“I Need A Bathroom”

Author’s Note: This is a Take Ten to Write story and has not been proofread for errors. If I feel inspired or if there’s interest in the story, I’ll post a revised, edited, and extended version at a later date. Happy reading!

“Where’s the bathroom?”

As I run through the mall, I can only think of one thing:

I need to find a bathroom.

There’s blood everywhere, all over my hands and my clothes and my shoes and my bag… Everywhere. I need to find a bathroom.

Now.

I see horrified faces everywhere around me. People are screaming, running away from me.

And they should; I’m a monster.

No, not by choice. Of course not by choice. I would never willingly murder someone.

But I didn’t have a choice. I had to kill her. I had no choice.

Or did I?

Remorse fills me and again, I stop in the middle of the hallway and vomit all over the floor.

As soon as I’m finished, I continue running.

I need to find a bathroom. I need to clean myself up.

Or maybe a bathroom isn’t what I need right now. Maybe I don’t need to clean myself off.

Maybe I need to come clean.

No, but they warned me, they told me that if I told anyone about what really happened, they’d hurt my family. And I just can’t let that happen. Not after what I did for them.

I know I’ve caught the attention of the mall security by now, but I can’t stop. If I stop and they arrest me and begin questioning me, I’ll surely break. I can’t lie. Everyone knows that.

I need to find a bathroom. If I can find a bathroom, I can wash all this blood off and it’ll be like nothing ever happened.

Yeah, I just need to find a bathroom. When I find a bathroom, all my problems will be solved.

Now to find a bathroom…

Final Comments: This one was interesting to write… I think I could’ve included more descriptions of what’s happening around the protagonist rather than just their thoughts (e.g., the blur of storefronts, people whispering to each other and pointing, the security guards giving chase).

Overall Rating: 😳