Quaddra seemed to detect a different tone to Mary’s voice because his head angled slightly to one side, as if concerned. ‘Why? Do you know her?’
‘Did you kill her?’ Mary asked again, tears streaming down her face, her voice beginning to falter.
Quaddra didn’t reply. Instead, he took another step forward. ‘I’m going to need that phone, Mary,’ he said, nodding at the cellphone in Mary’s hand.
Mary took another step backwards.
‘This is the last thing I ever wanted, Mary. Why did you have to come in here?’
Mary moved back, feeling panic starting to set in. Her brain was clearly preparing her body for fight or flight.
‘I so wish that you had never found this room, my love. We could’ve been so happy… wewereso happy.’
Mary took one more step back and realized that she was reaching the end of the workstation, which meant that the advantage had swapped sides. She was now closer to the stairwell than Quaddra was. All she needed to do was round the workstation and shoot for the door. Quaddra would have to chase after her, because going back the way he came was now the longest way around.
‘I would’ve never hurt you, Mary,’ Quaddra continued. ‘Ever, but you were never supposed to be in here.’ His stare shifted to the phone in Mary’s hand one more time. ‘I’m really going to need that phone, Mary.’ The fire in his eyes began seeping into his voice. He was getting ready to make a move. Mary could tell. ‘But I promise you that I’ll make this quick, OK? No pain.’
Terrifying fear took over Mary, sending her heart rate into the stratosphere, with blood flowing away from her heart and into her limbs, getting them ready to throw harder punches, or run faster. She had already checked the workstation for any objects that she could use as a weapon, or to defend herself, but other than the computer and the Polaroids, there was nothing else on it, and she was already too far away from the computer to be able to reach it.
‘I really didn’t want to have to do this, Mary.’
‘So don’t,’ Mary said back, as adrenaline flooded her system, causing her pupils to dilate.
‘Unfortunately, it’s not that simple, my love,’ Quaddra said, taking another step in Mary’s direction. ‘But I give you my word that I’ll make this as quick and as painle—’
Mary knew that there was no way that she could fight Quaddraoff when he launched for her, which he looked like he was just about to do. The way she saw it, her only chance was to try to catch him off guard and attack first… and that was exactly what she did.
Ninety-Three
Before Quaddra could finish his sentence, Mary did the only thing that she could think of. Using the only weapon that she had at hand, she stepped into his path and as hard as she could, threw her phone straight at him, catching him completely by surprise. At such short distance, her aim was almost perfect, and the phone hit Quaddra across the bridge of his nose. It was a heavy phone, encased in a metal case for maximum shock protection. For Quaddra, it was as if he’d been struck across the face by a construction brick.
As the metal case connected with his nose, soft tissue and flesh were immediately torn open, sending blood flying into the air and into Quaddra’s eyes.
‘Arghhhh!’ The scream he let out was guttural – full of pain and anger. He stumbled back several steps, while his hands shot to his face. Blood dripped through his fingers. ‘You fucking bitch.’ He used the heels of his hands to try to clear the blood from his eyes, without much success. ‘Now I’m going to make you suffer.’
Right then, the only ‘fight’ that Mary had in her was the phone to the face, and she was fresh out of it. She knew that if she got physical with Quaddra, she didn’t stand a chance. He was bigger, stronger and faster than her in every way. With the ‘fight’ part out of the way, all that was left for Mary to do was ‘flight’, so while Quaddra tried to blink the blood out of his eyes, Mary turned onthe balls of her feet and ran, as fast as she could, rounding the workstation. By the time she reached the stairwell, Quaddra was still half blind and on the other side of the workstation. Mary didn’t look back, taking the stairs up to the house two at a time.
The lights were still off in Quaddra’s office, and since adrenaline had dilated Mary’s pupils, the shock of coming from the light in the stairwell into an almost pitch-black room practically blinded her, but there was no way that she was slowing down. She blinked once and made a beeline for the door, but her legs were still unsteady from fear and cold, and the beeline was more like a zigzag. As she got closer to the door, she lost some of her orientation and slammed her right knee against the edge of the Victorian chest.
‘Arghhhh, fuck!’ Mary cursed through gritted teeth, as she felt a soaring pain start at her knee before spreading throughout the rest of her body with lightning speed. She paused for just a second before taking her next step, which almost brought her to the ground, as the pain was still too intense for her to put any weight onto her right foot.
Hopping on one leg it would have to be.
As Mary finally got to the door, she heard footsteps coming from the stairwell.
‘Fuck, fuck, fuck.’
The pain… the fear… the cold… the total desperation to get away… all of it took its toll on Mary’s thinking because at the door, instead of turning left and heading towards the living room and the house’s front door, she turned right and headed towards the kitchen. Only when she busted through the door did her brain re-engage.
What the fuck are you doing in the kitchen?the voice inside Mary’s head asked.
Too late to turn around now, as she could already hear Quaddra at the door to his office.
‘Arghhh, arghhh, arghhh…’ He sounded angry beyond belief.
Mary hopped onto the other side of the large kitchen island and immediately reached for the cordless phone on the counter, but she was so scared… her hands trembling so much… that she dropped it onto the work surface as soon as she took it out of its cradle.
‘Fuck!’
