"Clara, are you listening?"
Upon hearing a sharp voice, Clara snaps back from her endless thoughts.
The woman in front of her was crossing her arms while looking at her intently, letting a deep sigh.
"Ah, sorry. What did you say again?"
Her editor's forehead creased instantly.
"I ask you if it is your final decision to go with this?" her finger points on the draft she wrote.
"Ah." Her eyes immediately seek the gray eyes.
Meeting his gaze she holds her breath for a second before diverting her eyes to her editor's shoulder.
"Umm. I think" closing her eyes slightly to organize her thoughts that were currently in a mess state. "I'll check on it, once again and I will give you some answers in a few days"
Before grabbing her laptop she bowed with respect to her editor "Thank you for your patience. I need to go now"
When she stepped out of the café, she holds to her laptop tightly and breath out heavily.
She looks at her back where the man was standing "Let's go to my place first"
Stepping in the car she massages her forehead "You knew where I live right? Let's go"
Closing her eyes for a minute she tries to organize her thoughts that were in a mess since he told her the shocking truth.
But it is true that it was all from her head, in her imagination and dreams. A map, a suicide alibi, and a body floating on the river, it was all from her imagination. It could be a coincidence but he said that my details were the same from the serial case.
She immediately opens her eyes and throws a sharp gaze to the man who's wearing an indifferent expression beside her.
"But who are you?"
The few words she utter were like a bombshell thrown to him.
His eyes shook for briefly before letting out a chuckle.
"Finally you become interested in me" a little smirk was shown on his face when he glances at her. "I am a man who you were in debt to" he smiles brightly at her but when he looks again on the road, his eyes instantly become cold and the smile that was plastered on his face, disappears as if it didn't happen.
"You are weird"
He glimpses onto her expression and shrugs "You are weirder than am I, debtor"
Her eyeballs roll to the roof of her eyelids "How many times do I have to tell you that I am not the one who's indebted to you?"
His car stops as he looks at her "And how many times do you have to use that excuse?"
Seeing that they are in front of her building, she met his gray eyes. "I am not using it as an excuse. It is the truth" she gritted her teeth.
How many times does she have to tell that same sentence, for him to accept?
"Alright. Alright, I will drop this topic for the meantime because I need to see your drafts and ideas about the serial case you are saying"
"Fine"
Getting out of the car the only thing that greeted them was the slap cold wind to their faces, she strides toward the building where the paint was peeling, but it'd be more accurate to tell you that is shedding. Taking up an elevator that could break down anytime, she sighs as she looks at him tailing her like a pet.
Looking at his face for a minute while the elevator takes time to go up.
'It will be nice to have a handsome pet like him'
She nodded as an agreement to her thought but before she could avert her eyes from him, his gray meet her hazel ones. Good thing that the elevator opens, saving her from embarrassment.
The moment she steps out of the elevator she was shocked to move even an inch.
There were police on her step door.
Why did she feel that everybody was seeking her attention these past few days but none of them was bringing a piece of good news The one behind her was chasing her for the debt she didn't even know, and now the police officers were in front of her house?
Someone pushes her from the back, urging her to step forward.
Calming herself she moves forward, "What. What is happening here?"
But before they could answer her question she asked another one the moment her eyes landed on her house "What is this?"
It is a mess.
Yes, the mess she left a while ago can pass as a doing of a robbery but this, the scene in front of her was not her doing.
"What! What the hell is that!" she shrieks when she saw a red sticky liquid laying on the floor.
"Miss Clara," the police officer asks for her attention
But her mind was spinning like hell, blood at her doorstep, and a mess inside. What the hell is happening here?
Her legs almost gave up a good thing her 'pet' was behind her and supports her.
A tall man with a defined body approaches her with a notebook in his hand "Miss Clara I'm detective Buckley"
Clara just looks at her with confused eyes.
No one utters a word before she opens her mouth
"Why?" that is the first thing that escapes her mouth
The scene before her was the exact scene she was writing, the scene of how where the serial killer starts to move on to his new target.
Why do I have to experience this?
The man who was at her back starts to pat her back to ease her anxiety about what is happening before her.
Looking at the trembling body he was holding, his cold eyes turn to the detective "Can she have time to process what is happening? I will bring her to the rooftop for a minute"
Without waiting for an answer, he drags her trembling body going to the rooftop.
His eyes wander at the open area, looking for a specific thing.
He lowers his body to meet her hazel one, tapping her shoulder to wake her up from the thoughts that start to kill her, showing her a little smile "Wait a minute"
Then he moves quickly to the corner of the rooftop, bringing a box. Putting onto her side, "Take a seat" supporting her lifeless body to sit on the chair.
Opening the last candy from his pocket, he slowly put it into her small hands that were trembling.
Feeling the warm hand envelop hers as he put the lollipop in her hand, she raises her gaze from the floor to his gray eyes "It's true" she said in acknowledgment.
"Hmm"
He nods as he sits on the floor "It's really happening" Staring at the open area where they were in, a sigh come from his mouth.
'Associated with this again'
After some minutes have passed by her hands were not trembling anymore, she rises as she shakes off the invisible dirt in her pants. Taking a deep breath for the last time before looking at the man beside her.
"Let's go"
Clara pretends to be strong but her heart was pounding hard as if it wants to get out of her chest. The first step going back to that nightmare was the hardest.
Seeing her take the courage to step forward he nudge her slightly, meeting her eyes, he gave her a nod.
"I'll follow you"
Seeing the woman go back to the restricted area, the tall man that was wearing a police uniform immediately strides towards her.
"We just have a few questions"
With the troubled expression that was plastered in the face of the officer, her heart nearly stops functioning.
Holding her breath she looks into their eyes, "What is it?"
A notebook that was covered with dried red liquid.
Her voice trembled as she looks at the gray notebook that was now red "That"
That is where she wrote all of her ideas about her new book, the details all about the serial case.
"Can you explain why the details of the serial case that's been going around were in here?" Detective Buckley raises the notebook as he slowly flips the pages. "A map in their arms" his eyes sharpened as he looks at her.
Her breath halted with the harsh look she receives "It is for my new book"
"How did you know this stuff?" his eyes were criticizing her.
"It was from—" before she could finish her sentence, telling it was from her imagination a thick low voice interrupted her.
"It was from me"
She looks at him with wide eyes, eyeing him like he was a crazy person but he just shrugs at her. Stepping forward to block her from the sight of the cops.
"I forgot to introduce myself to you" his cold eyes stare at the cops. "I am Claude Dale Brecken"
Seeing their confused faces, a slight smile escapes his lips.
"I am the supposedly third victim of Soldier Blade, the serial killer"