I quickly scurried around the couch between us. I was going to go for the door, but it was locked and she would've gotten to me before I could run. So understanding my dilemma, all Heather did was laugh when she finally stopped chasing me.
“Yeah,” she cackled. “He looked exactly the way you do now. But of course, after I explained to him that it was actually you that had been stalking me, he finally understood the situation. I mean, come on, what was he going to believe? That I was chasing after you or the other way around?”
“Heather, please,” I begged.
“Please, what?” she frowned. “Please, what?”
Again she came after me, and all I could do was run away from her. Obviously, I was still wearing my bio-hazard suit, so it started making it a little hard to see when the screen started fogging up from all my heavy breathing.
“Well, as I was saying,” she leaned on the couch. “We got to talking, and Brian thought it was a good idea if I just came home with him. You know, to fuck me outta my sadness.”
“Heather,” I pleaded. “You don't have to do this.”
“Do what? Kill you?” she asked. “Why not? Are you going to love me? Are you going to make me the happiest woman alive? I mean, that is what you told yourself when you used to follow me right? RIGHT!”
She was right.
That is what I used to tell myself, that I was going to make her the happiest woman once I had her. But that was before I knew her, before I knew the monster that she was.
“You hurt me, Nick,” she said droppong her shoulders. “All I wanted was to love you and have you love me back. But instead, you lied, cheated, and treated me like--”
She darted after me and I bolted again, but this time I tripped and crashed to the floor.
Heather was on me before I could even fully gain my senses, and that's when I felt the blade of her knife strike me in my side. But she didn't only stab me, she twisted it so that I could scream as loud as I could.
“Tell me, Nick!” she growled. “How does that feel? Does it feel good to have the one who claims to love you stick you so deep, only to know that they're trying to kill you?”
She pulled out the knife and stabbed me in the exact same spot again.
“I loved you!” she screamed. “I fucking loved you so much, Nick!”
I had to do something or I was going to windup just like Brian. So using all the strength I had, I spun around and caught sight of the knife plunging into my shoulder.
“Isn't this nice?!” she screamed. “It's like out first date! The blood! The violence! God it turns me on!”
“Heather!” I strained to speak.
The blood I was losing started blurring my vision, and I couldn't even move anymore.
Heather smiled when she felt me go limp, and then she slowly climbed off me.
“I didn't want it to be this way, Nick,” she said staring down at me. “I never wanted to hurt you, but you have to admit that you had this coming. I mean, flirting with Mulan right in front of me, tossing me in the trash the way you did. I mean, didn't it ever dawn to you that you might not want to fucking hurt a girl that finds crime scenes arousing?”
“But--” I coughed on the ground, bleeding all over the place. “But...But I do...do love you.”
“And for you to just expect...” she stalled with a shocked expression. “What?”
I swallowed hard, never once finding the strength to try to escape her.
“I...I love you,” I gasped. “I loved you since the first day I saw you.”
Heather stood over me with her eyes frantically trying to figure out if I was lying, but I wasn't. Everything I was saying was true. I did love her, always had. But she wasn't the woman I'd wanted, not anymore, not that she needed to know that.
“You are so beautiful,” I strained. “Your smile, your eyes...Heath...Heather, I love you.”
Heather stared at me without a word for a second longer, and then she started crying.
“You do?” she asked. “I mean do you really mean it?”
“Yes, yes,” I prayed she believed me. “I was just scared, but I'm not anymore.”
“Oh, Nick,” she whimpered falling on top of me.
She then ripped off my mask and began kissing me.
“I love you too,” she cried. “I love you so, so much.”
All I could do was kiss her back, hoping to God that she really believed me and would stop trying to kill me. But after a final kiss, Heather sat up straight on top of me and gripped the handle of her knife even tighter.
“I never want us to have this conversation again,” she sniffled. “I want us to be just like this forever.”
“We can,” I felt the life leaving me. “We--”
“Oh, I know,” she smiled through her tears. “Because this is gonna be the last image I have of you in my mind, and I will cherish it forever.”
“But--”
“Goodbye, Nick,” she said raising the knife into the air. “I'll never forget you.”
With that, Heather took aim at my chest and gave me one last smile. She then brought her arm down as hard as she could and drove the knife into flesh. And though I laid there thinking I was dead, it took me a moment to realize that she hadn't stabbed me after all. Instead, Heather had stabbed herself in the stomach and stared down at me with the most beautiful look I've ever seen.
“Heather,” I whispered.
“I'm so sorry, my love,” she said with a soft voice. “I only wanted to make you happy. And if this is what it takes...”
And just like that, she fell on top of me and went still.
Believe it or not, I actually wanted to hold her at that very moment. Because it wasn't until that moment that I finally realized that she did in fact love me, so much so, that she'd rather kill herself than me. The only thought I had in my mind at that point, it was the only thing that mattered as the blackness started taking me over.
Heather, the woman of my dreams, she had loved me. And though she'd had a crazy way of showing it, she did in fact love me. But it didn't matter now, even as she lay there on top of me and me below her dying, it didn't matter. It was over, and there was nothing either of us could do about it.
We no longer existed.
* * *
I awoke in the hospital a few days later and realized that I'd survived Heather's attack. Turned out, we hadn't been discovered until the next day when Phil showed up for work and found us both on the floor. And though ';d lost a lot of blood, the doctors had been able to save my life. Likewise, it turned out Heather had survived her wound as well, and was actually being held in the same hospital as me.
She'd confessed to trying to kill me and to killing Brian. And there was no telling how long she was going to jail for that. But the weird thing was that I wanted to see her, to tell her that I forgave her. But I wasn't allowed, and simply left her there at the hospital when I was finally allowed to go home. However, the moment I stepped outside, I found none other than Lian waiting on me.
“Hey,” I said slowly approaching her. “What are you doing here?”
“I hear about what crazy bitch do to you,” she said rubbing my shoulder. “I come a lot, but you no awake yet. So I wait for you.”
“Really?” I asked with a grin. “But why?”
“I--I miss you,” she said with a smile. “After you leave restaurant, I think about you a lot. So...”
“Hey, wait a minute,” I couldn't help chuckle. “Are you saying that...”
Lian lowered her head and gave me a timid nod, one that warmed my heart. But at the same time, it made me realize just how right Heather had been when she'd said Lian liked me. I guess she saw it before I did, and that alone made me feel a little bad for calling her crazy.
But then again, who was I to call anyone crazy?
“You want to get some lunch?” I asked taking Lian's hand.
“Yes,” she smiled. “Where?”
“I know this really good Chinese spot not too fare from wher
e I live,” I chuckled.
“I hope no girl flirt with you there?” she joked.
“Only one, but she's a nice girl.”
Lian hid her smile from me with her hand to her mouth, but I quickly pulled it away.
“Don't do that,” I said smiling at her. “I want to see you smile. I--I want to make you happy.”
Lian smiled again, this time letting her beam of sunshine wash over me.
It was different than what I'd seen in Heather, something a bit more pure. I can't really say what, but it was a bit more...normal.
“I have one question though,” I said before letting her lead me away.
“What?”
“You don't like slapping people do you?”
Lian stared at me with wide eyes, and then laughed.
“I guess you have to wait to find out about that, Nick,” she winked at me.
And though the answer made my heart skip a beat, I took it with a grain of sand. I mean, there was no way that Lian was half as crazy as Heather, so I really didn't have anything to worry about. So flagging down a cab, I allowed her to climb in first and then I joined her.
“So, you clean crime scenes, huh?” she asked sitting as close to me as possible.
“Yeah,” I turned to her. “How'd you know?”
“One of the doctors told me when I visited you a few days ago.”
“Well, yeah,” I frowned. “I hope that's not a problem though?”
“Problem? No,” she giggled. “I love that stuff.”
This had to be a joke?
There was no way a girl that innocent looking could possibly like something so horrible, but then again there had been Heather. But Lian was nothing like her, so I just smiled.
“Maybe I'll take you to one one day?” I suggested. “I mean, if you want to go?”
Lian leaned in real close, nestling her chin into my good shoulder.
“I would love that,” she planted a gentle kiss on my cheek. “Now, tell me what the craziest thing is you ever clean?”
I couldn't believe my ears. Here was this angelic beauty, and she actually wanted to know about the gross work I did. And she looked genuinely excited to know more.
I decided not to leave her in suspense, not when she actually allowed me to exist for her.
“Well, there was this one time I had to clean a house where I guy had gone around and killed an entire family,” I started with a smile.
It was so surreal to tell you the truth, that fact that she even cared to know.
In the end, it turned out I'd been wrong all along. And though I hadn't noticed her before, I noticed her now.
She was always the one.
Lian...she was the girl of my dreams.
She was the one I existed for...or so I prayed before I had to get stabbed again.
“What's the grossest thing you ever see?” she then asked.
“Why?”
“I don't know,” she shied away. “It kind of turn me on.”
Shit, I thought to myself.
Looking back the hospital, I instantly spotted Heather standing at one of the windows. Her face looked so beautiful and peaceful, but her eyes...
Even from as far as I was, I saw her big gray eyes, and they were saying only one thing.
She loved me.
But she was about to spend the rest of her life in prison, and I'd never see her again. Didn't matter though, not when I looked over at Lian and found her smiling at me, no longer hiding it from me.
I could tell she loved me too. And somewhere in me, though I hadn't known it before, I kinda loved her too.
What do you know, I existed.
THE END?
Fling Confessionals: NICK Page 7