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...
"I'll fuckin' kill you," Wayne tried the words, expecting them to come out in a voice as dangerous but Taylor could hear emotion in it - unlike the other voice which was cold and flat - dangerous and deadly. It was hidden but Taylor knew Wayne's voice well enough to hear real fear. She had only heard that once before in his voice but it was there now.
Taylor's eyes finally focused as her breathing steadied and her heart stopped pounding in her head. Fuck her head hurt, the lack of oxygen nearly making her pass out before. Taylor's eyes focused and saw the man standing behind Wayne, though she couldn't believe it. Looking back across to the coffee shop, as if to reassure herself that she was really seeing what she was seeing...