Fade to Black by M. Stratton Page A

die so I can get him back where he belongs.”

 
    ~^~

 
    Hayden had done her research and knew Dory
had a weak heart. It shouldn’t take long before she was dead. Since she was
unable to kill the bitch’s son, she would have to make do with her best friend
and look for another opportunity to get to the boy. Her plan was to take
everything away from her, and then Devlin. Once Dev was back with her, he’d
come to his senses and would know they were meant for each other. Lily would be
too demanding, too needy. He’d leave her quicker than she could blink.
      Dory
tried to talk a few times before any words came out, “But… I thought…”
    “Yeah, yeah, you thought I cared for you. I
was the one, blah, blah, blah. No, I’m not. All I care about is the end result,
and having to go through you to get it. I’m a better actress than anyone ever
gave me credit for.”
    Hayden laughed as Dory slid to her side,
resting her head on the corner cabinet at an odd angle. “Oh, I’m sure that’s
uncomfortable. I’d help, but yeah, who am I kidding? I had no problem trying to
kill that bitch’s son, and you are a cakewalk.” She backed away and slowly sat
down, folding her legs neatly under her as she waited for Dory to die.
    “No... Not Leo… you can’t hurt him…” Dory
tried to get up, only to fall back down on the floor. Reaching one hand out,
she started to attempt to drag herself out of the kitchen.
    “Now where do you think you’re going?
Really, you don’t have the strength and will only frustrate yourself. Just kick
back, think about your life and all your regrets, things you wish you’d have
done differently, things you always wanted to tell someone, and just know
you’ll never have the chance now.” She clapped her hands together. “Oh, my,
this is much more fun than I thought it would be. I want to do this again!”
    Hayden watched as Dory inched her way to
the edge of the kitchen before leaning over and grabbing her by the ankle and
dragging her back to where she began. “Now, let’s see how many times we can do
this.” She leaned over to whisper in her ear, “I’ll let you in on a secret. I will win.” Pushing Dory’s hair away from
her sweat-drenched face so she could see her eyes, Hayden smiled and said, “Oh,
yes, I’m totally going to win this one. There you go, try again.”
    “I… hate… you…” Dory started to pull
herself along again.
    Tilting her head to the side with each word,
she said, “Blah, blah, blah. Come on, this is really tiring. I have other
things to do and would like to get on with it. Here, you say you hate me, I
retort. You say I’ll never get away with it, I say I will. You say something
about haunting me, I say there are no ghosts. You say
something about Lily and Dev overcoming anything together. I try not to throw
up. And at some point, you finally die. There, all done. Die.”
    They sat in silence staring at each other
before the light finally went out in Dory’s eyes and she took her last breath.
Hayden walked around and made sure there were no fingerprints in the home and
no hair on the couch. Without a backwards glance at the woman dead on the
kitchen floor, she closed the door behind her.

 
    Chapter Fifteen

 
    Lily
stretched and tried to remember how she got in bed. Frowning, she wondered what
happened to Devlin, sad she didn’t get to spend more time with him. Getting up,
she went to start the coffee and stopped when she saw him sleeping on her
couch. Devlin Cross had spent the night on her couch. He knew she wouldn’t have
wanted him sleeping in her bed with her son here, but wanted to stay with them.
She hoped that was the reason he was still here; she supposed it could have
been because he was also tired. As she tiptoed by the couch, she let out a
little scream when his arm snaked out from under the old Thomas the Train
comforter and pulled her in toward him.
    “Good morning.”
    She shivered, his voice was all rough with
sleep and he