The Things We Do For Love

I am lying face down in a pool of my own blood.

Actually, it's mostly squished tomatoes and ketchup. But for the last ten minutes, as far as I knew, this was real. I was the victim. She was the killer. A scene from her favorite movie. A reenactment, if you will. Her weird idea of a date.

Now it's over.

I should get up. Wipe this mess off my face. Laugh about it with her since this was all a joke and we were done now.

But Kurokawa Yuki is still standing over me.

The knife is still in her hand, still dripping a thick, crimson liquid down the length of the blade. Her dark hair falls around her face, the kitchen light behind her making her look like something from a horror movie. She's smiling. Her porcelain features catch the glow, emphasizing the sadistic curves of her lips. Her eyes, a deep, unsettling red, gaze down at me with an intensity that makes my stomach drop.

She looks pleased.

Very pleased.

But...

She hasn't moved.

She hasn't said "okay, we're done."

She's just standing there, looking down at me. Like she's pondering something.

Wasn't there supposed to be a safe word for these kinds of things?

Wait, did I even ask for one?

Also, I probably shouldn't have let her tie me up like this. Arms. Legs. Can't move anything except my head. She even slapped duct tape over my mouth.

The things we do for love, right?

Believe it or not, like I stated at the beginning we were on a date. The current activity? Just pretending. For her amusement. A weird girl's weird idea of fun.

Under any other circumstance, I would never have agreed to this. But something you should know about Kurokawa Yuki is that, despite looking like the ghost from The Ring, she's very pretty. Like, the super hot goth type of pretty.

I fell head over heels for her instantly.

I was hopeless like that.

Besides, all those serial killer rumors from middle school? Probably just that.

Rumors.

But why am I starting to have second thoughts?

Why is she still holding the knife?

Why hasn't she put it down?

And why does that smile no longer look like she's pleased with the act?

It's starting to resemble something else entirely. Like she's weighing her options. Deciding if this should end differently. Like the real scene from her movie.

This was supposed to be pretend. I hope she remembers that.

After a few seconds of silence, she leans closer to my face, knife still in hand. Those red eyes lock onto mine.

Wait...

Kurokawa Yuki-san.

What are you doing?

Please don't kill me!