Recap: Tami, a sweet innocent nurse at the sanitarium, has fallen for one of its killers, Michael Myers. She is in trouble, though. Charles and Liam, two of the male nurses, tried to assault her, but she was rescued by Michael. Now they're pissed off, but at least she has Michael…
A/N: Thanks teiaramogamifor the great review! Sorry that it took so long for me to get this chapter up!
SlasherXGirl, thanks so much! Hope you enjoy this chapter just as much!
BabyBlion I know she's very Mary Sue-like, but that's because she's actually a guilt-crazed killer and trying to hide it. It's an act she puts up so that no one would dare suspect that little ol' she was a murderer. This chapter shows a flip side to her personality! Also, a lot about her is from Michael's point of view and he sees her as the most wonderful thing in the world, so it's a bit of a warped view.
EVERYONE ELSE: Sorry this took so long to get up! I had a ton of shopping to do and finals and had to help host Thanksgiving. I hope that now that all my shopping's finished, the holidays are done, and we have a break from school that I'll be able to get more and more chapters up. Review if you like it and I'll get chapters up A LOT quicker!
Part 1: Masks on the Wall
Chapter 3: A Crimson Pinky Promise
That Night
Tami hadn't felt good about the last few days. She was horrified that something was going to happen…
…to Michael.
That was all she really cared about as she stood looking into the restroom mirror. It was probably midnight by then. She hadn't bothered to check the clock. It was dark and everyone was asleep. And besides, no one could hear her down here if she had talked to herself (which she often did).
But now, she looked at the face in the mirror. Looking at your face in the mirror when there is no light does strange things. You see yourself differently. It's frightening especially if you don't expect it or you have just said "Bloody Mary" three times because you were dared to.
Now, Tami didn't see Bloody Mary, but she might as well have. She saw what she thought she really was. A monster. She didn't deserve to be here as a nurse. She should have been locked up here. She should have been killed, even. The death penalty, even if they didn't have it in Rhode Island. She didn't deserve the life she had now.
She shut her eyes as she couldn't bear to look upon her wretched soul that stared intently back at her from the glass, but it didn't help a thing. In fact, it may have only made it worse.
"Tami! Tami, Please!" the man yelled in terror as she knew her sister had. She wanted him to. She really wanted to hear his agony. "Tami, you don't have to do this!"
"Oh, really?" she asked in a cruel and vicious way, "You shouldn't be telling me that. You should have told yourself that before you HIT HER!" She took the knife and plunged it into his chest. She heard his cry of pain and felt her face become soaked with warm, wet blood. And she smiled and laughed manically. She enjoyed this. She enjoyed this…
How could she? Why did she gain so much pleasure from this? Why?
'Click!' came a sound and Tami's eyes flashed open. In the mirror was her face. The lights were on. She heard footsteps and turned to see two massive figures by the door.
"You nasty, violent, deceiving little bitch!" Charles said approaching her. She backed up against the wall trembling a little bit as Charles and Liam towered over her.
"You ratted us out. We could lose our jobs, you know that?" Liam spat.
"You should," she said.
"Well, if we're going, we're doing some damage beforehand," Charles grinned.
"No witnesses this time. And no Michael either," Liam growled, grabbing her arm.
"Don't touch me," she hissed.
"Or what?" Charles asked, "You'll scream? Scream for who? No one will hear you down here,"
"Let. Me. Go," she ordered and kicked at him. Charles grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the wall.
"Oh, and what are you gonna do about it?" Charles asked, "Liam, lock the door,"
Liam went over to the door and locked it. He smiled evilly back at her. She knew what they planned to do.
Tami spit in Charles' face. With a curse out of him he threw her across the room into the mirror. It shattered. Amazingly, Tami wasn't hurt. She wasn't bleeding a drop. In fact, she was laughing. This angered the men. Charles grabbed her by her shirt collar and dragged her backwards. He grabbed both of her hands and held them behind her back so that Liam could punch her. As he came close, Tami used her legs and with as much force as she could, she kicked him backwards. He stumbled back into the light switch which sparked a bit as her crushed it. The lights began to flicker now. Tami kicked Charles, who was shocked, and freed herself.
Yes, she could have run, but it was as if she were possessed. She picked up a long shard of broken glass from the ground and sent it right up through Charles' neck into his brain. He flailed abound, but only for a second. Then his lifeless body was limp. She smiled as crazed smiled as the blood seeped out. Then, with a quick, birdlike twist of her head, she looked at Liam. He was staring at her psychotic eyes, filled with bloodlust, as he backed up towards the door on his back.
"No, no, no," he whined. She slowly walked towards him. He got up and yanked on the doorknob, but it was locked. He banged on it, "Help! Oh, Lord, please! Help! HELP!" but Tami grabbed his hair and with the strength no one would assume she would possess, she ripped him away from the door to the mirror. She bashed his skull against the part that wasn't broken several times. His forehead and nose were now bleeding. Then, she grabbed a handful of glass and tore the helpless man toward the stall. She kicked it open and shoved his head into the toilet. She dropped the glass into it and flushed as she held his head in there. The glass tore up his face and he flopped around like a fish on the dock. Then, he was still.
Tami smiled and admired her work. Then she looked at her hands. She clenched her teeth and turned to leave the bathroom.
Michael, at this time was pretending to sleep in his bed. He wasn't sleeping, though, and his mind was wandering. He was concerned for Tamara. She was so frail. What if those two came back for her tonight? They would try to hurt her or even kill her.
He hated feeling such anxiety. This was why he was glad he had no family to worry about. Now he felt something different. It was almost anger towards the girl who had caused him to worry. Why her? Why must he worry about her? She was so young and innocent.
There's that word again. Innocent. Why was she so innocent in a place like this? It seemed like a virgin in a whore house. She didn't belong here. She should be out at some college messing up her life, not doing it here. But still, she was his. She may not have known it yet, but Michael had decided that he would keep her. She was the little puppy he's found out on the street in a cardboard box. Mom, can I keep her? She needs me?
He had decided that he would. Forever.
Then, the sound of footsteps brought him out of his thoughts. He closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, listening as they came closer. It was likely one of the night guards. They always paced through the halls.
But, no. These steps were different. They weren't the lace, slow pace of the guard as he strolled through the halls. This was much faster and…frantic. Lighter, too. Michael looked up as a shape began to open the door. The person closed the door and then the keys dropped from their hand. Michael looked at them, but couldn't see them in the shadows. She stepped closer to him and he saw Tami's face. But she looked different. Was she hurt?
"Michael…" she said with almost a sob, "I've done a very bad thing," She now stepped into the pale light and showed him her hands. They were red. Blood-soaked. Like his had been…
"Michael, I need to tell you something," she said sitting down in a chair, "My name's actually Tamara Whitman. I used to live in Rhode Island. When I was younger, before I came here, I got into a fight with my best friend's boyfriend. It was only a few days before the prom and I was suspended. My parents went out of town at the beginning of the week so my younger sister and I had to stay at my uncle's house.
"A few days later, one of my friends called me and told me that my boyfriend was going to prom with another girl. I was annoyed. I told my uncle that I had to go out the night of prom. I went to the school and snuck in through the second floor window. I was wearing my prom dress so that I'd fit in, but I was still able to easily climb the tree and get in the window.
"Anyways, I got into the school. As I was coming down the stairs, I saw my boyfriend with the girl he was going with. I overheard them talking. He wanted to bring her home that night. She asked about us and said she thought we were still together. He told her that we were, but he really only liked the way I looked and was going to break up with me soon. I knew that he had no intention of breaking up with me and realized that he was using me.
"A little while later I found him. He was a little tipsy and easily overpowered. I drug him up to the rafters above the auditorium and slipped a noose around his worthless neck. It was a simple as a push as the prom queen was announced and he was gone.
"When I returned home, I planned to sneak right up to bed, but I heard my sister screaming. I ran down to the basement and found her and my uncle. My uncle had a sledge hammer and my sister had several bruises around her arms and a huge welt on her head. She was sobbing and my uncle just glared at me. He got off of her and started towards me. I knew if I ran, he would chase me, so I did. I lured him away from her into the kitchen. I grabbed a knife and when he came at me, it was only too easy to bring him to his knees. I then slashed away at him while he begged me to stop, but I wouldn't…I couldn't.
"I killed him. I completely killed him. There was barely any carcass left at the crime scene. I gave my sister the phone after I had packed my things quickly and then I fled. I ran as far away as I could get, staying in crack houses and gas stations until some nice old man without any children took me in and helped me. Then I came here. And now," she looked down at her hands, "Now I've killed again. I'm not better than you, Mikey, not by a long shot. It's safe to say you're the best of us two,"
Michael stared at her. This had to be a dream. This had to be a joke. Would they joke with him? Were they allowed to? He almost hoped so.
But then again, he almost prayed she was telling the truth. She could take care of herself if she was. She could really, truly be his if she was. He could finally, deeply, utterly, and truly love her…if she was.
And she was.
"Michael, don't you realize what this means?" she sobbed, "I have to leave you. I'm so sorry, but they'll be looking for me in the morning. It won't be hard to figure out it was me. There are cameras all around and my fingerprints and DNA will certainly be at the crime scene. It wasn't self-defense, they'll see that,"
Michael wished he could say something to calm her down, but even if he could, he wasn't sure what he could possibly have said to her to make her feel better. Tell her everything was going to be fine and that a new day was coming? That wouldn't work. That wouldn't even help a little bit. But what could he do. He reached out and put his large hand on top of hers.
"Michael," she wailed, "Please, I have to go!" she looked down and her chest heaved. She felt bad because of what she had done; not for the boys, they had it coming to them, but because of what she now had to do. "But," she said, "Promise me we'll be together one day again. Promise that, if you ever get out, that you'll find me. Promise?"
Michael nodded. It was an easy thing to promise her.
Tami held up her hand. Her pinky was extended from her fist, "Pinky promise?"
Michael looked at her. It was a very childish thing to do, but somehow it made sense.
"Pinky promise that no matter what, we'll be reunited and that you'll protect me forever and I'll protect you just the same?" she asked, "And…and that you'll…you'll…love me like I love you right now? Because I do love, Mikey, more than anything else in the world,"
This last part made Michael smile a little bit. Yes, yes he would promise that. He would promise that a thousand times over. He caught her pinky in his own and swore all that she asked of him without saying a word.
Then, Tami hugged his tightly and just sobbed. An innocent killer. Michael knew he wasn't better than her. He killed and he enjoyed it. She murdered to protect herself and she was here falling apart in his arms because she felt such remorse.
Now, though, Tami ran. What from, though, Michael wondered? From being caught and sent to jail or even just being locked up here? Or was she running from what she had done and the pain she felt from it? He knew that Tami wasn't one to flee from someone trying to restrain her. No, she wasn't afraid of a cell or concrete walls or iron bars. She felt at home around them. There was space for her there. But guilt, that was her true prison. That was what she feared most of all.
And she couldn't get away. Even as she slipped passed the guards with the little belongings she had, she could not escape herself or what she had done now or in the past.
He watched her disappear into the shadows of the halls and then turn the corner. Then he stared into the dark until someone came to get him back into bed. He had let the most wonderful girl go. But not forever. They'd be together again.
They both knew that.