Page 18
CapoteParty:
It does seem out of character, doesn’t it? Daphne was successful for so long because no one even knew any crimes had been committed. Something big and splashy like this doesn’t really fit.
StopDropAndTroll:
I heard it was illegal immigrants. That’s why they never figured it out. They didn’t know who was really at the party.
BurntheBookBurnerz:
Oh yeah, because Americans couldn’t possibly kill anyone?? RIGHT??
ShockAndBlah:
I still think it was dairy.
Chapter Ten
One night, Ted came over. He was plastered, drunker than I’d ever seen him. His eyes were rolling around inside his face like he was on a carnival ride. But he was happy because he had won big gambling, bigger than he’d ever won before.
“Maybe, if you ask me real nice, I’ll take you to dinner tomorrow,” Ted said, trying to light a cigarette. It took him four tries to find his mouth.
“That’d be nice,” I said woodenly, not caring if we went to dinner. My treats were the nights he didn’t come over. When he was here, he blotted out my entire existence, like a shadow over the sun.
“Ah, to hell with you,” he slurred, flicking his cigarette at me. “Why would I take such an ungrateful bitch out to dinner?”
“I’m not ungrateful,” I muttered, stooping down to pick up the cigarette that lay smoldering on the floor. My floor.
“You are! Nothing I do for you is ever good enough!” he snapped, slamming his hand down on the table.
I grew still. I realized that he was in a dangerous mood, that everything was balanced on a knife point. If I did the wrong thing, then it all would come crashing down. So, I did nothing. Sometimes I wished I had that kind of power, a man’s power, to change the weather in the house just with my mood.
“Oh? Now you’re too good to even answer me?” Before I knew it, he was out of his seat. He wrapped his fist in my hair and pulled hard. “Don’t forget, I saved your ass. If it weren’t for me, you’d be dead in a gutter by now!”
“I know, thank you so much, Ted,” I said in a soothing voice, even though it felt like my scalp was lifting off my skull. “Look, it’s been a big day for you. Why don’t you go home, sleep it off, and tomorrow we’ll celebrate properly!” I opened the door gently, hoping that he’d stagger home, that I’d make it through another night.
But instead, Ted made a noise of pure, wordless rage and lunged at me, wrapping his hands around my neck. He was squeezing with all of his strength, collapsing my throat as easily as if he were crumpling paper. My eyes fluttered. I was going to die in this apartment, having wasted my short, shitty life. Just another girl that a man decided to kill.
In a final act of desperation, I raised one leg and kneed him in the balls. By that point I was seeing white holes in my vision, like snow covering up a cabin’s window. But my knee connected, there was a moan, and I felt his hands fall from my neck.
I took rapid breaths, trying to clear my vision. Ted had staggered onto the landing, just outside my open door. He was doubled up, clutching himself. For a second, I thought the moment had passed, that we could call it a night, shocked at how far this whole thing had gotten.
“You fucking bitch!” he snarled, straightening up. Ted’s hands were already raised, set on throttling me, when I kicked him in the stomach. He tilted backwards, his arms swinging like a dancer in a music hall, and then he fell down the stairs, going head over heels until I couldn’t see him anymore.
I stood at the top, trying to hear anything over the sound of my own wheezing breath. Silence. I waited longer, my hand hovering on the doorknob in case he came running up the stairs and I needed to barricade myself in the apartment. But then, finally, I got up the courage to descend into the darkness.
He was lying on the ground, his neck bent at an unnatural angle. I barely recognized him. His face was minced meat from the trip down the stairs and there was a big gash on the side of his head.
I knew he was dead the moment I saw him. I stood there, amazed at how a whole life could be snuffed out in a flash. My body was tingling and I felt strangely excited, like I was sitting front row at a magic show and had been dazzled by a trick.
I leaned down and pulled his wallet out, carefully extracting his gambling winnings, leaving a little cash behind so he didn’t look like he’d been robbed. The places where Ted gambled were seedy, back-alley spots, the kinds of places that didn’t exist by day. No one would ever know that he’d won big.
I hurried upstairs and grabbed the few things I owned, hiding my bag under my coat. I needed to get out of there as quickly as possible, just in case the neighbors had heard us fighting. People kept their heads down in this neighborhood and I doubted anyone would alert the police, but if the cops came knocking, someone might tell them about Ted’s girl upstairs.
I paused for one last, tender glance at Ted’s body. Seeing him lying there made me feel brave. And then I stepped over his body and out into the night. I needed to get to the station and get a ticket on the next train going anywhere big. It didn’t really matter where I started, I already knew where I was going.
Theft had gotten me to Winnipeg. Murder was going to take me to New York City.
“And that was my first murder,” Daphne said. “That was when I learned I was capable of killing someone.”
It does seem out of character, doesn’t it? Daphne was successful for so long because no one even knew any crimes had been committed. Something big and splashy like this doesn’t really fit.
StopDropAndTroll:
I heard it was illegal immigrants. That’s why they never figured it out. They didn’t know who was really at the party.
BurntheBookBurnerz:
Oh yeah, because Americans couldn’t possibly kill anyone?? RIGHT??
ShockAndBlah:
I still think it was dairy.
Chapter Ten
One night, Ted came over. He was plastered, drunker than I’d ever seen him. His eyes were rolling around inside his face like he was on a carnival ride. But he was happy because he had won big gambling, bigger than he’d ever won before.
“Maybe, if you ask me real nice, I’ll take you to dinner tomorrow,” Ted said, trying to light a cigarette. It took him four tries to find his mouth.
“That’d be nice,” I said woodenly, not caring if we went to dinner. My treats were the nights he didn’t come over. When he was here, he blotted out my entire existence, like a shadow over the sun.
“Ah, to hell with you,” he slurred, flicking his cigarette at me. “Why would I take such an ungrateful bitch out to dinner?”
“I’m not ungrateful,” I muttered, stooping down to pick up the cigarette that lay smoldering on the floor. My floor.
“You are! Nothing I do for you is ever good enough!” he snapped, slamming his hand down on the table.
I grew still. I realized that he was in a dangerous mood, that everything was balanced on a knife point. If I did the wrong thing, then it all would come crashing down. So, I did nothing. Sometimes I wished I had that kind of power, a man’s power, to change the weather in the house just with my mood.
“Oh? Now you’re too good to even answer me?” Before I knew it, he was out of his seat. He wrapped his fist in my hair and pulled hard. “Don’t forget, I saved your ass. If it weren’t for me, you’d be dead in a gutter by now!”
“I know, thank you so much, Ted,” I said in a soothing voice, even though it felt like my scalp was lifting off my skull. “Look, it’s been a big day for you. Why don’t you go home, sleep it off, and tomorrow we’ll celebrate properly!” I opened the door gently, hoping that he’d stagger home, that I’d make it through another night.
But instead, Ted made a noise of pure, wordless rage and lunged at me, wrapping his hands around my neck. He was squeezing with all of his strength, collapsing my throat as easily as if he were crumpling paper. My eyes fluttered. I was going to die in this apartment, having wasted my short, shitty life. Just another girl that a man decided to kill.
In a final act of desperation, I raised one leg and kneed him in the balls. By that point I was seeing white holes in my vision, like snow covering up a cabin’s window. But my knee connected, there was a moan, and I felt his hands fall from my neck.
I took rapid breaths, trying to clear my vision. Ted had staggered onto the landing, just outside my open door. He was doubled up, clutching himself. For a second, I thought the moment had passed, that we could call it a night, shocked at how far this whole thing had gotten.
“You fucking bitch!” he snarled, straightening up. Ted’s hands were already raised, set on throttling me, when I kicked him in the stomach. He tilted backwards, his arms swinging like a dancer in a music hall, and then he fell down the stairs, going head over heels until I couldn’t see him anymore.
I stood at the top, trying to hear anything over the sound of my own wheezing breath. Silence. I waited longer, my hand hovering on the doorknob in case he came running up the stairs and I needed to barricade myself in the apartment. But then, finally, I got up the courage to descend into the darkness.
He was lying on the ground, his neck bent at an unnatural angle. I barely recognized him. His face was minced meat from the trip down the stairs and there was a big gash on the side of his head.
I knew he was dead the moment I saw him. I stood there, amazed at how a whole life could be snuffed out in a flash. My body was tingling and I felt strangely excited, like I was sitting front row at a magic show and had been dazzled by a trick.
I leaned down and pulled his wallet out, carefully extracting his gambling winnings, leaving a little cash behind so he didn’t look like he’d been robbed. The places where Ted gambled were seedy, back-alley spots, the kinds of places that didn’t exist by day. No one would ever know that he’d won big.
I hurried upstairs and grabbed the few things I owned, hiding my bag under my coat. I needed to get out of there as quickly as possible, just in case the neighbors had heard us fighting. People kept their heads down in this neighborhood and I doubted anyone would alert the police, but if the cops came knocking, someone might tell them about Ted’s girl upstairs.
I paused for one last, tender glance at Ted’s body. Seeing him lying there made me feel brave. And then I stepped over his body and out into the night. I needed to get to the station and get a ticket on the next train going anywhere big. It didn’t really matter where I started, I already knew where I was going.
Theft had gotten me to Winnipeg. Murder was going to take me to New York City.
“And that was my first murder,” Daphne said. “That was when I learned I was capable of killing someone.”
Table of Contents
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