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Every Part Of You --
Part 5
by Cynthia Piromalli
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Serena heard her captor scrambling behind her in their chase through the thick bush, but did not dare look back. She took a sharp turn to the right and turned again, ending up behind him and running back where she come from before he had the chance to realise and double back. She had gained on him now, and knowing that refueled her energy.
She turned off to the left now and kept running even though her legs were heavy and her lungs ached. She kept her mind on running and little else, ordered her legs to keep moving. She was not aware of the fast growing echo coming from the large empty space that lured before her. Only when her legs it a large rock did she stop short of the edge of the cliff that may have swallowed her whole. She thought that she would fall, but gripped the rock until she steadied herself and focused her eyes, seeing the shimmering reflection of the moonlight on the creek far below.
She heard him coming now, running and panting behind her. She spun around and slipped into the darkness of the trees. Hidden from view, she watched him approach, oblivious to anything around him except the movement of his own legs just as she had been only seconds before. He didn't look to either side of him, confident that she lay ahead in his grasp.
She heard the thump as his legs hit the rock, and then the yelp as he toppled over.
She came out from behind the tree and saw only the white flesh of his fingers on the rock. Impulsively she ran towards him and grabbed his hand. He let go of the rock as his entire body weight hung from her limb. She grabbed him with both arms, straining with the weight.
In her struggle, she was only faintly aware of the pleading voice below her.
"Please ... dear God, please help me ..."
She focused on the words and looked down at him, right into the eyes of a killer. The faint light from the night sky above caught them just enough so she could see - see the fear, the pain, the terror - saw right into his soul. She saw not just a killer, but a pathetic creature, whimpering in the darkness for assistance, just as surely as his victims had. She could see right into the piteous human being that had become nothing but a monster from his own emptiness.
"Help me." He implored once more in a sad whimper.
"And what happens to me?"
Her question was met with silence. His eyes averted her gaze momentarily, one simple gesture that said so many things.
He grabbed at her, but she freed herself of his hands and spun around immediately, not wanting to see. The sounds were vision enough.
She sat at the edge, rocking back and forth, staring forward dumbly, until the dawn came.
He had only a few parts to collect before his psychotic task was completed - to reconstruct the love of his life, the woman of his dreams, who had left him empty and alone and without, it seemed, any rational thought. So Jessica would live again, he supposed, through the sacrifice of others.
He had wanted Serena's hair, so like Jessica's - long and dark and beautiful.
Weeks later, he lay underneath an unassuming mound of dirt. She knelt down, fingered the words etched on the marble. She didn't know his name until he was dead. Gerard Staple. He had probably never known his victims names at all. They all had one name to him - Jessica.
From her pocket she took a picture, a little dishevelled now by being passed through so many hands. They thought she was crazy when she had asked to keep it, but it was not for herself.
She lay the picture of him and Jessica on the grave. She stared at the two faces for a moment, then plucked a single long black hair from her mane and placed it on top.
She stood and walked away.
© Cynthia M. Piromalli 2002
©2002 StoriesByEmail.com
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American Liberty TV
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