BONUS SCENE STALKER
DUOLOGY
VANESSA
Weeks later
What a
beautiful day to wreak havoc.
Marina and
the Diamonds is playing on the radio as I drive towards the gas station,
dancing to the music like a crazy girl. The little boy on the backseat is making
strange eye contact, sending me weird vibes, but I ignore him. I’m singing
along to the chorus, twirling my hair, finally happy that I can do whatever the
fuck I want, whenever the fuck I want.
“Oh, we’re
here!” I say, winking at the boy who then nods at me and continues to stare out
the window.
I drive up
to one of the gas pumps and get out of the car. Right when I turn around, a man
comes running at me with a gun. I scream when I see it’s Phoenix. He has a ski
mask on.
“Don’t you
fucking move!” he yells.
The gun is
pointed at my chest, and I quiver at the sight of it. Immediately, my hands go
up, and I say, “Please, don’t hurt me!”
“Move!” he
growls.
He jiggles
the gun and I step aside. That’s when he enters the car.
“No!” I
yell, but Phoenix has already closed the door on me.
“Fuck off!
Now!” Phoenix yells, pointing the gun at me through the window. “Or do you want
me to shoot you?”
“No, no,
please, let him go!” I look at the little boy who seems terrified.
“Him? You
mean this little man?” Phoenix grabs the boy by the arms and pushes the gun
against his head. “Should I shoot him instead?”
“Please!” I
beg.
“Leave us
alone or I’ll fucking do it!” he screams at me.
I nod,
thoughts running through my head, whispers of imminent death. I have to do
something.
“Go!”
Phoenix growls.
I do the
only thing I can think of. I run.
It’s the
coward thing to do, but I know that if I try to save the boy, Phoenix will
shoot him … and perhaps me too. I can’t do this alone. I have to call for help.
Tears run
down my cheeks as I rush into the store.
“Help!” I
yell, looking for the clerk. “Please, someone help me!”
“What’s
wrong?” A man walks out of the aisle. “Are you okay?”
“There’s a
man in my car! And he’s got my boy!” I scream. I grab his coat. “Please, you
have to do something. Help him.”
“What? Oh
my god, that’s horrible.” He runs to the window to peer outside. Phoenix is
still holding the gun to his head. “Oh Jesus Christ. I have to call 911.”
“No,” I say
quickly. “You have to go help him now. He’ll shoot him if I’m here for too
long. He’ll be dead before the police arrives.” Tears flow down my cheeks as I
beg him. “Please. Help him.”
“All
right.” He nods slowly, then takes a deep breath and walks back to his cash
register, pulling out a huge shotgun from underneath. My eyes widen as I watch
him lock and load. “This’ll do the trick.”
I walk
after him, my heart beating in my throat as he rushes toward the car. “Oh God,”
I murmur to myself as the man faces off with Phoenix.
“Stay the
fuck away!” Phoenix yells at the man.
“Get out of
the car,” the man says with a deep voice.
“Didn’t you
fucking hear me? Leave or I’ll fucking shoot your brains out and his too,”
Phoenix growls, pushing the gun against the boy’s head.
“Stop!” I
scream, crying my eyes out.
“That’s
it,” the man says, and he jerks the door open. He throws himself inside.
“Fucking
hell.” Phoenix slams him on the head, pounding in on him. The man fights him
with equal strength, punching him with everything he has. Somehow, the shotgun
drops from the man’s hand, and Phoenix whacks him with his gun, knocking him
out cold.
We exchange
anxious looks.
Then
Phoenix shoves the man out of his car, gets out too, and grabs the man’s
shotgun. Then he points his gun at me. “Sit down.”
He nods at
the seat he was just sitting in a second ago.
I nod and
sit down as he pulls the car keys out and locks the door, trapping us inside.
“Stay here,” he growls at me.
“What are
you doing?” I yell as he walks away.
“Business.”
He goes into the shop.
Stealing.
That’s what he’s going to do. He’s going to rob the man of his money and make
his way out.
When he
comes back a few minutes later with another bag filled to the brim with money,
he runs back to my car and I frantically search for a way to open the door, but
to no avail. He unlocks it using the key and shoves me aside. “Move!”
I do what
he says, sliding onto the other seat as he gets in and closes the door. He
pulls the ski mask off his head and throws the bag filled with money onto the
backseat. “Boy, you’d better not touch that.”
He hits the
gas and turns the wheels, creating skid marks on the road as he races off.
Silence
rules, calming my heart and mind.
After a few
minutes, I glance at Phoenix. I see him glance back. Then a grin appears.
I laugh.
I burst out
into full-on, uncontrollable laughter. And so does he.
“Fuck, that
was good,” he says with a smirk.
“Holy
fucking shit!” I say. “I can’t believe I actually did it. Was I good?” I
flutter my eyelids at him, making him laugh.
“The best.”
“Are you
sure they’ll believe it?”
“Princess,
you know where the cameras were, and I’m pretty sure they all recorded your
perfect show.”
His
compliment makes me gloat.
He leans in
and kisses me on the chick. “But you’re not the only great performer here. You
should’ve seen your face.”
“I could
swear some of those tears were real. You can really scare me sometimes, you
know that?” I point at his gun. “Now get that thing out of my face please.”
“Nah,
you’re just an awesome actress.” He winks, tucking the gun in his holster.
The boy in
the back clears his throat, drawing our attention. We both look at him and then
each other, with me rolling my eyes and Phoenix sighing.
We stop at
a parking lot not far up ahead, turning our heads back at the little boy. “You
did great too,” Phoenix says.
“That’s
what I thought.” The boy crosses his arms.
Phoenix
grabs the bag with money and takes out a fifty dollar bill. “Here.”
“Finally.”
The boy greedily takes it and tucks it in his pocket, opening the door. “See
y’all later.”
The boy
closes the door and I turn my head toward Phoenix. “Later?”
Phoenix
shrugs. “Maybe he’s under the impression we’ll do this again with him. Guess
we’re not the only money-grubbing-whores here.”
“Well …” I
mull it over. “It is fun.”
Phoenix
picks up a few more bills and brings them to his nose, smelling them and then
looking at me. “God, I fucking love you, you know?”
I grin from
our evilness … and because I feel exactly the same way about him. “Let’s go.”
***
PHOENIX
Just
because her accounts were frozen after the raid the police did on her house,
doesn’t mean Vanessa and I won’t have access to money. It might not be as much
as we used to have, but it’s enough. As long as I have my guns, I can steal my
way through life. We can do anything we put our minds to, and it feels so
fucking good.
No more
obligations. No more people to mess with our lives.
Now there
is only her and me. And this is the perfect way to celebrate.
She cringes
as the needle is pushed into her skin, marking her permanently.
This is
what she wanted to do after we robbed our first shop. She promised me she’d do
it if we’d make it out alive, and we did, so … here we are. She said it’s her
way of saying goodbye to her old life and welcoming the new and improved her.
The
wretched, deceitful Vanessa. The violent Vanessa. My Princess.
No more
faking that she’s nice. No more smiling without really meaning it. No more
lies. Well, except if they lead to more money and fun.
I watch her
as the man inks my claim over her into her skin.
I smile
when I see the words finally written all around her wrist like a fucking
engagement bracelet.
Phoenix’s Princess.
My name is
edged into her very skin. Now everyone will know what I mean to her … and what
she means to me.
“Perfect,”
I say, grinning as the tattoo is completed. I grab her arm and lift it, taking
a good look at her wrist. The glimmer in her eyes tells me she’s happy. That
she wants to be needed. And I do fucking need her more than life itself. I
should hate her for it, if it wasn’t for the fact that I love her so fucking
much.
I’d kill
for her … as a matter of fact, I already have.
I smirk
when I see her smile. “Mine.”
***
VANESSA
We drive
along a lonely road, enjoying the sunset, humming along to the music on the
radio. I toy with the collar around my neck that signifies our undying love.
Literally, he’d fucking shoot me if I ever tried to leave.
Not that I
want to. There is only one man on this earth who can make me feel this special,
this wanted, this good, and it’s him. I’d be a fool to let that go.
No, I learned
my lesson a long time ago, and now I’m living the life with him. Until death do
us part.
We’ll
travel the world together. See what’s out there. Live the life we were always
meant to live … even if it means going against the law. Lying. Cheating.
Stealing. I’ll do it all. It’s what we do best.
“Wait,” I
say, when we drive past a significant patch of grass.
“What?” he
mumbles.
“Stop the
car,” I say, pulling the wheel.
“Hey! Don’t
fucking touch the wheel, Princess.” The car steers out of control, and he hits
the breaks. We come to a stop right before the fence. “Jesus Christ, you
could’ve killed us.”
“Whoops,” I
say, not caring a lot, because I know he’ll always save us.
I open the
door and take in a breath of fresh air.
“What are
you doing?” he asks.
I close my
eyes and open my arms, letting the sun hit my skin. “Don’t you remember this
place?”
“I guess.”
I nod and
sigh, then walk out into the field.
“Where are
you going?” he asks, but I don’t answer. He’ll see.
He follows
behind me as I walk through the grass, looking for a specific spot. When I find
a small patch of grass on a mound, I go to my knees. Then I start to dig.
Phoenix’s
shadow hovers over me as I uncover the treasure beneath the sand.
“What’s
that?”
“This is
where I buried something special to me.” I pull out a tiny, metallic box.
“Why?”
I blow the
dust off the little box and open it slowly, pulling out the card lying on the
bottom. “Because it’s precious and I wanted to keep it safe. My mother burned
everything I tried to keep from my old life, so I hid this last one here.” I
brush away a single tear that’s formed under my eye.
I turn my
head and smile at him. “It’s a picture of you.”
He sinks to
his knees on the ground next to me and touches the photograph as if it’s
precious to him too, even though he’s never seen it before. I remember taking
it when he was looking for insects and I was pretending to study. But I
couldn’t help take a picture of him. Maybe I even knew back then that the
moments would never last, and I couldn’t accept it. I had to memorialize it.
He hums. “I
look so young here.”
“That’s
because you were.” I snort.
“Back then
I thought I would never be good enough for you.”
I look up
at him. “But you are. You always were.”
He cups my
chin and gazes deeply into my eyes. “In the back of my head I always knew I’d
come back to claim you once and for all.”
“Promise me
you’ll never let me go.”
“Never.” He
leans in and presses a kiss onto my lips, sealing the deal. I feel like I’m
floating when he kisses me, his ownership of my heart so subtle, and yet so
clear.
“Forget
about before. Forget about your old life,” he whispers against my lips. “Let’s
make new memories together.”
“Yes.” It
takes one breath, one simple kiss, for me to let it all go.
And so my
fingers release the grip on the photograph, letting it fly away with the wind.
Far and far
away until it’s nothing more but a distant memory.
Our life
together has only just begun.
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