ONE HOUR EARLIER

She looked at Jake suddenly pained, feeling the knife slice through the softness of her gut. Her eyes which had been so welcoming and filled with love had shifted now to anguish. She pushed away from Jake, and in doing so could feel the blade retract from inside her. She took a step back, clutching her gory belly and began to feel her legs turn to jelly.

She grasped the wall and the surface of a little bookshelf for support, but it was to no avail and she fell to the floor knocking a radio off of the little bookshelf. The radio hit the floor with a clatter and came to life, blaring “Wonderwall” by Oasis. This caught the attention of Sarah who was in the kitchen. Jake saw her as she ran to Angela’s aid.

“What are you doing!?” Jake bellowed at Sarah.

Rage tore through Jake. Angela was supposed to be alone. This was supposed to be their intimate moment, shared with no one. Sarah was ruining their intimacy, their love. Sarah looked up at Jake with a look of shock and disgust. That rage burned hotter, searing his insides. He swiped his knife forcefully across her face. He screamed in agony and tried to crawl away towards the phone. Jake followed her and pulled her back by her shirt and dragging her into the kitchen. He stabbed each of her hands and her right kneecap.

“I’ll be back,” he said through gritted teeth.

He left her wailing in pain and went back to Angela who was on the floor where he left her. She was cradling her stomach wound, moaning from the pain. He looked at the beauty writhing on the floor with loving affection and got to the floor to lie beside her.

“God, you are so beautiful,” Jake whispered in her ear.

“Get away,” Angela said struggling not to cry. She tried to push him away but couldn’t muster the strength. Jake grabbed her hand and held it close to his heart.

“Shhh,” he said. “It’s ok baby. I’m here.”

“I hate you,” she said loudly. “Why? Why’d you—”

“SHHHHHHHH!” Jake said, anger flickering for a moment before falling back into his loving tone. “You don’t mean that. I just wanted you to know that I love you with all my soul. You are a goddess.”

Jake kissed her cheek and cupped her breast and he nuzzled his face into her neck. She removed his hand from her chest and struggled away from his unwanted affection. Jake grabbed her face so that her attention was solely on him, forcing her to look into his eyes.

“I killed Stan for you!” Jake said. “Because I love you. You are the epitome of perfection.”

“I fucking hate you,” she said scornfully. Jake withdrew his hand from her face.

“No you don’t,” he said. “I know you love me, too. In here.”

Jake placed his hand over her heart.

“I know you love me,” Jake assured her. “My time left here is short, and I wanted to show you how much I loved you. Soon, we’ll be able to spend eternity together.”

“I hate—I hate—No!” Angela yelled, squirming to get away. “D-don’t”

Jake pulled her face to his once more and kissed her tenderly on the lips, and he felt passion explode.

“No,” Angela said hardly audible has he kissed her.

Jake kissed her for several more minutes before noticing she had gone limp and her eyes had glazed over.

“I’ll be with you soon, love,” Jake whispered into her ear.

Jake stood up, looking down at her with nothing but love in his eyes. Jake noticed Sarah was back trying to crawl to the phone feebly. He walked to greet her, his face shifting from love to hate in an instant.

“You ruined it!” Jake bellowed. He plunged the knife into her chest. “You ruined everything! I had this all planned out and then you had to come in and fuck things up! I HATE YOU!”

Jake began to plunge his knife into her everywhere he could. He cut through her cheeks, her stomach, her throat, her breasts, her eyes. He stabbed her over thirty times before the rage ebbed away. He could feel her go limp after the second stab to her chest, but the rage was such that he couldn’t help himself. He needed to leave her unrecognizable. He took a step back and saw the mess he had made of himself. He was covered in gore. This angered him once more. He ran up to Sarah’s body and began kicking it repeatedly. He could hear bones snap beneath his shoes. He backed up once more and a clock on a nearby shelfcaught his eye. It was a quarter to eight.

“What day is it?” Jake asked. Will was right by his side to answer, “Friday.”

“Shit,” Jake said suddenly remembering his homework. “We’re supposed to meet up with Mike and Alicia for that project.”

Jake made his way to Angela’s bathroom and washed his skin free of the blood. His clothes were helpless, but he’d warn a red hooded sweatshirt and black pants so he figured it wouldn’t be that noticeable.

He walked over Sarah’s body to reach the phone and began dialing.

“Hey, Mike,” Jake greeted sounding chipper. “Are we still meeting today? We are? Alright. Where? Still on for your place. Ok. No, I think I know how to get there. It’s those apartments just down the way from my house. I’ll be there soonish. Yep. See you, bye.”

Jake hung up the phone and walked back through the hall of blood and corpses. He knelt beside Angela’s body and kissed her one last time.

“Love you, babe,” he said.