Knife (2)

You’ll die if you look, so don’t. Talisha thought, but her body didn’t listen to what her mind wanted. Her neck slowly followed the direction of the shoe currently holding her shirt down. Tal, don’t look up! Her body still didn’t listen to her mind.

Her head, together with her eyes, started moving upward, starting from the shoe to the long slender legs. She hesitated for a second, but decided to continue to the muscular body and stopped her gaze at the murderer’s smirking face.

“Enjoying the view?” Her eyes widened, and she froze in place. Her insides started shaking uncontrollably, and tears began to form in her eyes. Her teary eyes landed on the bloody knife in his hand. 

“D-d-d-don’t ki-” A knife suddenly landed on her throat a few millimeters from penetrating her skin and spilling her blood. She didn’t dare move or say anything.

“Good. Keep that mouth shut,” He traced his knife from Talisha's neck to her cheek, which made the tears fall from her eyes, “forever.” He raised the knife above his head, and it rapidly descended towards where her heart is.

“Nooooooo!” Talisha jolted from her bed and looked around. She was greeted by silence inside the bright all-white room.

When she confirmed that she’s alone, she clutched her chest and felt her heart beating erratically. She breathed in and out to calm her nerves, but it didn’t help her.

“A nightmare,” She whispered to herself, “I’ve been wanting to forget,” She added and wiped the sweat forming on her forehead. Out of habit, she touched her waist and felt the big scar left by the knife.

A week had passed after the incident. Talisha was lucky that a group of four ladies managed to escape the house and call the cops that night. 

A few seconds before the knife hit her skin, the murderer suddenly winced in pain, looked somewhere, and saw the cops coming. She can remember the guy muttered ‘Fuck!’ before stabbing her waist, twice then ran away while clutching his wounded arm. 

Those stabs left a scar at her waist, but the incident left a hole in her heart. The whole incident is engraved in her mind forever. How both her best of friends risked their lives just to save her.

“I need to visit them.” She stood up and walked towards the ICU to visit Dyte and Brandon. She stopped in front of the ICU. Looked at the glass window that allowed her to see both her friends.

Dyte and Brandon were bedridden. Their bodies covered with tubes, she didn’t know the purpose. Brandon’s condition is worse compared to Dyte’s. She took a step and another until she was able to put her palm on the glass window.

“I-I’m sorry.” Talisha started crying non-stop, and she didn’t bother wiping them. “I-it’s my f-fault. I-if I got c-contented with a s-simple p-p-party this s-shit wouldn’t h-happen.”

Little did she know the person behind the massacre is secretly looking at her. He is wearing casual clothes and could easily be identified if Talisha would look at him. He confidently sat on a chair along the corridor. 

“I will surely kill you three next time. For now,” He stood up and walked towards Talisha’s location, “I’ll take a break and strike again when the time comes.” He stopped when a doctor approached Talisha. He leaned on the wall to eavesdrop. 

“Hello, Ms. Talisha,” The doctor greeted. Talisha wiped her face and looked at the doctor. 

“Hello, doctor.” She smiled, but it shouted fake all over. “Uhm, are they going to be okay?” She looked at the doctor then at her bedridden friends.

“They will, but,” He looked at both patients, “it will take time, especially for Mr. Brandon’s case. I heard from the police that he somewhat shielded Ms. Dyte from the stabs, so he mostly took all the damage. Some vital organs were damaged, but not severely still multiple stabs are multiple stabs.” then he looked at Talisha and patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry. We’ll do our best.”

Before the doctor can utter another word of assurance, a nurse came rushing with some emergency. A patient of his is having a seizure. He bid his goodbye and hurriedly left. 

After eavesdropping, he stood properly and walked away from Talisha. I’ll get what I want was embedded in his mind until he stepped out of the hospital, leaving a present for Talisha.

A present he left to a nurse assigned to Dyte that will surely shake Talisha’s world.

*

“Tal.” She jerked from the sudden touch at her shoulder. She looked at who it was and saw a friend. 

“Y-yeah?” 

“Ymar’s throwing a party for god knows what reason. You coming?” Without thinking twice, she shook her head and thought of an excuse.

“I’d love to,” Never, “but I have an appointment later with someone important. Sorry.” The woman nodded her head and bid her goodbye. 

I won’t ever attend a fucking party. It might happen again, and I don’t want that. She thought to herself and continued looking outside the window. She got discharged the day before yesterday, and now she’s at school, studying. 

She looked at the school field and saw some students chatting with friends, laughing. Some were busy reading and traveling in their wild imagination. Others were muttering things to themselves to easily memorize lessons and probably ace the quiz. 

I hope I can go back to my normal life. She looked away from the happy scene in front of her and thought of her friends. Dyte regained consciousness a day before she got discharged, but Brandon was announced comatose. I wonder how Dyte’s feeling.

She fetched her phone from her pocket and dialed Dyte’s number. After six rings, Dyte picked up the phone. 

“Hello, Dy. How are you?” Talisha tried to sound enthusiastic.

“Fine, nothing hurts that much….” A few seconds of dead air, then sobs started to emerge. “B-brand-don’s in c-coma a-and g-g-guilt is c-c-consuming me a-and-” Dyte stopped talking and just cried.

Tears started to form on Talisha’s eyes, but she held them back. “H-he’ll be fine.” She cleared her throat to remove the lump stuck in it. “He would risk his life again if the same thing happened.” A smile formed on her face when she remembered her heroic friend. “Stop crying, or he might wake up and smack your head.” She laughed to lighten up the mood.

“Y-yeah. Sorry ‘bout that, but I hope he does wake up and smack me. Not on the head though, I’d prefer he smack my lips with his.” Dyte chuckled from the other line, and both women laughed.

“I think he’d do that once he wakes up.” Talisha wiped a tear from her eyes. “He has been a coward far too long. It’s time that he man-up and confess to you already.” 

“Yeah.” She imagined Dyte smiling from the thought of Brandon confessing. “Oh. I have to go now, Tal. A nurse’s here to give me a shot or something.” They bid their goodbye and ended the call. 

Talisha wanted to call Dyte again to tell something she forgot earlier but decided to tell her personally tomorrow or the day after next.

She was greeted with a loud crowd since its lunch break. A student went to her and handed her a white envelope.

Before she can ask, the student spoke, “Someone asked me to give it to you. I didn’t recognize him since he wore clothing that didn’t allow me to examine him. He also spoke in a low voice almost a whisper.” The student left without saying another word. 

Curiosity killed the cat. She opened it and saw a card with cut-out letters from a magazine. Her eyes widened when she read the text. 

‘I’ll let you have your peace for a few weeks. The sooner, the better. Keep the smile on your face and the sassy attitude of yours my beloved Talisha. Till we cross paths again. Adios.

P.S. Hope, you like the present I left you. It’s with Dyte.’

She started shaking from fear and realized what danger Dyte might be in.