heavy.
He was special to me but he valued everything else more than me.
"Look what you made of me."
The moment I start to walk away, my phone begins to ring again. Fuck them.
Quietly, I continue my path into the darkness.
You won't even know I'm here.
I'm dedicating this chapter to BreakStereotypes , StopBodyShaming , ProjectCharacter , projectbrave & TheOddProject