The Obsession

by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Because, Delilah, I’m meant to save you, and I’m not one to turn away from destiny.

walked toward the back door. As I passed by the jack that was holding his car up, I swung my foot out and tripped the lever. The car sagged to the floor with terrifying swiftness. Despite the loud music, I heard the crunch as three and a half thousand pounds of solid metal sank into Brandon, crushing his bones. There was a scream, cut short as his ribs cracked and stabbed into his lungs. I stood there, frozen, reality nothing but an abstract concept. Time seemed to stop. Pink Floyd continued blasting in my ears. And still I stood there, staring at the car, registering nothing.

over Brandon, anyway. They were tears of shock. I couldn’t believe that I’d finally done it, finally broken out

my frozen, terrified hamster state and killed the asshole.

No, I needed to protect Delilah. Maybe I should delete it altogether, but it felt wrong to erase such an important part of Delilah. This was proof that my love for her was real. I loved all of her, not just the soft, lovely side of her, but the hard, jagged one, too.

“You like the same band I do, you read the same books I do… Have you been stalking me?”

I was holding Delilah’s hand! And more than that, it wasn’t a pity handhold. Sophie used to do that, when she was in between boyfriends, when she was bored or lonely or felt my attention was wavering. She’d text me, ask me to meet at “our spot”—it was always “our” spot when she wanted me, “her” spot once she’d hooked up with the boyfriend du jour.

good enough for her. But it was fine with me. Touching her, any part of her, lying next to her in our little copse, listening to her go on about her asshole exes, I knew every curve of her mind, the parts no one else did.

Now, of course, I realized Mom was right all along. But that no longer mattered.

Mom winked at me when she passed me my bagel. Lowering her voice, she leaned close and said, “I like him, sweetie. I think he’s a keeper.” Mom always did have the worst taste in guys.

“Gosh, Logan, you are really spoiling us!” Mom said after she finished her second plate of Stalketti.

Lol

Did he know that killing Brandon wasn’t my only secret? That I had another one, which was perhaps just as bad, if not worse than that? Did he know I was Draycott’s drug dealer?

Then I inched away but not toward the gate. I went around the corner, and there I hit the jackpot: there was a wall trellis at the back of the house that went all the way up to the second floor. My blood roared in my ears. Surely this was an invitation. Fate was telling me I should take this chance. Climb up. Go inside.

“Hellooo, earth to Dee,” Aisha said, waving her hand in front of my face. “Come on, let’s go get lunch.” “Can we stay?” I muttered. The coil of vivid colors was moving. Lucy had sensed prey. “Uh, who are you and what have you done with my best friend?” Aisha asked.

She’s starting to like the hunt too much…

The rat was me. Or rather, it used to be me. But not anymore. I wasn’t going to let Logan corner me and swallow me whole like I was some helpless prey. Step Three: be the snake.

Yup

Just a ruse. No, see, she doesn’t understand how cruel the world can be. She doesn’t know, even after the way Brandon hurt her, she doesn’t know that you’re her only sanctuary. It’s hopeless. Without you, she’ll only get hurt again. She’ll run into another bad guy. If you want her to be truly yours, forever and ever, you’ll need to make sure nothing bad ever happens to her. Her life is so chaotic right now. It needs order. It needs saving. And to save her, you need to take it, take her life— “NO!” I shouted. Everything shattered into silence. No, no. I couldn’t go down that route. Not again. Not after Sophie.

But she didn’t. She looked like she wanted to run away from me. I knew then that I had no choice. I had to kill her, to stop her from running away from me. To save her.

The video didn’t matter. I could delete that, no problem. It wouldn’t make a difference. All that mattered was making sure she was mine. Mine for eternity.

Because one thing I had learned about predators is that there can only be one around. Lisa, Brandon, and Logan were all predators, in their own ways. And, as it turned out, so was I. Maybe Lisa sensed that I was a bit of a natural when it came to killing predators. That I was the snake after all. And maybe, just maybe, I liked it a little.

Oop period crazy