The light kept flickering; on…Then off. And then on again… It was really testing my patience. I sat on a wooden crate, my eyes glued to the door, with the knowledge that any second now she would walk in and hopefully put an end to this disgusting rumour. The nightmare lie.
"It will all be over soon," I kept telling myself. They're wrong. She wouldn't do something like that. She wouldn't.
I thought I heard the quiet rustling of leaves outside. My head instinctively jerked towards the window. It was too high to see out of, and much too small to creep out of. I could just about make out the outline of a crescent moon; but it was a starless night.
I began tapping my feet in a familiar rhythm- a lullaby my mother used to hum to me. It calmed my nerves a bit. My gaze fell from the night sky to the floor. I drew my face back to the door and as I glanced up my heart missed a bit. The light flickered. There she was staring at me with that expressionless look on her face I had become all too familiar with.
"You scared me." I breathed, trying to regain a constant breathing pattern. She did not reply with words but a quiet chuckle, as she often did. "Do you want to take your coat off?" I offered, noticing the thick black coat she had dumped on. Why wear a coat in July?
"It's cold," she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. The light turned off for a few seconds then it turned on again.
"Fair enough," I whispered, knowing better than to try to persuade her. She had this strange way of convincing me I was wrong.
I let out a sigh. Every time she agreed to meet me, I could never say what I needed to. It was hard enough looking her in the eye. Let alone anything else!
She stood tall, her shadow cowering over me. Her presence was rather intimidating but I was used to it. I'd had more than enough experience with her by this point. I gulped. I'm going to ask her. It's now or never. I have to do it. I have to know.
I took a deep breath. One, two, three... "Did you do it?" I forced out. The light flickered. She stepped closer and I stood up. She was a whisper away. "I need to know" I pleaded, sounding desperate.
She put one long finger beneath my chin and lifted it so I was looking directly into her eyes. She gently clasped my jaw.
"So what if I did?" She asked her voice sounding amused. It was the same voice I had fallen for so many times before. But I wouldn't let it happen again. I couldn't.
A smirk creeped onto her face. There was my answer. "Why?" I asked, my voice reflecting my heart: broken. The light flickered and she wiped a tear from my eye.
"Because I can." This time, she projected her voice and tightened her grip on my jaw. Her eyes gleamed and suddenly, any sense of security I had left was drained. She put one hand around my neck, scratching me with one sharp nail and whispered, "Don't worry, you are the last person on my list." My heart began to race. I couldn't move. There was no escape. The light went out again, and this time, it would not turn back on.