Flumes Vol. 4: Issue 1, Summer 2019 | Page 79

“Lawmaker,” Laura said, struggling to catch her breath.

She hit the door with enough force to shake the wooden frame around it. Whole chunks of wood were starting to fall off and land at her feet. She didn’t move from her spot or avoid them. She removed the axe from the door and rested it on her shoulder. She wanted to go upstairs and open the front door and go to the nearest train station and go back to her apartment in the city. She wanted to put the axe down and walk up to the second floor, where her bedroom waited, cool and dark, and she wanted to crawl into her old familiar bed and pull the covers over her face and she wanted to fall asleep and not feel afraid.

Laura lifted the axe from her shoulder and took a deep breath. The smell of fresh wood and dried paint filled her nose. She swung the axe forward and pulled it back like the hands of a clock. Spinning and reliable. Her arms were getting tired. She struck again at the door.

“Dollmaker,” she said. Spit flew out of her mouth. Unnatural light crept out of the cracks in the wood. Her heartbeat echoed inside of her ears, the bark of a three-headed dog, vicious and loud.

“ASSHOLE,” she yelled, and swung the axe, one final time.

Laura stood and watched the door collapse. Like the way you would open an orange, the wood split in half, and an ocean of blood spilled out. She threw the axe to the floor and fell to her knees. She covered her eyes with her hands, listening to the blood rush past her in thunderous waves, as it dripped and flowed like wine poured from a vase. Laura pressed her lips together so no blood could get into her mouth or down her throat. Her knees slipped on the floor beneath her, covered in viscous matter, and she tried to steady herself by grabbing the wall next to her. Her hand came away wet.

Laura sat there, on her knees, waiting for the blood to stop its relentless journey forward. She saw dots of multi-colored light burst and retract on the back of her eyelids. The blood pushed through the spaces in between her fingers and hit her face like the blade of a sword.

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