A Pawn of the Devil Part 7
The city loomed before Sarah as she drove. It took the rest of the day to get close enough to see the lights of tall buildings and signs. Her chest began to tighten. Breathing became difficult. She pulled onto the shoulder of the road and slammed on her brakes.
Thoughts swirled in her head. Just interacting with one person nearly caused her to kill him. What would happen with an entire city? Not all of them were like the man she nearly ended, but enough were. Would he want to kill innocent people, too? Sarah began hyperventilating. That damn Xaphan did this to her. He tortured her and made her want to kill. She had heard of abuse before, but was this normal? Did the victim turn out like she had?
She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. Just because he did what he did, doesn’t mean he can have control of what she does now. Finally, Sarah began to breathe normal. Her heart stopped trying to break free. Test or no test, she would show Xaphan that he couldn’t control her.
Putting the truck back into drive, she pulled onto the road again. Another hour had her entering the city limits. Cars zoomed everywhere. Lights blinked, people strolled along sidewalks, horns honked, and music played from some store briefly as she drove by. It was almost too much for her senses. Looking at all the people walking and chatting with each other didn’t seem to raise any red flags yet. Sarah wasn’t seeing red when a car dashed around her for going too slow, either. Maybe that man was just a one-time thing.
Sarah found a mostly empty parking lot just outside of a bar. She pulled in and parked in a spot farthest away from any other cars. Parking here was probably not a good idea. Drunk people were usually very annoying, and that was before Xaphan flayed open her skin repeatedly, but if she didn’t want to get caught for stealing the truck, this was a good place to leave it. The man seemed like he would visit bars a lot. She took a few moments to rummage through the glove compartment and under the bench seats. Just as suspected, he had both a gun and a knife. He also had a rather large wad of cash in the glove box. It was strange, but who was she to question.
Taking the knife and money, Sarah exited the truck. There was no way she would even touch the gun. It was too easy to shoot someone if she saw red again. With a knife, she might be able to stop herself before killing. The cash was an added benefit since there was nowhere she could stay, and no one she knew in this city. Maybe coming here was a mistake. Going back home would have given her a support group of friends and doctors, but Sarah couldn’t risk hurting loved ones. This had to be the better choice.
She walked a while down the semi-crowded street. Bits and pieces of conversations drifted in her ears. They all seemed pretty happy. Lucky people. None of these pedestrians had to endure what Sarah did. None of them had to now live with being so dramatically changed. They could laugh and joke. They could interact with each other without worrying about hurting each other. Sarah used to be like them. She used to be normal. Even if this was some hallucination test, she would never be normal again.
A drunk man bumped into Sarah and splashed his beer down her arm. He grabbed her shirt, “Watch where you are going bitch! You made me spill my beer!”
Sarah tightened her grip on the small knife. It wouldn’t do much damage with one stab but repeated ones could. For such a big man, she was shocked at how small the blade was. This man, however, was about to test how many stabs it took to get to the center of an idiot. Her vision began to grow darker, filled the edges with red. Sarah stepped into his face but didn’t speak.
“Whoa, whoa! Let’s not fight you two.” A petite brunette pulled him back away from Sarah. When he was far enough away, the woman pleadingly looked at Sarah. “He’s an idiot. I’m so sorry.” She pulled out some wet wipes from her small black purse. “Here, let me help get that cleaned up.”
Sarah jerked away just before the woman could touch her. “No. It’s ok. I… I have to go.” Sarah took off running as hard as she could. She wove in and out of the crowds trying to not touch a single person. As she ran, she looked for somewhere she could lay low for a while. None of the higher end hotels would take cash so she stopped at sketchy looking motel. The rooms lined a parking lot behind the check in building creating a horse shoe pattern.
After checking in, she went all the way down to the back row. Several rooms had their occupants sitting outside on lawn furniture smoking cigars or marijuana. Other people stood drinking beer. This would be a true test of her self-control for sure. Eyes followed Sarah the whole way until she finally opened her door and bolted it from inside. This could definitely be a major mistake.
Her stomach growled loudly. Sharp pains shot through her body. As hungry as she was, there was no way she would attempt going back outside right now. When the other tenants where asleep in the daytime, she would go get food. Until then, sleep seemed the best idea. What would happen when she did, though? Would she wake up back in the cave? The thought of that happening chased away any tiredness.
Sarah crawled up on the bed, bringing her knees to her chest. She rocked forward and back as tears streamed down her face. What would she do now? What was she supposed to do? She didn’t have a job or any friends here. That was a double-edged sword. On one side, she wouldn’t hurt anyone, but on the other side, she would soon run out of money and starve or have to live on the streets with no walls to separate her from others. She would eventually end up in jail or an institution. Maybe that would be for the best.
Sometime during the night, her exhaustion, both emotionally and physically, caused her to fall asleep. Only when streams of sunshine hit her face did she wake up screaming. It took quite a bit to realize where she was. There was sun and a soft bed. It wasn’t the cave after all. She relaxed fully letting her body finally enjoy the safety of her small motel room.
