Ch 42: Kill your darling, or I will. Kill them all till only what matters remain.

"If you're not going to at least be a little useful then get out! Don't bother us?! Get out! Get out you creepy ass leech!"

Another person would feel something. Shame, confused, at least awkward. Sophie needed the drugs to feel anything and she was finally off that shit.

Couldn't do much about the drinking though. Made the bullshit a little bit easier to swallow, made the headaches ease up. This wasn't the island. You can't just go snapping the necks of the human shits that annoy you. She had few true enjoyments left.

She casually sipped at her glass, watching the woman ruin her own face, layers of meticulously applied makeup through her useless tearful screaming.

The beautiful woman in front of her sneered and Sophie couldn't help but grade her. B.

She was worth a B at most. Not the best seller but a solid staple whore, nice scream. There are no makeup stores or photo filters on the island. A woman like this wouldn't have been hard to break.

"The one who needs to get out and make themselves actually useful isn't me." Sophie sighed lazily.

"You fucking delusional bitch!"

“...Are you blind to everything outside your phone's feed? You shouldn't be, seeing how well you react to my face. Still. Language? What if the kids hear you, you're being quite loud you know?"

The main house wasn't all that far from hers. She may be a messed up sort of person but at least she didn't swear around kids, especially if they were her nephews. If anyone wanted to blame any bad influences, they should look towards the mother.

Her cousin married such an annoying bitch.

"Don't you talk about my children with that fucked up mouth hole." the other woman was a bit past that point of ‘losing it’.

"Oh this? You're so right, I shouldn't be allowed to even speak- right Bethany?" grinned Sophie, extra wide.

It always creeped the hell out of Bethany.

Bethany Bethany oh perfect housewife Bethany. What a beautiful trophy housewife she made with her expensive glowing skin and perfectly fit yet petite figure. Bethany was absolutely adorable with her pretty eyes and pretty smile and pretty little bikinis, perfect for the camera.

By camera, of course, it was the selfie cam.

In comparison, Sophie was a horror movie. White hair, burn marks, scars all around on a tight thin frame. A little like a tightly wound cat a little like a still whole zombie: silent, awkward to move but ready to pounce at any time. The marks on the neck made her look like a haunted house mannequin, head ready to just fall right off if not for the stitches.

Out of politeness or skin protection, did Sophie bother wrapping up bandages over her arms, her neck. Half a mummy when she went out because of the scarred flesh, the flesh that remained, underneath.

Didn't Sophie make such a pretty picture?

Shame Bethany didn't think so.

Sophie's presence grated on her, ruined her hard-earned picture perfect life. Can't post as much of those 'curated' social media pictures of her family life with Sophie around. See a creepy burn victim wasn't the right aesthetics. Bethany needed to portray a lifestyle of glamour and beauty with Kevin's money.

Charity wasn't a part of the plan but it could work?

Poor poor Bethany, a hardworking mother of two taking on the burden of caring for her husband's relative, one of the tragic survivors of a certain famous international missing plane wreck.

Bethany wasn't asking for much from the other woman. Just show up at the event, keep quiet and make her look good.

Was that really so much to ask?

She wanted more, she wanted her out, wanted this white haired monster out of sight and out of her life for good.

"Is this really the way you speak to people? Your children? This isn't very PTA friendly?"

"Don't you touch my fucking kids?!!!"

"Me? I'm not doing anything? Though I understand why you want to keep your precious babies away from the scary looking auntie. Wouldn't want them traumatized.... They seem fine when Kevin brings them over but I haven't set foot in your house since the first visit. Let alone barge into your private residence ...I certainly don't go screaming insults at you? " Sophie explained slowly, the way very patient primary school teachers do.

"What the hell! Like you can fucking talk?! Kevin must have lost his mind when he let you into our house!" ranted the poor excuse for a conversation.

Sophie was too lazy to explain again how this wasn't even her house. The guest house was long converted. Sophie had her own gate, entrance, and exit. She didn't need to step foot in Bethany's yard.

So why was Bethany here bothering her?

"I'm not going to be your show monkey. I can't stop you from living your life how you want, but don't make people, me, your kids, into your accessories. The rest is between you and Kevin how you use his money." Sophie started.

"Bitch-" Bethany tried, before being cut off.

Cut like a balloon, all hot hair and so vulnerable to anything sharp.

"You're asking me to show up like a freakshow clown to your little social gala? You and all your friends dress up, Kevin and their husbands put on their suit and ties. And I have to showcase my years of trauma? For what? So you can profit?" Sophie spoke unamused.

The ice clinked in Sophie’s glass.

"It's for the charity you selfish old hag! If I have to put up with you then you should at least-"

"Put up with? Why Bethany I understand I scare you...which I why I don't bother you, ever?"

"Lies lies lies you're this twisted little bitch that makes children cry with your face and-"

"Children? What children? Aren't you the only one getting scared? I never blamed you for that...but at least you should respect my personal boundaries. No is no."

Sophie stepped closer, smirking through the whiskey.

"I won't show up for people to gawk at, I won't speak up for you being a great person for 'taking' me in when I pay my rent, and I won't sell a single thing about my life to you. It's quite emotionally duressing for me still, Kevin has my therapist's number if you want?" she explained quite calmly. Eerily so.

Bethany shuddered almost like an animal waiting for death. Sophie was careful to angle herself and the other woman where her installed security camera would record this moment best. With her back facing the camera, the feed could record her voice but not her face. Only the descent from control that Bethany was currently showing.

There are more than a few ways to haunt someone to death, to frighten them to that point. You didn't need to threaten them outright.

Sometimes just a look was enough, a long unblinking stare.

A nice smile, one from your childhood nightmares, stretching a human grin into one fit for ghosts and urban legends. It was the elongated scar on her mouth that did it, cut and healed up like a rotting scarecrow.

"It's you it's you! You're the one haunting my house! My beautiful home! It was perfect, perfect! Why the hell did you ever come!? You should have died in that place you freak! What did I ever do to deserve this!?" sobbed the woman, honestly coming undone.

"Oh dear, I told Kevin it was a bad idea but he insisted that you were truly very kind and welcome. Of course, we women know each other best. It seems my scars really do scare you so much, even all this time." Sophie showed a mocking concern.

"Bitch fuck get out get out!"

"It's very hurtful and admittedly prejudiced of you Bethany, but I don't blame you. Nor can I control others’ reactions. I can only go through my recovery plan to the best of my abilities. This? This is rather over the top though? "

Was it?

The cameras never caught Sophie, never caught the way she looked or grinned at the shrieking woman. Sophie never touched her, not once. There was no proof of anything.

No proof of how she sneaked into the main house or easily hacked into Bethany's devices. No proof of how she haunted the socialite in the littlest ways. Moving the check book here or there, the perfume that Bethany never wore around Kevin, the private burner phone, the lingerie. She never cornered her cousin's wife, never took the initiative to seek her out or speak to her privately.

Whatever Bethany feared was all in her own mind, of her own making. So what if Sophie just ...pushed that guilt? That anxiety along with her presence. Gave a solid face to the fear and let the mind run wild.

Hell isn't a physical place so much as it is in your own head.

Too easy, bitches like Bethany wouldn't ever last long. Sophie had seen this type too often, strangled a few personally.

What was it about women getting arrogant after bedding a man here or there? What was it about the men that got so easily tricked by a pretty face with a well timed giggle in the first place?

Honestly, her cousin disappointed her with his poor taste in women. But it can't be helped, after all, he was just a common man. Hell, he was a stock playing dentist, enough said. So easy to pull the wool over his eyes.

Not Sophie's. She had seen too much, lucky to not have been blinded by it all.

"Get out, get the hell out before you ruin my life any further!!!"

"I respect your honesty Bethany, but I'm going to have to discuss it with my doctors and Kevin about moving out. I think you should calm down first? Maybe a drink? If you can't, I really do have to ask you to leave."

"Bitch bitch you lying fucking ugly whore!!!"

The camera doesn't capture the absolutely maniacal grin Sophie has on her face. Wrong angle, wrong distance. It can't capture the way Sophie almost lewdly sticks out her tongue, whispering the names of all those other men. Mouths all their names slowly, so that even those who can't lip read can still make sense of them, especially if they ever screamed those names out in bed. Current flings, past sugar daddies, names her cousin might even recognize though not in this context.

"It's all your fault! "

"Oh my...."

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Sophie brought her free hand up to her mouth, as if truly troubled by her cousin in law's deranged behavior. Only Bethany, not the camera, caught the way Sophie licked and bit at her middle finger, sickeningly seductive on her whiskey wet lips.

The crude gesture made the other woman flush with rage and disgust, tinted with shame she would never admit.

Oh but stupid Bethany. What proof did a scarred woman have? What social power did she have for anyone to believe her? Of course, Sophie wasn't going to bother going around telling anyone, after all it didn't matter to her.

It was Kevin's marriage, she didn't want to ruin his normal little happiness.

Besides, who would believe her? She was an outsider, missing for years and in intensive therapy for the last few.

If anyone was ruining Bethany's picture-perfect life, well wasn't that just herself?

Hide the evidence better, don't feel guilty, maybe just stop fucking around for money and social favors? Not Sophie's business.

But now that Bethany was in her territory, it was. Oh what a pretty picture Bethany made, tears and pent up fears running down her face. She could very well leave, run away from Sophie's presence but Sophie knows. She knows all about it, like a ghost that could see through all her walls, let alone her clothes.

A ghost haunting and killing Bethany slowly.

This was the final straw, the break after months and months of tense pleasantries.

See this is why Bethany was only a B- whore at best, despite her natural beauty. She couldn't cover her tracks well enough, couldn't cut out any feelings out of the deal. Panicked too easily when the going actually got tough, making getting caught all the easier.

Maybe having kids, new trophies, a new identity, had softened her, but that was no excuse. If that were the case she should have stopped after Sophie's nephews were born.

Sophie placed everything carefully beforehand. Now she watched intently as Bethany played into her trap. She saw how the other woman's mascara runny eyes twitched as Sophie ran her tongue on her glass, watched how her gaze shifted to the glass bottle.

"Really now, Bethany, calm down, I think you're feeling overstressed about something. Here, let me pour you a little something."

No cameras ever caught anything Bethany had done, not without her permission and editing. No photo of her and her life ever went untouched. Not till now.

What a pretty video Bethany was making right now, better than any private porno. Sophie's sure it's going to be a hit online. Shame about Kevin's marriage though. Well better sooner than later, he was bound to find out eventually.

Sophie approached casually, the most natural of actresses, whiskey glass in one hand and bottle in another.

Here it is, the climax was about to come!

3...2...1. Action.

There's no way Sophie could have been hit by something so sloppy, could go down with just that. Her skill and skin were much tougher than that.

But she let the stupid whore slap the glass from her hand, shattering it. Let a perfectly normal woman believe she was so cornered she had to attack and keep attacking the imaginary monster in front of her.

Sophie's was already scarred, what's a little bit more? Her new ones would only be physical, it's Bethany that was going to ruin herself for life.

Did this angle capture her best side? The most pitiful side?

The bottle was ripped from Sophie's hand before being violently smashed against the side of her head. The dripping whiskey and blood were only made more obvious against the stark white hair.

The camera never caught Sophie's bloody smile, one that would haunt Bethany for the rest of her time. On her way down to the glass splattered ground, the poor scarred woman, of course, didn't forget to take soft pretty perfect Bethany with her.

The resulting crash was sharp and violent, the clatter of ever more crushed glass echoed. But that had nothing on Bethany's piercing scream.

And.... Cut.

-----

The world comes to blearily with a shrill ringing in Sophie's ear. It was probably bleeding, her head felt like a bad bar fight. The sting of mud in cuts weighing everything down.

"Oh god, oh fuck god, breathe! Yes! Yes! Thank god, yes! You're going to be okay!"

A man- a boy really, tries moving her dazed form from the wreckage like an amateur. One shouldn't do that normally but the fire was growing still amidst the dusty sprinkle of rain and they had to get away.

The damaged plane? Yes, that's right. Some things really couldn't be avoided in any lifetime. It really blew again.

Her subtle meddling wasn't enough. Got them to look over the equipment, got people to be prepared for something, got it moved up a day even, but it wasn't enough. One of those engines still blew, and it definitely took out some people with it. But what else could she have feasibly done?

She was on-site early, as a volunteer. Jumped right into the mess of things with her disarming smile and odd pretense of authority. The staff eyed the security unit behind her, being Ryo's guest, while the guards calculated the familiarity she had with the crew.

It went well that morning’s plan. June was to stay on the ground, the shelter even, and herd people slowly to safety. To keep control and listen, listen to what the majority of people were saying.

Mattie was volunteering to help clear the planned path of any blockage. Foliage, stalks of trees, anything that can't be rolled over easily. He was strong, but he could also keep an eye out.

It was going well and that, there, was the problem. Nothing ever went that well for long.

They were looking out for it, ready for any signs of something going wrong. That's how they could get the signals to the staff to evacuate, the preparedness of the security team to move them by force if need be. No matter how many stayed back, Sophie had the feeling tragedy would still strike and it did.

At a quarter past two, they decided to start the second plane's engines. Over a particularly tough gorge. One engine, then two...they should have stuck with just one. But Sophie's not the one in the cockpit, doesn't have direct control over everything. Even with the future in her head, it can't go as she plans, life never works that way.

The best you can do is play your stakes and make a gamble.

That's what Sophie had done. Bet her tediously packed supplies, the heavy food rations. She wasn't expecting to win the big one but this way, she could reduce the damage, save a few more lives.

Early game they needed as many good people, labor, as possible. They'll die off naturally, as time takes its course, but at least for the time being, she could save a few more. Enough to make a long term difference hopefully.

It was not deja-vu. In another lifetime, Sophie was somewhere else, somewhere much further and safer away. Her senses though remembered that whirring sound. Of a fan running too hard, of something overheating, even without the obvious signs of smoke and steam. She was close enough to see the start of it all.

She let out a mad shout, signaling to Ryo and his contacts- it was time. What they feared was happening. Now all they could do was minimize the damage and take cover.

"Go go go get out of the way now!"

She was too close, monitoring the entire situation on the right wing. Even if she ran, it's likely she would take damage from the force of the blow. The security team was evacuating the surrounding people as planned but there were still a few stragglers.

"Get down and roll!"

Sophie ran, not away from the blast, but to take cover. Her closest form of defense wasn't the foliage of the nearby bushes or rocks but another person. Curling herself in, she tackled the other straggler, effectively taking him down as best she could to use as a human shield in case their distance wasn't enough.

That's the last thing she remembered because then came the blast.

She must have rolled somewhere and hit her head, which would explain the stinging gash she could feel on her temple. Some slight shock, disoriented, but no burns. Sophie could tell that much. She of all people would know how a burn would feel like.

There is no other pain other than dirty slight scrapes and the ringing on the side of her head, her ear probably.

Now if only this reckless fucker would set her down already, the rushed movement doing nothing for her throbbing headache.

"Hey over here! She's hit her head badly!"

"Bring her here!"

Sophie groaned, half in pain, hands instinctively clawing at the source of the noise above her but the hold only tightens and the jostling gets worse. Oh fuck her head. She's been through far worse but head wounds were always a concern. It didn't seem so bad if she was this cognitive, but it was hard to tell with the shock and movement of another's frantic running.

She only calms down with the presence of familiar dry cool hands, when the rain stops hitting her still muddy form. Ryo was here, that's good. She can trust Ryo with this much at least.

"How many?" she asked when she could finally exhale again. The breath knocked out of her far more than she realized.

"How about you focus on yourself first Sophie?" snorted the doctor above her.

"How many?" she seethed.

Teeth bared and ready to bite at the hand cleaning her wound, the ringing in her head far too irritating for her to stay patient. How much did her gamble win her?

The rain was coming down heavier now, dampening down any fires that wanted to spread. The damage was minimized by her actions, she knows that, but by how much?

Another cool hand supported the base of her head, right at the back of her neck.

"Calm down, people are watching." Ryo leaned in and whispered, gesturing to the panicked person that carried her and to all the confusion around them.

If it were anyone else in her place, their heartbeat would have picked up at the seemingly intimate contact with such a handsome man. But Sophie's mind was already racing from beforehand, adrenaline pumped ready with nowhere else to go.

"I'm going to take off your jacket....good. They haven't even started counting. It's too soon, can you blink for me?" stated Ryo reasonably, calming Sophie down with nothing but his words and a press of cold hands.

Of course, Ryo was always the rational one to Sophie's anger, and she hated it then. How she was always stressed and losing control, whereas her then-boyfriend seemed to face everything with an air of indifference. As if he had everything figured out, maybe he did.

But knowing something and facing it, getting shit done, was a different matter.

There were times Sophie had considered it, the what if's. Locked up in isolation, whether on the island or in the hospital, there was a lot of time for her mind to wander.

What if....if she still had Ryo, if he was there to hold on to her like he was doing now, would she have gone still gone mad? If there was a Ryo through all of that, how different would her life had been in this hellish place? He would have never let her sell herself for one. Could have protected her, held her down in her rage and desperation fueled impulses. He was always good at that.

But that's not what happened and no amounts of what if's would ever solve the puzzle that was her fragmented mind.

As he worked, inspecting Sophie for any real damage, he talked, calmly, cooly. Keeping her focused on her state of being, to the updates he did know.

No confirmed dead, yet. They shut off the engine as soon as they could. No missing ground crew, 2 unconfirmed flight crew members, 5 missing attendants, a lot more injured but no one with anything particularly fatal. Not yet at least. This was all just for now. More information to come.

It was this sort of professional indifference to the world that Sophie once admired and now can't seem to get rid of herself. Cold. Numb. Then blinding rage. Hotter than the fires that burned her face once. Then put out just as soon as the rain did for the physical fires before her.

There was no in between to this insanity and there was no finish line to this feeling or lack of feeling. It just is.

"Your cute siblings."

That got her attention, snapped her out of the void her mind was going.

"What about them?"

"Safe, all accounted for. Just thought you would want to know."

"Don't fuck me with me like that Ryo."

Ryo does not smirk, but his lips make the barest of twitch when he teases her. Sophie sighs in relief nonetheless, because above all else Mattie and June come first. That's right, there's no time for what-ifs. Just what is.

"So she's okay?"

The straggler Sophie used was still there, just as dirty and scratched up as Sophie was. Her injuries looked worse than what it was, given the mud they had rolled in to avoid the force of the blast. She assumed about the same for him, given how well the boy seemed to have been able to carry her off, though roughly.

Just a boy, too young to be crew, too old to be just sitting around doing nothing. Around the same age as Mattie she would guess, skin freckled and pale from the bomblike events. Another face absent from her memories, another dead man walking.

"She will be, if she keeps still. Now you, same distance from the blast? Let's take a look at you." considered Ryo, already examining the other party.

Sophie's wound was only superficial, it would heal soon enough. The shock of dripping blood and mud made her look far more beaten, more pitiful than she actually was.

"Yeah yeah, thank god for that. Yeah I'm fine. I think? Oh my god!"

"Calm down it's just the shock, I'm a doctor you can trust me on that. You did we well to duck and cover. Now let's see your back, I see scorch marks. Can you take off your shirt by yourself?"

"Oh fuck. Duck. Ducking...fuck, thank you. No joke. Fuck thank you, for getting me out the way like that." exclaimed the boy, eyes wide at Sophie's limp tired form.

As Ryo said, he really was still reeling from shock, it's likely he could have died to today. Sophie doesn't mind the misunderstanding. In a way, he's not wrong. If Sophie didn't take him down with her, over her doesn't matter, he may just have been another number in her lost bet.

She was still waiting for the final count, the results. Then, then she could take a rest. Now there was nothing left to do but recover what they could from the burnt wreck, a lot more whole than it has been a lifetime ago. A lot less ripped and burnt bodies, that's for sure.

Rest, she could afford to sleep well tonight. Because after this it was going to be non stop preparation for the monsoons.

"Oh my god! Oh my god no Caleb! Caleb are you alright!?! What happened?!!" screeched a stunning young woman, face still lovely when wrecked with rain and tears, as she ran into the makeshift station.

Ryo frowned at the disruption but the shrill noise was not what made Sophie's head pound even worse.

In front of her now was the woman Ryo would leave Sophie for, would himself die for.

"Miss please, calm down and allow me to treat the patient." sighed the doctor, completely unaware that this annoyance was supposedly the love of his life.

"Caleb, babe, talk to me!"

"Please control yourself or I will have you removed."

Sophie was the one who wanted to sigh, maybe die. It was like watching one of June's trashy shows, except she was in it. The butterfly effect was a bitch, and right now it was named Aubrey.

She could use a glass of whiskey, something anything, right about now.

-----