• In the hour of murder...

    tab I couldn't speak for a second. Couldn't move. I had to struggle to even keep my eyes open.
    tab Admittedly, this wasn't me being setimental because something traumatizing just happened. I was in seething pain, and I made it apparant with my constant grunting noises and gritted teeth.
    tab "You ok?" was all John said. A perfect face palm moment, if I weren't in uncontrollable agony.
    tab "No," came my obvious reply. "No, I am not."
    tab "Endure. Just endure it. And tell me your--"
    tab "My phone number?" I quickly caught on. "Why? You killed my sister just now, so stop trying to act like my friend." The thick darkness made everything difficult to see, but there was a sincere frown on his face as he responded,
    tab "I told you already. I saved your life. Your sister was going to kill you!" There was a short strand of silence, and then I said softly,
    tab "Well, better me dead than her." John shook his head. He flipped on the lights, causing that temporary blindness that you always tell yourself you’re braced for but you never really are.
    tab There, in plain sight, was my husband, a skewed expression on his face while he laid there still.
    tab "There's your husband," the murderer said solemnly, kneeling next to him. "Sound asleep, but alive and well." Of course, I was wondering why he was still asleep after all that commotion, but I decided not to press the question.
    tab John gave me a long, hard stare. He was all serious, which fit, because this was no joking matter.
    tab "Your husband doesn't know Sarah. He doesn't know she exists. She only knows Elizabeth. His loving wife." He made a dramatic pause, stood up, and continued,
    tab "What happens if she just died? Just like that? Would you've wanted him to go on life, lonely? Could you bear that?"
    tab "What does it matter if I'm just going to pretend to be Sarah? What does it matter if I'm actually still alive, but he just doesn't know?" I grumbled.
    tab "Everything. Because he will know. In time. The right time." I met eyes with him.
    tab "And when is that?"
    tab "That's for you to decide." Gee, thanks, you wise prophet.
    tab I stared at the ground. Red blood made quiet, steady plops to the floor like a silent metronome. A decision was being made in my head. A tug of war, when suddenly one side won and I said,
    tab "248-242-6431."
    tab "There you go," John said with an encouraging smile, pulling out a notebook and ball point pen, scratching those abstract numbers down. After clicking his pen "off", he suddenly ripped off a piece of his polo and flung it to me.
    tab "Here. It should slow the bleeding." I nodded, and quickly proceeded with wrapping it around my fingers.
    tab "Didn't like the shirt, anyway," he muttered without much meaning, I suppose trying to find comedy in the non-comedy moment we were in.
    tab I didn't find it funny.
    tab A stretch of awkward silence was all to be heard for thirty seconds. Finally, John said the thing that was on both of our minds, nodding to Sarah,
    tab "Look, uh, you know, you're going to have to--"
    tab "I know."
    tab "I won't look," he said with a smile, and turned around.
    tab I stared at my sister's lifeless body there on the floor. The fact that I was about to do something so wrong and immorally correctly almost made me forget how it was justified and I had to do it.
    tab I squinted my eyes, took a deep breath, and without going too much into detail, slowly began to turn myself into Sarah Peyton, and her into Elizabeth Gibson. I ruffled up my hair. Rubbed off my make up. I had to remind myself over and over again that I couldn't just act like Sarah Peyton. I had to be Sarah Peyton.
    tab One last glimpse at myself, lying on the floor, now dead. I had to fool everyone now. Starting with myself.
    tab I followed John towards the door, quickly interrupted, though, by the door being flung open. There was a sense of urgency as a nervous man slowly tip-toed into the door, a revolver vibrating in his trembling hands.
    tab "D-don't move," he stuttered uneasily. His figure and voice both implied he had no experience with guns. His hair neatly combed, and white lab shirt on...Not your typical mercenary look.
    tab "Who are you?" John inquied, sounding surprisingly calm considering the situation.
    tab "Matt Hill sent me...He sent me to kill anyone I saw!"
    tab "Didn't answer my question, but whatever you say, kid."
    tab A crack resonated in the air. That familiar crack...