She was pleading for me to grab her hand so we could get out of here together. Foolishly, I listened to her. The second I grabbed her hand, her cheeks flushed red and I don't think that it was because of the fire burning all around us. With intertwined fingers, the building crumbled on our left and I pulled her close to my chest, her screams being swallowed up by the roar of the blazing inferno. My eyes were stinging with the smoke, my lungs were burning and my legs were dead weights holding me to the ground. She was my dead weight. Running for a day and a half now, she was bound to be feeling worse than me. Running from me, running to me, running away to find help and here help is. The villain turned hero. I could be a hero. I still couldn’t figure out why she was scared of me. I hadn’t done anything particularly evil towards her. To her family, though that was another story. One she would not know. Ever. No one would ever be able to do anything remotely evil towards her until they had the misfortune to meet who she was running from. I could feel her fingers clamped tightly onto my shirt, white knuckled fingers a strong contrast against the black of my shirt and the red of the fire. It got hotter. I didn't think it was possible, but the Hell we were stuck in seemed to grow more stifling by the second and her gasping proved that finally she was struggling for breath. Even I was, but she could know that her so called ‘saviour’ was tiring as well. I had to stay strong, keep up the charade that her knight in shining white armour was not actually the evil king ruling all the land that she had ever set foot upon. Evil king sounded good to me. King. That was what I once was, but I shall be king again, even if I don't get a throne or crown to prove it. Her hand in mine was shaking uncontrollably and I almost felt sorry for her, with her green eyes widened so you could see the whites all around and her shirt soaked with sweat, from running and from terror. Every direction we turned there was red, red was now the colour of despair and blood. Blood and death and hate. She sobbed into my shirt and her tears felt cool against my fingers as I shushed her, telling her that we would be alright, we would get out of this mess. I was a liar. We got to the edge of the building, stumbling together, and the door was alight with flames licking the sides and door handle; I could feel her body deflate with the hope of getting out of this nightmare being crushed. Imagine her screams of frustration piercing my ears, cutting through the fire into the night that was other wise silent. I didn’t have to imagine. Her screams, pleads, or asking for help, begging for someone to rescue us were unanswered. Nothing. I set her down in a heap, her arms curled around herself, on the floor that had embers floating around her. Phoenix was the word that came to mind. She didn't move. She had accepted her fate of nothingness and I was fine with that, no more screaming, no more crying, shaking. I was to leave her here and do nothing else, and as I turned to leave through the red, her eyes made a connection with mine. She knew. She knew that I had used her silly crush for me and had twisted it to my liking, using her like a pawn on a chessboard. She had given up. The only words she spoke were ‘You bastard.’ They were filled with hate and loath. I was taken back by the courage in her syllables. She was to pay for what she had done, even if she didn't mean to. The only words I said and meant that night were “Good-bye to you too bitch.” I left her to die and didn't care.