Prologue I The day that changed everything 

Jules 

The frenzy of violence ceases as I stand frozen in the aftermath. Yet, my internal temperature is combustible. An intermittent eerie ticking sound, the only interruption in the stark silence. Maroon droplets trickle down my leg, clinging to my skin. My right fist remains locked tight, still clenching the knife dripping with his blood. The blood and the sound are one and the same, hitting the floor with a jarring thud. Each thud feels like there’s a tank on my rib cage, my lungs heaving, trying to settle, desperate not to suffocate from the lack of air. 

My heart rams erratically and violently against the inside of my chest wall. The sheer force conjures up disturbing images of my heart bursting through its protective structures, tearing my skin in its wake, only to pulsate outside my body. 

I am standing barefoot in a puddle of blood in the middle of my kitchen. The stickiness between my toes causes gurgling in my stomach as the red color seeps deeper into my flesh. The warm, icky sensation under my feet might be enough to make me puke if this was a typical day. But a reign of terror has torpedoed the natural order of things, and I’m so far from okay that if it wasn’t horrifying, I might appreciate the irony. 

My fingers loosen, and the knife slips in slow motion as it clatters and bops to the floor. When my knife made contact with his skin, I felt it tearing. I can’t believe I used a knife. You never know at the moment of danger, if you’ll show up how you hope you would. But instinct took over, and I did. I clipped him, delivering a few crucial wounds.