Page 30 of The Monster and the Masochist

I peeked around the back and noted her Honda sitting there, forlorn and forgotten, in the small, hidden parking spot she kept it in so it wouldn’t get in the way of funeral transport.

My frown deepened.

Her car was here, but she wasn’t.

That fluttery, panicky feeling turned to something sharper when I remembered how flirty that bartender had been, and suddenly, I wasn’t just worried.

I was unreasonably pissed off.

‘Told you we should have killed her.’

‘What if that chick’s secretly an ax murderer or something!?’

‘It is statistically improbable that she is an ax murderer.’

‘Because she’s a woman? Please, if you had your way, I would be a fucking ax murderer!’

My monster chuckled, and I scowled.

‘Don’t be ridiculous. I would never use an ax. Much too cumbersome. I prefer a weapon with more finesse.”

My scowl deepened. I hated that my beast wasn’t taking this seriously.

It was right, though. I didn’t really think the bartender was an ax murderer, but I didn’t like the way she’d been looking at Theo like she was something to eat.

Something about that had just irked me, and I wasn’t willing to think too much about why.

All I knew was I didn’t like it, and I was going to put a stop to it so I didn’t have to deal with these itchy, uncomfortable feelings anymore.

“Theodora!!!” I screeched, hammering on the door again. I banged until my hand got sore, and I waited, hoping like hell the door would swing open at any moment to reveal a sleepy, safe, but maybe thoroughly annoyed Theo…

After several minutes and still no answer, I resorted to less… legal tactics.

Fishing my keys out of my pocket, I selected the one I still had from when I’d lived here for a few weeks, and shoved it in the lock.

Think you can ignore me, Theodora? Nobody ignores me.

I stepped into her apartment, and my skin immediately sheeted with goosebumps.

It was dark and clearly completely empty. It felt wrong and… depressing.

“Theo?” I called, even though I could already sense she wasn’t in here.

Nothing but silence echoed back as I stalked like a shadow through her apartment.

It was just as drab as it had been when I’d lived here. There was barely anything on the walls, and the furniture didn’t have an ounce of personality. It was like she didn’t expect to stay here long, even though I knew she’d been here for years.

My feet carried me to her room, which was as quiet and empty as the rest of the space. Her bed was neatly made, and something about the thought of Theo carefully making her bed in the morning, just for her to return to it alone, made me achingly sad.

Clenching my hands into fists, I found myself poking my head into her bathroom.

I told myself it was just morbid curiosity, and not because I was afraid I’d find an empty bottle of pills or something equally fucked up.

I let out a long sigh of relief when the only thing I found was a bunch of cotton swabs scattered across the floor.

Crouching down, I cleaned them up and tossed them in the trash, wondering why there were so many on the floor.

Theo wasn’t a messy person. These little swabs felt out of place. It felt like they meant something, but for the life of me, I couldn’t think of what.