I looked at my clothes. I didn’t know it would stain that much. I needed to stop wearing my favourite clothes if it was going to get like this. The nearly invisible teddy prints on the sleeves caught my eye and I almost smiled.
Almost.
I particularly liked the one that gave me this. Really sweet guy, Brad. I brushed off an invisible lint from it as my eyes began to get cloudy with tears. It was too bad that after everything, he said I wasn’t the one for him. That I was way too skinny. Way too crazy. He’d hurt me.
Yeah, that he did.
I started to pull off the hoodie to toss it into the blazing fireplace at the front of my dingy basement apartment when my phone rang. I grumbled as I put the hoodie back in place and glanced at the caller ID.
It was my best friend, Stacey.
“Hey Stace, I was just about to call...” I was silenced by her choked sobs.
“Oh my God, Lin.” She cried brokenly.
“What’s the matter, Stace? Is something wrong? Is it your parents?”
Stacey kept walking and I decided to let her cry it out even though my heart was hammering in my chest.
What had happened to her?
“You won’t believe it, Lin.” She finally said in between sobs.
“Breathe, Stace. Breathe and talk to me. What’s wrong, girl?”
“Its. Jeremy.”
“Jeremy? Like your boyfriend, Jeremy?”
I could practically touch Stacey’s exasperated hiss. “Yes, Linda. Who else do I know named Jeremy?”
“Okay, what happened to him?”
She started crying again. “Remember I said he’d been missing for a while?”
“Yeah, I do. I also remember the black eye he gave you before he went missing.”
“Lin, please stop,” Stacey said crying harder.
“CAN YOU JUST TALK TO ME?!” I was beyond exasperated at this point. “Did he come back?”
“Yeah, he did. In a body bag.”
“Oh my God,” I gasped. “Oh my God, Stace. I’m so sorry.”
“They murdered him, Lin. They cut up his body to pieces and left it outside my front door. What kind of monster would do that, Lin?”
Definitely a person without a conscience, that’s for sure.
“Did you call the Police?”
“Yeah, I did. They just left after taking my statement.”
I paused a bit. “But wait. How do you know it’s Jeremy if he was cut up?”
“Are you saying I don’t know my boyfriend? It was clearly him, Lin. He still even had that hoodie I got him for our anniversary.”
“That’s crazy, Stace. I mean he was an arsehole. But no one deserves that.” I wish I didn’t have to ask but I did anyway. “Do you want me over by the house? I can’t imagine how spooked you must be?”
Her voice dropped then. “Yeah, I’d like it if you came. I made dinner.”
“You were able to make dinner? How’s that even possible? And what did you make?”
“I made an omelette. And then I grilled.”
“What did you grill?”
“Bacon. And a little bit of ....heart.”
“Heart?” I gasped then and burst into laughter. “No way, girl. I told you to leave it alone.”
She let out a dark chuckle. “And miss out on the taste of something so delicious? Not a chance.”
I giggled. “I was surprised when we finally cut him up though. I expected to see...”
“Nothing? Me too. Like a cheater and abuser was capable of having a heart.”
“Beats me.”
We paused a bit and went into throes of laughter then. I didn’t stop laughing till tears ran down my cheeks.
When I could finally breathe, I muttered weakly. “You should sign up for Hollywood, Stace. You’re a natural. I was almost worried that you were speaking of someone else in the beginning.”
Her voice was sinisterly soft. “Oh please, un-aliving cheating men is definitely a more exhilarating skill.”
I looked at my still bloody hoodie. “Yeah, it sure is.”
“Need to hang up now. Got a mountain worth of assignments and I still reek of this idiot's bloody scent. Literally.”
“Wait,” I called out.
“What?”
“Did you really... eat his heart?”
“Sweetie, over red wine too.”
I chuckled nervously. My friend was finally unhinged. “You’re a crazy person.”
“Right back at you, darling,” She squealed back at me before hanging up.
I laughed as I whisked the hoodie off me and into the fireplace. As the hot stream of water caressed me in the shower, washing away the final traces of blood, I wondered to myself. Why didn’t I think of eating Brad’s heart as well?
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