Hot Revenge Box Set 4

Curled in on myself, my emotions running amuck. I ride the storm, letting it run its course.

And gradually, my calm returns. The clenching in my throat eases and the shaking dies away.

Oddly, I feel better. Objectively, nothing has changed. I’m still here, incarcerated in the dark, my life hanging on the whim of a psychotic.

And yet… yes, I feel better; cleansed almost.

Perhaps I needed that. The catharsis. The release.

My body knows something I don't? At least, at the conscious level…

Something just happened, and I need to pay attention.

Always listen to your body.

How often have I ever wept?

Very rarely. My tears dried up long ago. Or so I thought…

‘Where is she? Where's your mother?’

The little boy drops his head, tears trickling. ‘I don’t like Mommy any more.’

‘What? What the fuck’s that supposed to mean?’

‘Mommy went to sleep. She won't wake up and talk to me. I want her to tell me a story and she won’t. And she's gone all black.’

I shake my head. My mother’s death is the last thing I want to dwell on right now.

Nonetheless, suddenly, my mind is clear, astonishingly so. I can think again.

What just happened?

I didn’t expect Juliana’s reaction to my words. True, I was trying to get a reaction from her, but I’d not expected the scale of her fury.

So why did she respond as she did?

Juliana...

Solana…

I touched a nerve. That much is certain.

So... Intentionally or not, I scraped a sore spot...

A vulnerability...

A weakness.

...

Leverage...

Think…

from my foetal position, I sit upright, propping

Analyse… Be logical…

do I need

The key.

on its nail, dull bronze, blinking

No… get it right…

that key

to bring it

intermittent light, it’s barely visible at all now. No longer sharp and bright, dividing

with its crust of mud and muck and nameless filth, probably never had too good a hold on

the barrier separating me

*****

get

was her

the obvious answer, but it doesn't feel right. Juliana seemed more amused when I suggested it. At worst,

So what upset her?

conversation in

claiming to have changed. Who ever really changes? Have you changed,

one changes. It's

That's what triggered it.

talking

is that what

*****

No one changes?

That's what enraged her?

the suggestion that she hasn't

So...

... Follow the logic...

Juliana that she believes...

She's a psycho...

…

Does she know that?

…

She almost revels in

?

?

Is that aspirational?