She heard the flick of the blade as it tore through the air. That same deathly flick that terrorised her dreams every night. She flinched but felt nothing. And then she heard it... quiet, so quiet at first but so commanding. Quiet but so loud that it drowned out all the street noise. Quiet but deadly, even more deadly than Wayne's voice - his voice seeming like death to her.
"Have you ever heard a man's eyeball pop?" The words drifted into Taylor's ears with a chilling cold that was deeper than any nightmare ever. This wasn't some insane threat or boast. The words were calm, gentle almost. A lover's caress encased in a block of ice. That voice... that voice was very dangerous.
Taylor felt the grip on her throat slide away slowly. It wasn't until then that she realised she had not been breathing. She stumbled away as the supporting arm let her go, crumpling to the pavement, sucking air into her burning lungs.
"It does pop you know... it's quite a sickly sound. Of course you rarely hear it for the screaming. I do believe it is very painful."
Taylor, still gasping, her head spinning and her eyes not focusing looked up and saw Wayne's knife, fully extended and now a breath away from his eyeball. Nobody was moving, nobody was saying anything. Just the knife at Wayne's eye and just the voice. That cold, deadly voice. Taylor knew she would hear that voice forever... but more than hear it, she would feel it. Feel the pure danger in it. Forever...