Crimson Pain by Jessica R.

∆Warning: This story has blood in it.

Lizzy’s head hung low as she walked down the stone path of the town common. It was early morning, and the sun was just starting to shine over the bakery. Lizzy wiped her red eyes, and took a deep breath, hoping to catch a whiff of the fresh bread being made. Not many people were awake yet, and this seemed to be a good thing for her. She was afraid to let other people see her cry, even a tear, but was more afraid of her abusive husband, Jack.

Jack had seemed like such a gentleman when they had first met; always opening doors for her, walking her home, and taking her out. But, she had fallen for his trick. That wasn’t who he really was. He was a cold, selfish, hurtful bastard, and nothing anyone did would change him. In fact, no one knew about this side of him except her. When they were in public, he always had his mask on, but before they had left, he would threaten her to not try anything, or he would hurt her severely. Lizzy had always been too scared to do anything about him. It didn’t matter what he did now though. She was already scarred for life, and no physical pain could ever add up to what she felt at the moment. She understood now what he had gone through when he was a child with an abusive father, but that didn’t make Jack any more humane.

♥ ♥ ♥

Lizzy stepped into a drugstore on the other side of the stone street, causing the bell on the door to ring. The clerk looked up smiling at her. Lizzy quickly smiled back, her hair covering her puffy eyes. She walked over to the women’s section, and picked out a razor. It didn’t matter to her which one she chose. She rubbed her eyes a bit to try to get the redness to go away, and to clear her vision. Then she went up to the counter, and paid for it as fast as she could, already having the little money that she had left in her hands when she got there. She knew that she didn’t need this razor, but her old one was rusty and dull. It wouldn’t suffice.

“Have a good day. Come back soon,” said the clerk with a grin.

“You too,” Lizzy tried to say, but her voice was barely a whisper now, for she had been gagging on her tears.

Della left the store and hurried across the common to get back to the apartment. Almost everyone was awake now, and she knew that included Jack, who would be looking for her. She spotted him by a statue, surveying the area around him. Almost running, Lizzy rushed past him, hopeful that he hadn’t seen. When she got to the apartment, she opened the plastic package around the razor, and popped the blade out of the contraption that it was confined in. Shakily, she walked towards the bathroom, and closed the door behind her.

♥ ♥ ♥

Back at the common, Jack had decided that Lizzy would eventually come back to their apartment to get her belongings if she had run away from him. His heart ached, and more than anything, he just wanted to tell her that he was sorry, and to hold her tight in his arms. He raced home, eager to know if she still loved him.

♥ ♥ ♥

In the bathroom, Lizzy sat down on the floor and rested her back against the cold porcelain of the bathtub. She took a deep breath and held in the oxygen that she had obtained. Then she took the razorblade and held it to her wrist with just enough force to cut her pale skin. With her index finger on top of the blade, she slid it down to the other end of her wrist. Her body tightened instinctively when the cut began to sting. She released her breath and panted trying to get the air back into her lungs again. Lizzy watched now as her own blood oozed from the cut, and trickled down her forearm, leaving a trail of crimson pain on her skin. She looked down at the gory blade. It reflected her image back at her through the red liquid that covered it. Her quivering lips formed a smile as she slid the razorblade across her arm over, and over again. Her head felt light as she laughed sadistically to herself.

“This is how love should feel,” Lizzy thought to herself. “Light, and dreamy, and carefree. I feel as if I could just float away any second.”

♥ ♥ ♥

Jack entered the apartment to hear a soft laughter from the bathroom. He ran to it. When he opened the bathroom door, he saw his love on the floor, surrounded by a pool of her own blood, and gashes going across both of her arms. At first he just stood in shock with his mouth open. His heart skipped a beat, but then he fell to the floor on his knees, and rushed to her side, not minding the blood soaking into his clothes. Lizzy looked up at him, still smiling, and dizzy. Everything she saw was becoming blurry, as if she were in a hazy dream.

Jack knew that she had lost too much blood by now, and that if he tried to pick her up, more blood would be lost, only to result in her death. There were too many gashes on her arms to try to cut off her circulation, but he held onto her upper arms anyway, attempting to stop her blood flow. She squirmed in his grip, and he let her go, not wanting to cause her any more aches. As he tried to think of another idea, Lizzy whimpered, obviously in pain. Jack knew that he would chose his own life being lost over his darling’s any day, especially after all the things he had put her through. He sat closer to her, and held her tight in his arms. Lizzy knew she was too weak to try to get away from her husband, so she willingly collapsed into his embrace, feeling his warm body against her chilling one.

♥ ♥ ♥

Tears began to fall from both of their eyes, and contributed to the puddle of thickening, crimson blood that was already on the tile floor. Jack leaned over and whispered into her ear.

“I’m sorry Lizzy. I never wanted to hurt you, and I certainly never wanted you to hurt yourself. I love you, and I want you to know that.”

Shivering from his tepid breath on her ears, Lizzy turned toward him, and looked him in the eyes. She knew that he was telling the truth. She had learned his habits when he lied, and there was dependence in his eyes, telling her that he needed her. More tears fell from her eyes as her body became numb.

“I love you too,” she tried to say, but her lips were frozen and felt heavy, making her words just meaningless mumbles under her breath.

Jack had understood her though. Her heartbeats slowed as her eyes glazed over. Jack felt her body go limp against his, and he shakily checked her pulse by placing his fingers against her icy neck. She had died in those few seconds after they had said goodbye to each other.

♥ ♥ ♥

A pang struck his heart and he held Lizzy’s corpse close to him. When he finally calmed down enough to think, all that he could think of was his stupidity and heartlessness towards her in the last couple of years since they had been married. If his father wasn’t so cruel to him when he was a child, this might not have happened. He wouldn’t have turned out like his father and he definitely wouldn’t have hurt his wife, or even dared to threaten her. He had made mistakes before, but this one was impossible to fix. He had gone too far. He had made his one true love commit suicide.

Lizzy was gone now, and he had nothing left to get him through the days to come. Jack picked up the blood-stained razorblade, and began to cut. His blood dripped down and mixed with his love’s.

“I’ll never hurt you again Lizzy. I love you. I want to be with you forever, and I’m willing to kill myself to do so,” Jack said to himself, and her carcass, before his last seconds of life faded into a blur.

♥ ♥ ♥

His corpse fell front first, on top of Lizzy’s, but a blissful smile covered his lips as his heart stopped pumping the little blood that he had left throughout his numb body. They would be together for the rest of their afterlives.