Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 148949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 745(@200wpm)___ 596(@250wpm)___ 496(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 148949 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 745(@200wpm)___ 596(@250wpm)___ 496(@300wpm)
David gazed down at the floor.
“That carpet that you stare at?” I pointed to it. “That would have been drenched in your blood.”
David looked back at me.
Drawing closer, I lowered my voice to a venomous whisper. “Your skull would have been bashed open. Your heart stopped. Your intestines spilled over the side of your body.”
David did not respond.
“Did you know that, David?”
“I knew it would be possible.”
“Possible.” I stood barely two feet away from him. “What do you know about human eyes?”
He blinked. “Not much, Kazimir.”
“You should study them. Eyes are a marvel of biological design. The cornea. Iris. Pupil. Retina. They help us to perceive the world.” I watched him. “Last night, when you opened that cell and looked at my mouse. . .what did you see in her eyes?”
David sighed. “Sadness and desperation.”
I gritted my teeth. “Throughout history. . .civilizations have seen eyes as the windows to the soul. Have you ever heard that?”
“I have not.”
“Good. I taught you something today. Now let me teach you something else.” I walked up to him and got right in front of his face. My glare bored holes into his skull. “David, I want you to look deep into my eyes. Very. Deep.”
David swallowed.
“Look into the windows of my black rotted soul. Gaze into the wicked inner depths of me.” I was so close to fucking exploding that my lips quivered. That dark rage clawed at the very fabric of my being. “When it comes to my mouse, there will never be any logic nor rationale. Look! Do you see it?!”
“I see it, Kazimir.”
“Do you see the darkness?” I grabbed the collar of his shirt, yanked him up, and pressed my face even closer to his. My spit sprayed on his cheeks. “Do you see it?! The violence! The Death!”
“I see it.”
I let go of his shirt.
He stumbled back and wiped my spit off his face.
“The eyes never lie.”
David grimaced. “Then, can I show you something?”
“Show me something? Your only focus should be on trying to walk out of this hallway alive.”
“Unfortunately, my only focus this week and many others has been to keep you safe and protected.” David dove into this pocket, pulled out his cellphone, and pressed on it.
“What?” I went over to it.
He placed the device in front of me and pressed on the screen. The image showed Emily sleeping on a cot. It must have been the middle of the night.
I scowled. “What is this?”
“Please, keep looking.”
Annoyed, I looked at the screen again. Emily stirred in bed. Then. . .seconds later. . .she slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes.
I tilted forward.
Next, Emily leaned her head all the way to the side until it lay on her shoulder.
Lunita.
A cold shiver ran through me, knocking out all the anger.
On the screen, Lunita moved the blanket and hopped onto the floor like she was a kid heading outside to play.
David spoke, “This was at three in the morning.”
I gritted my teeth.
Lunita did an odd walk to the cell’s steel door and began searching for the knob. She slipped her hands along the front of the door and then at the top.
Frowning, she began walking around the cell, sliding her hands along the walls as if there could be some secret door in the concrete.
She must have not been watching the TV when my mouse went into the cell.
David fast forwarded some of the footage. It showed Lunita moving around fast, searching for an escape, and then finally giving up.
David took his hand off the screen and let the footage play normally.
There, Lunita lay back in bed and went to sleep.
My mind raced.
What did she plan to do this time?
I stared at the screen.
Was she just going to sit in the garden and cry over her dead lover? Or did she have plans to kill another?
Relief washed away more of my anger.
“I may not know a lot about the human eye, Kazimir, but I do see things more clearly than you.” The worry I heard in David’s voice sent a chill down my spine. “Emily knows Lunita is dangerous. Just like we all know. . .except you.”
I sneered. “Be careful, David.”
“The longer I work as your number one, the more I understand what my true job is.”
“Your job is to keep Emily safe—”
“Kazimir, my job is to keep you safe—”
“She is a very important part of me—the most sacred—”
“I agree.” David slowly nodded. “But. . .you have tried to control Lunita and failed. I believe we should let Emily attempt to get control.”
“David. . .she slept in a cell. . .” My heart broke. “In a place where I put my enemies, where men wait to die by my hands. That is where my mouse rested her head last night.”
Then, suddenly Emily spoke behind me, “And that is where I will be sleeping tonight too.”