AllFreeNovel
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One
Warmth crawlsdown my arm and hand, the blood a stark contrast against the bite of cold air as it drips slowly from my fingertips and along the knife’s edge.
I’m lost in the haze of this moment: The moment where life and death meet in the middle, one hanging precariously on a thin thread until it finally just...
Snaps.
The second it does, the tension loosens from my shoulders after a lifetime of hating him.
I stare down at the body. Deep lines lash across skin like red ribbons, wrapping the mutilated corpse like a twisted gift.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not like this, anyway...
Flashes of red and blue flicker across the dense shadows of the dark room.
A normal person would feel remorse for what they’ve done.
I just feel... free.
One Month Earlier
Atlas
The blare of the horn is so loud, it crawls under my skin, and I flinch even as I hold my hand up to the intense white lights of the car. Tires screech. I brace for impact. This is how it ends. With me still in yesterday’s pajamas at eight p.m. on a Friday night. My headstone will read: she was just running late.Again.
The car stops on a dime... Just inches away from my dirty white sneakers.
“This is a crosswalk!” I yell at the shadowy driver who’s now waving his middle finger at me as I keep running. Asshole!
The cars behind him are just as happy to see me out of their way as they speed down the campus road. Three girls sporting loose-fitted green-and-white jerseys pass me by when I rush up the stairs. One of them slips me a look, her blue eyes narrowing on my bike shorts and faded blue crop top before she whispers to the girl in the middle. They giggle hysterically, and I only briefly consider shoving her down the last flight of stairs with a helping hand, but I literally don't have a single free minute to even fantasize over her karmic death right now.
It doesn’t matter. I don’t have time to waste on the drunken and annoyingly happy people knocking into me as they rush in the opposite direction. They’re on their way to the first game of the season. And I’m on my way to face imminent death. Or at least a terrible flunking if I don’t turn in this damn criminology paper tonight before nine.
What the hell was I thinking, becoming a freshman and criminology major at twenty-two? God, every eighteen-year-old here has their shit together while I’m somehow managing to fuck up just jogging across a simple crosswalk.
When the doors fling open to the school hall, I realize I’m much later than I’d thought. Not a single person is inside. The fluorescent lights are still bright and buzzing, but the halls are entirely vacant. The small sound of my shoes squeaking over the tiles is too loud within the silence. It’s especially loud when I shove open the classroom door, and the handle bangs against the wall.
Because this space is also empty. Dozens of chairs are perfectly pushed in. The floors shine with a fresh cleaning. But Professor Morrison still sits at his large and worn desk at the front of the class. Thank fucking god! I’m not late.
“You’re late, Ms. Ortega.” His voice crawls across the empty desks, his tone droning but commanding in a way only he seems to possess.
“Not quite. I made it before nine.”
“Class is at six.” He looks up at me from over his sleek black glasses before he adds, “Sharp.”
Fuck! Fuck work, and fuck this class, and fuck me.
“I know. I couldn’t finish up my work in time to make it to class, but online, you said the assignment was due by nine.”
“Yes. It is. For ouronlinestudents. The ones who didn’t make a commitment to join my class in person.”
The door closes behind me with a quiet click, and I hate how nervous the simple sound makes me as I stand before the disappointed professor. I smooth the papers that have become crumpled in my hand. The anxious energy in my chest crawls into my stomach, but I try to calm it with a deep breath.
“Could I please turn in the assignment?” I hold my head high. My voice always teeters on a whisper, but I know my shit. “It’s a great paper. I spent all week finishing it.”
Thin lines frame his hard eyes just before he pulls off his glasses and lets out a heavy sigh.
“Atlas. This is the second time in just two months that you’ve neglected your priorities.”
