The proposal

I thought I killed him, but there he was, standing right in front of me, smiling like he had never gotten a knife wedged through his heart. I stood in horror as my knees knocked together, my mouth dropped open like someone had cut the joints of my jaw. He looked untouched, he lifted my hand with his warm ones and cuffed them as he got down on one knee. He smiled warmly, his cheekbones escaping his face, his blue eyes lighting up as he chuckled watching my horrified face. 

My mind was racing; how was he still alive? Proposing like he hadn’t remembered the fight we had a few hours ago. My shoes were still dripping in his blood, I could see the moon reflecting in them as I stared down at him. He presented a diamond ring from his pocket and thrusted it forwards, his eyebrows raising, his eyes smiling as he showed it off to me. My hands were shaking, as I still could feel the grip of the knife in my hand, as I remember his agonizing screams as it entered his torso.  

“Elizabeth Oakley,” He said, his voice quivering from the nerves, “Will you marry me?” 

My heart stopped. Every detail around me blurred into one; the night sky, the cold air, the new trees, the freshly cut glass, the blood trail which I had left behind me, the crickets which sang, the owl which screamed and even the car which drove passed slowly as if it was inspecting the situation taking place. The streetlights were merely fairy lights in my vision as I stared at him, my eyes wide, trying to understand what was happening.  

Was he immortal? A vampire? No there were no such things, even though he was ghastly pale and incredibly skinny despite him eating like a pig. Was that why his mother hadn’t aged a day? No, it must be natural beauty. But her naturally brown hair and perfect waves were too young to be true. I stared at the man in front of me, why wasn’t he angry? He hadn't banged his head; he’d have to remember. But his sweet smile was so sincere, he knelt on one knee presenting a diamond ring to me as a gift, I could see the happy tears in his eyes forming. 

“Jerry...I don’t know what to say,” I stuttered as I eyed the ring, “What about your family? They hate me.” 

His smiled dropped as he brought the ring closer to his chest, his eyes darkened as they removed itself from the light, “When you mean family, you mean my brother.” 

That was when everything he said started to muffle. I forgot about his brother, same age, same blue eyes. I didn’t kill Jerry; I killed his brother...twin brother. My mind wandered back to our bedroom, where I had settled the knife ready to kill the love of my life. He should’ve never had cheated on me, that was when his brother stumbled in. I didn’t even give him a chance to talk, his brother’s voice was significantly higher than Jerry’s, I would've been able to tell the difference right away. 

A sharp pain went through my chest as I fell to the floor, Jerry rested his hands on me and smiled calmly. He didn’t know what I have done...I had killed the wrong brother. My stomach twirled; I could feel the feast I had eaten earlier rise, it tasted like out of date salmon and a disgusting burning taste like acid. That was when Jerry’s smile dropped completely, his let my body flop to the floor as I started to heave and cough. He chuckled as he stood up playing with the ring he had presented earlier.  

“You killed my brother Lizzy,” He said seriously, I hated it when he called me Lizzy, “Right after I slipped poison into your dinner.” 

I couldn’t breathe, I kneeled on all fours coughing blood onto the ground. My knees weakened as I collapsed on my side feeling the coolness of the pavement burn my cheeks. Jerry rolled me onto my back and looked down upon me with his dead eyes and evil grin. His hair fell forward, covering part of his face, but he was starting to become blurry as my breathing slowed. I could hear his faint chuckle as I started to gutter, feeling the pain in my stomach, the poison eating me away.  

“It looked like we both had the same plan, only, you had failed,” He then said again, laughing, as he stared at me, dying on the floor,  “Enjoy your last minutes here Lizzy.” 

I couldn’t speak, my throat began to burn as I felt the vomit in my stomach push up, forcing itself out of my mouth which foamed. It spilled out of my mouth like a volcanic eruption, yet I didn’t have enough force to choke it out, so the chunky liquid settled in my mouth trying to seep through the hole it came out of, only to block. I started to gutter, the substance in my mouth bubbling and spilling on my face and into my eyes. I could feel every space in my body filling up and Jerry watched it in amazement.  

He sat beside me in his black tuxedo and slipped off his shoes, I could just about hear his worried voice as he pretended to be frantic on the phone to the ambulance. As he acted to care about me, just as well as she acted to love me. I could hear his fake crying; I could imagine his fake tears rolling down his face leaving fake painful trails behind. I could imagine his eyes burning as some say tears are holy and he was the demon. He confirmed the engagement as I could feel him sliding the ring onto my finger, I couldn’t fight back, I was dying anyways.  

"You would tell me to kill myself right now." He laughed manically as he stepped on my hands, which were strained and outstretched, he thought he would hurt me by doing that, but I was already in enough pain.

My arms and hands started to numb; my eyesight started to give up on me. I could hear the sirens in the distance trying to get to me as fast as possible, I could see the red and blue glow casted on the walls of the sleeping houses nearby, I could hear Jerry’s laughter and feel his smile on me. I chuckled faintly, despite it destroying and hurting my punctured lungs. I laid on the floor and kept my eyes open, so at least my death could haunt Jerry for as long as he lived.