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The first thought that Amanda had when dragging the unconscious Lynn was that she was pretty. Sure, she was in her late 30s, just old enough to start having slight wrinkles in her skin. Lynn's face was set in a frown in her sleep, and she looked over all miserable. But in that misery, she was still pretty.
After she tied Lynn to the chair, Amanda brushed her fingers through Lynn's hair, working out the tangles. She had nice hair; it was smooth and smelled like fruit. Amanda could never afford something that nice, getting all of her scentless products at the cheap general store near her old apartment.
"What are you doing?" She hadn't heard Mark come in. Amanda took in a deep breath and slowly removed her hands from Lynn's hair.
"Getting her ready. She's done now, ready for whenever the other guy starts his trap."
She turned around, and Mark was staring at her, at how close she still stood behind Lynn. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why are you still over here then?"
"I wanted to make sure they were tight enough that she couldn't rip them off and run." She sneered. "Aren't you supposed to be helping John?"
"Yeah, we need a tool that you last had; it should be in your stuff. He needs you to go get it."
"That's so fucking specific. Which one?"
Mark grinned. "Go look over there. It should be obvious when you see it."
When Lynn woke up screaming, Amanda thought it was a shame that she had no chance of survival now. Someone so full of life and anger, who was misguided and deserved a fair chance, now had to die because of the letter she ripped to shreds and shoved in her pocket.
"Be quiet." Amanda said, grabbing onto the back of the chair. "There's someone who wants to meet you."
"No!" She struggled, making it slightly harder to push her. "I'll give you anything you want; please just let me go home!"
"Shhhh." Amanda bent down to whisper into her ear, the fruit smell hitting her even more. "Fighting won't get you anywhere. We won't hurt you as long as you listen to us." Being a liar was nothing new, but saying it this time made her chest feel tight.
Lynn stopped struggling, but she was crying softly. "Please, I have a daughter!"
Amanda stopped trying to talk to her after that and just pushed her into the surgery room.
She had to be mean. How could Amanda be kind when her mentor was dying and she had to kill an innocent woman? If Lynn failed, then it wouldn't be murder, but Amanda just knew that she would have to be Lynn's cause of death. A small part of her wondered if all of this could be solved by letting John die. He was her savior, but saviors didn't last forever.
When she came back with all the tools Lynn needed for the surgery, she saw the older woman staring at the reverse bear trap that had previously had her blood on it. "Are you looking for a weapon? Because that was already used on me, but I'm still moving."
Lynn's eye went wide. "You were a victim?"
Amanda smiled, like one would when recalling fond memories. "Of one, if not the first. He changed my life by putting that on me."
"You mean he traumatized you."
"You just don't understand." Amanda sighed and traced the place where the scars used to be. "When you're wasting your life away, you think you don't care what happens, until you face death right away. Surviving that makes you appreciate what you didn't before."
A hand grabbed her shoulder. Lynn looked at her with pity. "Amanda, you don't need to be here. You're a beautiful young girl who got misguided." Lynn tried to smile, but her mouth was wobbling. "Help me, and I can help you."
Like Lynn, those words were pretty. But that's all they were. "You could try to kill me instead; you might have a better chance of getting out that way."
Lynn stumbled back in shock. "What?"
There was a screwdriver on the table; Amanda picked it up and shoved it into Lynn's hand. Then, she stepped so she and Lynn were chest to chest and held Lynn's hand so the screwdriver poked softly into her neck. "You can just move your hand forward right now. Try to do it quietly, though, because if John hears me drop dead, he'll probably rip off his heart rate monitor and your collar will go off."
They stood there in silence for a moment, Lynn looking like a deer in headlights, flushed from embarrassment. Finally, she took a step back and placed the screwdriver on the table. "Did you get everything I asked for?"
She had saved John, which Amanda would be eternally grateful for. A gratefulness she would have to return with blood.
Lynn tried to escape afterward and had tried to break open the fence. Amanda watched her from the shadows for a minute, wondering if maybe letting her leave would be the best idea. But the weight of the ripped letter in her pocket reminded her otherwise.
Amanda lunged forward, pinning Lynn against the fence. Her hair had become frizzy, and Amanda was curious if her expensive shampoo was supposed to help with frizziness. Lynn had turned them around, and now Amanda had her back to the fence, scalpel pressed against her neck.
"Just let me go." Lynn pleaded like the knife was to her throat instead. "I did what you asked; why can't you let me go!"
"He hadn't finished yet." Amanda explained calmly. "You can wait for him to finish his test, or you can slit my throat. But if you do, you'll never get the key to take that collar off."
Lynn looked down at her neck, and before Amanda could say anything, her necklace was ripped off. Lynn threw the scalpel to the ground and felt around the collar for a place for the key to go.
Amanda admired how Lynn looked in that moment, both hopeful and desperate. She wondered if that's how she looked when trying to shove the key into the bear trap around her neck all those months ago.
"You really thought that would be the key?" Lynn had stopped her movement at those words and then sunk onto her knees, crying.
Amanda took cautious steps forward, like she was trying to not scare off a timid animal. She placed her fingers underneath Lynn's chin and made the older woman look up at her. "You can keep that key if you want. Think of it as a gift." She turned on her heels, leaving Lynn in her despair.
John was going to let her go. If that happened, everything Amanda had built for herself would be destroyed. She pointed the gun at Lynn.
"She doesn't deserve to live!" She shouted, trying to convince both John and herself. "She doesn't understand what we understand!"
Lynn was full-out sobbing now, tears running down her face as she stared at Amanda. "You promised that you'd let me go! Please, just let me see my family, my daughter!"
"Put the gun down, Amanda." John said, voice raspy. "Lynn holds more control over your life than you realize."
Amanda realizes how much control that woman has. It would be so much easier if Lynn didn't have that control, because then Amanda could easily release her and get to smell her hair at least one more time.
She kept shouting until her voice became her thoughts. "You're just a fucking murderer! You think you're so damn righteous, but you're as horrible as the rest of us! You ruined my life, and you had me worship you for it. She needs to die, especially if she's so important to you!"
"I've been trying to tell you, Amanda, that Lynn isn't important to me, but to you."
Amanda opened her mouth to scream again, but the door burst open, and Lynn ran towards it, and Amanda instinctively shot off the gun, hitting Lynn in the back. She couldn't even think about her regret before Jeff pointed his own gun at her, and a pain ripped through her neck.
She was on the floor as John explained her test. Not just Lynn's, but Amanda's too. Amanda didn't care anymore, now that she had officially failed him. Instead, she stared at Lynn, lying against the wall, looking pale and her eyes barely open.
Even on the verge of death, Lynn looked pretty. Lynn's eyes moved to Amanda, bloody and twitching on the floor, and Amanda pondered if she looked pretty too.