When I stabbed Martialla in the chest she didn’t wake up or move or do anything. No reaction other than dying horribly at my hand. Duke must have done something to her. Drugs maybe, or some kind of vampire power. I wonder what happens normally when you stab your best friend in the chest while they’re sleeping.
Do they flail for a moment before they die? Do their eyes fly open and look at you accusingly? That would have been the worst, if Martialla would have opened her eyes for a second and saw that it was me that did it. And yet I kind of wish that would have happened. I would have liked to see her eyes one more time. Maybe she would have been able tell from my eyes that I didn’t mean it.
I remember that when I ran out of the room Xlade’s stupid bone thing was still stuck in her body. I doubt I could have pulled it out if I tried it was in so deeply. But I didn’t try. So how did it end up in my hand? It was still in her when I ran out, I remember it clearly, I’ll never forget. But somehow.
Duke put his foot up on the edge of the tub between my knees. I don’t know if he was moving in the kill, deciding to have me arrested for murder wasn’t worth it, or if he was just going to say more vampire stuff. Somehow the bone thing was in my hand and I stabbed him through the ankle. I stabbed him as hard as I could ever do anything. I stabbed him so hard that I fucked up my shoulder. I stabbed him so hard that I lost my grip and smashed my hand into his ankle too. I think I broke my pinky and whatever bone is across the bottom of your hand.
Duke was wearing tiny tiny socks with his slacks and dress shoes. I fucking hate that. Guys if you’re wearing long pants you have to wear long socks men. You have to. Also you don’t get to wear short pants unless you’re playing basketball or something so there is NO need for fancy short socks. I could see the big round ugly bulgy boney thing on the side of his ankle and that’s what I aimed for. The Bone Thing of Zack Galifianakis went through his foot like it was old dry paper. It was like sticking a spoon in soft ice cream, there wasn’t zero resistance but there wasn’t much.
The noise he made was . . . not something a human could make for sure, but I can’t imagine any kind of creature making a noise like that. It was like a noise that some kind of grinding machine would make when it was malfunctioning and grinding itself to pieces. If it had lasted more than a split second I’m sure it would have burst my eardrums.
It was just a split second though and he was gone. Just gone. He didn’t turn into a cloud of bats or fly away or become mist or anything like that. He was just gone. Except his foot. That stayed exactly where he stepped on the edge of the tub. After a second a few scraps of . . . something floated out of the shoe-hole that looked like the bark of a river birch or one of those other trees that always appear that it’s turning itself into paper. I kicked the shoe away from me and I could tell that it was empty. I guess Xlade was right about them turning to dust at least.
I managed to crawl to my feet and out of the tub where I immediately walked into the edge of the counter and jabbed myself in the business on the corner. I thought that I might be too numb from shock to feel any more pain but I was very wrong about that. It doesn’t seem fair that when you’re emotionally wrecked that you can still be hurt physically also. One trauma at a time should be the rule of human life. I should know better though.
I didn’t want to go back in that bedroom. I wanted not to do that more than I ever wanted anything before. But I had to. There was an insane irrational part of my mind that said “what if she’s still alive and just badly injured? You have to get in there and save her!” But most of me knew why I had to go in there. To say goodbye. You can’t accidentally murder your best friend and then walk away without going back in the room. I know that much at least.
Xlade was face down on the floor up against the wall. I didn’t see any blood around him. Maybe vampires do have superhuman strength and Duke just whacked him in the chest and killed him. I probably should have checked to see if he was still alive. Maybe Duke was lying and he was fine. Or maybe he was just wrong and thought he killed him. Maybe Xlade was unconscious and badly hurt. I didn’t check on him. I was only worried about Martialla.
She was dead. She wasn’t tenaciously clinging to life so I could save her, or at least have a tearful goodbye where she tells me to avenge her. She was gone.
You don’t need to know what I said or what I felt in there or what happened. It was sad.
That’s all you need to know about that.
