Catch Me

Catch Me

by Inaya Chase

"Lapine."

Max tilted her head and nodded slightly, a look of insidious delight in her wicked eyes.

"I have a word for you too, little one. Run." With that, she drew a gun from inside her coat and pointed it straight at me. Without a moments hesitation, I spun on my heels and bolted for the door behind me. I ducked my head as I breached the threshold, and heard two shots hit the doorframe just behind my shoulder as I made my escape. An inch slower, and I'd be on the floor right now. Without stopping for even a second, I scanned the hallway for any sign of a viable escape. I should have taken the time to memorize these doors as she dragged me in this place.

Maxine Lebeau... When she first showed up three weeks ago on my Hinge, I figured I was being catfished. I didn't expect this. She was too perfect. A butch gentleman lesbian who loved to restore motorcycles and enjoyed music, art, culture....And books. I fell into her trap like a helpless moth to a bright light. She forgot to mention she also had a penchant for murder as an assassin. I don't even know why I followed her into this abandoned mansion from centuries ago. Oh, yes I do: I'm a dumb, trusting little bitch! Stupid! I just don't get why this is happening. Who wanted me dead? What have I done to deserve such hate from someone to want to kill me? As my eyes searched for an escape, my mind searched for answers. I doubt Max will offer any before she puts a bullet in me.

I didn't stop, but looked into each room as I passed them. Then it caught my eye - last door on the right: a wall at the door! Could it be? Yes! A bit of luck. I turned right and ran through the entrance. Suddenly, I felt my foot step too far down, and before I knew it, my momentum and gravity pulled me down into a fall. I landed one floor down, my knees buckling under the force of my drop, and I was face down in a pile of leaves covering a dirt floor. Well, I made it to the basement, apparently. Ow. I laid there for a half second.

"Damnit Emily" I muttered to myself as the pain surged throughout my body. No time for licking wounds. Max will be on my ass in seconds. Not daring to make another sound in my pain, I slowly pushed myself up and limped away from the entrance I just fell through. That must have once been some sort of old lift shaft or laundry shoot or something. Who the hell knows? Above me I could hear the footsteps of Max as she hummed some sort of old tune.

"Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run.

Bang, bang, bang, bang goes the farmer's gun."

Really? She's singing a creepy old song as she hunts me down like.....A rabbit, I guess. I knew she loved old fashioned stuff, but I never pegged her as clichéd. I tiptoed down this sort of angle in the floor and squinted to get an idea of my surroundings. I was in an old....store room? There were wooden shelves full of old mason jars, some filled with what I assume were vegetables at one time. On the other end was a wooden table and lots of ancient tools. Must have doubled as a woodshop. Wait. That means....

I turned my eyes leftward and saw it - I could see the light of the moon poking through the old cracks of a wooden door! I slowly stepped my way over to it, trying not to make a noise.

"Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run.

Don't give the farmer his fun, fun, fun."

Jesus... That twisted bitch. I reached the door, turned the latch and tried to quietly push it open. The rattle of chains clanged like a siren announcing my presence. Through the light between the cracks, I could make out the presence of a large beam. She must have bolted it shut and chained it there.

"I can hear you in the woodshop, Emily. I'm disappointed! If you think I haven't planned all of this out and covered all the escapes in this place, you obviously don't respect me like I do you. I just don't know. Maybe we should get together - talk about things. You know: discuss the state of our... relationship!" With that last word, her entire torso flipped down through the break in the floor where I fell, and upside down, she quickly aimed at me with her gun and fired three rounds. Without thinking, I ducked and ran out of the way, and they hit the wooden door behind me. I bolted around and scanned for a new escape. Stairs! I darted over and ran up them. They wound around a corner. I ended up staring done another hallway. I ran into the first door on the left. It was an old kitchen. In a flash, I was rummaging through every drawer and opening every cupboard in the room, looking for anything - a knife, a fork...Hell, even an old can of beans I could knock her out with would do!

Max loves to cook, and I loved cooking with her. She always says there's nothing more romantic and intimate than to feed each other. I agree. I loved the feel of her arms around me as she would take my hands in hers and would stir the pot with me while gently kissing that spot on the back corner of my neck. The sound of her whispering, "You're doing so well, little one. This tomato sauce is my grandmother's recipe, and it's going to light up your senses. Just keep stirring, my love; I'll do the rest."

Max was always so damned charming, and knew just how to excite and thrill me at the sound of her voice dominating my brain. Taming my wild heart with her soft, calm direction. She had a way with it--my heart. I would bend to her will even when I would protest and fight her. Nobody orders me around. But she never did. She didn't ever have to. A few sweet and firm words in that damned voice of hers, and I was a willing participant in anything she wanted. That's how I ended up here. She planned all of this. Gods, I'm so stupid to have fallen into this trap like this! But she's never asked me to do anything I didn't want to do before. Never lied, never manipulated me. Just gave me permission to succumb to my own will. I just don't understand this. Why is she doing this?

"He'll get by without his rabbit pie

So run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run."

She's making her way here through that other hallway. Damnit! Nothing here! Okay... The sound was coming from the direction of another door over there. If I hide behind where the door swings open, maybe... Quietly as I could I hopped my way to the door. The minute it opened, I pressed my hand to my mouth to suppress any sounds of fear that might escape. The door opened a little over halfway, and I could see Max's elongated shadow creeping over the island's counter in the middle of the room. With every bit of strength I could muster, I threw my body against the door, slamming it into the back of my predator. With a cry she was thrown forward into the island, and her head hit the corner just hard enough to make a small cut on her left cheek. Stunned, I stood there with my hands over my mouth in shock, only for a moment. Max turned her head toward me. A small drip of blood began to form on her cheek where she was cut. Her eyes glared daggers at me.

Shit. That made her angry. In an instant, I was out the door she came through. She picked her self up from the island's countertop, and aimed at me as I ran. I darted to the right just as she fired another shot across the hall. It hit the wall. I heard her groan loudly as I ran through yet another door to yet another hallway. I ran down it to the end into a large, open room with a huge, crumbled staircase that went up to the second floor. Nope. I've seen too many slasher movies to be dumb enough to go upstairs. Instead, I ran towards the door to the left. The right side, I remember leads down that original hallway I went through when we came here.

Max loved to take me places. Last week, she drove us three hours away, only to take us hiking through the forest. It wasn't a park. There were no trails, no benches--nothing. She just parked in a wide spot on the side of the road, and into the woods we went. We hiked for almost an hour. I don't know how she knew what direction to go in, but after an hour, we ended up at a little river. There was an old, stone bridge with an almost Roman-style arch that crossed it. Just right there in the middle of the forest! There were no trails on either side of the bridge. But on the other side of the river? The most beautiful little open field I've ever seen. Big, pink flowers along side the river bank, and simple, well kept, green grass in the middle. I asked her who kept the garden, but she just shrugged. "It doesn't matter" was all she said.

We kissed on the bridge and watched the rippling waters flow under it while she wrapped her arms around my waist from behind me. Then we slowly made our way to the other side. I tripped over a stone that stuck out and fell face down on the bridge floor like a bag of hammers. Luckily, I caught myself, but cut the palm of my hand doing it. Max just picked me up, carried me to the open field and lowered me in a sitting position on the grass while I coddled my hand like a wounded puppy. She pulled a first aid kit out of her pack, put disinfectant on the cut, and pulled out a Band-Aid with pink butterflies on it. She gently covered my wound with it, lifted my hand to her soft lips, and kissed the Band-Aid without breaking eye contact with me. "There. All better, little one" she said softly. The sound of her sweet voice drove me wild, and I took her head in my hand, and pulled her to my yearning lips.

No butterfly bandages this time. I discovered her secret only moments ago - that she was a hitman hired to put an end to my life. She was so cold when she told me. Excited. Then, just "Run". I don't understand. I don't need to. I've just got to find that front door where we came in to make it out before she catches me. Come on, Emily. Where was that damned door?

I made it to the door left of where I came through into the open room. Turning the latch I swung open the door - and there stood Max, in her black tuxedo, white shirt buttoned down past her cleavage and a skinny tie casually knotted, with a long, heavy coat covering her. The red of her bloody cut contrasted the fair skin of her beautiful face. The short spikes of her dark hair bounced as she lifted her arm and took aim at my torso.

"On the farm, it's rabbit pie day."

She sang it as she pulled the trigger. I couldn't help but scream as the intense pain seared through my left shoulder. I stumbled back, an expression of absolute shock took over my face as I gazed into Max's beautiful blue eyes - the deepest blue, like deep in the sea as the sun gives way to the darkness of the depths. So cold. So dark. I was always too lost in the depths of her eyes to see the cold darkness underneath.

This is it. The game is over, and I've lost. Max has taken all my self will, all my love, and now my very life. She smiled in a wicked grin as I stumbled back, and lost my grip on this world. Gravity took control as I looked down to my shoulder, the green paint already beginning to drip down my velvet skin as I fell back.

I don't know how, but Max gently caught me as I fell back. She gently laid me back down to the ground, set her gun on the floor, and then caressed my cheek with her smooth hand, looking deep into my eyes with a gentle glare of deep affection.

This is my game. Even when I lose, I win. She might have me in her arms - and she'll have me however she wants - but I would submit to her tender arms any moment of the day. My heart is full and my body burns with anticipation even as my shoulder burns from the impact of the paintball. It only heightens the senses.

"Now you're mine, little rabbit."