Chapter 173 – A Knife in the Darkness – Holly Hayfield

It was impossible to turn down Val’s offer. This was the type of thing I desperately wanted to set up long ago. When Val told me that Ellie herself already agreed to it my decision to go was never in question. If she was ready to reunite, then so was I.

Val hurried off for work and I was left to my thoughts. To say that I wasn’t nervous would be a lie. What would she think of me now? How would she look at me? Worrying about such minor details was pointless since she was in contact with Val and Zara, but the questions still lingered in my mind.

When I thought about her, I couldn’t help but to think of that bloody day. That single day when my life’s path forked off into a new direction. That day when she looked at me with absolute horror in her eyes. Would she look at me the same way the moment we laid eyes on each other?

Had I even changed much since then? There were bloodstains laden on my soul, far more now than when I last saw her. Part of me didn’t feel worthy of meeting her. I was sent to my new school to heal and return to my old self, but instead I embraced the monster within.

This opportunity came at an inauspicious time. My conflict with Crystal Gray was inevitable and I needed to come to a decision. A decision that reflected on who I truly was at heart. At the end of the day, who was I? Was I Holly Hayfield, school counselor and student extraordinaire? Or was that the true cover up for my true, dark personality, the Killing Cat?

This was a torturous crossroads. I could practically hear Malorie’s spirit egging me on, begging me to continue the bloody work. Yet, the image of Ellie’s face that day kept appearing in my mind repeatedly, tormenting me. I was in no frame of mind to make a final decision now, but things had to carry on.

I needed to know Crystal Gray.

Specifically, I needed to learn what she was up to and thwart whatever she was planning. She took a massive risk when she went after Sarah, and another risk when she contacted Jacob. I was done speculating about her plans. Now was the time for answers.

Late on Saturday night Alyssa gave me a ride to the former college campus that we knew Sarah was hiding at. This college received assistance from the state and built an entirely new and improved campus elsewhere. They planned to turn this old campus into affordable student housing, but never went through with it when the state refused the secondary funding.

The plan wasn’t entirely scrapped, only mothballed. Every time the college administrators were asked about it by TV journalists, they’d always say that the project would start ‘next year’. It became a running joke among locals since they started saying ‘next year’ almost ten years ago.

Alyssa dropped me off at one of the buildings far from the target location. I’d need to make my final approach on foot. It was dark out, but this area wasn’t completely abandoned by the city. There were still a few streetlights and the occasional driver passing through.

“I’m heading off.” I said to Alyssa as I put the extra helmet in her bag.

“Are you sure that you shouldn’t have brought more daggers? You look less equipped than usual.”

“I’m sure. I’m not going in for the kill. I’m just going to look around the place.”

“Okay. I’ll go refuel at the gas station and wait there. Give me a call when you’re ready for the pickup.”

“Gotcha. See you soon.”

Alyssa made a U-turn on her scooter and left in the direction that we came from. As for me, I finished putting my mask on and raised the hood of my hoodie. This place was sufficiently dark that my clothing gave me an advantage. I’d just need to be mindful of my surroundings as I walked.

“Just a quick look.” I whispered to myself.

My confidence wasn’t at an all-time high. This was less because of the mission at hand and more because of my wandering mind. The moment I put on the mask my earlier musings returned in full force and my self-doubt bubbled to the surface.

I worked to violently quash these intrusive thoughts. This was no time for second thoughts. More was at risk here than my own sanity and ego. A stupid mess up here could result in my detection, or worse, my death. I knew Crystal was liable to have a weapon on her, unlike most of my other targets.

Just as I was thinking about not being caught, a CCTV swiveled on its wall mount to face my direction! I quickly threw myself against the side of the nearest building! This alleyway was too dark to be lit by the nearest streetlight, assuring my anonymity. Still, that was a painfully close call.

“Idiot…” I slapped my own head in frustration. “Get yourself together.”

A few minutes of careful observation revealed that the CCTV camera’s turning was routine and fully automated. It would turn back and forth every minute or two, shifting between two streets. It wasn’t connected to the building that I was aiming for, but I’d need to time it carefully to get past undetected.

After getting down the street without being caught on camera, I took a moment to gather myself. Just like Alyssa said, someone was living up in the top room of this old building. The lights flickering on inside was reminiscent of TV lighting. Someone was up there.

I didn’t bother going towards the door. Instead, I planned to pry open one of the windows with a tool that I brought. To my surprise, I didn’t even need it. The very first window I tried to open was already unlocked. Was Crystal Gray this careless? Sarah Rivera I could understand, but Crystal?

I was sure that she’d be better prepared than this. This was just sloppy. After what happened with Sarah, she knew that I was coming after her. Her threatening messages to Jacob assured me of that. It gave me an uneasy feeling. I’d need to approach this entire operation with more caution than usual.

I climbed into the window and assessed the area. Despite its abandoned nature of the rest of the campus, this building’s interior was clean. The college that owned it must’ve routinely paid people to maintain it. Crystal must’ve realized that her position here was unsustainable. She’d be discovered here eventually.

There was a fanciful metal staircase at the center of the otherwise empty room. This looked like a lobby room that was used by the college facility back when it was still in use. There was a bright light shooting straight down the center of the circular stairwell. A trap placed there by Crystal, no doubt. I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a camera up there somewhere to warn her of my approach.

Instead, I got my lockpicking tools out and unlocked the fire escape stairwell on the far side of the room. This door was harder to unlock than what I was used to, but I managed somehow. I cracked the door open slowly to peek inside cautiously. It was dark and quiet inside, the perfect path for my approach.

The stairwell was so dark that I had to step carefully. I couldn’t risk using my cell phone’s light. Instead, I held the handrail until I reached the top floor. This building was five stories tall, six including the attic that Crystal was living in. It was a mistake for her to shelter inside a public building with online blueprints.

The building was dead silent. This was normally good for me, but right now it felt like a bad omen. My cartoonish mental image of ‘ninja-like silence’ motivated me to tread lightly. My footsteps up the stairwell were obnoxiously loud, despite my careful efforts. The echo carried up the narrow passage.

When I reached the top door, I cracked it open slowly so that I could peek ahead. The entire attic space was converted into a loft at some point. There was so much furniture here that it probably wasn’t Crystal that brought it in. This was possibly something the former college did long ago.

The door opened into a T-shaped corridor, with the fire escape door opening in the middle of the three-way intersection. To the left and right of me were assorted decorations, a couple of chairs, and a few empty plant holders. There were windows on both ends of the intersection.

Down the hall was the loft’s main living space. There was a large couch there, along with additional living room furniture. That area was well lit thanks to the flatscreen TV that was playing an old black-and-white flick, with the volume turned up loudly.

Most importantly, someone was there.

She was so invested in her movie did that she didn’t hear me come in. This was unbelievable! Originally, I was only here to collect information on this place, but this changed things. I didn’t imagine that she’d be such an easy target. I overestimated her since she killed her former accomplice.

I approached her with one of my knives at the ready. It wasn’t hard to creep up behind her with the TV so loud. It was unwise for her to be lounging casually like this while hiding from both me and the police. Maybe she didn’t expect that I’d find her so soon? Regardless, this mistake would be her last regret.

The moment I got within range I grabbed her by the hair and violently wrenched her head back as I raised one of my daggers!

Only… It wasn’t her…

It was a poorly made stuffed doll with a wig on. The wig came loose and fell to the floor the moment I let go. There was a note taped to the doll’s head that simply said ‘Amateur!’ on it. One troubling thing about this doll was that it had a stitched mouth.

Just like Malorie…

Suddenly a powdery-white smoke began leaking from the doll’s chest! I covered my face with my elbow and backed away. It was a trap! How could I fall for such a stupid trap?! I turned to run back to the fire escape door and saw the source of my mistake.

There was a small tripwire attached to the top of the door. It must have triggered a silent alarm the moment I opened the door. Shit! This was a bad idea! The white gas was continuing to fill the room, I had no choice but to flee in the direction I came.

Gunfire rang out the moment I stepped through the door. The bullet missed and buzzed right past me, but not by much. I let the fire escape door close and crouched down into total darkness. A few more gunshots followed soon after, but this was just rapid blind fire.

“So you finally came?” A pompous female voice came from down below. “I was beginning to worry that my e-mails to Malorie’s oaf of a brother were a gigantic waste of time. I knew you must’ve been getting information about Malorie from him. I just wasn’t sure if you were still in contact.”

She punctuated her statement with another random shot near the door behind me. This one was closer than the last few. I couldn’t escape through that door. I’d be shot in the back before I made it through. Assuming she had enough bullets, she held the advantage here. She was blocking my best way out.

“So,” She asked conversationally, “Who are you…? And don’t give me that tall tale about being Malorie’s Ghost or the spirit of Nyx or some shit like that.”

Another random bullet flew over my head.

“I never did believe in evil spirits. Your gimmick was boring the moment that Angel told me about it.”

Another two bullets flew in my general direction. She couldn’t see in this darkness, same as me. Only, she knew that I had to be near the door. I was pinned down ever since I stepped out. She, on the other hand… Yes… I could hear footfalls as she walked up the steps. She was trying to mask her approach with the gunfire, but I was onto her.

“How did an amateur manage to kill a professional like Angel?” Crystal asked. “Or any of my old friends for that matter?”

She was continuing to slowly walk upstairs as she talked. This was probably another attempt to mask her footfalls, but it wasn’t as clever as she thought it was. The stairwell was square-shaped. I could discern the difference in acoustics when she was on the steps immediately below me.

“What, nothing to say?” She asked haughtily. “I know you’re cosplaying as a girl whose mouth we stitched up, but that’s no excuse to be this shy. I have a right to know the name of the snake that’s been hunting us all down one-by-one.”

Her steps were becoming louder, and her voice clearer. She was almost on my floor level.

“Malorie and that old hag weren’t the only ones we killed you know? There was another obnoxious girl just like yourself that kept sticking her nose where it didn’t belong.”

What? Was this a real confession or was she just spewing nonsense to goad me into revealing my hiding spot?

“Sarah, Sarah, Sarah…” Crystal said in mock sorrow. “She was a weak link, even back then. She begged us to grant mercy to this pitiful girl. ‘She’s just a kid!’ she said. ‘She won’t cause trouble for us!’, as if… I was too kind to deal with her back then. It’s thanks to you that I was finally able to do what needed to be done.”

I tossed the wrench from my bag down the steps nearest me. A dozen shots rang out as Crystal emptied her handgun’s magazine in that direction! I climbed up onto the handrail and jumped across to the other side where I knew she’d be.

I smacked right into her since I couldn’t see in the dark. We both tumbled in the darkness, rolling down the steps for several levels. We nearly rolled to a stop halfway down, but I pushed her forwards when I realized that she was trying to reload her gun during all this.

I managed to fight the gun out of her hands. It went flying off the edge of the staircase and down the middle of the stairwell. However, this gave her all the time that she needed to draw a secondary weapon. A knife.

I barely saw the glint of the blade as she pulled it out. There was a glowing red ‘exit’ sign above the door on the floor level below us. It gave me enough lighting to make out the dagger and her silhouette, but nothing in detail. We both recovered from the roll and the fight really began.

I deflected her knife with my own just in time to save my throat from being cut open. I immediately realized that she was a practiced knife-fighter when she expertly rebounded from the deflection and followed up with another swing. I dodged this, but not all the way. She grazed my shoulder as I pulled away.

Her attacks didn’t relent even for a second. I could dodge and dance all day, but there was no way I was going to win a fight against her like this. I was constantly on the defensive! She was agile enough to competently match my speed.

This was my first time facing an opponent so physically gifted. I started to panic when I realized that I held no advantage over her in this fight. I wasn’t going to win. She already managed to land several glancing blows and I was panting heavier than she was. I needed to escape!

One of her attacks went lower than I expected, and I was too late to dodge it. In a quick move, she was able to duck down and slice my upper leg deep enough to draw blood. I groaned in pain at first but soon let out a loud shriek when I realized how deep the cut was.

“So you do speak after all!” She said smugly. “You can’t win with that ugly wound, not that you really had a chance against me to begin with. Let me put you out of your misery.”

She came back at me with her knife raised. I threw the knife in my hand at her to try forcing her away. She merely dodged it and kept moving towards me. I threw knife after knife until nothing was left on my belt. She dodged them, but only because she drew back defensively like I hoped.

That was all the space I needed. She ran towards me predictably. I leapt onto the handrail and landed like a gymnast on a balance beam. She wasn’t expecting that, if the hesitation in her movement was anything to go by. When she charged at me, I spun on the handrail to dodge the attack, swinging back towards her with a low kick.

The kick hit her firmly in the chest thanks to my higher vantage. It didn’t do much damage, but it pushed her against the wall behind her and caused her to fall. I jumped backwards off the handrail and ran out the exit door, sprinting across the bottom floor to exit using the window I entered through earlier.

A few gun shots came through the windows around me just as I made it out. She was too late. I crouched down below the window level and scurried away into the relative safety of the neighboring buildings. This was my worst defeat yet, but at least I escaped with my life.

“Alyssa!” I said on my phone as I limped through the alleyway. “I need you to pick me up and take me to Helga, quickly. My leg is bleeding badly... Things didn’t go well.”