Hide and Seek

Christina Rivera always walked home from her work. The walk wasn’t a long one and she would usually leave still during the daylight, except when she was working on an important story like the one she was working on now.
She glanced at her watch just as the minute hand reached the twelve, the hour one now at number ten. She heard a car stop at a distance, but she didn’t glance back. The wind blew gently and the night was not as cold as the previous one, making her pace not as fast as it usually was.
A shadow appeared behind hers on the sidewalk and before she could turn around, someone grabbed a handful of her hair and jerked her head back. She looked into her attacker's green eyes and muffled shouts started to escape from her mouth. She had immediately recognized him. Zachary Baker had become a part of her job and her life. Now he had come after her. And part of her, although feeling terrified, wanted to know why.
He drew the knife blade along her cheek while she tried to reach around and rake her fingernails over the back of his hand, but he was wearing gloves. With one swift motion, he lifted her from the ground and carried her to the black sedan parked only a few feet away. He grabbed a length of rope and tied her wrists together, then her ankles and taped her mouth. She tried to scream through the silver duct tape, her body desperately trying to find a way out of the ropes.
As Zacky slammed the car door and sped away, Christina tried to see where he was taking her, her body trying to stay upright and still fighting the ropes.
After a short drive, that had felt like painful eternity to her, the car finally stopped. Tears streamed down her face as she tried to recognize the house now in front of them. She knew what was going to happen to her. The same that had happened to his other victims.

For several seconds she didn’t how she had ended up inside the house. Zacky stood in front of her while she tried to blink away the fog in her eyes, realizing that he must have knocked her out in order to take her inside and strap her to the chair.
The house seemed really old and abandoned, it smelled like mold and had nothing but dust and a couple of wooden chairs inside of it.
The only source of light was from the outside, but as Christina’s mind cleared, she realized the presence of someone else inside the room. She watched Zacky turn his back to her and take a step to his right. Her eyes widened in shock as she recognized the girl sitting in the chair in front of her.
Victoria’s lips curved into a small smile, her eyes slowly blinking from Christina’s shaken expression to Zacky’s face. She bowed her head slightly and Zacky gave her a set of keys before leaving the room. Soon a loud thud was heard and Christina realized that the two of them were alone in the house.
Victoria’s big eyes watched her and she watched her back. Inside Christina’s mind, questions flooded her. Why had Victoria changed her hair color? Why wasn’t she strapped to a chair like she was? Did that mean that she was there willingly? Why had Zacky left them alone?
She tried to study the much younger girl, soon realizing that she was the one being studied.
Manicured red fingernails tapped against Victoria’s crossed legs, her eyes never leaving the tied woman in front of her. Moonlight streamed through the window and mingled with the shadows of their bodies.

“You must be wondering what am I doing here with you, just the two of us in this house,” Victoria finally spoke.

Christina would have asked her that and many other questions, but her mouth was still tapped, so she simply nodded.

“You know, I saw you on the news two days ago,” she examined her fingernails carelessly “and I didn’t like what you said about me. Why does everybody think I’m a victim?” The puzzled look on Christina’s face made her smile. She leaned forward in her chair, placing a strand of her now blond hair behind her ear. “Did you know that I killed Emily? My friend, Emily Hunter?” She laughed and leaned back again.

The sound of her laughter made Christina’s nerves tighten like a bowstring. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest. Was she really telling the truth, or was this just one of Zacky’s sick games? Could an ordinary girl have turned into a cold hearted killer?

As if reading her mind, Victoria rose, her lips flattening in the process. She removed the duct tape that covered Christina’s mouth. “Come on, tell me what you’re thinking. I want to answer all your questions.”

There was a hint of amusement on the words she spoke, almost like if she was teasing her. Her stomach churned as an unthinkable thought crossed her mind.
She was the one who was going to kill her.

“How often do you get to the opportunity to interview a killer? Or a kidnap victim? Or,” she slowly circled the chair Christina was strapped to “a kidnap victim that turned into a killer?”

“Why are you doing this? What kind of lies is he telling you to make you do this?” She had finally found her voice, which possessed surprising steel.

Victoria stopped behind her, a cold, sharpen object quickly making contact with her neck. The blade glinted in the night and only now she realized Victoria was carrying a knife.

“Zacky’s not a liar! He loves me in a way nobody did and never will. He’s not a rapist, we’re going to have a beautiful baby and form a beautiful family,” she slowly slid the knife’s blade from one side of Christina’s neck to the other, the metal object scraping her skin and making her flinch. “And everyone who tries to stand in our way will meet the same fate as Emily.”

“I can help you get away with this, Victoria. Please, just don’t kill me.”

“Oh, I’m not going to kill you,” she pushed the knife harder against her cheek, a trickle of blood starting to run down its blade. “But I’m going to make you wish you were dead.”

***

Victoria glanced around the empty street before leaving the house and walking towards the car where Zacky was waiting. It was almost midnight and the chance of running into people at this time of the night was low, but Victoria would rather play it safe. She closed the car door as silently as she could and fastened her seat belt with a smile on her face.

“Did you lock the door?” Zacky asked dryly. He wasn’t happy about what she had suggested two days ago, when she had seen the news, and he wasn’t happy now that he had to drive back to California, just so that she could kill some insignificant woman, but he loved her too much to deny her any request.

She blinked. Once. Twice. “Of course,” she lied. She had decided not to tell him that she hadn’t killed Christina. At least for now. She wanted her to live, wanted her to survive so that she could tell everybody what she had told her right before passing out.

“It should take a few days before someone finds out the body,” he started the engine.

“Just relax, okay? Everything is going to end up just the way we want to,” she showed him her perfect teeth in a sincere smile. The night’s quiet and peace conjured the feeling of invincibility and invulnerability.

He sighed and looked away. There was a long silence while he drove back to the motel they had checked in earlier. He was not pleased to be back in California and all he wanted to do was to get out of the state as soon as possible.
She dropped her head against the leather headrest. Tomorrow, once they were out of the state, she would have to tell him the truth. And she knew Zacky was going to be one pissed hombre.

Notes

I'm so sorry for taking so long to update this story, vacations make me lazy, hehe.
Anyway, this story is almost ending, just a couple more chapters and it will be over! Any guesses on what's going to happen?