“Eisley, you need to go. I’ll be okay.”
“But you won’t! Constantine, I can’t leave without you!”
“You see this?” I raised my necklace and grabbed the matching one around her neck. “It’s going to keep me going. You run, and I’ll catch up. I love you, Eisley.”
“I love you too, Constantine.”
I’d shoved her into Kansas and they ran. They flew up the very stairs I was stuck on and ran out, eventually making it through the woods and to safety.
I didn’t.
I was left behind.
Mustering up the strength, I stepped down into my father’s horror room and looked around. It was empty, other than the graffiti and blood on the wall.Blood I’d put there.
So much blood.
It was like my own little art project.
The laughter came again from the room just outside this one, and I gripped my knife tight.
It was time for another installation.
Rule 12 - Constantine
Don’t leave any survivors.
“Did you guys hear that?”
The laughter stopped. I paused, having only nudged the door an inch over. Was my cover already blown?
“Fuck off, Sam. You’re just trying to scare us. I can see it on Marnie’s face. She’s laughing.”
“If I wanted to scare you, Joey, I’d pull a Spencer Foxworth. You know, run up behind you and pull out a knife, just when it gets to a good jump scare.” Sam snickered.
“That wasn’t cool,” Marnie said. “Eisley is so nice. He shouldn’t have done that to her.”
Ah, yes. I’d heard about what that rich fuck had done. The cops had squashed that.
Joey snickered. “She’s a whore. You know she’s a cam girl, right? Shoving dildos up her ass for fat perverts on the internet. Who cares?”
I cared. I gripped my knife tighter and adjusted my mask. I’d make them care too.
“We don’t slut shame,” Sam said.“Right, Mike?”
“I do,” Joey continued. “She’s a slut and everyone knows it. Who cares if she gets her throat cut? I’d do it.”
“You’d kill someone?” Mike asked.
While they were arguing, I opened the door wide enough for me to slide through. I stood on the other side, out of sight, and listened.
“I’d kill a slut, yeah. You know what we call prostitutes in the force?” Joey asked.
“You’ve done one ride along and now you’re a ‘we’?” Mike laughed. “You’ve got a ways to go before you’re on the force.”
“You don’t know shit.” Joey snarled. “They call them the ‘less dead’. It means they don’t give a shit how they die; they aren’t looking into it.”
“That’s horrible,” Marnie groaned. “Tell me that’s not true.”
