AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“W-what’s happening? Elodie? I-I thought you were dead.”
“Why would you think that?” I asked. I at least had the courage to have a conversation, even if I couldn’t bring myself to rip and tear skin.
“You were missing. I saw you on the news. That hospital.... that doctor...”
I could see from the look in his eyes that he’d been thrilled when he thought I was dead.
“How many others besides me did you do this to?” I asked, my voice getting a little stronger. I wasn’t sure if I was just trying to get some sort of closure or if I was stalling Shannon.
A smug, satisfied expression, spread over Stevens’ face. “My relationships with other students are none of your business. Jealous, you little slut?”
I leaped out of the chair and across the room so fast that, for a moment, I didn’t realize I’d even moved. But all at once, I stood in front of him inches from his smarmy little face. Did this asshole not realize what was about to happen? But no, his eyes had found mine immediately. He hadn’t yet noticed Shannon, who’d somehow seemed to dissolve into the shadows behind him. He hadn’t noticed the table with the instruments of pain. He hadn’t noticed the gun. He was too fucking stupid to know this was his last night on earth.
I hauled back and slapped him so hard my hand stung. “You fucking piece of shit,” I spat.
He just smiled. “Oh, so you want to try role reversal? I like a good round with a dominatrix as much as the next fellow. It must be why you have me tied to the chair.” His eyes widened suddenly as if only now realizing he was tied up in his own basement. “T-there was a man... before...”
Now it was coming back. The effects of the drugs were wearing off enough that his rational faculties were returning. He looked around and noticed the table with gleaming knives and the gun. He craned his head around, and Shannon seemed to materialize from the shadows.
It was as if Shannon’s energy had been so deep in predator mode, so silent, that you couldn’t see him unless he wanted you to. Now that subtle energy had shifted, and he suddenly seemed larger and louder even before he spoke.
“Hello,” Shannon said, mildly. “I hope all your affairs are in order.”
For the first time since I’d known him, Professor Stevens looked afraid. The air of smug condescension and power abuse that clung to him like too strong perfume finally shed its scaly skin.
“Do you want to get some of your anger out first?” Shannon asked me.
I shook my head. Now that Stevens had stopped being so aggressively nasty, now that he looked scared and about to start begging for his life, I once again didn’t have the stomach for it. I wished I did. I wanted to have the strength and courage to make him pay directly by my own hand, but now that the moment was upon me, I shrank away.
“Very well. Do you want to watch, or do you want to go upstairs and wait for me?”
I stood for a moment in indecision, and then there was a sound upstairs. The front door opened and shut. It was after midnight. Who the fuck had a key?
“Professor Stevens?” a young woman called from the first floor. “I finished grading those papers you wanted. You said you didn’t care how late it was. Hello?”
Fuck. It was his TA.
“Professor? Are you downstairs?” I realized then that the basement door was open and the light was filtering up. It was just a matter of seconds before she came down here and saw all this.
I could sit by and let Shannon hurt Stevens. I wasn’t sure I could sit by and watch him kill an innocent. But Shannon didn’t do loose ends.
“Yes, I’m down here!” Professor Stevens shouted from the ground. “Go get help! Call the police!”
Somehow during all this and perhaps even while I’d been waffling on whether or not I was staying to watch, Stevens had managed to work the knots behind his back loose. He lunged for Shannon and the two of them started to struggle on the ground, knocking the gun off the table. Shannon kicked it to a far corner so the professor couldn’t get to it.
Then that stupid fucking bouncing blonde innocent TA bounded down the stairs to investigate like the dumbass in every horror movie.
“Professor Stevens?”
It only took her a moment to take in all the necessary details of the scene and to process what was going on.
“Call the police, you stupid girl!” Stevens shouted.
I couldn’t help but wonder how the hell him talking to her like that was going to motivate her to help him. She hesitated for just a moment before she ran up the stairs. Shannon still struggled with the professor.
Stevens was an old guy, and Shannon was young and strong, but it was amazing the kind of fight he could manage with so much adrenaline surging through him.
I stood frozen for only a microsecond. And in that tiny window of time it seemed like everything stopped as my mind ran through all possible options. Shannon couldn’t go deal with her; he was busy with the professor. She was going to call the police. I was sure she was. I’d seen the determination on her face.
