34
Erik
I heard Nicole's footsteps come closer and closer as I was cleaning the inside of my mask. I would have put it back on in time so she wouldn't see me, but she beat me to it. She saw my unmasked face and halted in her tracks, staring. I noticed when I looked back at her that she had been crying. I stood up and sighed. "I told you I was a monster."
She smiled past her tear stained cheeks. "You asshole!"
"What?" I muttered as she approached me.
She playfully pushed my chest and said, "You totally overreacted. It's nothing I haven't seen on a dead person such as yourself." She kissed that side of my face and said, "Really, Erik, in this day and age, children have seen worse." She threw her arms around me and kissed my lips. "I love you. You hear me, I love you!"
"I love you too," I breathed, holding her closer.
She sighed. "That thing I needed to tell you…it's really important that you love me."
"You know I do," I replied.
She reached into her shoe and pulled out a white stick. She handed it to me. There were two pink lines shown on it, and that was it. "What is this?" I asked.
"A positive pregnancy test," she muttered, sitting on the closed coffin. "I checked with a doctor, too. It's real."
"It's…mine, right?" I said.
She looked up at me and scoffed. "No. It's the milkman's. Of course it's yours! You're the only one I've had sex with." She stood up and cried on my shoulder. "I love you," she whimpered.
Before I could open my mouth to comfort her, I heard heavier footsteps. Dante came in, holding a gun. I gasped and threw Nicole to the floor. The bullet hit a mirror. She looked and gasped, "Dante!"
"So this is your boyfriend? An ugly old guy?" he hissed. He shot again, I wasn't sure at who in particular, but I turned fast enough for it to only hit the floor. I pushed her behind the coffin and got up. I picked up a sword lying around and threatened him with it.
"Deshawn told me to leave the state," Nicole called as Dante and I tore our respective weapons out of each other's grips and fought with our fists.
"He was right," I grunted, throwing Dante to the floor by the moat. He bumped his head and whimpered, then punched me in the face. "Go!" I shouted.
"I can't," she cried. "I can't leave you!"
Dante found a knife and held it to my neck. "Go!" I shouted again. "I'll find you!"
"I'll be at my mama's grave," she whispered before running away.
Dante and I were alone. I was looking into his eyes and swore I saw death. No, not again. "Now, Mr. Y, you shall die."
My Punjab lasso had fallen inches away from my hand. I wriggled it out from under him and threw it on his neck. I put the tail in my mouth and tightened it before he could press the knife past breaking into the skin. He froze and I slid out from under him and killed him.