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We glance at each other, relief that we’re ok pouring out of us. When a look of terror and horror flashes across his face, I pull back, confused.
My hair gets pulled so hard I feel like it’s ripping my scalp. I scream out, turning a little to see Alex, crazed and inhuman. Blood cakes his teeth, and half his scalp is missing and dented from where I hit him with the stool.
I freeze, incapable of doing anything but staring on in horror, not knowing what will happen.
Alex opens his mouth, but not one word or breath escapes. His eyes roll to the back of his head, and he slumps over me.
His body is covering mine, and it only takes a second for me to register it and start screaming, pushing him off me.
“Get him off me. Get him off me,” I cry out.
He’s rolled off me, and above me, CJ breathes heavily, sweat and blood covering him. I roll my head to the side, whimpering at the lifeless eyes staring blankly back at me. A knife is sticking out of Alex’s back—where his heart is.
He’s dead.
He’s gone.
“Game over,” I whisper, unable to look away.
We don’t get a moment to register what just happened, to comfort one another, before police are knocking the door down. CJ helps me sit up, keeping me steady in his arms.
I watch the scene before me, wondering how life got to this point. I think of how one person could destroy and take so many lives, without remorse or guilt, and get away with it for so long. Right under our noses.
A stab of guilt hits me for a split second for feeling like the world is a safer place now Alex is dead. He was my friend, someone I cared deeply for. But I can’t seem to care. I’m glad he’s dead. I’m glad he can no longer hurt another soul. But not at the cost. So many lives have been ruined in the process.
I feel guilt for thinking about our future; a future where CJ doesn’t have the stormy cloud of his past hanging over him or his mum. I should be thinking of Lilian, of the other six girls he murdered.
Justice has been served, their killer has been killed, but in the end, it doesn’t bring any of them back. His death doesn’t mean anything. Not really.
I lift my head from CJ’s shoulder and watch his mouth move as he speaks to the paramedic, forgetting about everything else.
I might be selfish—heartless—but I’m just glad he’s alive. Because if it came down to it, really down to a choice of who should have lived or died, I would have happily of died for him.
He’s my everything.
My life.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CJ
Life has a way of changing with a blink of an eye. Whether something incredibly amazing happens to you or something tragic, that moment can change the course of your life.
I always thought I knew how the world worked. There was good, there was bad, and there were good people who did bad things. I thought I understood how the human race worked. Experiencing first-hand the part of the world I didn’t fully understand or comprehend has blinded all my senses.
On the news, you hear of horrific events; shootings, bombs, accidents, but you never fully feel what the victims are going through. You care, you’re sad, but you never fully know what they went through or what they felt.
The world is a scary place. But until tonight, I never realised just how terrifying it could be.
I knew Alex Cliff. I ate with him, hung out with him, and I never saw the real him. Until tonight. He always came across as a geek, a geeky nerd who stuttered when spoken to, and seemed shy and distant. Never did I suspect he was a killer, that he had it in him to take the life of six people.
Six people we know about.
How could I have missed this?
I glance down at Allie, feeling my eyes water. We got lucky tonight, so damn lucky it’s hard to breathe.
For a moment, a split second, I truly believed I was going to lose her. When he came at me with that knife, all I could think about was him going after her next, suffering through his drivel and delusions. I pictured her stabbed, no longer a part of this world, and the thought alone is enough to send me crazy. It would tear out my heart. The world would be a darker place without her in it.
