Looking at her now, she looked almost...beautiful.
Her longs strands of chestnut hair flitted smoothly in the wind, the blue satin ribbon catching and twisting in the gusts of the gentle breeze. The soft glow of the setting sun nestled comfortably against her skin, illuminating her perfectly-structured cheekbones and those succulent, puckered lips. The illusion was slightly spoiled, however, where the cotton cloth I had shoved into her mouth created a bulge in her cheeks, a smudge in an otherwise picturesque painting. Some of her drool had trickled down the side of her chin, leaving a damp spot on the blue collar of her blazer where it had fallen.
At the sight of her innocent helplessness, a small voice nagged at me to stop the car, to rethink, to be the bigger person. Let her live out the rest of her high school days as a preppy senior with a high enough level of popularity to excuse a shitty personality, while I stood back and became yet another stair she stood on to reach the pinnacle of superiority. After all, who will she be once she leaves the doors of Westerberg High for the final time, with no scrunchies, skirts or stockings to hide the utter insignificance of her existence? But the voice was easily quelled.
As I drove, I thought about what awaited me with the accomplishment of her absence. He would finally see behind her facade for what she truly is - a lying, stealing bitch. He would finally be free from the restraining, suffocating grip she had on him, finally free to see the world. To see me. He will be grateful for all that I have done for him, for us, by removing her from the equation - a minor, but present factor in the prevention of our happiness. I have made it easy for him to choose me. He will choose me - I have made sure of it.
But for now, seeing her like this, under my control, ignited a strange lust in my heart. She reminded me of a dead rat - irritating, repulsive and potentially deadly when alive, but satisfyingly amusing when slain, the trouble and harm caused gone with the taking of its life. The only difference is, she's not dead.
Not yet.