Chapter 14

𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝑭𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏

°. ⋆༺♱༻⋆. °

I screamed, trying to push her off of me, but she was relentless. She was trying to sink her fangs into my flesh.

I delivered a sharp kick to her shin that made her growl in frustration. I used her distraction to my advantage by grabbing her hair and tugging on it, hard.

Jennifer hissed indignantly. “I am going to eat your soul, and shit it out, Cove!” she cried out hysterically, her eyes twitching.

“I thought you only murdered boys,” I panted.

“I go both ways,” she smirked, lunging at me again.

Jennifer managed to pin me onto the ground. She opened her mouth widely and dug her teeth into my neck. I howled in pain, kicking my legs like a dying cockroach.

I grabbed her head and pulled it away from me. She wrapped her hands around my neck and began squeezing.

I felt my vision blur. I was dizzy. Everything around me was spinning. I could vaguely hear Jennifer murmur “That’s it, baby, go to sleep.”

I couldn’t let her win. I began wiggling beneath her, desperate to break free of her iron grip.

“Stay still, Lils. You’re only making this worse for yourself,” Jennifer hissed warningly.

“No,” I managed to utter breathlessly, my voice shaking.

“Lilith.” Her tone was harsher than before. She tightened her grip, her nails digging into my skin.

I felt my pulse weaken. My body went limp. My eyes widened, barely making out Jennifer’s silhouette. She looked so villanous. So unlike my girlfriend.

But that was it.

She was not my girlfriend.

Jennifer Check did not exist. She had been killed in the woods all these months ago.

The girl strangling me was neither my girlfriend nor the Jennifer that everyone knew.

She was a succubus. A demon. A monster.

Jennifer’s body might have looked the same but her soul, her whole being was not. She was evil.

And she was going to kill me.

Even after all this time, I can’t quite explain how it happened.

All I know is that my realization spurred me on. My hands groped the dirt, searching for anything that might help me, until my fingers curled around a rock.

I lifted my hand, ready to strike Jennifer.

Her reflexes were faster than mine, though. She let go of my neck and grabbed my wrist, twisting it. I grunted in pain and let go of the rock. I breathed, in and out, trying to get ahold of myself. My vision was slowly clearing. Now, I could clearly make out Jennifer.

She looked even angrier than before, if that was even possible. “What were you thinking, Lils?” she demanded to know, “were you going to kill me?” she laughed mirthlessly, “you can’t. So stop fighting. You should have been dead by now. But you’re stubborn.”

Her hands grabbed my head, lifting it up. “No matter,” she smiled that sweet smile of hers that felt uncanny in this moment, “I will make this fast for both of us.”

She looked ready to kill me. I had to act fast.

“You won’t do anything, Jennifer,” I tried to sound as calm as she did. “Because this is over. It should have been, the second I found out what you were. But I took pity on you. That was a mistake. You are not Jennifer Check and you will never be. You’re dead. And you shouldn’t be here.”

Even now I cannot explain why I did what I did. But, in that moment, frightened as I was to meet her yellow eyes, I was staring at her necklace.

The one Needy had given her.

“Did she love you?”

The question was uncalled for, yet simple.

Jennifer didn’t seem too surprised. She toyed with her necklace, like I’d seen her do countless times before.

“She did. Sandbox love never dies.”

I didn’t quite understand that phrase, but I understood something else.

“You basically framed her. She is rotting in an asylum, deemed insane, for your crimes. That must be a burden. Besides, she was the only one aside from me who ever knew the real you. And she was the only one who knew the real you before you died. She’s known you since you were kids. She has always seen you. That is real love, Jen. Not what we have. And I can’t give it to you either.

“Only she could. But now she is gone. Because of you.“

My words must have hit a nerve because Jennifer recoiled, something vulnerable flashing in her eyes momentarily.

“She loved me,” she whispered as if she hadn’t realised the full scope of it before.

“She did,” I nodded, “but she is not yours anymore, Jen. Neither am I. You’ve lost both of us. And it is all your fault.”

Jennifer’s eyes darkened again. “If only you saw me for who I was. If only you understood me. But, no. Both you and Needy were scared of me. You could never accept me fully. So you must understand why I have to do this.”

She reached for my neck again. But this time, I was quicker.

I grabbed her necklace and ripped it off her neck. A terrible sound deafened me. It’s as if the necklace contained Jennifer’s soul, and I had now set free all of her pain and suffering.

I looked back at Jennifer. Her eyes were wide and vacant.

“You…”

She did not get to finish her sentence. I grabbed a particularly sharp rock and stabbed her in the chest.

She looked more startled and confused than she did angry or scared. Her hand let go of my neck. Her body collapsed on top of mine. I pushed her off so that she was lying next to me.

I turned to face her. Her mouth was gaping open. Meekly, she turned her head, her eyes meeting mine. They were back to icy blue, coloured with a softness and nakedness that made my heart ache.

“Jen… I’m sorry.”

I reached out to hold her hand. Blood was running down from her chest. She briefly looked at it, as if it was a minor inconvenience and not a fatal wound.

“Damn, Cove, you got me good,” she giggled, giving my hand a squeeze.

A single tear ran down her cheek. I felt a sob building up my throat. I swallowed it down.

“I am sorry…” I whispered again, even though it fixed nothing. It was too late.

“It’s fine, Lils,” she weakly lifted our hands, placing a soft kiss on my knuckles.

As soon as she’d done that, she dropped my hand.

Her body went limp, a soft smile still etched upon her face.

I let out a sob, then another. I hugged her lifeless body. I felt her blood soak my shirt but I did not care.

“Oh, Jen…” I sobbed and sobbed and sobbed until my throat had gone dry and my tears had run out.

Vaguely I heard footsteps behind me. Probably some jogger, out on a late-night run at the impressive waterfall that swallowed everything. I chuckled bitterly. I had forgotten that this was supposed to be my and Jennifer’s date. It seemed aeons ago.

“Do you need help?” I heard the jogger call out as he approached me.

I did not move. My body enveloped Jennifer’s. As he got closer, he must have realised that there was a bloodied corpse beneath me. It must have looked pretty bad for me. But I couldn’t find it in me to care at that moment.

“Oh, gosh! Someone help!” I heard him shout. His voice felt like it was coming from miles away.

The rest was a blur. All I remember were the sirens of the ambulance and the cops. I felt hands grab me, dragging me away from my girlfriend. Later, my dad would tell me that I had been screaming Jennifer’s name, pleading with them not to separate us.

That was the last time I ever saw Jennifer.