Chapter 11 (Past)

I waited.

And waited.

And waited...

She's supposed to arrive at about 11 pm. Everything was ready. I knew what I had to say. All that was left was for her to come. Which she did after what felt like an hour had passed. I opened the door and there she was in a dark outfit wearing sunglasses.

"Thanks. Come in" I say and she lets herself in and sits on the sofa.

"I had to sneak out of my house. This better be worth it " she glared at me.

"Ok. Listen..... the thing is...I want you to turn yourself in!" I blurt out. Just like that.

She at first blinks at me then starts laughing " are you serious!? Your joking right? You want me to turn myself in for something I didn't do? "

"Oh please stop with this nonsense! This lying doesn't fool me and it doesn't fool you. Is that seriously what you tell yourself? " I say to her as my patience starts to slip away.

"Whatever. You said you want me to turn myself in. Let me guess, your getting crazier day by day " she giggles

I stay silent and look away.

"You're a coward you know that. Don't know why I didn't realise it on the phone but you don't have the guts to commit suicide. All bark and no bite. You're not ever gonna tell the police because you're afraid of what's gonna happen afterwards. Too bad, if only you weren't horrible at keeping secrets "

"How...? " I uttered

"What? "

"How could you not see that you've committed a crime. You killed someone. How can you take it so lightly! "

She grins and says "because I don't care about the death of a scumbag"

"...what ? "

"You know, that day, Tessa had recorded some of my dark secrets and was threatening me. ME!!. The nerve. I needed her to remember her place in this world." she starts.

Suddenly, from my peripheral vision, I could see Tessa. She was in the room with us. But instead of Irma, she was looking at me. I tensed up but pretended not to see her.

" What kind of secrets...? " I say trying not to look at Tessa.

She smirks "Oh you know, affairs, drug involvements stuff like that. It would have been really bad if she exposed it. So getting rid of her was necessary. This world is filled with scumbags so getting rid of one or two should be a relief. Lisa, you are an accomplice no matter how many petty excuses you tell me or yourself"

"Shut up! Because of you, my life is ruined! I'm going crazy! My parents think I'm going crazy! All I ever wanted was a peaceful life! And... you're the one who pressurized me to it" I answer tears begun to flow as my head filled with screams. It was bizarre. I heard screaming but there was no one. It was really irritating.

She raises an eyebrow and gets up "That's not my problem. frankly, I don't care but if your going to start the blame game then let's get something straight. I NEVER pressurized you into anything. Whatever you did you did it of your own free will. I wasn't holding a gun to your head when the police were questioning. I never told you to keep it a secret. I only pointed out that you had two options. Either give up your social status or lie.Your a coward "

I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out. I was boiling with rage not because she said all that but because everything she said...was the truth. The truth that I've been denying this entire time. No, wait.... it's not right, is it? Yeah, it HAS to be a lie. What's going on? Whatever she's saying makes it look like I'm the bad guy.

"This can't be happening, " I tell myself.

"Anyways, if that's all then I'll be taking my leave. I will say this to you though, if you ever cause a problem for me, then I'll make you regret it," she says as she gets up.

As she walks to the door her hand stops on top of the handle. She's frozen in place. Why? Because there's a knife sticking out of her back and the one holding it is me.

"..li..sa" she utters as she turns her head towards me. Eyes filled with shock and horror. She wasn't expecting this. As she stumbles to the ground, I turn her over and get on top of her. All my anger, frustration, anxiety and fear washes away as I began to violently stab her neck and chest. Raised the knife up in the air with both hands and brought it down piercing her collar bone.

It's not that I planned to kill her or anything nor is it on impulse. It just felt like this needed to be done. Like it's the right thing to do. As I stabbed her I began to see Tessa's face in place of Irma's distorted face. The relief I felt was unimaginable. I didn't wanna stop. I felt better. Like everything will be alright now. I sensed a sting on my cheek. I've been smiling? I didn't notice. I stopped once I was out of breath. Don't know how many times I stabbed her but judging by the mess I'd say over 20. I get up and sit next to the wall as I slowly catch my breath. All I feel is relief. Nothing else. Tessa and Irma both are forever gone from my life and now it'll go back to the way it was.

"Guess....she was right...about getting rid of one or two scumbags in the world. It really is a relief " I say to myself

I get up and go towards the backyard. Luckily I know well that the neighbours are already asleep at this time of the night. As I began digging near the tree, I fail to notice...that a burglar has infiltrated my house.

I walk back in and into the living room. There he stood, pale as a ghost, as he stared down at the corpse. I was shocked to see someone in the room that it took me a while to process that he's a robber. He looked weak, young and not the type of person who would commit crimes. As soon as he notices me, he makes a run for it but accidentally stumbles down with his gun sliding across the room. The scene was a bit comical and amusing. Both our eyes fell upon the gun a few feet away from me. We race to get it and I get hold of it first. Pointing it at him, he seems terrified and raises his hand in the air.

"Please, don't shoot! " he begs.

"Did you come alone or with someone? " I ask

"Alone. Look please let me go! I promise I won't tell anyone! " he says.

I get a suspicious feeling that this is the first time he has done such a thing. He's way older than me and could easily overpower me but I guess since I have a gun he doesn't know what'll happen.

"Did anyone send you here? "

" yes...I owed some people money and they forced me to do it to repay back. I swear I'm telling the truth. I don't want my family finding it out. " he begs again.

"Can you keep a secret? "

"Yes! I can! I won't tell anyone"

"Then let's make a deal. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. How about it " I keep the gun pointed at him. Not like I'm giving him much of a choice.

"Sure. I accept! "

"If you agree to keep quiet about what you saw just now then I'll let you go with some amount of money. Deal? "

He nods his head violently. I then instruct him to pick up the body with some gloves that I provide him, which he reluctantly does and then make him carry the body to the backyard. I then tell him to dump it in the ditch I made and then cover it up with dirt. All the while pointing a gun to his head. I feel like history is repeating itself but there are different characters now and the roles are switched. I have gotten Irma's role. But I'm way worse than her.

"Follow me," I tell him. We walk inside the house and to my room. I take out some of my savings since long ago and hand it over to him.

"Pretty sure this isn't sufficient but I'm letting you go with your life. Got it ?" I say to him.

He obediently takes it with shivering hands and nods his head. As he begins to leave the house I tell him.

"You're now an accomplice to murder"

After he's gone, I began cleaning the blood-stained floor and erasing any possible evidence. Who am I kidding? Of course, he's gonna tell the police. Better to just wait for them to come and drag me to jail.

______________________________________________

"The police did come but to find out if I had been in any contact with Irma. She was now the missing person. He kept his promise which is surprising. Later I heard that they had arrested a person said to be her stalker or something. My life from then on was pretty clean. I was regaining control over my senses and Tessa never appeared again. Eventually, we moved away and I learned that it's better to be alone " I say as I drive the car following the white van.

Alex had been quietly and patiently listening to my story. I glance at him and there's a frown on his face.

"There are 2 very simple things you were supposed to learn," he says without looking at me. I sense anger in his voice.

I half-smile to myself "That killing someone and lying is bad"