Cruel Kisses (It's Just High School #2) - Thandiwe Mpofu Page 0,82
“Listen to that.”
Cole deadpans, looking at me. “Are you saying you’re hearing from a ghost now? Because ghosts are some stupid shit and if it’s Jesus, we would both know.”
“Julian, I love you,” the voice says, now louder.
Cole and I look up at the same time only to see a shadowy, hooded slim figure walking over to us. It’s definitely a girl and as she walks over to us, that sinking suspicion on who she is blares in my head like a siren.
Speechless, Cole and I watch as she ambles her way over to us.
She’s looking at me with dead eyes, sunken in her pale face but there’s a cold, cutting smile on her face that freezes the blood in my veins.
No…
“Jesus,” Cole whispers.
That’s when I see the blood streaming down her fingers, dripping down on the ground. As if from an out of body experience, I follow the trail of blood, trying to locate where it’s coming from. Her arms are dangling at her sides like she dislocated her shoulders and her wrists are slashed open, where the blood is gushing from.
Holy shit.
“Do you love me, Julian?” Sandra croaks, the cold, almost inhumane smile on her face making my stomach turn.
I’m mute, unable to say a word and Cole rushes to dial 911 from beside me.
“Do you love me, Julian? We’re meant to be, you and I. We’re married already, everyone knows,” Sandra says. “I’m the love of your life.”
Her voice seems to grow louder, her eyes darker and much more lifeless. In her hands are two blades, probably the same ones that she used to slice her wrists open.
“Sandra,” I start. “Put the blades down.”
“No, you have to go with me right now!” she shouts, agitated now.
“Okay,” I whisper. “I’ll go with you,” I say, stepping closer to her as Cole rambles off in a rush to the operator. I have to keep her focus on me. If she’s looking at me, she won’t do anything stupid.
“Stop!” she shouts, tears now streaming down her face. “Tell me you love me.”
“I love you,” I say on automatic and she starts laughing. It’s chilling, hard, and humorless. God, how to help her? Does she even want help or she’s ready to just give in and quit?
“No, you don’t,” she whispers. “You’re too messed up and empty to love me. No one will love you either.”
“Maybe,” I whisper. “But you need to put those blades down,” I say as she starts shifting unsteadily on her feet, looking like she’s about to pass out.
“No, nothing you say now will matter,” she croaks. I look around, desperate for help but there’s no one. “It’s too late for me.”
“The ambulance is coming,” Cole whispers to me.
“We need to get Matthews back here right now!” I whisper hotly.
“No! Don’t call them,” Sandra cries, as a look of pure, unadulterated terror crosses her face, stealing my breath away with its intensity. My God, what happened to her?
“Sandra, look at me. I won’t call them, but you need to put those down now, okay.”
“No! They’ll do anything to get to you. They’re jealous and if you don’t go away with me, they’ll hurt us.”
Hurt us? Did those assholes hurt their own sister? They look twisted enough for that shit if you ask me.
Just then, the wailing sounds of an ambulance breaks the tense silence making Sandra jump.
“No!” she screams. “You called people! They’ll just take me away. They won’t believe me!”
“They can go away, just calm down, love,” Cole says for the first time, looking at her with so much pain in his eyes.
“Sandra, put the blades down and we can go anywhere you want,” I coax softly.
“No, they’ll take me back there. I won’t let them touch me again!” Sandra screams and I see the way she’s holding the blades now. As if she wants to stab herself.
“Sandra, listen to me…”
“No, you should’ve loved me,” she cries, her voice hoarse, with a finality to it that sinks into me slowly. “You should’ve saved me.”
And with that, she plunges both blades into the sides of her throat.
“No!” Cole shouts and runs over to her, but I know it’s useless as blood gushes out angrily, pooling on the tar of the parking lot. “No, stay alive, damn it!”
I rush to help, but we watch helplessly as the life bleeds out of her faster than we can stop it and all I can think, all I hear, all I feel is her last words.