Bloody

"Sean," I called, "we need to talk."

Silence. I waited. Eventually, he emerged warily from the kitchen.

"Hey," I said. "Card game?"

He hesitated, but agreed.

Partway through the round, I asked, "So, what did Emily say?"

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Sean, I'm not stupid. I know you two were talking about me after I left." I added a pair of threes to my bundle while I spoke. "I want to know what Emily had to say. I wish she could have these conversations with me around so I can defend myself from false allegations, but that is physically impossible." I smiled over my cards. "So I have to settle with responding to said allegations. Your turn."

He sat silently for a few moments. "Did you kill a girl?"

"Yes."

"Kathy."

"Yep."

"Why?"

"Oh, Emily didn't tell you that?"

"Tell me what?" He looked confused.

"Let me guess. She called Kathy her 'best friend'."

"Uh, yeah?"

I laughed. I still could not believe Emily had thought Kathy was her friend. "Emily wasn't Kathy's 'friend'. She was her 'toy'. Kathy had no friends."

"What do you mean?"

"The two tortured each other. Kathy saw all her friends as nothing more than things. She would start with isolation. Cut them off from other friends, force them into fights with their families, break up their relationships. Within a few weeks, they would depend entirely on her. Then she would guilt them into doing whatever she wanted, all the while convincing them that she was an innocent little angel. She would hurt them in so many ways, but as soon as they were no longer useful, she would leave them in a puddle of their own tears. It nearly happened to Emily.

"Emily soon realized what was going on. She got scared and created me. She didn't realize it, of course, but I was helping her long before she realized I existed. I tried to persuade her to get rid of Kathy, but that squid just held on all the tighter. So I took care of it, the only way I knew how."

"You pushed her off a building," Sean said, stealing my bundle.

Bloody pursed her lips. "It's a bit more complicated than that. It's one thing to hide a body. It's another to hide a murder. I killed her, yes, but it took a while to make it look like suicide."

"What did you do?"

"Exactly what I did to you last night. I followed her around at night, letting her see me peeking around corners. She'd call the police, but no one was there. Soon, she would barely leave the house at night, and after a few weeks, she could have been medically diagnosed as paranoid. I didn't even have to do anything anymore. She saw me when I wasn't there. But the more I scared her, the tighter she held to my Emily. So I killed to free her."

Sean stared at me, aghast. "I can see how you would hate Kathy for what she did, but killing her?"

I shrugged and lay down a card. "There was no other way."

Sean was silent as he picked up the card I put down and added it to his bundle. Then he asked, "What do you mean 'the two tortured each other'?"

I laughed. "Emily wasn't exactly blameless. She was just less subtle." I shook my head, smiling, as images of blood and bruises whirled through my head. "I remember them. So many cuts and bumps, which they both claimed were accidents. Only Emily was aware that they were her fault. She would carelessly wave a knife in the hopes of clipping Kathy's arm. She would trip and pull Kathy down with her. Hell, one time Emily blundered into her, pushing her down a hill and breaking her wrist. I laughed hard that day."

I still chuckled at the mere memory. "Kathy never suspected a thing. Emily was way too 'sweet' to do anything like that."

Sean frowned. Something was bothering him. "Emily said something similar about Kathy."

"Emily is still mourning what she blames herself for. Her judgement about her dead friend is not the most reliable. Besides, Kathy was manipulative, but I still have to applaud her. She was good at earning loyalty. At times, even Emily doubted anything was wrong."

"When you said to be careful around Emily," Sean said carefully, "did you mean that she would hurt me?"

The pain in my head was back, but I had to finish. "Actually, I meant not to hurt her. She's recovering, and not doing well. She could grow to dislike someone fast. She has mood swings sometimes. Lately, she seems to be more in control of herself, but take care of her." I groaned and held my head, blacking out.