[Trigger Warning: S*ic*de attempt. Read at our own discretion.]
"Now tell me how I program-"
Nancy's phone rang. She pouted. It was Hertwig. She quickly picked it up as her current goal, live programming, suddenly disappeared from her mind.
"Hello?" Hertwig asked right away as she picked up.
"Where are you? I need to talk to you." Nancy bit her lips.
"I'm..-" Hertwig paused midway. "I want to talk to you about something too… So, let's meet up?"
"I can't go outside. You would have to come over."
Hertwig coughed through the phone.
"Are you okay?" Nancy asked.
"Yeah." He replied. "Too much alcohol yesterday."
Nancy hummed, agreeing to his statement.
"Why can't you go outside?" Hertwig asked.
"I don't wanna see… Samuel…" Nancy hesitantly muttered.
Hertwig paused for a while before sighing.
"He won't be coming. He's been sick since yesterday…" Hertwig muttered. "I'll come pick you up in 10 minutes."
The call ended. Nancy scoffed. He was sick?! After killing a man?! Nancy should've been sick after witnessing all of that!
Hertwig sounded like he knew nothing, or nothing bothered him. That irked Nancy.
She wore a thin cardigan and a coat before peaking outside to see fog dwelling over the roads. It was suddenly so cold out there. Just yesterday, she wore a knee-length dress, and now that seemed like a frightening thought.
Though, underneath her coat, she was still wearing a knee-length dress.
She sat in the lounge in her perfect attire and waited for Hertwig's arrival.
"Did you call Samuel, sweetie?" Laura asked as she sat beside her on the couch and turned the TV on.
"No. He's sick. I'm meeting up with Hertwig today." Nancy truthfully replied.
Laura laid back on the couch with narrowed eyes.
"Awh, Samuel! I hope he's doing okay. I'll pack some beef broth. Ask Hertwig to drop it by his house, okay?"
Laura stood up from the couch and made her way to the kitchen to pack the freshly made broth.
"Why do you care so much about him?" Nancy asked from over the counters while still being seated on the lounge couch.
"What do you mean?" Laura asked, prepping the thermos bottle and adding the broth inside it carefully. "He's not just your bodyguard. We've known him since he was an early teen."
Nancy knew all that. She knew her parents trusted him to hell. But did they know that he snapped a man's neck yesterday? In front of more of his potential prey? In front of her?
The doorbell rang, and Nancy tried to leave without the thermos. But Laura quickly followed her to the door and directly handed it over to Hertwig.
Hertwig received it with a nervous smile and escorted Nancy to his car.
"Your mother acts like an Asian sometimes," Hertwig muttered before starting the engine.
"What do you mean?" Nancy asked.
Rolling his eyes, Hertwig sighed.
"Giving out broths for a sick family friend is not something Americans would usually do."
"It doesn't matter, Hertwig. You're being stereotypical."
"No, I'm not! Asians do that."
"You're an Asian."
"Yeah! That's why I'm saying-"
"Just drive. No one cares."
Right. Hertwig quietly drove.
"Where are we going?" Nancy asked.
Hertwig cleared his throat as he stared at the thermos, placed in the cup holder. He stopped the car outside Samuel's apartment complex.
Stopping the engine and placing his hand on the door handle to open it, Hertwig felt Nancy's stare. He turned around to look at her, staring him down.
"Uh?..." Hertwig muttered.
From an intense stare, Nancy's expression went to places it usually wouldn't. She pouted in fear before tearing up slightly, not enough for tears to fall out of her eyes.
"Nancy? Are you okay?" Hertwig asked in concern.
"I can't go in there." She shook her head.
Hertwig nodded before leaving the car with the thermos. He locked the car and left for Samuel's apartment.
He quickly returned as if he only placed the thermos inside and hurried back. He sat inside the car and put the keys in front of the steering wheel.
They were going to have a long conversation.
"This is why I wanted to see you," Hertwig muttered. "I need to know why he ended up sick, and why do you look so scared?"
"…You don't remember anything?"
Nancy was surprised that Hertwig didn't seem to know anything, and it was more of an incomprehensive situation for him.
"The only thing I remember is the club management issuing us an overtime fine for sleeping inside the club till morning," Hertwig explained. "When I woke up, only you guys, David and Veronica weren't there. So, I was worried."
"What about the VIP rooms?" Nancy asked hesitantly. "T-There was no one there? No one… asleep?"
Hertwig shook his head.
"What is going on?" Hertwig asked as he saw Nancy's troubled expression. "You can tell me."
Nancy bit her lips and rested her head on the chair, looking at the enclosed roof of the car. It was suffocating. The flashback of Samuel choking the man was more suffocating.
She looked out the window to stare at the apartment complex. His apartment was on the 15th floor. She exhaled sharply before grabbing the door handle and pulling it vigorously.
Standing outside the car, she eyed her shoulder to indicate Hertwig to follow her.
She hated that the incident from yesterday stopped her from knowing more. She needed to get over her fears. And to do that, she needed to see what made him, who just murdered, sick. Was it regret and remorse?
"Tch." She clicked her teeth before making her way to the apartment complex. They stood in the elevator and tapped the button for the 15th floor.
"You know I'm super clueless right now?" Hertwig had to make sure he agitated Nancy.
"You'll know."
Ting!
The elevator opened up to the 15th floor, where they walked toward Samuel's apartment. The thermos was placed outside, in front of the door. Nancy raised her eyebrow and looked at Hertwig.
"I rang the bell… He didn't show up." Hertwig justified himself. He didn't break in, even though he knew the passcode as well.
Nancy ran her fingers to the door-knob, entering the same passcode. 0-9-0-5
"He never changes it…" Nancy's voice was as low as a whisper. "He doesn't give a damn if I was kidnapped here or not."
The door opened and Nancy stepped inside hesitantly while Hertwig leaned to grab the thermos from the ground and followed Nancy, closing the door shut.
Nancy swallowed the lump in her throat so loudly that Hertwig could hear it. He could feel the tension in her steps as she walked forward toward the lounge.
Samuel's house was a mess.
All the books on his bookshelf were scattered around. The crockery items were all shattered into pieces, and spread across the kitchen floor.
"Was he sick or what?" Nancy muttered to herself.
"Only Roth visited him… He said he wasn't in good shape." Hertwig said before walking towards the door to his room. "I'm opening this."
Nancy watched from a distance.
If his house was such a mess, she could imagine him swinging a knife around like a madman. She shook her head as she watched Hertwig slowly open the door.
The door creaked loudly.
"Shit needs oil," Hertwig complained.
"Just open it, already!" Nancy whispered loudly.
Hertwig couldn't understand why she acted that way. Normally, she would be the first one to bust inside, causing the ruckus she usually causes.
But standing and watching from a distance was so unlike Nancy.
Hertwig gripped the doorknob tightly and exhaled nervously before opening the door.
The room was empty.
"What?" Nancy, who was still standing in the distance, asked.
"Nothing here… More mess." Hertwig muttered.
Nancy narrowed her eyes before rushing inside. The same scene was displayed there in front of her eyes. Pills on the ground, overflowing first-aid kit, the entire room was a mess.
An eerie thought clicked in Nancy's head. What if every time Samuel killed someone, he went nuts? She gulped loudly as she shook from the unwanted thoughts running through her head.
"Nancy?" Hertwig called her loudly, earning her attention.
Her breaths were becoming uneasy. Was that how a panic attack felt? Or even worse? She shook her head.
"Mind telling me what the hell happened? I need to know what happened to come up with a solution, you know?" Hertwig asked in anticipation.
To that question, Nancy fell to her knees in frustration.
"I don't know." She whimpered in frustration.
"Nancy!" Hertwig sat down in concern. "I won't understand if you won't tell me."
Hertwig waited patiently, trying his best to give her time as much as he could. She held her head in her hands and stared at the ground in frustration.
"He…" Nancy exhaled before continuing. "David and these men were trying to… kidnap me… And Samuel..." She coughed. "Samuel killed a man." She teared up in frustration. "He choked the man. He didn't even budge. And the man didn't even try to attack him! He just straight up choked him, and he died right away! Samuel killed someone!"
Hertwig slowly nodded. He didn't seem surprised.
"You don't believe me?!" Nancy asked when his reaction seemed so unsurprised.
"I do." Hertwig sighed. "Nancy… Don't worry. We'll sort this out."
"What do you mean?" Nancy asked, dumbfoundedly. "Is this not the first time this has happened?" Her eyes widened.
Hertwig sighed before nodding.
"I'll tell you everything... Everything Nancy, so don't worry." Hertwig assured her. "Let's find him first, yeah? We can hear his side of the story before making assumptions."
Hertwig grabbed either side of Nancy's shoulder and helped her walk towards the bed, making her sit there until he found Samuel.
The only place that was remaining to check was the store and the bathroom. Since the bathroom was close to them, Hertwig just opened the door to check there first.
Nancy leaned a little to see inside. As soon as the door opened to her sight, she saw Samuel sitting on the bathroom floor so she leaned a little more to see further.
"Samuel?" Hertwig's concerned voice intrigued Nancy, so she moved further to see.
Nancy screamed at the sight, looking away instantly and clenching her eyes shut.
Hertwig sat down to look at Samuel while Nancy backed off completely.
"Samuel…" Hertwig narrowed his eyes in concern as he stared at his blood-drenched wrists.
The knife next to him was covered entirely with his blood.
He lifelessly stared back at Hertwig without any emotion at all.
****
(A/N: Thank you for reading so far! This is the end of Volume 1: The Chip.
The second Volume is about Samuel's backstory so stay tuned!)