Ali

There wasn’t a shred of doubt, Alison was dead.

Kait sat on the floor of her darkened apartment, staring at her phone. The words “no new messages” were all that she could see. Yes, Alison was definitely dead. It had been 10 days since the last time they spoke, where Kait told her that she wasn’t sure about that boyfriend of hers.

Alison had laughed.

“Where’s this coming from? It’s been like…..a year? And all of a sudden you ‘aren’t sure’ about him? I mean what is that?”

“ALI Listen to me!”Kait wrung her hands together, as though she was rearranging her skin "Ali, he's always around. We used to, we used to do things together just you and me."
Alison crinkled her eyebrows
"Oh my God, Kit Kat! You're jealous" she let out a cackle that was half forced. "Kit Kat, we can always find someone for you." She turned her back and started rummaging through her cupboards "He'll be home soon, should we have tequila or vodka? Or both!"
    "Ali, listen to me!" Kait leaned forward, Alison talked over her
     "Jeremy likes Vodka. But I like tequila. Maybe you're right we're not meant for each other." Kait bit down on her bottom lip hard, lurched forward throwing her arms around Alison
     "Ali please! This isn't how it's supposed to be!" Alison turned around slowly, and wiggled herself out of Kait's grasp
     "Maybe you should go home" Alison's voice had gone from playful and musical, to monotone. "Kaitlyn, Please leave. I am sick of this possessive bullshit. Everyday, it's all the fucking time. And I'm just done. I'm done! So what I have a boyfriend? Just fuck off and get out of my apartment" Alison turned away from Kait and stormed towards her bedroom door, “WHEN I COME BACK OUT YOU BETTER BE GONE”

That was a week and 3 days ago. Usually they would make up by now. Usually she could see Ali on social media. She would have at least posted a playlist of songs about being pissed or being too clingy. But there was nothing. Kait clicked on the Snapchat app, Alison’s name was right at the top. She checked, again. Alison still hadn’t viewed her Snap from today, or yesterday, or the day before. Something was definitely wrong. Alison was most definitely dead. Kait jumped to her feet. She was going to find that bastard that killed her Ali cat.

Contacting Jeremy wasn’t hard. All She had to do was send him a text message saying:

“Hey, haven’t heard from u guys in a few days. Everything ok?”

He’d responded with a chipper sounding

“oh yea! No worries we’ve both just been working A LOT lol”

She stared down at the text message response and felt her whole body fill with a tingle. He was hiding something. He was most definitely hiding something.

“OMG lol I totally get it!”

She’d responded, careful not to let him know that she was on to him.

“I wanted 2 kno if maybe I could stop by 2nite? I kno it’s last min but Ali and I had a fight last week and I wanted to sort shit out”

Send.

Kait waited, staring intently at her phone as she walked down the sidewalk. This was crucial, he didn’t know that she knew. Or maybe he’d had an idea? His response would say it all. After about three minutes, heard the “ding”

“I mean….yea if you want? Idk what time Ali’s coming home. I mean, she’s wrking a dbl shift at Phib’s so I’m guessing she’ll be out by midnite?”

Kait knew what this meant. She knew what he was doing. He was hoping that midnight would be too late. That she’d be sleeping and not be able to come by. Oh he knew. He KNEW.

“Omg that’s totally fine. I’ll be there soon K?”

Kait had already reached their apartment. It was a really nice place in the center of the city, across the street from the local market. She looked up into the row of windows that lead into Ali and Jeremy’s apartment. They’d been living together for 3 months, but they’d been an item for about a year. Everything had changed when Ali met Jeremy.

They used to be attached at the hip, Kait and Ali. Ever since 9^th grade they’d done everything together, went to the same college, until Kait dropped out. They both worked at Phib’s until Kait got fired for showing up late one too many times. They even lived together for a few years….until Jeremy.

Jeremy was ALWAYS at the apartment. Kait wrinkled her nose thinking about how this used to be her home too. Everything she’d known, everyone she’d loved……

Kait took long strides up to the front door, she rubbed her nose hard and opened the door to the building. The last thing she wanted was him to see she’d been crying. She took the stairs 2 at a time, clonking her big combat boots loudly. She heard her phone “Ding”, but she ignored it. Gaining her composure, Kait approached the apartment at the very top of the stairs, and knocked. Jeremy answered the door almost immediately. His sandy brown hair fell gently around his broad shoulders. His eyes were deceptively kind.

“Hey Kait! Wow….that…..that was fast come on in” He turned and walked towards the couch. Kait walked in and let her coat slide down her arms and onto the floor, she kicked the door closed behind her.

“Hello Jeremy” she spoke in a tone that she’d heard many times in movies, deeply and with an air of evil villain. Jeremy slouched down on the couch. Kait noticed he was wearing flannel pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt.

“Oh, I’m sorry I didn’t realize that you were settling in for the night” Kait decided to keep the voice, it matched perfectly with what was about to happen.

“Oh God, no don’t worry about it Kait. It was my day off and I’ve just been…..are you ok?” She stood up erect. Allowing her voice to dip

“I’m fine, why” Jeremy looked her up and down, his eyes narrowed

“You just….you seem tense. You can sit down. It’s ok I mean, we’re good” Kait furrowed her brow, and summoned the villain voice

“We’re….good? Oh Jeremy, whatever do you mean?” Jeremy reached out in front of him and picked up a brown bottle

“Ali told me about how you were uncomfortable about us living together. And I get it, I do. I understand why you would feel that way. But I want you to know, I didn’t suggest you moving out. That was Ali’s idea. We’d talked about it for awhile and she thought-”

“Thought it was important that I start fending for myself, I know. She told me. But you see, my problem is…” Kait started to saunter over towards the couch.

“….she never would have come to that conclusion without you, Jeremy” He took a long swig out of the brown bottle.

“I’m really sorry you feel that way, Kait. But I can assure you-”

“Where is she Jeremy?” Kait allowed her voice to drop even deeper, almost demonic.

“I….told you. She’s at Phib’s. She’ll be home in a few hours” Kait looked into his eyes, his big hazel eyes that she’d had to hear about for weeks and weeks after he and Ali began seeing one another.

“I don’t think she is Jeremy. I think……” Kait began to walk to the other side of the couch, looking at her feet to create tension.

“…...I think that she isn’t anywhere” Jeremy put his bottle down and leaned in towards Kait as she sat down.

“Kait, I’m not trying to be a dick. So please don’t get upset, I just need to know. Are you using again?” Kait leaned back resting her spine against the arm of the couch

“What kind of a question is that, hmm? Why are you trying to avoid the conversation?” Jeremy pulled his right leg inward in a half pretzel style sitting arrangement

“Ali mentioned that you’d been….”

“ALI! EXACTLY. AND WHAT ELSE ABOUT ALI? HMMMM? DID SHE TELL YOU THAT BEFORE YOU CAME ALONG WE WERE GOING TO BE TOGETHER? DID SHE? DID SHE TELL YOU THAT FOR THE LAST 6 MONTHS BEFORE YOU TWO MET WE’D BEEN SHARING A BED? DID SHE TELL YOU THAT?” Kait’s whole body began to shake. She wasn’t planning on lashing out like this, this wasn’t a part of the plan.

“She said that you’d been going through something for awhile and she didn’t want to be your crutch anymore. She said that she needed….” Kait jumped to her feet, the sound of her boots stomping the wood floor gave her a rush of joy.

“I KNOW WHAT YOU DID JEREMY. I KNOW. I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE AND I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE PLANNING TO DO TO ME. I KNOW WHAT YOU DID. I KNOW!” Kait lunged toward him wrapping her long bony fingers around his throat.

“KAIT” his voice was strained as he attempted to get her off of him. He swung the bottle at her head, but it only cracked and hit the floor. His arms flailed about in confusion.

“YOU TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME! EVERYTHING! I HAVE NOBODY, NOTHING! IT WAS ONLY ALISON! AND THEN YOU KILL HER! YOU FUCKING KILLED HER YOU FUCKING SHIT STAIN OF A MAN” Kait watched as his veins raised in his face, desperately trying to pump blood through his body. She wasn’t going to let it. She wasn’t going to allow him to live when all he did was take and take.

“Kait….pl….” His voice began to sound far away. Kait watched as his eyes rolled back into his head, and his purple face beat with the trapped blood. She loosened her fingers just a bit, and leaned in towards his mouth, and listened.

Nothing.

Not a breath, not a gurgle, not even the sound of his heart. Kait pressed her chest against his, and waited. When she felt nothing, she pressed her lips against his. He was warm, his lips tasted like cheap beer and cigarettes, but they sat lifeless beneath her own.

“I just wanted to see what the fuss was about” She whispered as she pulled away.

Kait’s phone started buzzing. She rolled her eyes and picked it up without looking to see who it was.

“Hello?”

“Kait? It’s Ali. I’m sorry it took me so long….I just needed some space. Jeremy said that you were coming over, so I’m assuming you’re there? I’ll be up in a minute I got off early.”

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.