TheVampireandtheMouse Read Free

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dead.
    “Oh,” Jack said, as he wiped his glasses with the cloth he
kept in his front pocket. “I didn’t think you’d be into that sort of thing. I
went to the cinema the other day, to see…”
    And then he talked for a long time about the film he had
seen, which I was glad about. It meant I didn’t have to live in the double-life
world of thinking of the dead man, whilst talking about films. I made my tea
and then went to the door, as Jack was muttering, “It was amazing, I love what
he does with violence and how he uses pop music in historical films.”
    When I was at the door, I said, “I have to get back to
work.”
    “Okay,” Jack said, and turned to Michael, who had just
finished making their teas.
    When I sat back down at my desk, Legs, Panda Eyes, and The
Princess didn’t even notice. I was starting to wonder if they had given me a
secret nickname too: The Assassin. I had done a lot to earn it, moving through
the office with ninja-like silence. Oh, who am I kidding? They would’ve dubbed
me The Mouse, for my rodent-like silence.
    Andrea had the longest legs I’d ever seen. They seemed to go
up to her bellybutton, completely surpassing her midsection. She always wore
short skirts and sat with her legs crossed, and the men in the office always
drooled at her as if she were the cover of a magazine. Simone was small, like
me, but she wore dark eye makeup that drew you into her forest-green eyes and
made her look like a panda. Fiona comported herself like a princess, always
straight-backed and proper , with fancy jewelry.
    As I got started with my work, Legs said, “Oh, here she is,
we can ask her now.”
    I looked up. “Huh?”
    “We were talking about men we’re seeing,” The Princess said,
in her measured voice. “We were wondering if you’re currently seeing anyone.”
    “Yeah,” Panda Eyes agreed. “I reckon you are, because you’re
a good-looking girl. But Andrea thinks you’d get too nervous around guys and
wouldn’t be able to talk to them.”
    “That is not what I said,” Legs said, reddening.
    “Yes it is—”
    “Hush!” Legs went on, “All I meant was, you don’t seem like
the outgoing type. So we were just curious if you’ve got a boyfriend we don’t
know about. We really don’t know that much about you, Kirsty.”
    This was exactly the kind of bonding session I could’ve done
without today. I felt my face going red, and I thought of red, and— He was
covered in red, covered in red that I did to him, and I stabbed, and I stabbed,
and he lay down and he bled and the blood went into the concrete and he died
and it’s my fault and I’m a killer, a killer, a killer.
    “Kirsty,” The Princess said. “Are you okay? You look ill.”
    Oh how I would have loved then to say I was ill and
gone home. But then that would have made everyone suspicious, and what if
Benjamin hadn’t got rid of the body properly? I could almost hear Legs, in her
excited voice, “Oh yes, she was acting strange the whole day, officer.”
    “I’m fine,” I said. “And no, I’m not seeing anyone. I’m not
seeing anyone at all.”
    Inside, I added, Except for the man I killed, but that’s
only in my dreams.
    They went on, and on, but I started to answer in animal-like
grunts, and they went back to work. It is hard to maintain the illusion of
normalcy when you’re a killer.
    * * * * *
    When work was over, I rushed home, closed the curtains,
hugged Blinky, and turned on the TV, but I couldn’t concentrate. The colors
flickered and the sounds undulated but the meaning behind those flickers and
sounds was lost on me. My mind was still processing what had happened and what
could happen.
    But also, I thought of him .
    Him, him.
    He’d come when I needed him and he’d taken care of it and he
didn’t even know me. I wanted to thank him, but somehow I knew I’d never see
him again. Something had compelled my fellow traveler to help me but
that was it. We were done. Well, that’s what I thought