Chapter 18
Time was moving in slow motion for Lynn as she struggled to flip Amy over onto her back. Her fingers were clawing at any exposed flesh, and just when she thought she wouldn’t be able to get a good grip, she ripped Amy’s mask off and threw it across the room.
Amy wasn’t remarkable by any means. She had mousy brown hair that hung in tight curls against her collar and cool green eyes. She had freckles, a pointed nose, and her lips were tucked back in a fierce frown as she tried to wrap her hands around Lynn’s throat.
She didn’t recognize her, but then again, Lynn hadn’t ever been looking.
It only seemed to piss Amy off further that Lynn had seen her face, which ended up working to her advantage.
Lynn wrapped her hands in her hair and yanked hard, shifting ever so slightly so that her knee could wedge between her and Amy, giving her the upper hand she needed to flip them over.
Amy was screaming at her, obscenities flying from her lips, but Lynn didn’t focus on that.
She was focused on getting away from Amy now so that she could get her hands on that gun waiting for her across the room.
“Seeing you makes me wonder what kind of chance you think you have,” Lynn snarked as she landed a solid right jab to Amy’s jaw.
Amy started to laugh as she reached up and hit Lynn on the underside of her jaw.
Her head went flying back, but she didn’t let go of Amy, who raised her hand to hit her again. Her mouth flooded with blood, and Lynn used that to her advantage as she gathered it on her tongue and spit it right into Amy’s eyes.
Amy choked and sputtered as she tried to wipe her eyes, and Lynn used that small window of opportunity to slide across the kitchen floor.
She gasped when her hands closed around the gun, drawing it in close and flicking off the safety. She already knew there was a round in the chamber. She turned suddenly to face Amy, but she was gone. All that was left were little splatters of both of their blood across the white tile.
“Never turn your back on your enemy, Lynn.”
The words were whispered into her ear as the sharp blade of a knife was plunged into her side, shocking her system with overwhelming pain.
Her adrenaline kicked in, but the pain was staggering. Just to be thorough, Amy stabbed her another time before Lynn lifted the gun and aimed it at her.
“Looking a little worse for wear, Lynn,” Amy said.
Her smile said it all; she didn’t care if she lived or died, and Lynn had no idea what changed.
“I have a gun aimed at your head and I’m a damn good shot. You broke into my house after stalking me, threatening my life, and Aiden will be home any minute to corroborate my story. Whether I kill you or the cops get their hands on you, Aiden will never want you.”
I’m so dizzy…
Lynn glanced down and pressed her fingers against her side. Thick, ruby red blood seeped from between her ivory fingers, and she sight had her blanching.
She couldn’t quite catch her breath, and her grip on the gun was starting to get a little shaky.
Amy started to laugh.
“Maybe, maybe not…but, ya know what the best part about it is?”
Lynn didn’t respond, but she did lift the gun a little higher.
“Aiden may not end up with me, but by the time he gets here, he won’t end up with you either…you’re losing a lot of blood there, Lynn. Do you feel woozy yet?”
Lynn swore under her breath when she realized that Amy was right.
She was losing far more blood than she was comfortable with and her arm was starting to feel way too heavy to hold the gun.
Aiden, where the hell are you?
“The clock is ticking, Lynn. What’s is gonna be? Are you gonna kill me, or are you gonna die trying?”
Lynn slowly shook her head.
“Why Aiden? What’s so special about him?,” She screamed.
Why couldn’t you just let us be happy?
Amy’s hands waved around her.
“Look around! You live with him now, you tell me? What is it that makes Aiden oh-so-special?”
Her left hand was pressed against her side, sticky with her blood, hot and gooey to the touch. She could hear drops of her own blood hitting the hardwood as she tried like hell to keep her emotions in check just a little bit longer.
There was no guarantee that Aiden would make it in time, and now that she had Amy right where she wanted her, she was going to bleed out.
“I love Aiden for the imperfect man that he is. I’ve actually spent time with him. I’m not living off of some crazy delusion like you!,” Lynn argued.
Amy laughed, “You’re not? You’re not under the impression that he’s different? That he won’t leave you high and dry like that dear old hubby of yours, Jake?”
Lynn scoffed, “If you think he’s capable of that, then why are you here?”
Amy rolled her eyes like she was bored and shook her head.
“Because, with me, he can be himself. He can let all that darkness he keeps locked away, out in the open.”
What in the hell is she talking about?
Lynn was losing her patience almost as fast as she was losing her blood.
“Again, if he wanted you, he’d be with you!”
The ache in Lynn’s side turned into a full-blown-pulsating tremor that had her knees shaking hard, knocking against each other.
“You’re not gonna make it very far with wounds like that, little Lynn.”
There was a twinkle in Amy’s eyes that startled Lynn.
She thinks she won.
She thinks I’m gonna die here, with her.
“You’re awful confident for someone with a gun pointed at their head.”
“You won’t pull the trigger. Look at you. You’re weak! After what Aiden has been through, he deserves someone strong like me. He deserves a real woman by his side! I can make him happy in ways that you’ll never be able to,” She screamed. Her face was getting red which made Lynn think that Amy didn’t quite believe her own words.
“You don’t think he’ll want you. You realize that if I die, you’re gonna die? You’ll go to prison for the rest of your miserable life, Amy. In no way whatsoever does this equation end with you and Aiden being together,” Lynn said.
“You’re wrong! I’m just biding my time until he gets here. I’ll sneak out the back, and pretend to just be passing by. It’ll be a believable excuse seeing as my parents live two blocks over. Helpful, sweet, Amy was passing by on an evening walk when she heard screaming, and rushed to investigate only to find you here, dead on the floor.”
“That was your plan this whole time? To kill me and then find me, becoming somewhat of a hero in his eyes? What, did you think you two would bond over the grief? Are you fucking serious?,” Lynn asked angrily.
Amy smiled sadistically.
“You’re only mad because you know it’ll work. He won’t know it was me this whole time, I covered my tacks well. If I wasn’t good at what I do, then the cops would already know it was me.”
She’s fucking right…
Lynn knew that she was right and even still that scared her even more, because she had no other options here.
If Aiden wasn’t going to be home soon, she was going to bleed out waiting for backup.
She had to get to her phone to call the police, but first, she had to turn off the signal blocker.
“There’s no easy way out of this for you, Lynn.”
“Me? You crazy bitch, I have the gun!”
“And, you’ve had it for more than a few minutes, and haven’t pulled the trigger! That’s the vital difference between you and me. I’m strong, and you? You’re weak.”
Lynn shook her head.
“No!”
“Yes! Yes, and you know it! You could never keep a man like Aiden happy. Admit it to yourself,” Amy said as she giggled under her breath.
Amy’s accusations and line of thinking were so insane, and Lynn was getting drowsier by the second…she almost believed it.
“You’re not gonna win tonight, Amy. You’ve made the same mistake that many have made in the past, and that’s underestimating me. Aiden chose me, and I’m sorry that that hurt you, but I’m not gonna let you take him away from me.”
Amy stood up straighter, like she finally realized that Lynn wasn’t going to let her keep the upper hand.
Lynn’s plan had been to wait until Aiden got there, and then have him call the cops and a fucking ambulance before she bled out all over the living room floor, but he was late.
Lynn couldn’t wait any longer. Rile her up, Lynn. Rile the crazy bitch up, somethings gotta give!
“See, Aiden, he likes sexy women, beautiful women. Like me. Not like you, Amy.”
Amy’s eyes widened.
“Excuse me?”
Wheezing, Lynn continued, “Yeah. I can see why he would pass you up. You’re boring, there’s nothing special about you, at all. I’ve apparently met you a couple of times, and even I don’t remember you…what makes you think that he would?,” She asked cruelly.
Amy took a step forward and Lynn raised the gun, her teeth clenched.
“That’s what you came here for, right? To finally make your presence known? Don’t you think it speaks volumes of…well, you, that you would have to concoct this crazy scheme just to get his attention?”
“He’s worth it!,” She screamed through her teeth.
Lynn smiled savagely, blood sticking to her mouth, sliding down her chin.
“He is worth it…for me, not for you.”
Amy lost her mind in that split second, her arms flailing as she took off in a full sprint towards Lynn. She yelled at the top of her lungs, her mouth wide open, her eyes blazing with anger.
Lynn was caught off guard, but it didn’t stop her from pulling the trigger three times. Her arm was shaking so bad that she missed the first time, but the last two shots hit her target square in the chest. Amy fell to the floor in a heap, her brown hair sticking to her cheeks as she gargled on the floor, writhing in agony.
“Stalk that, you crazy bitch,” Lynn breathed as she lowered her arm.
Her knees gave away within moments, hitting the ground roughly. She rolled to her side, her body feeling heavier by the second. She was still gripping the gun as the entire room seemed to fade into nothing but a blur.
She blinked once, twice; the silence in the room was near deafening. The only sound she could hear was Amy wheezing, choking on her own blood, the slow pounding of her own heart…
Aiden will be here soon.
He’ll save me.
Her eyelids felt like they were being pressed down by bricks, but she fought against it. The tears were back and they were hot against her cheeks as she cried into the silence of the room. The fear she felt was still overwhelming, almost as overwhelming as the sudden pause in Amy’s breathing on the other side of the room.
She’s dead.
She tried to kill me.
I’m dying…
The blood sticking to her hands, her side, the leg of her pants, it was still hot. Her blood was hot, but she was getting colder and colder as she sobbed, “Help! Help me,” She cried.
No one answered, and the clock told her Aiden was thirty-eight minutes late.
Exhaustion was setting in, and even though Lynn knew it was just a side effect from the blood loss, she couldn’t fight it. As her eyes began to flutter closed of their own volition, the front door swung open and Aiden’s voice broke apart the silence in a rush.
“Lynn? Fuck, Lynn?!”
Beyond that, she couldn’t hear what he was saying. He was holding her in his arms and his expression told her that he was horrified, but she couldn’t hear a word he said.
He took the gun out of her grip and it made a loud sound as it hit the floor. Aiden’s mouth was moving, and his phone was against his ear, but all she could do was look at him through heavy-lidded eyes.
“Hold on, Lynn. Hold on, just keep your eyes open!”
Everything sounded like her head was under water, and no matter how badly she wanted to reach up and touch his face, she couldn’t.
Her hands wouldn’t move.
“Lo-love you,” She whispered.
Her throat fell dry and scratchy and she wasn’t even sure the words made it past her lips to his ears-
“Don’t! Don’t you fucking say goodbye, Lynn! Not now, baby.”
He was adjusting his grip on her and it hurt and she wanted him to stop, but she couldn’t get the words out. He wrapped one of his hands around hers and squeezed tight. His fingers were warm and calloused against her soft skin, and it felt good and real; an anchor when she needed it most.
“Squeeze my hand, baby. Stay awake for me, help is coming,” He begged.
She gripped his hand, her fingers still covered in blood, but he didn’t complain.
“Hold on, Lynn. Just hold on for me.”