Act 2 | Chapter 1

The warm, red liquid ran down my skin as I stood under the showerhead. It was rather early in the morning, and I had only just gotten back home. The sun was rising by the time I walked through the door and dragged my now empty trunk all the way back upstairs. The knife I had used to drain life from Maria's body had been buried with her, still embedded into her chest. It didn't take long. Only an hour to move all the dirt back over her, and bury any other bit of ground that had her blood dripped onto it. I'll wash the rest of the blood off my art trunk later. For now, I wanted to wash my hands of it. The dried blood had to be scrubbed off, but it didn't take long. Once my hand's where cleaned of any evidence, I slowly sat down in the shower tub, letting the water rain down onto me.

I did it. I actually did it. I killed Maria. She was gone. Never to be seen or heard from again. I had killed someone. My body went limp as I leaned up against the edge of the tub. It was tired, weak. Hour's it had spent working, digging holes in the cold, only to bury someone and cover it all up again. I couldn't let this get out. "If anyone found out that I killed her, then my life would be over. I can't show any emotions towards it, I have act innocent and like nothing ever happened. I can do that. Just need to stay calm." I let out a relaxed sigh as the warm water started slowly filling the tub, my foot covering the drain. "The smartest killers are the ones who never show any signs that they committed murder. They act like normal people, blend into the crowd. I only killed one person, I don't need to do it again. It would be too risky. I can cover this up. No one will ever know." Some time passed before I finally stepped out of the shower. The water in the tub drained, and I reached for my towel. My leg's where still weak from the long and tiring walks to and from the woods. My arms felt numb from forcing the hard dirt out of the ground so many times. I just wanted to sleep. To relax and not think about the night.

The more I did think of it, the more interested I got. The way the blood trickled down her skin, how it flowed across her bare stomach and stained the white flesh, red. The moment had faded, and realization was setting in more and more, but to my own surprise, it didn't seem to bother me. It was something I have wanted to see since I started watching those horror movies. Seeing people in pain. Seeing their own blood and what it really looked like. The movies all looked so fake now, nothing more than corn syrup and red food coloring. It was nothing like the real thing. I see that now, and I probably won't ever again.

After I dried myself off, I wrapped the towel around myself and grabbed the handful of dirty clothes I had. Before I went to bed, I went to toss them into the washing machine, making sure that they had nothing on them that could be used as evidence. The shovel was back in the garage, and my trunk was back up against my bed. Locking the door behind m, I threw the towel off and simply collapsed onto the soft mattress. I didn't care. I just wanted to rest. To sleep for the rest of the day, and have this nightmare of a day end. The contest was over, I had lost. But Maria was now gone. No longer would I have to look over my shoulder in fear of her doing something to me. No more teasing, no more bullying, no more violence, no more Maria Holwell.

I didn't wake up next until about four in the afternoon. The sun was shining brightly through my window. It was chilly out, and I soon realized that. Sitting up slowly, and yawning, I scratched the back of my head and looked around. My room was a mess. Broken art tools were laying around, my empty trunk still with a bloody handprint on it. "Remember to clean that up." I made a mental note. I brought a new feeling with me as I woke up. I wasn't sure how to describe it and honestly didn't know what it was. But I felt powerful. Confident even. I could do anything. Killing someone was a difficult thing to do, but once you do, you feel great. This thrill, this adrenaline rush. If I could do that, I could do anything. After getting dressed, and cleaning the trunk, I started cleaning up my room. Putting things back into the art trunk, and throwing away what couldn't be fixed. Apparently, overnight, Riley had tried calling me several times, but because I left my phone here, I never got them. A total of five times over the last couple hours. I stared blankly at her name under my contacts. Riley Blackmar. Even yesterday, she was the only one to help me. She comforted me and tried to make me feel better, but it didn't work. I did feel better. Now at least. An idea came to mind. "Perhaps I could." I wondered, "Maybe I can ask her out now. It doesn't seem that hard to do anymore. Considering what I just did, that should be easy. Yeah, I'll tell her."

I held the phone up to my ear as it rang. To my surprise, she picked up rather quickly, only a few seconds after the phone started to ring.

"Hey, Zoe," Riley replied quickly, sounding rather nervous. "How've you been?"

I sat there on the edge of my bed in silence. Taking in a long and deep breath, I finally said,

"You know what... amazing."

"R- Really? But weren't you just- nevermind. That's good news!"

"Yeah. I'm... I'm feeling a lot better. Thanks for dropping me off, I just needed time to blow off some steam."

"N- No problem." She replied. The two of us sat there as an awkward silence started building up. I was the one to break it after some waiting.

"So, I was wondering if you could come over. I... I want to hang out with you today."

"Of course!" Riley said almost immediately, "Should I come to pick you up now? I'll only be like ten minutes."

"Yeah, sure. I just need to get ready. I'll see you soon." I hung up and dropped my phone to the side. "Goddammit, why didn't I just tell her." I leaned forward, putting my head against my hands. "I can ask her still. When she gets here. Yeah, yeah. It'll be better to ask her in person." I looked over at myself in the large body-sized mirror. So many times, I had looked into it and felt sorry for myself. This time was different, however. I looked at myself and felt happier. I felt different. Better.

No later than ten minutes, I heard a honk just outside my window. Glancing outside, I could see Riley parked in the street, just beside my driveway. Taking a deep and nervous breath, I grabbed my phone and made my way downstairs. My winter coat wasn't as bad as it was last night. I had tried to scratch and clean all the blood off of it and did a pretty decent job. I threw it on, and walked out to the car, shutting my front door behind me.

"Hey." I greeted her, climbing into the passenger side seat.

"Hey! So we're off to?" Riley asked, pulling out onto the road and starting to drive aimlessly. I stared back and readied myself. My heart started to beat faster, and I got more nervous. "No, I can do this. I shouldn't have to be worried about doing something like this. Not anymore."

"I... wanted to ask you a question." I started, "Something I have been wanting to ask you for a while now. I've just been... scared too, I guess." I could feel my cheeks turning red.

"And what is it?" She asked. My hand's shook a bit, and my heart beat faster. "Go on, just say it. I can do this, come on. Say it, just ask her."

"Will you go out with me?" I said blatantly, my voice cracking as I finished the question. I lunged forward with the car as it suddenly came to a halting stop at an intersection. Riley was looking at me in a state of almost disbelief.

"Go out with you?"

"Y- Yeah. Like... like a date." I don't know why I still felt so nervous, but I did it at least. I asked her. Now the only thing killing me was the anticipation as to what she would say. Riley just stared at me. She looked completely at a loss for words. The light turned green, and she started driving again.

"Y- Yeah." She said hesitantly, "I'd love too." Her cheeks turned a faint red.

"Really?" I smiled, letting out a sigh of relief. Another weight felt as though it had lifted off my shoulder.

"Y- Yeah.

"G- Great!" I chuckled a bit, "I was thinking... we never did get to go see that movie. The one... she... stopped us from going to."

"You wanna go see it?" Riley asked.

"Yeah. If that's what you want to do?"

"Sure!" She replied, and continued driving, taking a detour down to the mall. It was finally happening. I had asked Riley out on a date, and she said yes. I smiled more and more. The days were only just starting to get better, and I didn't know what was going to come next, but I did know one thing. My life was going to be going much better than before.