CHAPTER 2 ~ VOICES FROM THE DARK

SALLY'S POV

The first thing I felt was pain, a dull, pounding ache in my skull that throbbed with every heartbeat. The second was cold, antiseptic, sterile, humming machines, the faint scent of bleach. A hospital, I could tell without opening my eyes.

The third… was betrayal.

"…has nine lives like a damn cat." a voice laughed, low and familiar. Kelvin. "How does she always survive?"

"She wasn’t supposed to kill Frank." Another voice hissed. Pamela, my best friend. The person who held my hand through heartbreak, the one who helped zip up my dress. "The plan was simple, drug her, have sex with her, get the footage, and blackmail her with it. How the hell did she end up killing him instead?"

"She must have panicked." Kelvin said. "Maybe he moved too fast but it doesn’t matter. I still win."

I lay still, my body stiff and heavy, my breathing slow and shallow. I didn’t move, I couldn’t, not without blowing my cover. My eyes remained shut, but every word seared itself into my skin.

"You think she knows about us?" Pamela whispered. "Maybe this is her way of punishing us, maybe she found out what we were doing and she decided to play along, maybe this is… revenge."

"If she knew, Pam, we would be in handcuffs by now, you know how hot tempered she is, she couldn't have pretended for so many months. I think she’s just lucky, always has been."

Lucky? Right.

My fists clenched under the hospital blanket.

"So what now?" Pamela asked. "We still don’t have her inheritance and I am not staying in this shadow forever. I want to be able to love and be with you publicly, we need to get her inheritance so that we can finally get rid of her and travel the world, I want to go to Paris, Bali or anywhere that doesn’t have her in it."

Hell!, That's where they will end up and I will make sure of it, that's where they deserve to be. Fuck, I have been so stupid, too trusting.

"Relax." Kelvin said smugly. "I have got a backup plan, I might not have gotten the sex tape… but I have something even better."

He paused and even without seeing his face, I could feel the smirk in his silence.

"I have security footage from Frank’s house. It shows her shoving him, shows him hitting his head and then I edited it, so it doesn't look like an accident, so It's perfect, it’s raw, it’s real and it’s incriminating as hell."

My stomach dropped.

"You are going to blackmail her with it?" Pamela whispered.

Kelvin chuckled. "Exactly, either she gives us everything, and I mean everything or she goes to jail. No one’s gonna believe it was self-defense, not with her history, not with what I know she's capable of doing. The only way out is for her to just die but if she wakes up, she’s completely fucked."

Pamela exhaled in amazement. "God, you are evil. I love it."

"I love you." He said. "Come here, baby."

The sound of lips smacking, hands roaming over each other, and skin brushing filled the air.

I wanted to vomit.

Then Pamela giggled, breathy and hushed. "Kelvin, not here…"

"Why not?" He murmured.

"Well, this is a hospital and she's just inches away from us." Pamela whispered.

"Come on, you know this has always been my fantasy. You and me fucking in a hospital and watching her... right next to us, unconscious, helpless, just like she always made me feel when she was in control."

He spun her around. "Bend over babe, I will be quick."

I felt the bed dip slightly as she braced her hands beside me, her fingers almost brushing my wrist. Her perfume was sickly sweet, familiar and venomous.

And then I heard it.

"Mmmm." The sound of skin slapping against skin, Kelvin moaning and Pamela gasping.

They were doing it, right there. Inches from my face as if I were nothing, as if I were dead.

"Oh fuck... yeah." He moaned louder and ran his hand through my head, it took everything in me not to hold him by the hand and snap his wrist, I wanted to hurt him so bad, hurt them both but I stayed still.

Each thrust punctuated their betrayal, each gasp drove the knife deeper. They thought I couldn’t hear, couldn’t feel but I did, I felt everything.

"You feel so good." Pamela whined.

"You like that, huh?" Kelvin groaned. "Let’s give her a show, let her know we won."

My heart thundered in my chest, my fingernails dug into my palms but I didn’t move. I just listened and I recorded everything in my memory, their betrayal stuck, their disrespect stuck hard and it fueled my anger.

They came together, breathy and messy. Pamela collapsed over me briefly, panting, her hair brushing my cheek. It took everything I had not to scream, I wanted to grab her by her hair and use her to scrub the hospital floor, strip them naked, parade them and award them betrayers of the century but I couldn't, instead I stayed calm.

And then, thank God. There was a knock... The door creaked open.

"Visiting hours are over." A nurse said, her voice was polite but firm. "I need to check on the patient."

Kelvin stepped back with a sigh, I could hear him zipping up. "We were just leaving anyway, she probably won't make it."

I wanted to rip his throat out.

"See you tomorrow, sweetheart." Pamela cooed as she leaned down and kissed my forehead like I was some child asleep in a crib. "Rest up or rest in peace." She giggled.

Bitch.

The door clicked shut behind them, silence returned... The nurse shuffled around, checking my IV, my chart, humming under her breath.

I moved, just a little as her phone peeked out of the front pocket of her scrubs. I let my hand slide down my side slowly and waited until she turned to check my blood pressure monitor. Then quickly, I slipped the phone from her pocket and tucked it beneath my blanket... I had a feeling I was going to need it.

She didn’t notice and once she left, I opened my eyes.

They burned with tears I refused to shed, I stared at the ceiling, not blinking, not breathing hard, just thinking.

They think they have won but I am not done.

Not by a long shot.