I waited for Jacie where we had agreed to meet.
I knew she wouldn't turn up on time, but I also knew she would be here - just on her own terms.
I had no problem with that.
I wasn't nervous about the deal, or what would happen once she arrived. I had bigger things in my mind, a bigger gamble - with everything at stake.
I tried to stay focused, but even after having taken many lives with my own hands - the very hands that ended others' lives were now trembling.
Then I heard approaching footsteps - a muffled sound on the earthy ground of the hiking trail. Only Mary could make her steps click wherever she walked on.
And this bitch was the furthest one could get from who Mary was.
An absolute scum of the earth.
"Hey."
Jacie called out to me as she appeared at the back of the public toilet I was waiting at, with a flashlight from her phone to see in the dark.
"Hey," I replied.
"You got the pictures?" She went straight to business.
"Yes."
"And you got the money?" Of course, she wanted to double confirm.
"Yes."
"Let me see the pictures first."
I took out a bunch of Polaroid photos out of my pocket and held them up.
"Bring them here so I can see them," Jacie said, keeping her distance from me, a few steps away.
"You come here."
"I'm not getting close to you, you freak."
A freak I was.
I took a step closer to her with the photos in one hand.
"Show me the money too."
"I will pay once you give me her pictures," I said, giving her a chance to reject me.
"I'm not taking pictures before I get paid," she said, biting the chance she got.
"If I hand over Mel's pictures to you and also the money first, how do I know you will keep your words later?" I asked.
"You will just have to trust me," Jacie scoffed.
"Fair enough," I said, giving in, playing the fool.
"Let me get my notes out," I continued.
"Notes?"
"I told you I want custom pictures. I wrote down what I want."
The whore then laughed again, just like earlier in the day.
"Ha! You are hilarious."
"Hey, don't judge me for my taste."
I shrugged, pulled my backpack to the front and unzipped it.
I took a file folder out.
"What the hell? You have so many requests?"
She was taken aback a little.
"I included sketches. Poses I want. Words I want written."
"You sick fuck!" Jacie exclaimed. She was happy. Very happy.
To see someone so depraved, someone as depraved as her, someone who is an exact mirror image of her but can point at and laugh with zero self-reflection and awareness of the irony: I, the freak, was being laughed at by a whore who had written "Cum Deposit" on a helpless girl.
I extended my arm and handed over the binder, and just as she held the end of it, I pulled out the knife I hid inside it.
"What the-"
Her words were cut short as I immediately plunged the knife into her lower belly. It felt firm, well-toned - something she was proud to show off in her crop top, sexy.
And now you are fucked.
Jacie screamed in shock and pain, and I knew - from experience - that people can run pretty far with such a wound. It took me a while to catch Jude that first time too, right in this exact area.
So before she could react further, I took the knife out and stabbed her again.
And again.
And again.
I stabbed her belly at least seven times while grabbing her by her throat, squeezing hard. She was choking and could not scream anymore.
I looked into her eyes as they shook in pain and in a desperate search for help.
Seeing that now she had no chance to run, I let her drop.
She fell with a thud and managed to let out a scream, so I shut her up with pebbles and soil I could scrape from the ground.
Now she couldn't speak so well.
I rolled up her top to expose the burst belly, and unzipped her jeans to pull it down as I sat on her thighs. She was in such overwhelming pain that she couldn't even flail her arms or resist.
As a final touch, I pushed in just the tip of the knife onto her pelvis, and leaned in to bring my face closer to hers. I could see that she still had life in her and she was still conscious.
Good. Just as I wanted.
Looking into her eyes as she lay there helpless, unable to move, unable to speak, I slowly dragged the tip of the knife from her pelvis to the mound of her pussy.
"It's this way, isn't it? You fucking cum deposit."
But of course, I didn't have any desire to use her in that way.
I only wanted those to be the last words she ever heard before her life ended as I choked her to death.
She wouldn't live in my dreams.
There wouldn't be a hell for her.
She dies here, tonight, for eternity.
After I was certain that she was dead, I flopped onto my back and breathed heavily.
It was exhausting.
This life, this world, this co-existence with the foul creatures - it was sickening.
I put the knife on my left jugular. I could feel the bloody blade against my pulse.
I slit myself.
Mary,
I'm at your mercy.