Chapter Two
In the morning, which turned out to be not much later, Jada got up as usual and started getting ready for work. She was part of the marketing department for a high-end clothing brand, so she always chose her clothes very carefully. Today, she chose a burgundy knee-length dress with a slightly flared skirt, thick, dark grey, knitted tights, heeled boots, and a dark grey sweater in a size too large for her petite frame.
She wore her hair in a neat bob, and it didn’t take long to have her make-up done. Glancing at the clock, she saw that she had plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast. Perfect: she liked to sit down at the table in the kitchen, watch the city waking up, and check up on her Instagram feed while she ate. Plus, she needed a little bit longer to feel alive this morning, after her interrupted sleep.
The knife was still where she left it on the counter last night. Sighing at herself again, she picked it up and started to put it back in the block.
That’s when she saw it.
Blood was on the knife.
The very edge had the finest line of red running around it, something you could miss easily at first glance. Paralyzed for a moment by the discovery, Jada eventually swiveled her eyes to look at the floor. There, just to the left of where she had been standing with her back to the counter last night, was one drop of red.
“Oh, my god,” Jada said out loud, her heart fluttering so fast that she felt like she was going to be sick. “Oh, my god!”
She put the knife down on the counter and stared at it. A million things were racing through her head.
Did she really cut someone last night? Was there really someone here, in her house?
She grabbed her phone out of her pocket and scrolled to her favorites, hitting Maya’s number and waiting for it to dial. She needed the calming influence of her best girlfriend. Maya always knew what to do in crazy situations.
“Mornin’ gorgeous,” Maya answered after ten or so rings, her voice still crackling with sleep.
“Maya, oh my god,” Jada burst out. “I think someone was in my house last night.”
“What?” Maya asked, her voice a little louder. There was rustling on the other end of the line. Jada pictured Maya sitting up in bed, pushing her dark hair up off her forehead.
“I heard something,” Jada explained, staring at the knife the whole time. “I thought it might be that creep, you know? The one that’s been attacking all those girls?”
“What creep?” Maya asked. “Jada, slow down, girl. I feel like I’ve tuned in halfway through the episode.”
“You haven’t been reading the news? He breaks into their apartments and attacks them,” Jada said, feeling frustrated. Maya lived in a world of her own at times, but missing news as big as this was too far even for her. “Look, it’s not important. I thought I heard someone, so I crept out into the kitchen to get a knife.”
“Ohhh, tell me you did not do that,” Maya moaned. “You thought someone was there to attack you, so you came to attack them back like a lunatic? Why didn’t you call the police?”
“I didn’t know for sure whether I heard something,” Jada replied. “Just listen. So, I freaked out, and I lashed out with the knife because I thought I saw something. Then, I thought I must have imagined it, so I went back to bed. But Maya, this morning – there’s blood on the edge of the knife.”
Maya audibly gasped. “Like, a lot of blood? The police could test that!”
“Not, like, a lot,” Jada replied, a little doubtfully. “I mean, some. I don’t know how much they need for a sample. Not a lot, right?”
Maya paused for a moment. “How much blood are we talking exactly?”
“Well, the edge of the knife is red,” Jada said. “The very edge of it.”
“Oh, girl, you need to stop reading the news,” Maya said, sounding sleepy again. “I think you had a nightmare about that creep you’ve been obsessing over. It’s probably just a stain on the knife where you didn’t wash it properly.”
“I’m not obsessed,” Jada tried weakly, but she could hear that Maya had already reached her own conclusion.
“Listen, I better get up, I’ve got work,” Maya said, yawning. “You do too, so stop thinking about it. Get some more sleep tonight and put your phone away before bed. Love you, girl.”
“Love you,” Jada managed to get out before Maya was gone.
She put the phone down on the counter next to the knife and stared at them both. What Maya said had made sense, but Maya hadn’t been here. She hadn’t been in the apartment, hearing those noises, seeing that flash of white.
“I’m not crazy,” she said out loud as if Maya could still hear her. “I did not imagine it. It really happened.”
That’s when someone who should not have been in the living room said, “You’re right.”