Suburbia

I feel cold swoop through my chest as I look at Eve.

But is she Eve? Everything about her is different, the malicious curl of her mouth, the unflinching glare of her eyes, the slow and purposeful way she arches her back as she stands up, twisting her neck to the side with a resounding crack before turning back round to face me.

She smiles terrifyingly sweetly at me as I stumble backwards away from her, “Hello, Leland.”

She brings her pinkie finger to the tiny blot of blood on her lip before she slowly licks it off.

“Did you not enjoy our little chat earlier?” She takes a step towards me as I back further away.

“E- Eve? What are you doing?” I stammer.

She lets out a little, frustrated tut, “Don’t you get it? I’m not Eve, I’m Vanessa. Come on, don’t be boring. I want to get onto the juicy stuff.”

“I don’t understand,” my voice shakes slightly as she takes another step towards me.

“Really? I thought Eve explained it pretty well, though she did make me out to be a big meanie,” she pouts before flashing me her teeth.

She looks exactly like Eve yet nothing like her at all. “Eve,” I stammer, “Eve, let me phone the hospital.” I start to pull my phone from my pocket.

“NO!” she shouts.

I turn on my phone to punch in the numbers, “Eve, it’s okay, I’ll help you, maybe you hit your head or...” I trail off as I see her take a knife out of her back pocket, “Eve?” I ask uncertainly,
“What are you doing?”

“I’m not Eve.” She snarls, her words are cold and emotionless “But listen here Leland, if you phone that number Eve will be very, very hurt.” She places the knife to her wrist and presses the tip down until blood starts to pool around the metal.

“Stop!” I shout panicked, “Stop it! Okay, okay I won’t phone them!” I hold my phone out away from me. She waits until I throw it onto the bed before she puts the knife back in her pocket and smiles at me again.

“Oh, you have to make things complicated, don’t you Leland?” she tells me conversationally. I only stare at her, my lips parted in shock and aversion.

She cocks her head to the side as if she is examining me.

“Why are you doing this to her?” I ask.

“So you believe I’m Vanessa now do you?” She smiles at me though her eyes remain cold.

“Why are you doing this to her?” I repeat my voice stronger than before.

Vanessa walks over to the mirror beside my door and traces a finger around her face.

“Oh, little Evie, she’s a cutie isn’t she? She says she doesn’t want me anymore but we both know that’s a lie, she couldn’t cope without me.” She turns away from the mirror and walks back towards me and I back away slightly, “She’s just not strong enough. She knows if I leave her she’ll be all alone, and, you see, that’s the one thing Eve’s absolutely terrified of, being alone.” Vanessa seems to find it funny and laughs to herself, a sharp, entirely humourless laugh.” And I’m all she’s got, see? If I leave, who’ll she have then? I need her, she needs me, I really don’t see what the problem is.”

“If you need her, why do you hurt her?” I point towards her arm.

She lets out a chilling giggle, “Oh, this? I have to keep her in control somehow, don’t I?” Her smile vanishes again, “But enough about Eve, she doesn’t matter. I want to talk to you, Leland.”

“Why? Why do you want to talk to me?” I ask. I try to understand what she wants, what’s going on in her twisted little mind.

She pulls her lips back into a feral smile before she slinks over to me and wraps her fingers around the back of my neck as I back into the wall. She brushes her lips up my cheek before she whispers in my ear, “What’s it like to find your best friend dead?”

I freeze. I can’t feel my fingers; I can’t move my arms to push her away. Her hot breath brushes through my hair, “Did you like it? Was it some sort of sick pleasure?” I try to move my feet, try to drag myself away from her but I can’t, my muscles have turned to ice and my skin has frozen.

“Do you ever try to imagine it?” She murmurs into my ear, relishing every syllable, “His feet twitching like little insects, brushing against the floor slightly. His lips turning blue as the blood vessels in his eyes just, pop.”

She’s silent for a moment, one more moment, before she whispers slowly, maliciously, “Do you ever think he did it because of you?”

My knees buckle and I slide down the length of the wall. I grasp my hair in between my hands as I let my head fall back against the wall with a thud. I squeeze my eyes shut to try to block everything out: to block out Craig, to block out Vanessa, to block out myself. My heart is pounding faster than my thoughts and the hammering is reaching a crescendo inside my head, I can’t see or think of anything but Craig and his feet twitching and Vanessa’s tiny question. If I don’t think about it then it didn’t happen; it didn’t happen.

I feel a soft finger on my cheek.

I open my eyes as the thrashing against my skull fades and I see Eve kneeling in front of me; brushing away tears that I didn’t know were there. Her eyes are wet and her lips are trembling.

“I’m so sorry.” She whispers, “It was Vanessa, I- I tried to- I- I couldn’t-”

“It’s okay,” I cut her off, my voice husky and heavy as my voice shudders “It’s okay.”

I hold an arm out and she crawls over and leans her head against me chest as I wrap my arms around her.

And now, just sitting with her like this, for some reason I don’t want to block everything out quite so much.