by Bryan Smith
After a while, she began to consider what else she might do with her last day. Maybe a drive around town in her Mini would be a good idea. Or maybe she’d just drive out of the city for a while, take a long trip out into the countryside in one of the adjoining counties. She was leaning toward the latter option when she ran into Sheila and two other girls as they were coming out of the Sarratt Student Center.
Kayla initially put her head down and tried to slink by without being noticed, but this was rendered impossible when Sheila waved and called out to her.
She stopped in her tracks and turned toward the other girls. “Oh, hey, Sheila. Didn’t see you there.”
“Yeah, right. You were totally trying to sneak past me. What’s up with this antisocial bullshit?”
One of Sheila’s friends was standing right at her shoulder and smiling along with her. The other one, a petite but cute blonde, was hanging back a few steps and trying hard not to show her instinctive distaste for Kayla. Kayla resisted a sudden impulse to make a face at the blonde girl. Strange. Normally she wouldn’t hesitate to antagonize anyone who annoyed her, but now she couldn’t imagine gaining any satisfaction from it. The girl was exhibiting unmistakable shunning symptoms Her behavior wasn’t her fault. Beside, maybe, just maybe, she’d lost some of her appetite for being an antagonistic bitch.
Kayla shrugged. “I’m just in sort of a mopey mood today. Didn’t want to bring anyone else down, I guess.”
The blonde sneered. “So go away.”
Sheila frowned.
Then she smiled and held up a forefinger. “One minute.” She turned away from Kayla and approached the blonde, jabbing her in the shoulder with the same forefinger. “You. Fuck off.”
The blonde’s face twisted in confusion. “What?”
Sheila jabbed her in the shoulder again. “Are you deaf? I told you to fuck off. So start fucking off, okay?”
The blonde glanced at Kayla and winced. “What’s your damage? She’s disgusting. I don’t even get why you’re talking to her.”
The next jab of Sheila’s finger sent the blonde staggering backward. “The deal is that’s my friend you’re talking about. I don’t even know you, bitch. So you should probably leave before I lose my patience and start bouncing your face off the sidewalk.”
“Whatever. As if. Hang out with trash if that’s what you’re into, freak.” The girl started walking backward as she talked, flipping a middle finger at them as she retreated. “You’re both fucking--”
But whatever else she’d been about to say went unsaid as she tripped over the edge of the sidewalk and took a tumble into the street. Sheila and her other friend pointed and laughed uproariously as the blonde hurriedly got to her feet, scooped up her belongings, and took off running.
Kayla was surprised to find herself laughing along with them.
Maybe some semblance of her old self wasn’t buried so deeply after all.
After their laughter subsided, the three girls stood there outside the student center and chatted for several minutes. Sheila’s other friend was a lithe and sexy-looking Asian named Tokiko. She stood very close to Sheila the entire time and it didn’t take long to figure out what was what with them. The abrupt kiss Sheila planted on her lips at one point ended any mystery on that count.
Before parting ways, Sheila invited Kayla out for a night of dancing at Play Dance Bar. Kayla’s reflex was to say no, solely because it was what she’d always said when Sheila asked her out to that place, but this time she bit back the negative response and said yes. It was her last night as a somewhat regular girl and she didn’t have any other social events pending on her calendar, so why the hell wouldn’t she go?
She deserved to live it up a little while she still could.
That night she felt daring and put on the same black dress and wig she had worn the night before. She looked amazing in the outfit and anyway it felt liberating to dress however she pleased. The police weren’t coming for her any time soon, and even if they did, so what? It wasn’t as if getting arrested would be any worse than what she was already facing.
That night at the club was a blur of dancing and drinks. The music was loud and bumping and never stopped. The dance floor was a mass of writhing, twirling bodies, a sea of scantily dressed women and shirtless men. Kayla got caught up in the physical whirlwind of it all, dancing solo and bouncing from partner to partner all night, even engaging in a bit of grind dancing with Sheila and Tokiko at different points. But there was nothing uncomfortable about it. It was just fun. It was, in fact, one of the most fun nights she’d had in a very, very long time.
She was so glad she’d said yes to Sheila’s invitation this time.
Unfortunately, like all fun things, it eventually had to end.
38.
It was half past noon by the time Kayla awoke on Wednesday. A 3:00 a.m. departure from Play was to blame. She was sleeping through her classes again, but this time there was no surge of anxiety at the thought. And why should there be? She was just hours away from her meeting with the devil and the end of her life as she had known it.
She felt an unexpected level of calm now that her long week of worry and drama was over. Okay, so she’d no longer have a place anywhere in society. Even the bums and other misfits would shun her. But she wasn’t dying today. She wouldn’t cease to exist. So that was something, right? And there were things she could do to prepare. She could go be a hermit somewhere, maybe live up in the mountains of east Tennessee. It wouldn’t be easy after the life of comfort she’d known, but she could adapt. Perhaps even persevere and survive. The more she thought about it, the greater the appeal of the scenario became. She could live off the land and never be dependent on anyone else ever again.
She still had access to a significant sum of money. She could spend the time she had left buying supplies. Clothes, canned goods, a tent, maybe even a gun. The waiting period the law required to purchase a firearm could be a hindrance, but she might be able to figure out a way to acquire one off the books. Books. That gave her another idea. She’d get awfully bored up in the mountains all alone after a while. She should have some form of entertainment available. So, another item on the list--a trip to a secondhand store to buy a shitload of used books. Like, boxes of the things. Several boxes of anything that looked even remotely interesting. Maybe even throw in some wilderness survival how-to texts in with all the fiction.
It wasn’t a bad plan.
But putting it in motion required energy and she was still very weak from her night of partying. She didn’t feel bad, just tired. The mild headache she had was nothing compared to some of the monster hangovers she’d endured lately.
So, okay, she just needed to gather her strength and make this happen. She focused her will and soon managed to stagger out of bed. A check of the other side of the room revealed that Sheila was gone. Her book bag was gone, too. Amazing. Despite also being out until after last call at Play, her roommate had managed to rouse herself and head off to class.
Good for you, Kayla thought. You’re a better woman than I am, Sheila.
There was no point taking a shower. She had so little time left to make her preparations. But she wanted to at least feel human when she went out, so she made her hair as presentable as possible and brushed her teeth. She had almost finished dressing when a hard knock on the door startled her.
She pulled on her shoes and got up to open the door.
A slightly overweight girl in workout clothes stood in the hallway, looking at her with a wary expression. She was holding a plain, square-shaped cardboard box, but she looked too young to be a delivery person. Most people with the major delivery services wore uniforms of some type, not sweats emblazoned with the Vanderbilt logo. And anyway, most packages had to be left at the desk downstairs.
Kayla frowned. “Yeah?”
The girl pushed the box at her. “A handicapped guy downstairs gave me a hundred dollars to give you this.”
Kayla’s frown deepened as she let the gir
l push the box into her hands. “Are you sure you have the right room? I’m not expecting anything.”
“You’re Kayla Monroe, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So I’ve got the right person.” The girl started walking away. “Guy said you should read the note before you open the box. I really hope it’s a not a bomb. Bye.”
Kayla watched the girl hurry away. She seemed sort of freaked out, but maybe she had good reason. Why would anyone give a stranger a hundred dollars to deliver a package to her door rather than leaving it at the desk?
Maybe there really was a bomb in the box.
Kayla stared at it for a moment, lines of worry creasing her face. Maybe she should call the cops, have the bomb squad called out or something. Then she remembered her situation and recognized what a big waste that would be. She shuffled back inside the room and closed the door behind her.
She sat on the edge of her bed and stared at the box some more. A plain white envelope was taped to the top of the box. No doubt the note the girl had mentioned was inside it. Kayla didn’t open it right away. She was trying to think of who might have sent the mystery package. Offhand, she didn’t know of any handicapped friends or acquaintances. Not outside of elderly relatives who lived far away.
She sighed, then peeled the envelope off the box and ripped it open. The note was handwritten and very brief:
Kayla,
Never say I didn’t lend you a hand with anything.
Love,
Lee
Kayla squinted at the squiggled words for several moments, unable to make sense of them. What the hell did that cryptic bullshit mean? She wished he was in the room right then so she could slap the shit out of him for being so weird.
Then a disturbing thought crossed her mind.
“No. No way. He wouldn’t.”
Suddenly she was all nerves. She couldn’t stop shaking and had to grip the box tight to keep it from dropping to the floor. A yawning pit seemed to open somewhere inside her, a black hole swelling outward from the darkest depths of her soul. Soon it would swallow her whole from the inside out.
Please tell me you didn’t do this, Lee. Please.
She didn’t want to see what was inside the box. It was too horrible a thing to contemplate. But somehow not knowing was even worse. So she grabbed a pair of scissors from her desk and cut through the layers of packing tape sealing the box shut.
She pulled the flaps back and held her breath for a long moment. After what seemed like a year or more, she let the breath out.
She shook her head.
“Lee…you stone crazy son of a bitch.”
The box contained exactly what she had expected to see after reading the note. After staring in shock at its contents for several more moments, she sealed the box shut again with a single strip of packing tape and called Lee’s cell number. A recorded message told her the number was no longer in service.
Fuck.
She sat on the edge of her bed to think.
He couldn’t be dead. It was possible, yes, but the girl’s description of a handicapped person indicated otherwise. That person had to have been Lee. There was absolutely no one else it could reasonably be, given what she knew Why he was walking around instead of in a hospital was something she couldn’t understand. She considered a visit to his dorm, but knew it would yield no new information. He’d done this thing and had subsequently taken himself out of the picture, hence the inactive phone number. And hence the delivery of the package by a paid stranger. She had a feeling she wouldn’t be seeing Lee around again for a very long time, if ever.
Crazy motherfucker…
The phrase echoed in her head several more times as she sat there. After mulling it over for nearly half an hour, she reached a reluctant conclusion. What the box held represented a self-sacrifice of absurd proportions. It was something she would never have asked of anyone. And yet he had done it. And, being irrevocably done, it would be wrong to let the gesture go to waste.
So she shoved the box under her bed and undressed again to take a shower. The shopping trip wasn’t happening now, after all, and she wanted to look her best for her meeting with the devil.
39.
The devil stood leaning against her former favorite tree in Centennial Park as she approached, smiling with his hands shoved into the front pockets of his tight jeans. He was as handsome as she remembered. She felt the same spark of attraction she’d experienced before. But she knew what he was now and the spark sputtered instead of igniting.
He pushed away from the tree and held out his hands as she stopped in front of him and proffered the box. “You have something for me, then?”
Kayla kept her expression carefully blank. “See for yourself.”
He accepted the box and peeled away the single strip of packing tape keeping it shut. As he folded the flap back, several pellets of dry ice tumbled out. His expression was unreadable at first as he stared at what the box contained. He appeared neither shocked nor pleased. Then a grin spread slowly across his handsome face as he pulled Lee Stanley’s left hand out of the tightly packed pellets of dry ice. He held the severed hand lightly by the forefinger and spun it slowly around, admiring it like some piece of fine jewelry.
Then he snapped the fingers of his free hand and Elizabeth Bathory seemed to appear from nowhere, stepping out from behind the tree. Though it was a big tree, it would not have effectively hidden her from sight. She had simply appeared out of nowhere, an impressive trick, Kayla had to admit. The flowing medieval gown she had worn before was gone, replaced by sleek, all black modern garb. Tight leather pants, shiny knee-high boots, and a fine leather jacket over a black blouse. The one familiar item was the choker with the hellfire pendant encircling her throat. It glowed faintly as she took the sacrificial offering from Lucifer.
She showed Kayla a greedy, hungry smile. “Well done, dear. I look forward to your future service.”
Then she vanished again.
Kayla met the devil’s probing gaze. “So? Is that it? Am I free now?”
He scratched his chin and stared off into the distance a moment, smiling faintly. Then he looked at her. “If by that you’re asking if your time of being shunned is at an end…the answer is yes. I asked you to bring me a trophy, and that is what you have done. You have fulfilled the terms of the contract.”
He kept smiling at her.
And Kayla kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. Surely it couldn’t be as simple as this. This guy was the fucking devil, for Christ’s sake. He was ancient and powerful beyond comprehension. While Lee’s sacrifice represented an astonishingly bold and creative shot at springing her from the trap she was in, logic told her it shouldn’t have been enough. The goddamn devil should be able to smell the deceit a mile away.
He tilted his head, cocked an eyebrow. “You have about you the air of a person with unresolved issues.”
Kayla didn’t know what to say to that at first. The smart thing to do here was obvious--just accept that the devil seemed satisfied and start making tracks in the opposite direction before he changed his mind.
And yet she couldn’t make herself go. Not yet. “You don’t have any questions for me?”
He laughed. “I don’t think so, Kayla. I’m well satisfied, believe me. Why, is there something you think you should tell me?”
Dammit.
She knew she should just keep her mouth shut. The devil was giving her every opportunity to put an end to this and get back to her life. Still, some mad compulsion kept her right where she was. Rather than addressing the central issue of the Big Lie, she tackled another sticky subject. “Aren’t you pissed at me for what I did to your murdering lackey?”
The devil shrugged. “The Ripper made some mistakes. Some unfortunate and uncharacteristic miscalculations. I rather enjoy the idea of him rotting away in a cell in the mortal world for a time. It makes for a more fitting punishment than anything I might prescribe.”
Kayla frowned. “Huh.”
/> There was actually some logic in that.
The devil smiled. “He’ll return to me eventually, of course, and I’ll make use of him again somewhere down the road. But his absence vexes me not at all. I have many more ‘lackeys’ at my disposal, including many who make Alfred seem almost cuddly by comparison.”
Kayla swallowed a sizable lump in her throat. “Uh, yeah. I can imagine.”
But I’d rather not.
“He took quite a shine to you, you know.”
Kayla’s face twisted in a mixture of disgust and confusion. “What? That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. He wanted to kill me.”
“Perhaps at first, but not so much after that first night. Alfred may be a murdering lunatic, but he’s a bit of a romantic at heart as well.”
“You can’t be serious.”
The devil nodded. “I’m entirely serious. Think back to your encounter with him at the theater. Haven’t you figured that out yet? He was trying to help you, Kayla.”
Kayla frowned as she remembered the incident. “Holy shit. That heart he tried to give me…”
Another nod. “Yes. Exactly. He intended it as your sacrifice, a shameful thing he confessed in our punishment chambers. Where, of course, he wound up after your complaint was filed.”
She could see the sick, twisted sense in it now that he was spelling it out for her. The overall ick factor of the encounter had blinded her to the killer’s true intentions. That and his creepiness in general. “Well, fuck me.”
