Prologue - The Safe Room

This is the way to end it, with a knife in her hand, barefoot, and with the man she wants to murder snoring in his bed.

She tightens her grip on the weapon and a cold sensation slides down her spine. Everything rests on her acting quickly, without hesitation. All it will take are a few slashes and stabs and he’ll be gone from this world, taking his poison with him. She won’t feel sorry for him because he’s had it coming.

But it’s one thing planning the attack, actually going through with it is another. Now she feels the adrenaline, the fear and the sick sensation burning at the back of her throat. He’s right there, just a few feet away from her, and she has to act or get out. There’s no in-between.

The room stinks of stale sweat. She tiptoes around mounds of clothes, almost bumping against the bed frame. Not once, but twice, she stands on a bulky, hard object, using all her willpower not to cry out in pain. Her feet tangle in the discarded items and she stumbles, breathing in sharply. This is it. He must have heard her unsteady steps now. But he’s a deep sleeper. She pauses, feeling sweat trickle down her temples. As her breathing comes out laboured and frantic, his remains regular. She wishes her heart was so steady. Hers is jumping under her bones, an electric rhythm in her chest. She takes another step closer to the bed, and she can see his shape, the way his head is turned away. A sliver of moonlight creeps through the gap in his cheap curtains, illuminating the pale, tender skin of his Adam’s apple.

There, she thinks. That is where I’ll strike. I’ll aim for the jugular.

Then, she adds some quick reassurance. I can do this. I have to do this. I have to make it stop.

Her body trembles from head to toe. She has never done anything like this before, but she can’t lose her resolve now. There’s only one truth that she understands completely: the world would be a better place with this man dead.

Before she has another thought, she raises the knife, slashes, and watches the blood paint the walls.