"Christian! Christian, please wake up!" I shake his shoulders with all my force. His head rolls to the side and his eyes open up into little slits. "Oh, thank God." I sigh and cradle his face in my hands.
"Ana? What…what happened?" I help him sit up. He slowly comes to and glances around the kitchen where we're now both sitting on the floor. His eyes finally rest on me and go wide with fear. "Ana! There's blood on your sleeve!" He pulls my hand up so my red wrist is in front of his face. "Oh, my God." His eyes meet mine and I can't stop the tears that begin to fill my eyes. I fall into Christian's arms and he catches me right away, brushing my sweaty hair back and away from my face. "Ana, what is it? Why are you crying?" He leans back so he can see my tear stained face. His confused facial expression changes to livid in the matter of seconds. His eyes become wide and alert while his mouth is set into a hard line. "Kevin." He snarls and quickly jumps to his feet. "Where the hell is that fucker!"
"Christian, wait!" I cry out and follow him out of the kitchen.
"Kevin!" He calls out and heads the opposite way into the hallway.
"Christian he's not here!" I try again. This time he stops mid stride and stares at me as if I'd gone completely crazy. Maybe I have. "He's dead." I whisper.
"What?" He sounds so lost. I move closer and take his hand in mine.
"He got into the apartment. He hit you over the head and you passed out. He came after me, we fought, and I stabbed him with a kitchen knife." Christian doesn't move, he doesn't even blink. He just stands there with this carton-like expression on his face.
"What?" He growls out. "I'm dreaming right now. This isn't happening, this can't be happening." He runs his hands through his hair and takes a long, deep breath.
"Christian, it's true. Come here." I lead him by his hand and go around to the other end of the kitchen. There, next to the refrigerator, is the broken wine glass lying right next to Kevin's unconscious body. A pool of blood had pooled underneath him.
"Oh, my God." Christian grabs onto my shoulders and pulls me behind him. "Ana, stay back. I don't want you seeing this."
"He's dead." I simply state. I feel numb. I feel as if I'm living in a dream right now and none of this has actually happened. "He's dead. I killed him." Christian looks over to where Kevin's body lays and just stares at it for a long minute.
"Jesus Christ. Ana, are you okay?" He grabs my face in his large hands and his glossy eyes frantically look me up at down. "Please don't tell me that he hurt you. Please tell me that you're alright." He stares into my eyes and all I can do is shake my head no. The truth is that Kevin did hurt me. He came after me and I had no choice but to stab him, right? Maybe I shouldn't have done that. Maybe I should have just talked it out with him and then I wouldn't have had to…to kill him.
Before I know it, large tears are streaming down my face as the dam I've been holding back breaks. The weight of the past hour comes crashing down on my and I just let it happen. Christian notices and pulls me hard into his chest and I sob hysterically. "I killed him!" I cry into his neck. "I killed a man, Christian! I'm a murderer! I'm going to go to jail! I'll never see you again, oh my God what did I do!"
"Shh, Anastasia, calm down." He rubs my back in soothing circles. "Breathe, baby." I manage to take a few deep breaths until my sobbing is under control and I can actually breathe. "Ana, listen to me." He pulls my chin up so I'm looking at him. "You're going to be fine, okay? This wasn't your fault, it was his."
I shake my head back and forth. "But I killed him, Christian. I stabbed him with a knife."
"Ana, you didn't have a choice. He would have killed you if you didn't do anything. He wouldn't have stopped, baby." He strokes my cheek with the pad of his thumb. "He hit you didn't he." It wasn't a question.
I nod my head. "It was a rough fight." I whisper and burry myself in his arms even further. "I'm just glad it's over now."
"You're right, baby. It's over." He rubs my back. "Wait," He suddenly says. "Where the fuck is Taylor? How did Kevin even get in without the code?"
"Kevin did something to the cameras. Hacked into them or something I don't know. He was always good with technology."
"God damn it." He is not happy about this. The last thing I want is Taylor getting in trouble for something he had no knowledge of.
"Christian, we can deal with this later. What are we going to do about the body?" I can't believe I'm actually having this conversation right now.
"I'll notify the police. I might as well call my father while we're at it." He pulls away from me and holds his cell phone up to his ear. He walks away so he can talk and I'm left alone standing in the middle of a murder scene.
"Here, baby." Christian comes up behind me and holds out a mug of coffee. "Why don't you go sit in the media room and get comfortable?"
I take the drink and make my way into the other room while he deals with all of this. I need a break to sit down and breathe for a moment. I fall onto the couch and suddenly feeling rather cold, I wrap myself up with a blanket. Everything comes crashing down on me all at once. The fighting with Christian, Kevin breaking in and attacking me, and then me stabbing Kevin in the stomach. I stabbed a man. I killed someone. Granted that someone was abusive and horrible, but still…the fact that I was capable of doing such a thing. Who am I?
"Ana?" I hear Christian shuffle around me until he's kneeling on my side. He takes one of my hands in his and softly strokes it. "I talked to the police. They're sending someone over to take a look and everything. My dad said that he'd come too, but everything is completely justified. It was an act of self defense." I hear him, but I don't move. "Ana, come on. We need to get out of here for a little while." He tugs gently on my hand.
I don't want to move at the moment. I just want to sit and think about how terrible of a person I am. I don't deserve to sit here in Christian's home where I've just stabbed a man to death. "I can't." I whisper as I feel the tears trickle out of my eyes. "Christian, what just happened?" I look over at his face and find him staring back at me with a pained look.
"Everything is fine now, Ana." He whispers and leans over to press his lips to my forehead. "You're fine now."
"No. No, I'm not."