Page 109 of Love Sick
But that’s half the fun.
Maybe we should just embrace our darkness because being normal is so fucking…boring.
Luna reaches for the scalpel in my hand, running her fingernails across my knuckles. There is something almost carnal about this.
Alanna groans, which has Luna lifting her chin to the ceiling and smiling happily. Once she’s composed, she walks to where Alanna is strapped down. The satisfaction Luna feels is evident. She is finally in control.
My heart skips in happiness, and I like to think Misha is happy too. He will never be forgotten. His mother will protect him to the very end.
“What’s going on?” Alanna asks, frantically tugging at the straps around her wrists.
When she sees Luna standing by her side, she searches for me. “Dutch? What’s happening? Untie me.”
“Sorry, Doc, no can do. It’s time you know how it feels to be the patient.”
Her fear is palpable, and I almost feel sorry for her until Luna walks to a machine in the corner of the room.
“You used this on me…twice. Electric shock therapy to help me,” Luna scoffs, tonguing her cheek. “You didn’t want to help anyone but yourself.”
“This isn’t happening. It’s just the drugs,” Alanna says, squeezing her eyes shut, hoping this is just a bad trip.
If only…
“It is happening here. Let me show you.” Luna slashes Alanna’s cheek with the scalpel.
A stripe of blood bubbles to the surface, contrasting the pale skin of Alanna, who opens her mouth and begins to scream. “Help!”
“Tsk tsk,” Luna quips, peering at the bloody scalpel. “You should know no one can hear you scream down here. Isn’t that why you brought me, Dutch, and God knows how many others down here to torture because you’re one fucking crazy bitch!”
Luna violently slashes at Alanna’s other cheek this time, blood splatter coating her face.
Alanna struggles again, but it’s futile—her time is done.
“I’ll give you anything,” she pleads, looking between Luna and me.
“Anything?” Luna asks, humoring her.
“Yes! Anything. Why are you doing this? I thought I was forgiven for what I did. I said I was sorry!” she screams. “Everyone deserves a second chance!”
Luna giggles, and my fuck, it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever heard. “No, some people really don’t. You played a part in my son’s death. You knew who I was. I didn’t stand a chance. I was subjected to your cruel games when I never wanted to play. You are pathetic. You had to keep the corpse of my ex because no living, breathing man could ever love you.”
Ouch.
Even I flinch because that’s gotta hurt.
Alanna’s lower lip quivers. “You promised to love me. You promised to protect me.”
I walk toward Alanna and peer down at her—how the tables have turned. “And I intend to keep that promise. You will be celebrated by your peers because of tonight. They will forever think you were loved. And I will protect you by not exposing what a fucking psychopath you are.
“The small mercy is that we don’t allow the world to see what a monster you truly are because everyone seems to feel sorry for the bad guys—Ted Bundy. Richard Ramirez. Jeffrey Dahmer. They all have someone making excuses for why they were the way they were. And with your childhood, you’re an HBO documentary’s fucking dream.
“But some people…they’re just born fucking bad.”
Someone like Alanna would get sympathy—she’s pretty, smart, and has a shitty backstory. The sympathizers would crown her a martyr. She’d be excused on some technicality, and before we knew it, she’d be Oprah’s BFF.
Besides, this is her karma because every action has a consequence, and she deserves everything that’s coming her way.
“My Misha would have changed the world…but he never got the chance. It was stolen from him. I loved him with every piece of my heart. Do you know what that feels like? To have your world ripped out from under you?”