Hannah Ross died on June 9th, 1982. It was a rainy Wednesday afternoon and I can’t imagine that anybody really cared. I mean, she didn’t have any family and considering the number of other people who’d also died at the same time, in the same place, she wasn’t really unique. Just another victim of some fucked up spree killer.

​

Honestly, I probably wouldn’t have cared about Hannah myself, if it wasn’t for the fact that I was her.

​

I was 23 years old when I died, and I wasn’t exactly living my best life at the time. My Dad had died of cancer when I was young. My Mom had died in a car accident when I was 16, and I’d been on my own ever since. I took whatever jobs I could get, trying to scrounge up enough money to get by week to week. All it had gotten me so far was a run down little motel room to call my own. It wasn’t exactly a palace, but it was as close to a home as I had at the time. Every day, I took the bus to commute to and from work which at the time, was at a smoothie bar in the local shopping mall called Hank’s. They were a chain in my town, although they never really took off anywhere else.

​

Working at Hank’s wasn’t the worst job I’d ever had. The customers were mostly kids from the high school down the street. They’d come to the mall at lunch, after school or whenever they felt like skipping class and Hank’s was one of the more popular hangouts. We had cheap smoothies, ice cream and our own little seating area with about five tables, so I guess it was only natural that the kids would come running to us. They didn’t cause half as much trouble as you’d think they would either. Sure, you got a few dumbasses, but for the most part they paid for their drinks, sat at the tables to talk to each other, and didn’t cause me any trouble. My coworker on the other hand? He couldn’t stand them.

​

Leon was… Christ, where do I even start with Leon? The guy was a wreck. I was living out of a motel room and even I thought that he was a lowlife. He was always way too pale, like he’d never seen sunlight before. The proportions of his body were all wrong too. He had scrawny arms and legs, but a jutting pot belly that always seemed to peek out from under his shirt. He wore a little black pendant around his neck with some sort of red rune on it. He always stank of sweat and body odor, as if he wasn’t entirely familiar with the concept of a shower. And to top the whole thing off? He was fucking miserable. I get that anyone working at a mall smoothie bar probably isn’t living The American Dream, but Leon was easily the gloomiest asshole I’d ever met. Don’t ask me why. He was 22 and lived with his parents in the nice part of town. He didn’t need this job, not like I did. But he seemed to hate every second of his existence and he tried to take it out on just about everyone. Nine times out of ten, when he opened his mouth it was either to complain about something, or wallow in his own self pity. I was sick of it. I’d only been working at Hanks for five months and for four of them he’d been bitching about how his last girlfriend had dumped him. She hadn’t even been his girlfriend! The creep had been stalking her until she’d called the police on him!

​

Naturally, he didn’t really like our teenage clientele either. He’d been such an asshole to most of them that the boss had exclusively put me on the register during our busy shift. Leon either made the drinks I didn’t have time to make, or cleaned up our little slice of real estate and he was very vocal about how unhappy he was about it.

“We’re not even dividing up the work.” He’d say, “How come you’re not out there clearing off the tables? Those fucking kids leave such a mess!”

​

I never really dignified any of it with a response. I just told him to take it up with the boss. Really, the less I talked to Leon the better… and I’d made a point to avoid speaking to him ever since his little incident when he’d none too subtly come up behind me and put his hands on my ass while I’d been closing.

​

“So, got any plans after this?” He’d asked, in a deep voice that was trying to be sensual, breathing hot on my neck as he pressed his body up against mine. It hadn’t been the first time he’d made a pass at me… but it was the first time he’d ever put his hands on me, and I wasn’t going to stand for it.

​

I pushed him off me immediately and he stumbled back against the counter behind me.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I demanded.

“What?” He asked, “I’m just asking a question. You don’t need to get all defensive!”

“You touch me again, I’ll put you on your ass.” I said and waited for him to skulk off before getting back to work. I reported him to the boss obviously and he’d chewed Leon out, but aside from that nothing really came of it. He gave me a dirty look the next time we were working together and that was it. Considering how the last creep who’d tried that claimed I’d been stealing product, I was grateful. Leon wasn’t that smart. He hadn’t said a word to me about what had happened and he hadn’t dared to touch me again.

​

On the day that I died, I walked in to the mall drenched by the rain and shivering a little bit from the cold. My coat hadn’t really been enough to keep the rain off my work uniform, so I was doomed to spend at least the first hour or so of my shift a little damp and I wasn’t looking forward to that.

​

Leon was already at the register when I came in. He gave me a frustrated look as I stepped behind the counter.

“You’re late.” He said.

“There was an accident on the road. Sue me.” I replied before heading to the back room. We didn’t have much back there aside from a small kitchen and a tiny little closet where we stored our personal items. I hung my dripping wet coat up on its hook, and knocked over Leon’s backpack as I did. I swore under my breath as it fell. It was an honest mistake, but he’d probably bitch at me if he found out.

​

The dumbass hadn’t bothered to fully zip it up, so some of the contents had spilled out. I quickly scooped them back inside, pausing only when I noticed a small folding pocket knife among the stuff that had fallen out. It had a wooden handle which Leon had carved some weird runes into. I studied it for a moment before tossing it into his bag. How he chose to decorate his crummy little pocket knife really wasn’t any of my business. With his backpack filled again, I put it back on its hook and left it alone, then I put on my work apron and went out to start my shift.

​

We had a few customers already, but not many. I shooed Leon away from the cash register and he gave me another dirty look as he skulked away to check our inventory and do some prep.

​

The first hour or so of my shift passed without any real incident. Near the end of it, we had a few high schoolers trickle in. Most of them were kids I recognized. There were two boys who usually cut class to hang out at the mall instead, and this one overly affectionate couple who came in every day at 12:15 like clockwork to make goo goo eyes at each other over some milkshakes. I rang them up as I usually did, and let them do their thing.

​

After he did the inventory, Leon came out to help me at the counter just as we got hit by the lunch rush. We didn’t really talk to each other as we worked, not unless we had to and I was just fine with things being that way. Much as I didn’t like Leon, I could work with him. He just needed to understand that our relationship began and ended at work.

​

The lunch rush passed by in a blur and as the kids lunch hour slowly came to a close, the number of customers we had reduced to a trickle. The two who were obviously skipping class and Mr. & Mrs. Goo Goo Eyes were still there. They hadn’t really budged and didn’t seem to be planning on it anytime soon, but the rest of our tables were empty.

​

That’s when I saw her.

​

I didn’t know her name, but she was one of our regulars. She stopped by every couple of days, always when it was quieter and there weren’t as many high schoolers around. I always looked forward to her visits. Her hair was black and around neck length, with electric blue highlights in it. Her lips were cherry red against her rosy skin, she had a bright gold nose ring and a Gemini tattoo on her wrist. That day in particular, she wore cute little vampire bat earrings and a canvas tote bag. She approached the counter with a confidence that was hard to ignore and greeted me with a coquettish little smile. It wasn’t the first time I’d seen that smile and every time I saw it, it made my day.

​

“Recovering from the lunch rush?” She asked. She had a hint of a British accent, but it was hard to pick up on.

“Yup. Only about three more hours until the after school rush hits.” I said, “But hey, them’s the breaks.”

“C’est la vie.” She replied, leaning against the counter as she pretended to look at the menu behind me.

​

“I think today, I’ll try the Piña Colada Sunset…” she said.

“Sure thing, is that all?”

“Unless you’ve got any recommendations.”

“Um… Piña Colada Sunset is good…” I said, words utterly failing me in her presence. Her knowing smile just grew a little wider and I could’ve sworn that she liked watching me squirm…

“That’s it, then.” She said and I rang her up before going to make her smoothie.

​

She leaned against the counter, watching me while I worked.

“Busy day today?” She asked.

“No more than usual.” I said, “How about you?”

“I had an order waiting for me at the bookstore.” She said, slipping a hand into her tote bag and taking out a copy of ‘Carmilla.’ “Gotta love the classics, right?”

​

“Oh wow, haven’t read that one in a while.” I said.

“You’ve read it?” She asked.

“Yeah, a while ago. I really liked it.”

“So did I.” She said, “I used to have a copy back when I was living in Belfast, years ago. I lost it in the move and I’ve always had an eye out for another copy… Anyways I was around and thought I’d check and see if my favorite smoothie girl was working today.”

“So you’ve got other smoothie girls?” I asked.

“Jealous?” She teased, putting the book back into her bag.

“I might be.” I replied, and caught her smiling at me again.

​

I heard Leon coming out of the back room behind me to ruin the moment, and returned my full attention to my work. I looked over at him as he dragged himself over to the prep station.

“Hey, before you do that can you do the garbage really quick?”

​

He gave me me a dramatic sigh, like a huffy teenager and went out back again to grab some fresh garbage bags so he could do his damn job. While he was doing that, I rolled my eyes at the Gemini Girl, who stifled a laugh. We weren’t quite subtle enough for Leon’s liking. He fixed us both in a bitter glare as he rounded the counter. Gemini just glared right back at him, although I saw her eyes lingering on his pendant.

​

“That a Lugalic charm?” she asked, and Leon paused, looking back at her. His eyes narrowed a little.

“How’d you know?”

“My sisters are really into that sort of thing. I’ve picked up a little bit over the past few years.” She replied, “That’s some awfully dark magic, you know… Where’d you get it? I didn’t think anyone sold those.”

“They don’t.” He replied, before shuffling away from her.

“You make it then? Or did somebody make it for you?”

​

Leon didn’t answer, he just watched her out of the corner of his eye.

“It’s supposed to be bad luck to carry one around… so I’ve been told, at least.”

He still didn’t answer her, he just trudged off toward the garbage.

​

I set Gemini’s drink on the counter for her.

“Sorry about him.”

“Why?” she asked, “Unless you’re the one who shit in his corn flakes.”

“No, I’m pretty sure he just wakes up like that, every morning.” I sighed.

“Hell of a miserable way to go through life.” she said, before taking the drink, “Anyways, see you around Hannah.”

​

I started to ask how she knew my name, before remembering that it was literally on my name tag.

“See you around…” I said, before trailing off, since I didn’t actually know her name.

“Vera. Vera Di Cesare.” she said, before tipping me a parting wink before she left.

I caught myself watching her go, before realizing I had another customer and rushing to attend to them.

​

From the corner of my eye, I finally saw Leon emptying the garbage can. His back was to the two sets of teenagers planted firmly at the tables nearby and I could see one of the two who liked to skip class balling up the paper wrapper his straw had come in, and stuffing it down the straw. It took me a moment to figure out what the little shit was doing, since I was more focused on the most recent customer, but before I could say anything, he’d let the spitball fly.

​

Credit where it’s due I guess, the kids aim was fucking spectacular. As Leons head came up, the spitball caught him right in the ear and he let out an animalistic screech before clawing it away from him.

“What the fuck?!” he squealed, letting the garbage bag drop out of his hands. The contents spilled all over the floor. “Who did that?”

​

His eyes zeroed in on Mr. and Mrs. Goo Goo Eyes, since they were the closest. Mr. Goo Goo Eyes had unfortunately only just realized what was happening and sat there like a deer in the headlights.

“Alright, you’re out.” Leon said, “Now.”

“But I didn’t…”

“OUT! Before I call fucking security!” Leon snarled. I opened my mouth to say something, but Mr. Goo Goo Eyes was too busy trying to plead his case.

​

“It was the guys behind me, I didn’t-”

“OUT!” Leon barked one last time. He pounded on the table, loud enough for Miss Goo Goo Eyes to flinch. She got up quickly, accidentally knocking her mostly finished ice cream to the ground and spilling its melted contents onto the floor. That just seemed to make Leon even angrier.

“You! Clean that up! Now!” He snapped, but Mr. and Miss Goo Goo Eyes were already halfway across the seating area and in another minute were fleeing into the mall.

​

“Hey. HEY! You get back here and clean this up!” Leon snapped, trying to follow them. Big mistake. He stepped in the puddle of melted ice cream and slipped. It was almost like watching something out of a cartoon… almost. Leon didn’t fall dramatically or land with a crash. He grabbed the table for support to keep himself from slamming headfirst into the ground, and instead ended up in a sitting position, with his entire ass going into the puddle of ice cream.

​

The two deadbeats who’d fired the spitball at Leon erupted into laughter. I didn’t think it was that funny, and neither did Leon.

“You two. Out!” I said, employing more tact than he had as he slowly dragged himself to his feet. The deadbeats didn’t seem to hear me the first time. Not until I came around the counter to tell them again.

“Out!” I snapped and saw them both flinch at the sight of me. I’m not the world's most terrifying girl, but I’m pretty sure they were less inclined to fuck around with me than they were with Leon.

​

They took off at a run, vanishing into the mall and glancing back to make sure I wasn’t following them. If Leon hadn’t been on his ass in a puddle of ice cream, I probably would’ve been. But instead, I had to deal with him.

“You alright?” I asked.

​

I reached a hand out to him to help him up. He swatted it away and gripped the table to pull himself to his feet again. The entire backside of his pants was covered in ice cream.

“I’m fine…” he growled, and I ignored his usual shitty behavior in the interest of not causing even more of a scene in front of the customers.

“You wanna go home and change?” I offered, “I can hold down the fort for an hour or so.”

​

He didn’t reply, just stared off in the direction those two teenagers had fled. His breathing was heavy and strained. I could see his fists clenching and unclenching. Leon was pissed… More pissed than I’d ever seen him before and that was saying something.

​

“Leon?” I asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. He swatted me away again, fixing me in a look that actually made me step away from him. He looked like he was one wrong word away from breaking my nose, so I gave him his space. He looked at the two unserved customers we had, giving them the same death glare he’d given me. They just watched him, unable to look away.

“What?” He snapped, “You enjoy the fucking show?”

With that he stormed off, rounding the counter and disappearing into the back room. A moment later, he came back out again, backpack slung over his shoulder as he stormed off.

​

I watched him go, wondering just what the hell I could even say before trying to regain my professionalism. I put on a big fake smile, and went back around the counter to deal with our two very uncomfortable customers.

“I’m so sorry about that! Is there anything I can get you?”

What else could I have done? I still needed the paycheck.

​

I’d expected Leon to only be gone for an hour or so. I figured he’d have his little meltdown then come back in with a clean pair of pants and a slightly better attitude. We’d put this whole mess behind us, and if the boss asked, I’d tell him that Leon only freaked out because some little shit fired a spitball into his ear. If it’d been me, I’d probably have lost my temper too! But an hour came and went. Leon was nowhere to be found. I mopped up the mess, took care of the customers and ran the store by myself.

​

Another hour crept by, and still no sign of Leon. I was starting to get a little worried. Maybe he wasn’t coming back? Maybe he’d quit? Shit… we still had the second rush of the day to get through… I really wasn’t looking forward to doing that alone.

​

Then, I saw him. Trudging through the crowd in a new pair of blue jeans and his backpack slung over his shoulder. It looked a little bulkier than before, I wondered if his dirty clothes were in there now.

“Hey man.” I said as he made his way behind the counter, “You doing okay?”

​

No answer. He just pushed right past me and into the back room. I almost followed him, before deciding to just give him his space instead. The last thing I needed was to give him another excuse to yell at me. So I did a bit of cleaning while I waited, helped the one customer who’d wandered in and did a bit of prep work for the after school rush. Leon stayed put in the back. I thought I could faintly hear him muttering to himself, but I couldn’t hear exactly what he was saying. When the after school rush finally started to trickle in, I was alone dealing with the customers.

​

I tried knocking on the door to the back room to get his attention, but he didn’t answer. I couldn’t even open the damn door. The little shit had blocked the door with something. Maybe if I really wanted to, I could’ve forced it open, but it didn’t seem worth it (yet.) We’d already had one public meltdown today, we really didn’t need another. So I handled the customers alone and let him have his little tantrum in peace.

​

***

​

“Storms getting really bad out there…” I heard one of the students saying to one of their friends, “Think Tommy’s Dad can drive us home?”

“Yeah, he gets off work at like 5:30 though.”

“Fair enough, you wanna hit up the arcade?”

“Fuck yeah! Count me in.”

​

I was in the middle of making their drinks as I listened to them talk. Our five little tables were full up, and there was a line of four more customers in waiting. Outside of Hank’s, I could see people going about their business. A scruffy looking man was sitting on a bench underneath the plastic palm trees atop the nearby water fountain, making zero effort to hide the fact that he was checking out the ass and tits of every woman that walked past him. For some gross reason, he was especially interested in the high school girls, and I was waiting for security to come and escort this creep out for the third time that week. Leon was still in the fucking back room, and I was getting pissed off. He’d been in there for almost 45 minutes, and I was getting tired of his sulking.

​

“I’ll be with you in just a sec.” I said to the next customer in line as I went to knock on the door of the back room again.

“Leon? Are you in there?”

My voice wasn’t as friendly as it was when I’d asked the first three times. Still no answer, and I swear to God if we didn’t have customers I’d have dragged him out myself by that point. Instead, I sighed, played nice, and put on a smile as I took the next customer's order.

​

“Oh, the chocolate banana monkey sounds really good, can I get one of those?”

“Coming right up, ma’am…”

Still wearing my best fake smile, I started my work on the next order… and that’s when I first heard the screaming. It sounded far away at first, but it very quickly grew louder.

​

I looked up from the smoothie I was blending and noticed the first few people running at top speed through the mall, all heading in one direction.

“The hell is going on?” I heard one man say, and saw him step out into the mall. The others in line did the same, and I was not immune to their curiosity.

​

I stepped out from behind the counter and into the main area of the mall, looking in the direction everyone seemed to be running from. At first, I only saw a few terrified people sprinting past… then I noticed that there was someone behind them. Someone walking at a much slower, more leisurely pace, her footsteps echoing off the alabaster tile floor. At a glance, it kinda looked like a woman in her thirties. She was dressed plainly and had either brown or blonde hair… it was hard to tell. She walked after the running crowd like there was nothing wrong in the world, a friendly smile on her face. I didn’t get it, what the hell were these people running from?

​

One older man a few feet away from her had toppled over and was scrambling to stand up again as she closed the distance on him. She reached down towards him and almost seemed like she was about to help him up, but the moment she touched him.

​

I don’t know how to describe it.

​

She seemed to… break. It started with her hand. Then her arm. She seemed to dissolve entirely, pouring over him like water. He screamed as she engulfed him, pulling him into her and then…

Nothing.

​

He was gone, and she was still there, only she didn’t look quite the same as she did before. Her face seemed different. Her clothes were a slightly different shade. It was like… Like she’d stolen parts of him… Either way, she didn’t slow down. She just stared at the rest of us, her uncanny smile growing wider before she started towards us again.

​

The people beside me were smart enough to run for their lives? Me? I chose to be an idiot and ran to get Leon. Call me sentimental, but I didn’t really feel like leaving him to die because he was in the middle of a temper tantrum.

​

I’d been polite and hadn’t kicked the door down earlier. Now, it was literally life or death. I threw all of my weight against the flimsy little door leading into the back room and this time it opened. The boxes of produce he’d stacked near the bottom to keep me from opening it tumbled aside as I came for him.

“Leon, we have to go n-”

​

My words died in my throat as I saw Leon standing in the back room. He was facing towards the far wall, his wood handled pocket knife in one hand. He paused, before looking back at me, an annoyed look on his face. But he didn’t say a word. He just studied the look on my face, as I stared at the thing he’d drawn on our far wall…

​

I still don’t quite know how to describe it… a rune, maybe? It wasn’t the same rune he wore around his neck though. This was something different. But that wasn’t the part that disturbed me. What disturbed me, is that he’d drawn this rune in blood. I could see it on his fingertips… I could see the cuts on his arm… and worst of all, I could see the shape by his feet. A shape with a face that looked a lot like the kid who’d fired the spitball at him earlier. Only I didn’t see any body attached to that shape. All I saw was the head, and the empty, vacant eyes staring into oblivion. Eyes without eyelids… a face without lips or a nose… oh God… he’d mutilated the kid… Watching that thing outside absorb a man hadn’t made me scream, but this did. And as I shrieked in terror, Leon just smiled at me.

​

“You came back for me?” He asked, his voice low and mocking, “You do care…”

“Leon, what… what the fuck is this?”

“Retribution…” he said, his voice still calm and low, “Do you have any idea how miserable my life is, Hannah? Everyone hates me… everyone mistreats me… nobody wants me… I can’t even work my shitty, miserable job without being humiliated in public. So I’m done.”

​

He looked at the rune behind him.

“I read a spell like this costs you your soul, but what do I really have to live for? So long as It does what I want it to do, it’s all worth it.”

“What the hell did you do?” I asked, my voice shaking.

“Judging by the screaming outside and the look on your face, I think you already know.” He said, “The world is a lot bigger than you might’ve realized, Hannah. Demons, vampires, Gods, fae. They’re all real. They’re all out there… and I’ve learned to use the kind of power they use. I don’t know how to fire a gun and from what I’ve read, shooters like that never get very far. But I know how to do something even worse.”

​

Behind me, I heard the scrape of a chair against the floor and turned to see the Grinning Woman pushing one of our tables aside as she headed for the counter, her eyes fixated on me. I took one last look at Leon, who just kept smiling. And I felt the slow realization that he wasn’t going to do a damn thing about the thing coming towards me. If it got me, all he was going to do was watch.

“Should’ve taken me while you had the chance…” He said, “Now you can die like the rest.”

​

A surge of panic erupted in my chest. The Grinning Woman had reached the counter now, and walked through it like she wasn’t even there. I had to think fast…

​

I vaulted over the counter and from the corner of my eye, watched as she adjusted her course to follow me. She wasn’t interested in Leon. Of course she wasn’t interested in Leon… I kept my back against the wall as I stumbled out into the open mall, running as fast as I could away from the Grinning Woman.

“No use in running, Hannah! She’ll find you no matter what!” Leon called after me, as I left Hank’s behind.

​

Most of the storefronts around me were empty as I ran past as fast as my legs would carry me. Up ahead, I could hear even more screaming and saw a throng of people by the doors. I paused for a moment, watching them with growing concern that all too quickly turned into fresh horror. The people ahead of me seemed to be trying to run away from the doors and it didn’t take long to see why.

​

Some of those who’d been trying to run were already in the middle of being dissolved. More identical women with eerie, vacant smiles poured in through the doors, flowing like water around anyone they touched, swallowing them whole… Some of the smiling women I only barely recognized as human. There were strange shifting blemishes on their faces that shimmered like a reflection off of water. Others had faces that just seemed like a mish-mash of skin that only vaguely resembled facial features. At least two of them looked directly at me, as I turned to run again. I could see the Grinning Woman who’d come from the other side a few feet away from me and further behind her, I could see others drawing nearer, flanking Leon as he emerged from Hank’s.

​

His eyes were fixated on me again, and I didn’t know what else to do but start running. I took off down the nearest hall toward the food court, not thinking about how I’d just be cornering myself. Nothing was coming at me from that direction, so it just seemed like the safest place to go. My footsteps echoed against the tile floor as I ran. I paused only for a moment when I noticed a hallway leading to the bathrooms and some storage areas. For a moment, I wondered if maybe I could get out through there. There were loading docks back there, right? Maybe I could get out through one of those!

​

Of course, I only made it about halfway down the hall before seeing another Grinning Woman round the corner ahead of me… This one had no eyes, only a mouth that seemed too big for her face.

“Nowhere to run, Hannah…” I heard Leon call from somewhere behind me. My pulse spiked in my chest as I ran back toward the bathrooms…

​

I knew it wasn’t exactly a very good hiding spot, but where else could I have gone? Those things Leon had summoned… They were everywhere. My breathing was heavy, I’d never been more scared in my life… And I could hear footsteps getting closer to the bathroom. I considered trying to hide in a stall, but what was the point?

​

He’d already found me.

​

The door opened and Leon walked in, flanked by three of those creepy Grinning Women.

“I didn’t think you’d die last…” he said softly, “But that’s fine. I’m happy with this outcome…”

​

My eyes darted to the knife in his hand, and I suddenly found myself much more afraid of him than I was of the Grinning Women…

“You like them?” he asked, “It’s a ritual I learned… I always thought it could be interesting to try it in a place like this.” I saw him fingering the pendant around his neck, “Gotta say, the results are pretty interesting… scientifically speaking, at least.”

​

He took another few steps toward me, and I couldn’t move any further back.

“You know, I would’ve let you live…” he said, “If you’d been nice. If you’d treated me nicely. If you’d let me have you…”

He paused, looking me up and down.

“I might still let you live…” he offered.

​

“Eat shit and die, you psycho motherfucker.” I panted.

I knew he was going to kill me anyways, and I at least wanted to die with some goddamn dignity. Leon’s eyes narrowed. He fixed me with the same hateful look he’d been giving me for months.

“I could kill you right now…” he warned.

“Then kill me, you little bitch.” I replied, my voice quaking with every word, “If you’re even man enough to do it yourself, you limp dicked sack of shi-”

​

Leon let out a roar of anger. I tried to stop him as he lunged for me, but there was nothing I could do. I felt the white hot pain of the knife as he buried it into my stomach, over and over and over again. I felt blood filling my mouth as he stabbed me and every time he ripped the knife free, I felt a new level of pain I hadn’t even known could exist before. He slammed me against the wall, driving the knife into my stomach one last time before ripping it out and leaving me to slide onto the floor, clutching my bloody stomach and swearing that I could feel my organs peeking out of my wounds.

“FUCK YOU!” He roared, “FUCK. YOU. YOU WORTHLESS LITTLE WHORE! What, AM I NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU? You keep batting your eyes at that FAT WHORE who comes in every other day, and you treat me like garbage you FUCKING BITCH!”

​

He punctuated his last two words with kicks to my wounded stomach, earning a howl of pain from me and sending me curling into the fetal position on the floor. I couldn’t stop myself… I broke down crying, and Leon stood over me, watching and savoring every second.

“Take her…” he said, struggling to keep his voice low and composed and I watched as the Grinning Women behind him approached me. I stared at them as they did, hoping to God that it wouldn’t hurt… and then…

​

Light.

​

Not some bright white light I could walk toward. Something else. A blinding purple glow.

​

The Grinning Women froze, then screamed. It was a wet, gurgling sound. Their bodies suddenly evaporating until nothing was left but a hazy steam. Leon stood stock still, eyes wide in confusion before a voice behind him spoke.

“That was very, very sloppy work. You shouldn’t be able to banish Lugalic demons that easily.”

​

He turned to see Vera standing in the doorway behind him, a slightly annoyed expression on her face.

“W-what?” was all he was able to stammer.

​

“So was this some kinda temper tantrum? ‘Nobody pays any attention to me. Better kill them all?’ Because if so, you’re even more pathetic than I thought. Y’know you really shouldn’t be playing with these kinds of things if you don’t understand them…”

“And what do you know about it?” Leon demanded, clutching his knife with a white knuckled grip. He spoke as if he was still in control of the situation, but I could see the fear on his face.

​

Vera just gave him a wide, knowing smile that showed off her elongated canine teeth.

“A little more than you do… I’ve only been doing this for about thirty years, but my sisters? They’ve been doing it for centuries.” she said, “So I‘ve picked up a lot. Benefits of vampirism, right?”

Leon lunged for her, and she caught him effortlessly by the wrist. In one fluid motion, she jerked his arm to the side and I saw a cruel satisfaction in her eyes.

​

“Welcome to the world of the supernatural.” she said, before she sank her teeth into his throat. Leon’s body went stiff. He let out a weakened gasp, his eyes going wide for a moment as she gulped down a mouthful of his blood. She tore her teeth out of his throat, ripping away a chunk of flesh as she did and finally, she let him drop. Leon’s corpse twitched on the ground, and Vera stared distastefully down at it, before approaching me. I saw her pause, and I wasn’t sure if she thought I was dead, or realized that I was still alive.

​

“God… he really did a number on you…” she said, her voice quiet and uneasy. The wry confidence she’d had just a moment before was gone. She gently reached down to help me up and studied the wounds in my stomach. She was careful not to touch them, but just looking at them made her brow furrow.

“Still didn’t manage to kill me…” I murmured, my voice dry and hoarse. I felt cold and weak… I could feel myself starting to fade as the darkness crept in at the edge of my vision.

​

“No he didn’t…” Vera said softly, although the ghost of a smile she’d mustered died pretty quickly, “I can try to get you to a hospital, but…”

“I’m not gonna make it…” I said quietly. It felt like stating the obvious. I’d already lost too much blood. I wouldn’t have even made it down the hall.

“Not like this…” Vera replied, “But I can still save you. If you want me to…”

​

I looked up at her, taking a moment to realize exactly what it was she was offering me.

​

Maybe it was the several holes in my stomach, combined with my unwillingness to die on a dirty bathroom floor impairing my judgment, but from where I sat there really only seemed like one reasonable option. I took my last breath and slowly nodded my head.

​

***

​

I read somewhere that the Massacre at Rolling Rock Mall claimed the lives of 12 people, including a girl named Hannah Ross, although she wasn’t really much more than a footnote since I can’t imagine they ever found her body. The way I heard it, the official claim was that the killer, a man named Leon Hunsley unleashed some sort of chemical weapon, but that just stinks of a cover up to me… not that I blame them. I’m not even sure if the police who investigated the scene would actually believe the truth and it doesn’t really matter to me what they believe. All they need to know is that Hannah Ross died on June 9th, 1982.

​

Hannah Di Cesare on the other hand?

She’s never felt more alive.