-RUTHLOW-

I slammed the blunt end of the hammer across his temple, my breath caught in my throat. He stopped moving instantly, and Vea pushed his chest away. The boy collapsed off the side of the bed, and fell to the ground in a heap. I lifted the hammer in my hand, and saw blood staining it. I had been trying to put up a photo for Vea in her bedroom, and had left the hammer on her desk. I didn’t think I’d use it like this.

“Is he - “ Vea said, voice shaky.

I dropped the hammer onto the floor, and my heartbeat roared in my ears. I walked over to the boy and bent down to him, placing two fingers on his neck just as a pool of blood expanded from his head.

No pulse.

“Fuck,” I said. “No way.” I tried again.

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He was dead.

I walked away from his body, and paced up and down along the foot of her bed as I wracked my brain. After some walking, I sat on the edge of her bed, before getting up again to pace. I looked at the hammer, then at the dead body.

I picked up the hammer, and removed some tissues nearby to wipe the blood off the blunt side. Putting it by the dead body, I began to pick up his feet to drag it across the floor so that I could cover it up more easily with some tarp that I would get from the basement -

“Ruthlow…”

I lifted my head instantly, realising I had completely forgotten about her.

“Hey, hey,” I said. “Let me handle this, alright? I’ll make everything go away.”

But she continued to cry more. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

Her crying became louder. I let the boy’s feet go, and rushed over to her on the bed. Sitting on the side of it, I brushed her hair, and hugged her. She rested her face on my shoulder, and I felt the moisture from her eyes drenching my clothes.

“It’ll be fine, Vea,” I said, patting the back of her head. “It’ll be - “ The next thing that happened made me tense up immediately.

Because I felt a kiss on my neck.