Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 653(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Her entire body relaxed and she went back to scribbling her instructions. “So here’s his email. Write that out to him. If you give him your number, he’ll call you.” Her voice hitched, but I caught the excitement on her face.
I took the paper from her, sliding it into my pocket.
As I did, she let out a dramatic breath. “Thanks for this—” She choked, her eyes wide and alarmed. Shocked. She looked down at what was protruding from her body. When I put her message in my pocket, I grabbed the letter opener I took from my dad’s desk.
It was easier than I thought. I put some force into my stab, making sure it slid inside of her. The far right side of her stomach, in the middle.
She went to reach for it, but my hand closed over it. “No, no. Can’t do that. You pull that out and you might bleed to death.”
She made another choking sound, her face going pale. She let go of it, falling back into her chair.
I grinned at her, inspecting it. Pride filled me. I did a good job. “I wanted to make sure to miss your organs. That way you may still live. You won’t have permanent damage, but it’ll be a bitch to heal. A lot of pain. A lot of time for you to think. Process.” I laughed.
This was good.
I was enjoying this.
I felt almost drunk.
“Please—” She gasped.
I grinned at her, sinking into the chair across from her. “What? You think you’re the only one capable of wearing a mask? Bitch, please.” I got comfortable, sitting back. “The way I figure it is that you’re a psychopath. I didn’t just come in and happen to find you.” Rolling my eyes, I laughed. “I heard everything.”
“What—” She was holding onto the letter opener and tried to stand up.
I moved, shoving her back down. “Stay. Please. I wouldn’t want to accidentally move that letter opener again. Maybe puncture something that couldn’t get fixed, you know?” I winked.
She gaped at me, making a mewling sound.
“Oh, calm down. You’ll live if you don’t fuck it up. Now, sit a bit. Let someone else have a say, hmm?”
She swallowed, her hands shaking. Sweat began streaming down her face, or maybe that was tears. She looked a mess. I liked seeing that. That was my handiwork.
I drew in a breath. Where to start? Right. “Your first mistake was thinking you could brainwash me. So stupid of you. I’m not you. I’m not weak. Weak minds get brainwashed. That leads me to your other mistake. See. I’ve been going through this whole phoenix changing thing since we moved here. I kinda love it, but I’m hating how it happened. I used to think I was a sociopath, but now I just think I have sociopathic tendencies. I have emotions. For example, I really don’t like that you hurt my mom.” I dropped the smile and let her see the real Maddy, the one that I was scared to show anyone.
She gulped, shrinking in her seat. She was still holding onto that letter opener, which I didn’t think was a good idea. But it was her body, I guess.
“Dad doesn’t know what to do with you. You’re a girl. He always has hang-ups about that. And you’re Mom’s sister so there’s that. Even though you’d love to continue to emotionally torture my mom, the sad truth is that my mom loves you. She probably thinks you’re some byproduct of that guy’s revenge and how she won’t let him have you.” I snorted. That felt right to me. “Bet you anything she’s determined to do whatever she needs to do to ‘get her sister back.’ I can already see it. She went to bed. Who knows if she’s sleeping, but she’ll come out with a plan. I’m sure that they’ll probably call your dad. Let him know what’s been going on, if he was actually in the unknown. Jury’s out on that verdict. I’m not convinced he didn’t know.”
She was still shaking, still pale She gasped, “He didn’t. My dad’s not like that.”
I grinned at that. “He’s not sick in the head like you?” I bulged my eyes out for dramatic effect. “Like me? Thought it was from Grandma Analise. Maybe it’s genetic on Grandpa Garrett’s side? But yeah. I can see my mom calling him, maybe having him fly here to have a whole talk about everything. Get it all out in the open. You—” I sat forward, resting my elbows on my knees. My head tilted to the side. “You’ll probably get sent to a facility. My mom’s all for those facilities. They helped Grandma Analise. Years of therapy, you’re looking at. That’s if they don’t decide to go another route. See if they can get you convicted for killing Grandpa James.”