When I was on the edge of losing consciousness, his fingers loosened one at a time, and I began choking as I tried to suck in air. My eyes were wide open as I looked around wildly, but when I caught the briefest glimpse of Collin’s, I’d wished I’d kept them closed.
Not lifeless. Still murderous. Not my monster. Something new, something terrifying, something I knew I would never see again because he was finally finished with me. Collin’s lips twitched into a quick smile, and he grabbed my hair in his hand as he stood up and began dragging me over frames and broken glass.
I think some type of cry was forced from my chest, but it sounded weak. My whole body felt weak. The left side of my face was wet and warm, and even though I could breathe freely now, I wasn’t sure how long I had before I could no longer keep my eyes open.
The hardwood below me changed to carpet, and something like horror spiked through my body when I realized he was dragging me through the guest room. In between trying to keep myself conscious, I once again thought that Collin must know about Knox, must have somehow known that he’d been in the house this afternoon—but then Collin kept dragging me until I was on tile.
I heard the bathwater turn on and whimpered in protest. We didn’t have a tub in our bathroom, mostly because Collin hated them, and whenever he cleaned me up or had some kind of water punishment, it was done in the shower—never the bath. Regardless, I hated those punishments, and didn’t want to have to fight this. But instead of undressing me like he normally would, Collin lifted me just to drop me into the large tub, which had hardly any water in it yet. I cried out when my body smacked down on the hard acrylic, and even though I didn’t try to get up, Collin pressed his hands against my chest to keep me in place after he put the stopper in to let the water start collecting.
I looked up at him in panic. His face was perfectly composed—he almost looked bored, as if he was watching grass grow. The murderous look had left, but in its place was an emptiness I’d never seen. I’d thought his eyes had been lifeless before—but this was like he was really dead.
“Collin. Collin!” I tried to yell, but my voice was hoarse and soft. “Collin, please!” I started breathing too roughly—but the movements made breathing harder from how much weight he was putting on my chest—and as the water rose higher and higher, I began hyperventilating. My thrashing in the tub wasn’t helping me. “Collin!”
He sighed, and his eyes drifted to where the water was splashing over the edge of the tub, and then down to his arms. “Now I’m going to have to change again.” He sounded annoyed by that, but he didn’t move his arms as the water rose higher up them and over his tie. “Which shirt should I wear tonight, Harlow? I think I’d like to wear my green tie. Do you know which one? Not the one with the design on it. The solid green one.”
“Collin!” I screamed over the water, and tried to raise my head higher when it started drifting over my lips.
“Well, do you know which tie, or not?”
“Forest green,” I spit out, and he nodded absentmindedly.
“Now, which shirt do I wear with that, Harlow, and don’t say black. I need to know.”
I blinked quickly and tried to calm my mind. The sooner I thought of a shirt, the sooner he’d let me up. “Um. Gray. Light gray.” My panic went into overdrive when I saw the slightest twitch at the corner of his lips, and knew he didn’t like my answer. “P-pale green! Gray vest!” I shouted around more water. “Collin, please!”
Collin dipped his head in a slight nod, as if he was happy with what I’d suggested, and then his dead eyes finally met mine again. “You claimed you didn’t feel well after visiting your sister, so I decided to let you stay home. How horrible will it be for your parents when they find out you are the reason their youngest daughter has gotten into the drug scene? That your guilt over her near-death experience drove you to . . .” He smirked and clicked his tongue. “Well.”
“Collin! Collin, no!” I screamed, and my thrashing increased.
He leaned over the tub to kiss my forehead. All of his weight on my chest caused me to sink deeper and the air to rush out of me. I tried to grab at him, but I couldn’t get a good hold on him, and my panic was making me clumsy in my movements.
“Collin! I’ll do whatever you want, be whatever you need,” I promised as water filled my mouth and slid down my throat. “Please don’t do this!”
He used my chest as support to stand up, and shook his head once. “I love you,” he said in a detached voice before he released my chest.
The last thing I remember was using what little energy I had left to push out of the water before he grabbed the side of my head and slammed it down onto the edge of the tub. I was sliding into the water when darkness pulled me into its arms.
Chapter 17
Knox
Present Day—Thatch
“STOP MURDERING THE damn carpet, Christ!” Graham yelled when he stepped inside the house a few hours after I’d snuck out Harlow’s back door.