Eyes Like Ice by Radia Al Rashid (books successful people read TXT) 📕

“No, you can’t, psycho!” Anna steps closer to me.

“Yes, I can.” I duck under her spreading arm inside the apartment before she can utter a word.

“Is there anything wrong?” Mike looks confused.

“Yes, Professor and I think you should hear it too.” I say firmly.

“I’ll tear off the fucking head of yours you crazy cunt.” Mike stops Anna before she crashes on me.

“What is the matter? Can you clearly tell me?” he looks at me.

“Sure, only after you can tame your crazy lover a bit. It looks like she’s planning to tear me apart just like her other preys.”

Now I can see Anna’s face going pale and clammy. She swallows hard.”

“Mike, no... no, please, don’t listen to her. She’s talking trash.” Her voice trembling.

“Am I really? Anna, don’t do it to yourself anymore. Admit that you don’t have any sleepwalking shit, it’s all your psychotic fetish of killing animals. Say it Anna. You do need treatment.” I grit my teeth.

“Does that mean, you deliberately threw the puppy out of the window last night?” Mike glances at her.

“What puppy?” I’m confused. “Was she here all night? I suppose she did sneak out a little to do her itsy-bitsy secret job.”

“Wh... no? She was here, like really, we were in my bedroom all night.” He clears his throat.

“Okay!” I wince in disgust. “So, what about the puppy you mentioned just now?”

“I didn’t kill the shitty dog. THAT STUPID BEAST JUST SLIPPED OUT OF THE WINDOW. IS IT MY FAULT?” Anna shouts at Mike.

“No, no sweetheart, I’m just asking you if the puppy was...”

“You’re believing this crazy jealous Evelyn, and not me? what came over you, Mike?”

I run my hands across my face. Frustration, confusion, anxiety, fear- I feel all of them at once.

“Professor? Did you see the puppy after that? I mean, after it fell to the ground? Was it yours?”

“No, it was my sister’s, she went outside the country and gave the puppy to me to look after it for her.”

“So? Did you see it after it was slipped out of the window or whatever?”

He bites on his lower lip, “Yes, I did.”

“When? You did sneak out when I was sleeping, you son of a bitch?” Anna’s eyes go mad.

“Now I know who scratched the little animal like a monster! Anna, you need help.” His voice shaking, giving off a mixture of anger and sadness.

“I DON’T! OKAY? I DON’T NEED ANY FUCKING HELP AT ALL. YOU PEOPLE ARE SICK.” She starts trembling.

“I’m calling the psychic clinic.”

“No, you aren’t.” Anna crashes on Mike’s arm, scratching and biting like a total crazy.

“Anna! Let him call the clinic. YOU NEED TREATMENT.” I try to loosen her grip on Mike.

“So, you killed your own dog, no? it died only two weeks after you bought it.” I shove the words at her to distract her distorted mind to me. It works cos she instantly turns to me with fierce eyes, “Yes, yes... yes... I did kill the dog. What will you do to me now? kill me? you wanna kill me, you bitch?”

“No, I’m just regretting the time I walked to you and invited you to play with me. Boy! Wasn’t I so wrong about you! I used to think how cool and brave you were when you showed the dissected flies and ants to me. you used to tear off the wings of dragon flies without any reason and I thought you were just being brave. Now I know you were sick right from your childhood.” Tears start rolling down my cheeks. I can’t feel the rage in my voice anymore. All I can feel is frustration and sadness- a lot of it. 

She suddenly, becomes silent looking down at the floor. Her lips are shaking.

“I can’t help hurting them when I feel how helpless and weak, they are...” she whispers.

“They’re here.” I startle at Mike’s voice.

“Good! I’m going then. Thanks, Professor for helping me out to tackle this.” Giving him a side smile I duck out of the apartment and never look back.

“I will not spare you Evelyn. You want me to rot to death in an asylum, don’t you? You’ll be paying for it, I promise…”

Anna’s cursing continues as I wait for the Uber to arrive.

If it isn’t her, then who killed Mr. Sanchez’s cat? Someone with similar fetish... of burning things down... my phone startles me halfway through my calculation. Damn it!

“Hello?”

“Hey, Evelyn? Where are you? Did you get Anna?” Richard’s voice void of his regular calmness.

“Hey... yeah I got to meet her and guess she did kill some animal last night but... it wasn’t Mr. Sanchez’s cat. It was a puppy out there in Mike’s apartment. I mean, Mike, her date. So, yeah, the Psychic clinic got her... though I’m completely at a loss what to think of Smokey’s death.” I puff out a frustrating breath.

He remains silent for some time, “Evelyn, I’ll be home within an hour. I think we need to talk about something... it’s important.” He hangs up the phone before the next question slips out of my mouth.

Important? Why can’t he just say it over the phone then? What is the universe trying to play with me? fucking hide n seek? I groan. Suddenly, the thought of those snaps from Mr. Sanchez’s backyard that I captured to show as evidence in proving Anna the killer, clicks my mind. Guess looking at the pictures more closely can give me a clue or two about the actual killer. The pictures immediately make my stomach churn. Maybe it was the heat of the moment that kept me from throwing up back in the morning. The horror of the wrecked body on my screen sends creeps across my entire body. I shudder at the pool of blood as I zoom in the photo. Swallowing hard I begin to inspect closely and carefully. This seems so sinister and nauseating to keep looking at the grotesque scene.

What is it? That black thing? What the hell is this stuff? I near the phone before my expanded eyes.

“Ma’am, we’re at the destination.” The driver’s grave voice makes me jump and drop the phone.

“You okay there, ma’am?”

“Y-yeah! It’s just my phone dropped.” I stutter while paying the bill.

This tiny black stuff... must be a piece of something. What can that be? I chew on my lip.

“Eve? You back finally? I need you to listen to Mr. Sanchez... now.” Kate’s face seriously startles me.

“Why? Did he figure out who killed Smokey?”

“You just come, alright?”

The gloomy sound of her voice sends a chill down my spine. Following her, I look at the zoomed in photo once again. I want to pull on my own hair as something about it is seeming so familiar yet I’m not getting it.

“Why am I not getting it?” I scoff.

“Mr. Sanchez, tell her what you saw yesterday.” Kate crosses her arms on her chest.

“I saw him... yes, I saw him running away. I should’ve chased him down.” He keeps murmuring.

“Who are you talking about, Mr. Sanchez?” I gulp.

“That guy... that young guy across the street.” He’s making my doubt more and more relevant by the minute.

“who?” I utter almost inaudibly.

“It was Anna you were doubting, right Evelyn?” Kate gives me a sharp look.

“y-yeah, well she is somehow psycho but what did he see last night?”

“And you were out proving Anna the killer back then? Eve, you can’t do this to an innocent girl.” she looks disappointed.

“Kate, you don’t understand. Anna is mentally sick and yes, she killed her own dog, her mother’s cat, her date’s puppy and how many more I don’t know, ok? So, quit being hurt for her, will you?” I shout at the top of my lungs making her face pale-shocked.

“And now, Mr. Sanchez, can you please tell me who exactly did you see last night?” my voice sour from shouting.

“That guy, blonde hair... yes, Aron. That Aron was running from... what seemed like from my backyard when suddenly I seemed to hear a noise. I groggily looked outside the window but couldn’t register anything... anything.” He sniffs.

Wait that black thing, it’s a torn part of a wristband. Who have I seen wearing a black wristband all the time? Richard.

The realization hits me so hard that I forget to breathe for a minute. He told me that he had something important to tell me... he was dead anxious when he caught me going after Anna! Does it mean he didn’t do it deliberately to frame Anna as the villain but he’s also... sick! Zac did mention how he used to burn things down as a kid. There WERE the burnt patches on the body of the cat. How could I not notice? How could I not realize it’s none but the Richard I’m so in love with. Aron must have been there to rescue his pal, of course he was there to fend him from waking up the old man so that he couldn’t catch him feasting monstrously on his cat.

Tears start pooling in my eyes but I blink them off. I will not cry over losing a psychopath. If it’s how he wants to keep hurting innocent animals, then he deserves to rot to death in prison or asylum.

“No, Mr. Sanchez, I know it’s not Aron, it’s his friend.”

“You are not telling me anything, Eve! How am I supposed to know anything you are saying is right?” Kate grits her teeth.

“It’s RICHARD. I saw a part of his wristband there on the blood. Maybe it was the cat trying hard to get free from his grip when the wristband ripped off. You can call the Police Mr. Sanchez if you think the brute who killed your cat deserves a punishment.” I utter the words mechanically. My entire body stiffens as I try to walk towards the house.

“You sure, Eve?” Kate gasps.

“As sure as the sunlight.” I don’t wait there anymore as I have no desire to see Richard being arrested and humiliated. I just did it for the sake of the people of this neighborhood, my family and for the sake of him. He needs treatment.

A strange sound of yelping and crying floats in from the other side of the house as I step in it.

I stagger across the corridor to find out exactly what I doubted to hear the sound. Julia is crying like a baby with the phone in her hand.

“Will... my Will, why did they do it to him, why?” she wails.

“Oh! Jules, who called?” I run to her.

“The Police... they said they found the body yesterday. They said they had been investigating his missing case for about two months. Eve! He has been missing for a long time. Maybe as long as the time of my accident. That’s why Eve, that’s why he didn’t show up.” She breaks into tears.

“But, Julia! What did the Police say? Who are they suspecting? Should we go find out?”

“I don’t know, they said if someone could go to the Police station, it’d be better. They have something more to talk about. O my God! you know he called me... he called me that day saying he had something really important to talk about. I couldn’t reach him... that fucking accident ruined it all and now he’s dead. My fiancé is dead EVELYN.”

“You try to calm down a bit, Julies. Please!” the tears now get free from my eyes. I can’t feel my own hands.

“What’s going on?” Kate looks pale as dead.

“Will’s dead Kate, they killed him...killed him for nothing.” Julia cries out.

“What the fuck?” Kate’s eyes spread wide.

“Listen here, Kate, the Police called and let her know that they found the body yesterday and had got some suspect behind this murder. So, if any of us could go to the Police now, it’d be better to deal with this and all other matters associated with it. I think I should go and you stay here with her.”

“No... no, you are not