NOTE: For a better reading, listen to the song "Make You Love Me" by Us The Duo on repeat.
-----
"Baby, I don't want to go without you, why can't I go along?" Camila asked, and I chuckled.
"Mani's crying and she hates to be seen crying. Dinah will take you home, I'll stop by later, okay?" Camila took a deep breath and pouted. "Don't pout, baby... I-I'll come back to you, okay?" I said more to myself than to her. "I'll see you later." I kissed her forehead and hugged her tight.
"Call me if you need anything, okay?" I nodded my head and she smiled broadly at me. "I'll see you later, beautiful. Give Mani a kiss for me." She said, and I smiled, winking at her.
I got into my car and started it. I was heading home first to change clothes and then I was going to meet Dana and kill her so she could never hurt my girlfriend. I didn't understand why she hadn't killed Camila yesterday afternoon, when she had no protection nor anyone with her. Dana could very well have killed her and run away, like we all did in these situations.
I was halfway home and I was trying to take deep breaths. I was going to face Dana alone. Dinah was going to tell Camila that she was leaving but she was going to hide in the entrance of the building in case someone unknown tried to make a move and hurt Camila. But if I knew my friend as well as I knew I did, I was sure she was going to ask Camila if she could stay with her. And it would be better that way.
I parked my car and got out quickly, heading straight to the elevator. After a few seconds that seemed more like minutes, the heavy doors opened on my floor, and I grabbed my keys and opened my door, walking into my apartment. I was startled when I came across Normani sitting on the floor with a bunch of papers.
"What's gotten into you?"
"Dana is a hitwoman, I'm sure of it now."
"No shit!" I said as I took off my clothes, throwing them on the floor. Normani got up and started following me. "She told me in person. I'm going to meet her on the beach and I'm going to kill that bitch."
"Lauren, this can be a trap!" Mani said nervously, and I rolled my eyes as I opened my closet. "Steve or anyone else can be there, they're ambitious and they'll do anything to kill you! Just put an end to this and kill your little girlfriend. Finish this once and for all!"
"GODDAMMIT, NORMANI! YOU STILL DON'T GET IT, DO YOU? I'M CRAZY ABOUT CAMILA, CRAZY! TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY CRAZY ABOUT THAT WOMAN!" I shouted, gripping the holster of my knife that was going around my calf. "No one's going to lay a fucking finger on Camila!" I said through clenched teeth as I grabbed a white shirt with a slight V neck. Then I picked up a pair of pants that wouldn't mark my leg and wouldn't show my knife, and finally I grabbed one of my black leather jackets and faced my friend.
"You're going to throw everything away because of her?"
"I don't have anything to lose."
"Your life..."
"She's my life, Normani. I don't have a family, I don't have a home, I don't have anything... I only have her."
"You have Dinah and me!" She said, letting her tears stream down her face.
"It's not the same thing, Mani." I said with a sigh. "You're my sisters... She's the love of my life."
"You said you didn't have a family!"
"I have you and Dinah, but eventually you two will have a family of your own, and you have your parents and all that. I don't, but now I have the chance to have a family with Camila, she makes me more than happy and that's all I need. I'm going to have to take my chances." I sighed, and then I hugged her tightly. "If I don't come back till tomorrow afternoon, give this to Camila." I grabbed the letter that I had written a few days ago and handed it to Normani. "I love you, Mani. Thank you for being the best of the best."
"Why are you saying goodbye? You're going to end that bitch!" She said, and I laughed, shrugging.
"You never know..." I kissed her forehead and then walked back to the dining room, being followed by her. "You don't need to lock the door when you leave. Wish me luck."
Without saying anything else, I grabbed my keys and headed out the door. I walked to the elevator that was still on my floor and got in, pressing the parking lot button. On the way down, I stretched out, just in case... Dana intimidated me a bit.
I got into my car and opened the glove compartment, there were a few CDs and plenty of medicine, and I popped one into my mouth, since I hadn't eaten anything all night and had just drank water. And then I drove out of the parking lot and headed towards the pier. I could feel my heart pounding more and more.
I knew that just like me and all the others, Dana liked to kill silently, and even though she wouldn't take a firearm with her, she'd try to inject something in me or stab me to death. She must have done her homework.
I stopped the car beside the sidewalk. Everything was kind of quiet and there weren't many cars driving by, which was strange for a Sunday night in Miami. I took a deep breath and got out of the car, locking it and putting my car key in my jacket pocket. I tied my hair in a ponytail and began to walk towards the pier.
I had enough confidence and training to end anyone's life, but I didn't know enough about Dana, she could be way better than me... I just hoped she was like Drew, easy to kill.
I stopped between two pillars and cleared my throat, and that was when Dana appeared. She was wearing something similar to what I was wearing and she had her arms crossed across her breasts. I smiled at her and leaned against one of the wooden pillars.
"Nice pose. Are you going to light up a cigarette now?" She asked, and I laughed, shaking my head.
"No, they're bad for your health, just like alcohol, I thought you knew." I smirked.
"I know so many things, things that you can't even imagine." She laughed, shaking her head, and I smiled. "I thought you were smart, Lauren. I could have sworn that you were going to kill Camila or that you were going to run away tonight. I gave you that opportunity... but you were so dumb, but so very dumb that besides staying, you're going to die for your case." She laughed mockingly.
"Who would've thought, right?! Love makes us dumb..." I smiled. "Opinions aside, I think you're the dumb one, because you messed with the wrong person!"
"Do you really think I'm scared of a lonely woman who needs a case to feel loved?!" She laughed, and I balled my hands into fists, walking towards her. "Do the world a favor and die, Lauren. No one will miss you. And this way you can keep your parents company."
In a more than rapid movement, I spun around and lifted my leg, fully hitting her on the face with my foot. Dana fell to the ground and I laughed.
"DON'T. YOU. EVER. TALK. ABOUT. MY. PARENTS!" I said through clenched teeth, looking at her and watching her spit blood to the ground, her hand holding her jaw.
"You bitch! I'm going to end you!" She promptly got up, and I laughed, shaking my head.
"You can't even stand straight."
"That's what we'll see!"
Dana ran up to me and shoved me to the sand, staying with her body over mine. A sequence of punches hit my face and I winced in pain, but without giving her time to continue that, I rolled with her on the sand and now I was on top, hitting a very strong punch on her nose, which soon enough began to bleed.
That bitchy air of hers never wavered, she had an ironic little smile on her lips and didn't show the pain she felt, which made me even more angry. I punched her face one more time and she hit my rib with her elbow, making me groan in pain and rendering me motionless for a few seconds that gave her the advantage to turn our positions. She started punching my face again, so I lifted my legs and in an awkward way managed to get her off me, and then I rolled back and got up kind of dazedly.
When I looked up, I saw Dana standing in front of me, her face was full of cuts and it was bloody; mine probably didn't look much different. Everything hurt too much and I felt that that was just the beginning.
I ran up to her, desperate to put an end to that, and that was when my eyes landed on her right hand and I saw her holding a knife. I jumped right then, and with both my feet together, hit her right on her chest, making her body be hurled against one of the pillars. She groaned loudly in pain for the first time. My body landed with a thud on the sand and I laughed as I got up, to then walk over to her.
"You will never get anywhere near Camila, or anybody else!" Angrily, I started a sequence of very painful punches on her face, anger taking over every inch of my body. "You will never talk about my parents, much less breathe, you cunt!"
That was when a hoarse cry came out from the back of my throat. I fell back and felt an absurd pain consuming my whole body. The area of my abdomen ached, it burned.
Dana laughed, still leaning against the pillar.
"Bad idea. You can never leave the vital points... of your body exposed..." She laughed again, to then cough blood. "You're going to die, Lauren... But don't worry, I'll take good care of Camila."
The pain was unbearable. The human body had a few spots that if they'd suffer very deep cuts, the chances of you dying were more than huge, because they housed one of the main veins.
I looked at my abdomen and saw the knife stuck close to my hips. I tried to move but that only made me hiss through clenched teeth. I took deep breaths as to ease the pain.
"I'm going to kill Camila, cut her in little pieces, piece by piece, and I'm going to leave her exposed on her own bed." She laughed, to then get up. I moved my left leg and tried to bend it, I needed to grab my knife. "But not before I tell her everything you were going to do to her, she'll die hating you." Dana laughed and walked over to me. She pulled out her knife from my abdomen and I screamed in pain.
Since I was pressing my wound with one of my hands in a futile attempt to stanch the blood, Dana didn't even bother to grab my other arm, after all, we both knew that with one arm I couldn't do much.
"You're going to have to kill me first." I said smiling, trying not to tremble.
"My pleasure." She had a smug smile on her face. While she was distracted, I held my left foot and pulled my leg further up, pulling my pants delicately up. "Maybe I'll fuck her before I kill her... Just imagine Camila moaning my name." I clenched my jaw and felt an absurd anger mixed with adrenaline hit me.
I tried to pull the knife that was attached to my holster, but for some reason it wouldn't come out. Dana lifted my shirt and made me scream in pain and desperation as she ran her knife on my belly, making several superficial cuts that hurt too much. Without giving up, I pulled my knife gently as she inched her knife close to my cheek, pressing it there and making me wince in pain.
"Any last words, sweetie?" Dana asked, and I smiled, staring deep into her eyes.
"It was a pleasure to kill you." I raised my knife, and mercilessly, stuck it into the side of her neck, watching her fall on top of me, already dead.
I shoved her body away with a tremendous difficulty, and then I groaned in pain when I sat up. My body hurt too much. I looked around and saw my phone lying almost close to the water. I tried to walk over there as fast as possible, but with every step, I felt my body ache in an absurd way. I fell on my knees on the ground and felt my tears stream down my face.
"I CAN'T DIE NOW!" I shouted, to then take off my jacket, feeling a cold breeze hit my skin. I tied my jacket firmly around my waist, to see if the bleeding subsided somehow.
I dragged myself to where my phone was and saw that it had two signal bars. I smiled in relief and unlocked it, immediately dialing Dinah's number. It rang once, twice, thrice... my eyes wanted to close.
"Hello?"
"Dinah..." I smiled in relief.
"Lauren? Laur, what happened? Are you alright?" She asked in a weeping tone, and I laughed, regretting it right away.
"Dinah, listen to me. Come to the pier right now, I need you to get rid of Dana's body." I said, and then I heard her laugh in relief, which made me laugh too. "I'm going home."
"Okay. Be careful."
I hung up and put my phone in my pocket, and then I started to wonder where I had put my car key. After a few seconds, I simply got up from the sand, and totally dazedly, walked over to Dana. I winced in pain as I dragged her body to the nearest pillar, to then put it in a way that looked as if she was admiring the sea. I removed my knife from her neck and put it back in its holster.
"You bitch, you ruined my favorite jacket. I hope you have a great time in hell!" I chuckled, and limping, I started walking back to my car.
I had to stop for a few instants, to take a deep breath and to press my wound, I felt like I was going to faint at any moment. I sat down on the stairs that divided the beach and the sidewalk, my car was a bit far away and I cussed myself for that. Supporting myself on the railing, I climbed on all fours and lay down in the middle of the sidewalk, taking a deep breath, trying to get air into my lungs. It seemed that the more I did that, the more dazed I got.
"I have to be strong... for Camila..."
Shit always happened after the adrenaline faded... It was one thing to have your body working because of the fear of being killed, because it was motivated by some devastating feeling; and it was another thing when you knew that everything was going to be alright and you could relax.
I could feel my shirt get more and more wet, besides the blood, I was beginning to sweat, cold sweat, even though my body was warm. I supported myself on a random car and started walking along the row of parked cars, and when I looked back, I saw that I had left a trail of blood in every car. I started walking faster, afraid of being caught, and when I reached my car, I removed my jacket from around my waist, crying out in pain.
"Fuck, I can't... I won't make it..." I supported myself on my car and noticed that I had at least stopped in a good way. "I don't even know where my fucking car key is..." I felt my vision become blurry. "Normani's at my place, she'll help me."
I stood straight, even with all the pain begging me to stop, and tied my jacket around my elbow. I moved closer to the driver's side, and gathering all my strength, counted to three to then elbow the window, but nothing happened.
"Come on!" From a distance, I saw a couple, they were heading this way. I took a deep breath and lifted my arm once again. One... Two... Three... I finally broke the window, but also cut my arm. "Fuck! Goddammit!"
I stuck my hand inside and unlocked the door on the driver's side. I sat down and thanked God because my alarm was broken, and then I opened the panel under the steering wheel and pulled the red and green wire. I started hot-wiring my car, which worked on the third try and my car came to life.
I closed the door and leaned my head on my seat. With a lot of effort, I started driving to my apartment, and during the whole way I had to sing so I wouldn't fall asleep and consequently die. I parked my car and disconnected the wires, turning it off. I got out and supported myself on everything on sight as I walked until I reached the elevator.
The elevator went up slowly as I cried out in pain, and as soon as the doors opened on my floor, I felt my vision become completely blurred. I took two steps forward and then fell on my knees on the floor, crying as I looked at my apartment door.
"Mani!" I groaned in pain. "NORMANI!" I started sobbing. "GODDAMMIT... NORMANI!" I closed my eyes and tried to apply pressure on my wound. "Mani! Help me!" I cried out, and then I heard a noise. I looked up, seeing who I least expected there.
"LAUREN!" Camila shouted.
And then everything went dark.