The woman, (Part one)

He stopped breathing. I stood there, frozen in shock, as my best friend had finally bled out. Laying there, covered in his and 2 other people's blood, he was completely still. The knife fallen out of his hand, and shimmering with crimson. His deep blue eyes had glossed over, his blonde hair was red, and sticky from half-dried blood.

I stumbled taking a step back, away from the gruesome sight. I felt my hands tremble softly, and I turned around, looking at the woman who had sent the men to kill us, "You!" I yelled, a sound of accusation, anger, and despair all in one.

She scoffed, rolling her bright yellow eyes, "I what?" She said, antagonistically, trying to rise more emotion out of me, "Why?!" I cried out, a sound of confusion, frustration, and sorrow, from my lips. She blinked, as though surprised by the confusion.

She looked at me, head on, her dark brown, shiny hair flowing in the air as if weightless, "What?" Her face had lost it's arrogance, and was replaced by a confusion and a surprise. Her eyes a little wider, and her eyebrows shot up.

"Why did you kill him?" I asked, my voice breaking as tears ran down my cheeks, blurring my vision. She didn't say anything, but after a couple seconds she let out a breath, one that was clear she was holding in, while she thought, "He hurt me." She said, quietly, as if ashamed, and guilty for her actions.

"What?" I stopped shaking, filled with an eery stillness, "Hurt you how?" I asked, skeptically, yet also afraid of what the answer would be. But she didn't respond immediately, she took a deep breath, and clenched her hands into fists, the leather gloves squeaking quietly under the pressure.

"He did something, only a monster would do." I looked at her, wiping my tears away, seeing clearly once more, and I quickly realized, she was holding back tears, "What?" I muttered, the word barely audible over the slight breeze, "He." She paused, as if the following words hurt to say, "He assaulted me."

My eyes widened after a couple of seconds as I realized what she meant. "You mean he-" She cut me off, "Don't say it, please." I knew something had been of with him, but I didn't think that was what it was.

"When?" My voice had lost its anger, rather filled with a fear, and a surprise, "3 months ago." I felt like someone had punched me in the chest. Ralph had been acting off exactly 3 months ago, more dodgy, more suspiscious, more secretive.

I shook my head, unable to believe, and accept this, "So you killed him?" I said, feeling frustrated still, angry, and in denial." She yelled the next words, Of course I did! He hurt me in a way I'll never recover from! What the fuck should I have done?! The cops did absolutely nothing about it!"

I shook, feeling my body growing weak and hot, "What the fuck do you mean the cops didn't do anything?" My voice was dripping with anger, poison, and disbelief, "I mean, they didn't do anything." I looked her dead in the eyes, her expression unreadable to me, "Nothing at all? How can I believe you?"

I saw her eyes flicker with despair, before quickly going back to the frozen gaze she had, "You don't have anything to believe me with." I sighed, the denial fading, "Why did you have to kill him?" She stammered, "Wh-what do you mean, why?"

I looked at my blood-soaked hands. I had tried to save my friend, or what I thought was my friend, "They didn't hurt me." She nodded before speaking, "I ordered them not to. You're lucky they only wanted to get revenge."

I looked at the bloody mess, and I shivered, "He was a monster, wasn't he?" I asked, in a way of trying to figure it out in my head, trying to accept this is something he deserved. She scoffed, "You think?!" She froze, before talking again, in a quieter, more apologetic tone, "I mean, yeah. He was, I'm sorry."

I looked up at the night sky, the stars spotting everything, and the full moon giving considerable light, "He was my best friend." I muttered. But the woman didn't respond. I looked down again, to her, and she was still, too still. I looked behind her, and saw no one.

I looked at her hands, and noticed them trembling. I turned around, and saw Ralph standing up. My eyes widened, "What the fuck?!" I yelled out, terrified and confused. He laughed, "Oh you fucking morons. You think that's gonna kill me?" I turned around, looking at the woman again, she was shaking now, tears welling up in her eyes, mascara blending into the liquid.

I heard Ralph stepping forward, "This time, you won't get a second chance." He said, and I knew that he was talking to the woman. I started running down the ally-way, grabbing the womans hand, snapping her out of her petrifying fear.

We ran down the short allyway, and she was surprisingly fast. Immediately she turned left, and she quickly got ahead of me, but grabbed my hand, making sure I was still with her. I heard Ralph laughing, the cold and booming sound sending shivers down my spine. She grabbed her keys, and pressed a button, making a wine red car open, and turn on, "Get in!"

We got in, and she immediately slammed down on the gas. I heard Ralph cackling through the car, and I shivered. We were driving down the road, at 35 mph. "So, what's your name, anyway's" I asked, feeling nervous, "Julia, and you?" I replied, "Damian." She nodded.

"Where do you live. Damian?" I scoffed, "Oh, please, I'm not going home alone right now." She chuckled, "Oh, really?" I nodded, "Hell no! I don't want Ralph to find me!" She made no sound, but nodded, "So, what? Are we in this together now or something?" She asked, sounding nervous, her grip on the wheel tightening."

I said yes immediately. Not wanting to be alone, or her to be alone. She chuckled, "Ok, noted." It was silent in the car for a while before I asked, "How old are you?" She stayed silent for a minute before saying, "24. I'm 24. You?" I froze, "I'm 19." She chuckled, "You're just a kid!"

I rolled my eyes, "Oh whatever. How much longer till we get to your house?" I asked, as we had been driving for around 10 minutes already, "About 5 minutes" I nodded, muttering an, "Ok" Before going silent again.

We pulled into the driveway of a big house, It was clear Julia was, wealthy to say the least. She got out of the car, and I followed suit, "Big house." She chuckled, "Yeah, it's a nice house." I watched her go inside, and she glanced at me, making sure I was following. I walked in, seeing a big kitchen to the left, with marble countertops. and a tiled floor. To the right was a living room of sorts, with a clean carpet, and a massive tv, with a leather couch.

I started to take my shoes off, before she stopped me, "Don't, we aren't gonna stay long, Ralph knows where I live." I glanced at the carpets, and she said, "I can clean them, don't worry." I nodded, and followed her down the hall. We went into a room, which had grey walls and a concrete floor. Like a garage, with no car.

There were cabinets made of metal, not like a toolbox, but like a safe. She opened them, there were 3, and inside were knives, bats, and a sledgehammer, "unfortunately, I don't like guns in the house. So this will have to do." I responded, "Do you not have any nails?" She grinned, knowing exactly what I was thinking.

She opened a container, which held a box of nails and a hammer, "I never got to making the bats, battle-ready." She said, her voice a happy sound. I grabbed a bat, and one of the hammers. I grabbed the box of nails, and poured them onto the table. Before grabbing a handful.

She noticed the sense of hurry in my actions, "Calm down, Damian." I froze, realizing I had been breathing really quickly, "Sorry, but Ralph could be here at any moment." I hammered a nail into the bat roughly, barely missing my hand.

Julia grabbed my wrist roughly, "I said, calm the fuck down!" Her tone wasn't that of anger, but more worry, "You're going to hurt yourself if you're rushing through things!" I froze, "Sorry." I muttered, "Don't be sorry, just take a deep breath." I did what she said.

I felt my emotions return, not noticing I was feeling numb in the first place, feeling my heart pound in my chest, my neck tight, my face hot, my hands shaky. I sat down for a minute, trying to calm down. I had been panicked for 20 minutes, adrenaline still rampant through my body.

I took another minute, before grabbing the bat and hammer. But quickly Julia spoke, "Be careful. Don't rush." I nodded and began hammering nails into the bat. After a couple of minute's I stopped, knowing if I added too many, they might not pierce his skin.

Julia gave me a knife and a belt, "Put these on." I nodded and quickly buckled the belt around my waist and shoved the knife into a holster. I shivered, "Julia, I don't know how strong Ralph actually is. If he survived that whole thing, I don't exactly know what could kill him!"

She shook her head, "We can't worry about that. First, we hit him with a sledgehammer, then the bats, and if he gets too close, the knife" I said ok, and looked around, the room feeling too small.

Suddenly, I heard a pounding on the front door, joined by Ralph's deep, and chilling cackle, "OPEN UP!" He screamed, the sound making both of us shake. I grabbed the sledgehammer and the bat, shoving the bat into my belt's holster. We both ran out of the room, hearing the door break.

I tightened my grip on the sledgehammer, adrenaline flooding through my body again, an icy chill through my arms and legs. He stumbled into the house, still covered by blood, now turning brown.

I ran up to him, and swung the sledgehammer to the left, aiming for his face, and hitting his shoulder, he stumbled to the left, and Julia did the same motion, but to the right instead, hitting Ralph in the side.

I heard a sickening crunch of bones breaking, and he stumbled back the other way. I jumped back awkwardly, the weight of the hammer throwing my balance off slightly. I saw Ralph grinning and I knew he wasn't going down easy. I lifted the sledgehammer up and slammed it down onto him, hitting his arms as he blocked the blow.

Julia swung her sledgehammer quickly, hitting him in the back, and making him yell in pain, throwing my sledghammer across the kitchen, breaking the marble countertop, and throwing me back, onto my ass. I watched Ralph punch Julia, throwing her back, and making her drop the hammer.

I jumped back up to my feet, grabbing my bat, and swinging it at him, He barely threw up his arm up in time, and I saw the nails sink deep into his forearm, drawing blood immediately. I yanked the bat back, trying to make gashes in his arm, and I succeeded.

He screamed in pain, His body seeming to grow, as his muscles flexed. I swung the bat again, but he kicked me in the chest before I reached him throwing me back, the bat sinking into his thigh. I held on as tight as I could, and barely maintained my grip.

Julia jumped onto Ralph, stabbing her knife into his chest, before getting thrown into a counter, knocking her unconscious. I yelled out, standing back up, "You're a monster, Ralph!" He turned to me again, before running at me. I grabbed my knife and thrust it in fron of me.

The combined force of me throwing the knife in front of me, and Ralph running at me forced the knife into his chest, I felt my wrist snap, and his ribs break, the knife stabbing deep into his flesh. Hitting his heart. He still had a moment, and he grabbed my body and threw me backwards, I hit a wall, hard, hearing a crack in my chest.

I almost passed out, my vision going blurry. I stood up, taking deep breaths, yet none of them felt real, like I was suffocating. Ralph fell down, The knife sinking deeper into his chest, I coughed, feeling my ribs moving in a weird way. Julia was at the end of the hall, looking weak, and really hurt. and when i looked at ralph after a couple seconds. He stopped breathing.