surrounds me like a suffocating, impenetrable smoke. Too silent, but also lethal.
This is the face of a killer.
It’s obvious in the steady grip on the knife he’s holding to my neck. No hesitation. No clumsiness. He’s done this before. He held his victims to the knife’s edge and probably didn’t blink when he slit their throats open.
A monster like my father.
Fear draws on my shoulder blades and causes sweat to trickle down my back.
I want to swallow the dryness in my mouth, but the risk of being cut open keeps me immobile.
Saying anything is out of the question, too. I have no doubt that he’ll kill me and not even feel it.
As I stare deeper in his overcast, robotic eyes, I don’t even see Shadow. At least, I don’t see the infuriatingly playful version. He fully unleashed that dark side that’s been lurking beneath the surface.
An old, petite woman with a pixie haircut peeks from behind Shadow. She places a frail hand on his tense bicep. His gaze snaps her way. Oh, son of a gun! He’ll hurt her.
A dose of adrenaline tightens my muscles. I lunge forward and stand between him and the old lady. My chest is heaving, and my knees barely keep me standing.
I’m scared. No, I’m terrified of this version of him. He has a power that causes me to sweat uncontrollably. But no matter how frightened I am, I won’t watch him hurt an old lady.
His dark, unfeeling gaze zeroes on my neck. He blinks, once, twice, and then, like a miracle, life shoots back to the overcast grey.
At least I can recognise this Shadow.
I release a breath I hadn’t known I’d been holding and with it comes the realisation that something burns in my neck.
“Fuck.” Shadow runs a tense hand through his hair, messing the already-dishevelled blond curls.
I touch my fingers to my neck. A sticky liquid coats them. When I bring my hand in front of my face all I see is blood. The sticky liquid is blood. My heart almost stops beating. I think I’m going to faint.
“Relax, sweetheart.” The old lady guides me to a chair.
I walk on unsteady legs.
He sliced my throat.
I’m going to bleed to death.
“It’s shallow.” Her voice is soft and soothing. “Just breathe, sweetheart.”
She retrieves a cloth and wipes the blood from my neck. It isn’t much, but the thought of bleeding to death doesn’t leave me. Uncontrollable shivers break over my limbs and I taste acid.
Shadow looms over me and the old lady in a second. His eyes are dark, but not unfeeling. There’s even… remorse? Regret? Guilt?
Or perhaps I’m imagining things.
Instead of apologising like a human being, he says in a taut voice, “Don’t get in my space. Don’t pull any fucking surprise moves.”
I want to curse him. No. I want to get up and kick his face, but I’m too shocked to do anything except stare like an idiot.
The old lady swats him on the shoulder. “Get out.”
He cuts me a harsh glare, brows knitted together, but he complies. At the threshold, he stops and throws a glance at me over his shoulder. It’s short and fleeting, but the earlier guilt and regret return with full force. Only now, there’s also a sense of rage. Why the hell is he angry at me?
I continue staring at the door even after he’s out.
“He didn’t mean to,” the old lady says while she applies a plaster to my wound.
The shock gradually dissipates, and red hot anger fills my veins. I point a tense finger at my neck. “This would beg to differ. He almost killed me!”
The old lady trudges to a tea set placed neatly on a side table and retrieves saucers from the cabinet. “Not that it’s excusable, but you did move against his knife, sweetheart.”
My mouth hangs open. I can’t believe she’s defending him. “Why would he even hold a knife to my throat?”
She brings a steaming cup of tea and places it in front of me before settling on a chair. The wrinkles in her forehead scrunch. “Because he’s not himself.”
Wait. She also noticed that Shadow wasn’t his usual self? And by usual, I mean what I’ve been getting used to.
Despite the trauma minutes ago, my attention perks up. This old lady obviously knows Shadow to some degree. I never took him for someone who follows anyone’s orders, but when she told him to get out, he did.
This is the reason I came with Natalie to this kindergarten in the first place. I