Be My Toxic Valentine

She stood there looking at the blood on her hands as she tried to get rid what was left of the body. She looked around the room. Splatters and streaks of blood covered the walls and bloody paw prints could be found on the floor. As she reached to pick up a bone, she came across a large chunk of meat. She let out a whistle and four big viscous pit-bull, all various colors, came running into the room, stopping at the door. She threw them the meat before she continued to clean the unsightly room. Letting out a sigh, she decided to sit down and take a break. As she watched the dogs begin to fight over the meat she threw to them, she remembered the day that started it all.

January 30th, two weeks before Valentines Day

Ciara Witburg awoke on that cold winter morning ready to begin her usual workday. Her days were normally humdrum and monotonous, that’s why it was a surprise when she got a call from her boyfriend as soon as she woke up. As the phone began ringing the shrill and annoying noise, she glared at it before reaching over to answer it.

“Hello?”

“Good morning sweetie,” came the voice of her boyfriend. A smile came to her face as soon as she heard it.

“Good morning to you too babe. What’s up?”

“I just called to make sure you were still coming to my party tonight.”

“Of course! I’ll be there. It starts at nine, right?”

“Yeah, but can you come over at eight? I want you to help me set up.”

The smile on her face only grew, if it was possible, at the prospect of spending even more time with him. “I can do that,” she answered after a few minutes of silence.

“Good… and can you bring your friend Elise?”

“Elise? You want her to come over early too?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Oh well ya’know,” he stalled. “Just an extra pair of hands is all.”

“Oh, okay. I’ll call her later to see if she’s up for it.”

“Great, thanks babe.”

“Alright, I love you sweetie.”

“Yeah,” he said before hanging up.

Ciara Witburg let out a happy squeal before she jumped out of bed. She walked briskly to the bathroom and locked herself in, only coming out when she had showered and was fully dressed for the day. She looked at her bedside clock and noticed that she had just enough time to get to work if there was light traffic. Upon seeing this, she immediately left out of the house, got in her truck and drove towards her place of employment.

She was brought back to the present by one of her dogs licking the liquid crimson from her hand. Glancing at his big brown puppy dog eyes, she awed before she let him have the scrap of meat she was holding. She looked around at the bloodstained walls of the room before getting up and walking into the kitchen. She pulled out a bucket and put on a pair of rubber gloves before she began taking out the things she would need in order to clean the unsightly room. After putting a combination of bleach, lighter fluid, peroxide and lemon juice into the bucket, and grabbing a sponge off of a nearby counter, she carefully brought it back to the bedroom and sat it against the wall. She rushed the dogs the dogs out of the room before she began scrubbing.

Ciara was so excited about the party that she could hardly concentrate on work. She had called her friend Elise up on her lunch hour and was now on her way to pick her up. Ciara pulled in front of Elise’s house and shut off the engine. She let out a sigh before pulling out her cell phone and punching in the number of her best friend. it rang twice before someone answered.

“Hello?”

“Elise?” Ciara asked. “I’m outside.”

“Okay, I’m on my way out,” Elise said before hanging up the phone.

Ciara also hung hers up and waited patiently for Elise. She didn’t have to wait long because as soon as she hung up the phone, the front door opened and out walked Elise, wearing a short black dress with sequins and a pair of matching high heeled shoes. Ciara looked down at her black T-shirt and jeans, felling under dressed. Elise came up and knocked on the passenger side door. Ciara looked at her before reaching over to unlock it, she just knew Elise would say something about her outfit.

“It’s about time you got here,” Elise said while opening and taking her seat in the passenger side.

“Sorry, I’m late Elise. I got a little sidetracked,” Ciara said while putting the car in drive and ignoring the glare that Elise was giving her.

“It was those dogs wasn’t it?” she didn’t give Ciara a chance to answer before she continued. “You shouldn’t have so many dogs. They might turn on you.

As Ciara stopped at a red light, she took the time to turn on her radio. She turned to Elise and spoke only four words.

“I love my dogs,” she said before pressing a button her radio, causing My Chemical Romance’s “My Way Home is Through You” to echo throughout her truck and drown out any noise that may have come from Elise. She continued driving once the light had turned green, a slight smile on her face.

Ciara drove to her boyfriends house and found a parking spot on the street. Elise had hopped out of the car before Ciara was fully in the spot. Ciara cut the car off before she got out as well. She walked up the driveway and entered the house. She saw Elise had already started to set up the living room. The first thing Ciara did was search for her boyfriend. She headed toward the kitchen, only stopping when someone had called her name.

“Ciara!”

Ciara faced the direction of the voice that called her. She watched as a girl with tan skin, curly brown hair and a smile on her face approached her.

“Hi Amber,” Ciara replied with a smile before being pulled into a hug. When they separated, Amber spoke.

“Ciara, it’s so nice to see you.”

“Thanks Amber, it’s nice to see you too.”

“So, Ciara,” Amber said taking her arm and leading her back towards the living room. “How has things been going lately?”

Ciara looked at Amber blankly as they entered the living room. Amber had an expectant look on her face. Ciara let out a breath before answering.

“Fine,” she said before looking around the room. She noticed Elise was nowhere to be found. “What about you?” she asked, but another voice called out as soon as Amber opened her mouth.

“Ciara, there you are!”

A smile broke out on Ciara’s face when she saw the owner of the voice. Her boyfriend approached her and gave her a kiss, and Amber took that as her cue to leave.

“I’ll see you later Ciara,” she said while stepping away from the kissing couple. When they separated, he continued to speak.

“I’ve been looking all over for you,” he said.

“Really?” she asked. “I was looking for you too Andrew.”

She looked him up and down. He was dressed in his normal way. A crisp white button-down shirt adorned his torso and the pleats in his jeans were so apparent, they could split a hair. Ciara grabbed him by the front of his shirt and enveloped his lips in another, more passionate, kiss.

“What was that for?” he asked when he managed to pull away, slightly out of breath.

Ciara shrugged. “I don’t know. I just missed you I guess.”

“Yeah,” Andrew said. “Look, I’m glad you’re here. I need you to set up the living room.”

Just then Elise came around the corner and spotted Ciara and Andrew.

“Elise’ll help,” he said pushing her further into the living room.

“What will you do?” Ciara questioned.

“I’ll be going from room to room making sure everything’s straight.”

“Oh, okay.”

Andrew turned Ciara around and explained to her what he wanted her to do and how he wanted the room to look. Once he was sure Ciara understood, he left, leaving Ciara and Elise to their own devises. Ciara began setting up the snack table while Elise went over to the stereo. A second later, Ciara felt the vibration of a heavy bass line. Elise had turned the music up a little more before coming back over to help Ciara with the snacks. Ciara and Elise made small talk as they placed a cover over the table. It’s wasn’t long before Andrew had come back to the living room.

“Ciara,” he said approaching her.

“Andrew, I was just about to come looking for you.”

“Ciara, can you go into the kitchen and get the bag of chips that’s sitting on the counter?”

“Yeah, sure. Of course I can do that.”

Ciara left the living room going into the kitchen. She saw the container of food and a small smile graced her face. She looked around the kitchen and spotted the jumbo bag of potato chips sitting on the counter beside the microwave. She grabbed it then began to make her way back to the living room. She entered the living room to see Elise standing on a chair hanging something from the ceiling and Andrew holding onto her waist supporting her. Ciara walked further into the living room and placed the bag of chips on the table. She watched as Andrew helped Elise down and they laughed as he pretended to drop her. She watched as Elise turned around and hit him on the chest before spotting her.

“Ciara!” she exclaimed. “How long have you been standing there?”

“I just got here. I got the chips.”

“Good,” said Andrew. “Can you put them in the bowl beside the punch?”

Ciara looked at the empty bowl that was beside the bowl that held the punch. She opened the bag and poured in the chips. As she was making sure there weren’t any chips left in the bag, there was a knock at the door.

“Ciara could you get that?” Andrew asked as he went to get some ice from the kitchen.

Ciara went to open the door, only to see a group of people on the other side.

“Hey!” one of them said. “Is this where the party is? Did it start yet?”

“Yeah, this is the place,” said Andrew coming from the kitchen, a bag of ice in his hand. “The party is about to begin.” He walked into the living, opened the bag and poured the ice into a cooler that was just to the side of the table. He then went to the stereo and turned the music up before turning to the ever growing crowd that had situated itself at his front door. “Now let the party begin!” he shouted earning a resounding cheer from the crowd. Ciara had a smile on her face as the crowd filed into Andrews’s house.



The party was in full swing, the music was pumping, the girls were dancing and everyone was having fun. The house was packed to the point where there was no place to sit and barely any room to dance, yet somehow, Ciara had spent the last few hours dancing with Andrew until she was at the point of exhaustion. Now since it was a slow song playing, she saw it as an opportunity to take a break from dancing. She went over to get a drink from the table. She passed over the punch, because she knew it was a chance that someone had spiked it by now, and grabbed a can soda from the cooler while Andrew went to the bathroom. After getting herself a drink, she sought out a place to sit. Upon finding none, she opted for a seat on the stairs to wait until she got her second wind and for Andrew to find her.

Ten minutes had passed. She had finished her drink and had caught her breath. She decided to continue sitting there, thinking it would be easier for Andrew to find her. After five more minutes had passed, she started to look for Andrew. She thought he may have been looking for her but couldn’t find her in the crowded house. The first place she looked was on the dance floor. He wasn’t there, or at the snack table, she even went to check the kitchen, he was no where to be found. After checking the bathrooms and the lines for the bathrooms and still not finding him, she gave up and retired to the living room where she spotted Amber lounging on the couch talking to a guy. Ciara approached her.

“Amber,” Ciara said gaining her attention.

Amber turned to her. “Sara!” she slurred, making it obvious she a little drunk.

“Amber, have you seen Andrew?”

“I saw him go upstairs about twenty minutes ago. He was like-”

“Amber” someone called, cutting her off.

Ciara turned to see a girl with platinum blond hair with strawberry blond streaks and blue eyes approaching the two of them.

“Hi Lindsey,” she said before turning back to Amber. “Amber, where did you say Andrew was?”

“He went upstairs,” she said drunkenly slurring her words, before taking a break to get a sip of her cup of punch. “And he was with-”

“Okay! You’ve had enough,” Lindsey said while taking away Amber’s cup. “I think it’s time you leave.” She sat the cup down before pulling out her cell phone calling a cab. She helped Amber up from the couch. “C’mon Amber, I’ll wait outside with you,” she said escorting Amber out of the house, leaving Ciara to stare after them.

After Ciara watched Amber and Lindsey exit the house, she looked towards the ceiling. Amber had said she saw Andrew go upstairs. She shifted her gaze from the ceiling to the steps and she had made the decision that she was going to go up there.

Ciara pushed and shoved her way upstairs stepping on countless toes and over bodies as she did so. Once she made it to the second floor of the building, she began waling down the corridor, opening doors in an attempt to find Andrew.

She had got to the end of the hallway, and was about to open the last door when she heard muffled voices coming from the other side. Ciara put her ear to the door in order to hear clearer. She distinctly heard a moan before she heard a giggling female voice say “Oh, Andrew.” Ciara slowly turned the doorknob and quietly pushed open the door. The sight that befell her eyes confirmed her suspicions and made her heart break in two. Andrew, her boyfriend, and Elise her best friend, was on the bed together, naked tangled in the sheets.