Page 28 of Burn For Me

The night bike rides were becoming a bit of a passion, and even when I didn’t have a destination in mind, I’d take the bike out for a ride around the block after the sun had set. The air was cooler and seemed cleaner, and there was a lot less traffic. I worried less about being recognized by someone. Best of all, the rides seemed to calm the ghosts that visited like unwanted relatives that had overstayed their welcome. At least what I thought that would feel like.

My legs pumped hard, the muscles burning with the strain of the steep incline, and I savored the pain. It meant that I was free and alive and that I didn’t have to eat crap food or take pills that made me feel like my body wasn’t my own.

I couldn’t deny that the rides were also getting me into better shape than I ever could’ve achieved from my small room in the asylum. The only sound was the thumping of my heart and my heavy breaths as I crested the top of the hill.

Spotting taillights off to the side of the road, I almost laughed aloud as I recognized the black BMW. The bike’s tires rolled down the hill silently. I could’ve stopped and offered help, but I wasn’t in the mood, so I peddled past the car.

“Hey!”

I looked over my shoulder, and as I did, I stared into the eyes of the same girl that had stood in line behind me at the store. I didn’t believe in coincidences, and a little flutter took flight in my stomach as my earlier fantasy came surging up from the dark depths of my mind. It was like I could get it to go dormant for only so long before it needed to taste the sweet bite of death. This night was looking up.

Gripping the brakes on the handlebar, I stopped the bike. “What?”

“I need you to fix my tire. It’s your fault that it has a leak, so you should fix it.”

My eyebrows shot up. “Really? And how do you figure that?”

“I had to swerve around you, and that’s when my tire started losing air.”

She got out of the vehicle and began picking at something under her nail as her bottom lip pushed out in a dumb-looking pout. Didn’t she know that pouting stopped being cute once you were no longer a kid?

“I’ll help you,” I said, the dark desire pressing in on my mind as I stared at her arrogant features.

She wasn’t part of my plan, and I should stick to my plan, but there was no denying that a large part of me wanted to kill her. In theory, I knew it was wrong to enjoy the ideas of the screams of her death or the scent of her burning hair and her perfectly manicured nails.

Then again, I’d be doing the world a justice since she obviously didn’t have any common sense or survival skills, and we didn’t need any more humans like her breeding. I’d be saving her potential kids from turning into the same fucking pieces of shit she was.

I put the kickstand down, moved the bike to the edge of the road, and rounded the side of the car to take a look at the flat tire. It was right down on the rim. There was no way this happened because she supposedly had to swerve around me. She continued to stand on the other side of the car and glared at me over the trunk.

“Do you have a spare?”

“How would I know,” she asked, my fist clenching at my side.

I was thankful for the darkness and lack of streetlights because I was positive my eyes would be showing exactly what I wanted to do to her and her smart mouth.

“Pop your trunk and turn off your car,” I said, forcing my voice to remain calm.

“Why?”

“Do you want me to change the fucking tire or not,” I asked through clenched teeth.

“Wow, no need to be an ass wipe about it.” She stomped around to the driver’s side of the car, leaned in the open door, and shut off her car before popping the trunk. There was an assortment of bags, and I pushed them aside to get at the spare tire access. “Hey, don’t push those. They may wrinkle.”

Keep talking. It gives me more reason to light you up.

I didn’t say anything as she continued to complain and mumble about no cell service and stomped her foot.

“How long is this going to take? I’m late for a party, and I need to call my friend.” I pulled the tire from the trunk and was happy it wasn’t a stupid little spare tire.

I wanted so badly to tell her she didn’t have to worry about her party or her friends anymore because she didn’t have long to live, but that would’ve ruined the surprise, and we all deserved surprises in our lives.

“It takes as long as it takes,” I said.

More groaning and annoyed mumbling reached my ears, but I ignored her whiny disdain. I was what you would call a self-taught professional when it came to blocking out all those that were annoying. I’d done it on more than one occasion when I was forced to endure Dr. Wallace’s lectures. They usually entailed bullshit like ‘I could be helped’ and ‘I would get out one day.’ All I needed to do was get in touch with my feelings.

Well, I was in touch with my feelings, and my feelings told me that I didn’t like Dr. Wallace and was looking forward to my plans of roasting his ass, but that wasn’t really what he meant.

I got the car lifted up on the jack, and it took some elbow grease, but the nuts on the wheel finally loosened, and I was able to get the tire off. I made sure to put it in the trunk before putting on the spare.