I'd never witnessed that version of Lucas before and the way he spoke with his body language made me wonder, "Was this the same Lucas I fell in love with?" He was actually expecting someone else I felt and was talking to me while thinking of them. "My love, take a look at her. Take a closer look at what you've done to her. Tch, she was a good soul, but I believe the world had other plans for her," he sarcastically laughed. But when I looked around, I realised it was just me there, and had no idea who he was referring to as a sister. By that time, I really knew that he was cheating on me and had mistaken me to be the other girl but still, the dots didn't connect with his dialogues.
He went on, "Guess what? Your loving sister had got a gift for you, but you could not get your hands on it. She had wanted to give it to you personally, you know, to show you how much she loved and cared for you. But no, you're such a careless sibling. I really feel bad for Clara."
I had no idea what he was trying to say which raged me even more because I had a hunch that it was not me who he was expecting but someone else instead of me. He was getting on my nerves and I wanted to grab his collar and ask, "Who the fuck are you talking to and calling by sweet names, other than me?" As I moved forward, the floor was a little slick. I couldn't see anything because everything was covered by darkness, including the floor and yet something had spilled as my legs felt a bit wet, as though I stepped on something liquid. When I squatted down to touch what it was and saw the liquid on the floor, it had a weird texture and as the light fell on my fingers, I was going to pass out at that point. It was thick red fluid and my hands started to tremble.
I noticed that the entire area where I was standing was covered in blood, which was flowing from a couch nearby. The blood shone from the dim lights as I looked down. When immediately out of reflex I looked ahead following the route, I noticed someone lying down and resting their head on the couch. Silently getting up to make small moves from the place, with fear in my eyes, I took a few steps forward and saw a girl in terrible condition. She was dressed in a white shirt and a miniskirt below, that had been soaked in her blood. I glanced at her and wondered if everything was real or if I was having hallucinations. Her face, it showed that she had been assaulted to the point where her jawline had cuts and red marks all over her. Literally she looked miserable and not a single place was without bruises or blood drips, looking nothing less than a psychotic horror movie. I almost screamed in horror, but immediately pressed my hands against my mouth, tightly covering it. I was afraid to move an inch forward, but I needed to see if she was still breathing.
Her face had been pulped, and her eyes were completely covered in purple bruises. When I saw how she was lying down, my body began to shiver in sheer terror and I felt like screaming at the top of my lungs. As I took a step back, blood began to flow from her mouth, adding to the creepiness. I knew I was about to shout, so I bit my hand to keep from yelling. When I noticed blood dripping from her ears, I knew she was dead.
I tried to keep my thoughts away from thinking that this was done by Lucas and that he would have not done such a terrible thing to her. But it kept reminding me that it was just him and my heart was getting convinced of it even though I told it not to believe anything I saw. I asked myself, "No, Lucas can't do it, my Lucas can never even think about doing this sin," but couldn't convince myself to answer that question.
Her exposed body was covered in purple and black welts. She happened to be tormented and was victimised until her last breath. When the lightning struck again, I noticed a large piece of glass stuck on her shoulder like a holder and couldn't believe what I was seeing in front of me. I wasn't sure if someone could even make the condition of a woman so brutal that even when I saw it right in front of my eyes, I wasn't able to believe it. Her dress had been ripped off and a few shards of the material were strewn about. Her knees looked scraped out completely and her bone was almost visible, making me think of all the possible worst things that could have happened to her. Imagining the pain, she would have endured, brought me to tears.
All I could see of her fair skin were the bluish purple, cuts and bruises all over her body. Her nails were half broken, while the face had glass pieces pierced inside her, bringing out the blood. There was also blood oozing out from her nose and ears miserably. Another bolt of lightning struck, and my eyes fell on the shoe imprints on her. The muddy print of the shoe was all over her body and face, looking like she was stamped over, vigorously. What kind of person would stamp a human this bad? I mustered all my courage and moved to the side to check and her shirt was ripped off, skirt was lifted where footprints filled her inner thighs.
I felt terrible because she had more than five stab wounds on her body and the strange part was that it was in a straight line. I swear to God, it was the scariest thing I had ever seen in my life at the time. I couldn't see the dreadful sight anymore and when I looked at him, the dim light fell precisely on him, revealing the blood on his hand, which was holding the glass. I was ashamed and even after seeing it with my own eyes, I couldn't believe Lucas did it all. I had no idea which monster in him would do such a thing to a poor girl, that top of my age. What about the other girl I saw near the parking lot and is there a link between anything that I was seeing. I felt so awful about standing there and witnessing a body of a girl who was brutally abused and still not do a thing. How could he have done this, it was inhumanity.
"Do you have any idea why this happened? Aren't you fascinated?" He asked, taking a sip of his drink with ease.
When I looked at him clearly, his shirt was crushed because one side was tucked in and the other was not. His collars were unkempt and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows roughly. He was a neat freak who was always looking for ways to make things right if they were out of place and he would never dress like that even in his worst days. But I never expected to look at him this way and just realised why his entire goddamn company was a shambles. I wanted to flee away from that place, but I still didn't have answers to my questions and I wanted to know why he killed that innocent girl.
And he responded to my question as if he had read my mind, saying, "Look, I didn't mean to kill her initially. However, the cause of her death is actually you in my opinion. You should have answered my call the first time, but you chose to ignore it. So, I figured, why not have a little fun with your sister? But she's not sporty at all and yeah, I guess that made it easier. Because she gave up pretty quickly. Didn't let me have more fun too, what a waste," he paused for another sip of his drink.
"But she laughed right in my face, every damn time you ignored my call. It was intriguing to see this little b*tch mocking me like that. It was triggering somewhere but it became repetitive and I was bored. So, I decided to play this interesting stabbing game with her, which was a lot of fun trust me. You know what the climax of her life was, it was the 25th call I made to you, but you still didn't pick up and well, she died. I was actually willing for some more, but was disappointed that she had already given up. Should have seen that look on her face before she died, it was too good. Anyway, did you like my present?" he asked.
Hearing all of that from him and seeing the girl lying there, I couldn't even imagine what she had gone through and the pain she had carried with her. The scars, blood, knife stabs, and dried tears on her face filled me with abject horror and I strangled thinking about how she was physically abused before her death.
I couldn't believe he could be so cruel to her, and the moment he said he was playing a fucking stabbing game with her, I thought I was dead. All of a sudden, all of my questions had vanished and all I could think about was why I had ever met him in the first place. As he slowly placed the wine glass on his table, he stated, "Since I gave you a gift, I deserve something too. Come on in and do your job; it's been a long day, so you better do it right."
While he was pouring himself a drink, I noticed that his shirt was stained with blood and that he had a large cut on his right arm. Blood was also oozing from his arm, and honestly, I wasn't worried about him, even at least. When he switched on his desk lamp, I noticed his face was splattered with blood and screamed in dread. He immediately looked at me, shell-shocked, the exact way I first saw him in the blood stains.
"Anna?" he asked, looking at me, "What the hell are you doing here?"
I couldn't hold back my tears as I saw his face covered in blood and my entire body shivered in dread. My brain kept telling me to run away from the place, but my legs were frozen and I couldn't move an inch because of the fear of suffocation. From that very day my fear or darkness and close surroundings triggered, which still hasn't left me. All of the memories I had with him flashed before my eyes all at once. His words used to comfort and ensure me the best, and I treasured every moment we spent together over the years. His smile was my happy pill, his home was my Disneyland, his love was my strength and his care was my cure to the wounds. And now he's standing right in front of me, blood in his hand, a totally different version of a person I was witnessing. Was this the reality and last year an entire dream I was living?
I had given up hope of ever living in the world and claimed that all those days were a figment of my fantasy. "Who are you, Lucas? Are you the same person or have you always been this devil?" I stammered, holding my breath to keep my tears at bay. "Dar-lin, do you think I would have done this? It's just a game, nothing really happened, come here to me, come," he said as he took a step forward with his arms wide open but it felt more like a trap instead of the safe world I used to feel before.
"Is life a joke to you, Lucas? You literally killed a person from this world? DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I'M SAYING?" I yelled. He was calm and said, "Anna, I didn't kill her. She chose to hurt herself and I never touched her. We were only..."
"Exactly what? Lucas I can see the blood on your face and shirt. I'm not a kid you can fool. Lucas, why would you do that to her?" I asked.
Every word he said that night made me regret every second of my life, beginning with the day we met. As he got closer, I noticed a knife in his front pocket and eventually realised he wouldn't hesitate to kill me that night with the changes in his facial expressions. I was so scared that I didn't want to hear anything he said and just ran away. I wanted to gather myself and get out of the building as soon as possible because I didn't want to end up like the girl on the couch.
I stepped back and said, "You son of a bitch, stay away and don't even try to get close to me. Lucas, you fucking brutally murdered a girl..." and I tripped, falling to the floor.
He grabbed my right ankle and dragged me near his desk with the seconds of chance he got, before I could get up to escape. As he pulled, the girl's blood was over my shirt. I couldn't believe he was doing this to me and tried to grab something to free myself from his clutches. He pulled me up, by holding my hair and controlling my head with his hand in a matter of seconds.
" Lucas, are you going to do this to me? It's hurting," I inquired, my eyes closed.
He slammed my face against the desk and twisted my right hand, locking it behind, taking it up all the way up to my neck. I couldn't move an inch because he had complete control on me. With his right hand, he pressed my face against the table so hard and with his other, he pressed my hand against my back. My neck was pushed down on the table, making it impossible for me to breathe properly, and my chest was completely crushed. I couldn't speak because my cheeks were shoved on the table.
"How dare you come into my office without my permission, haven't I told you to ask me priory. So much disrespect?" he yelled directly into my ears. It was loud, and a wave of fear washed over me. "You little bitch, why the hell do you always cross my path and mess things up?" he continued.
I tried to move my shoulder to get away from him, but I couldn't as he had a firm grip on me. He abruptly removed his hand from my head, and when I attempted to turn around, he placed a sharp knife on my neck, just a few centimetres away from my skin. He restrained my left hand by placing me on top of it.
"Baby, what's wrong with you? Are you seriously trying to scare and hurt me?" I screamed in agony. Even his laughter had become frightening to me and the moment he began to laugh, I could feel my heart beat on the desk. "And now you have chosen to be my girlfriend and call me baby so you can get away from me? You just called me a son of a b*tch, and now you realise I'm your boyfriend, shamelessly?"
He kept pressing so hard on my wrist that I felt my blood flow stop and my fingers had gotten numb soon. "Perhaps you'll be accompanying that bitch's sister," he speculated. "I've had enough of you," he said, and I felt the sharp edge of the knife slowly being pushed on me, attempting to cut my skin. I grasped, but I could still feel the knife attempting to penetrate and cut me. I could feel blood flowing down my neck since the cut was deep enough to bleed through my skin.
"Please Lucas, don't do this to me," I begged, my eyes welling up with tears. All I could do was beg him to spare my life because I felt helpless. He abruptly released his grip on my hand and the knife from my neck. "You know you're the love of my life, Dar-Lin. So why would I do anything that could harm you? In fact, I love you," he said softly, making me even more terrified.
I know he was up to something and was trying to fool me with his sweet gesture. As he leaned in, he rubbed his nose next to my ears, lightly smooching them and I could feel his breath on my cheeks. "But, Daar-Lin, you are always interfering in my personal space, which I don't want anyone to know about but still you have to know it all, and I absolutely hate that aspect of yours. You continue to irritate me. I tried to make a move on you, but you pushed me away," he said, while his touch was completely different. When he got closer to me, I felt miserable.
The ambience, his closeness, his hands on me, his breathing on my body, and touching all of my parts repulsed me while I begged God to send someone to help me. "If I could change that personality of yours, it will all be perfect and you will be a better match for me. I really need to take control of you and I need you to listen to what I say," he also kissed my ears.
"You're the most precious gift I've ever received, and I don't want to lose you, my Dar-lin," he said quietly into my ears. He tried to kiss my neck, but I kept moving my body to the sides. He became agitated and tightened his grip on my wrist even more. Later he began to push my right hand up against my upper body, and I screamed in pain, begging him to stop.
He pressed the knife against my neck once more, saying, "Anna, enough, you're annoying me now, seriously. It's your fault. If you hadn't come here, you would have still been my girlfriend, alive." I couldn't figure out what he meant, and the real meaning was "ALIVE GIRLFRIEND?"
"So, I'm really sorry Dar lin," he said, continuing, "First and foremost, you shouldn't have used this tiny brain of yours to come here. Second, you should not have been there to witness all of this. You also ruined my mood and the romantic atmosphere I had made. So, it's time for you away too, fucking die now," he yelled.
That's when I decided. No, I'm not going to lose in front of such a monster like him and die there. I needed to get away from the dirt to protect myself and that was all I could think.
"Lucas, trust me, I won't tell anyone anything. If you want, I will move somewhere else and never come back, ever. Please don't kill me, Lucas, I don't want to die, and if you truly loved me, you would let me go," I said this just to buy myself some time to plan an escape.
Instead, he said, "Dar-lin, don't try all these stupid tricks on me. Do you want me to guess what you're thinking right now? You're simply trying to squander time in order to plan an escape strategy." I didn't move an inch for a brief moment because I was stunned that he could read my mind.
"I know more about you than your dad for sure. I know how you handle things and how you get things to move in the direction you want them to go. So put an end to the phoney tears. To believe your dramas, I'm no Bella," he said with a chuckle.
Without his knowledge, he gradually let go of my hand, and I attempted to move my left hand away from my body. My reflexes kicked in, and I quickly turned and pushed him back with all my force. I completely knocked him in the balls and he groaned in pain as he moved back. Something happened, looking at him, I froze in shock in anger instead of escaping that place which I'm still baffled as to why I stood there like that.
"Anna!" he yelled, bringing me back to reality.
I had no clue how I did that, but it just happened. I discovered his nameplate on the desk, which was made of steel.
He intended to pull my hand away from me to stop me, but I grabbed it quickly and slammed it hard on his head. As I gave the hit, I could feel the vibration from the nameplate. He immediately collapsed to the ground, clutching his head with both hands in unbearable pain and was bleeding. Yes, I had struck the most cherished person in my life so hard that he was in pain, bleeding. I saw the blood draining from his head and slowly making its way down his shirt, leaving a mark as it went. He was shocked as he looked at his blood-splattered hands, causing his eyes to pop out in anger.
With that look in his eyes, I knew he couldn't believe I'd done it to him, as he gave me a confused look along with an impressed look but clenched his teeth in rage. The girl on the sofa came to mind just as I was about to run. I didn't know if she was alive or dead, but wanted to help her. But when I looked at that devil, I realised it was impossible for me to bring her with me and decided to act selfishly. So the moment he tried to stand on his own, I dashed out of the room.
It was pitch black and I couldn't see where my feet were going but I tried to run as fast as I could. Although I struggled to hold the wound firmly, the blood from my neck kept dripping. My throat had become dry and I was unable to breathe normally due to the extremely high blood flow in my body. I stood there for a few minutes, trying to catch my breath by holding the stairwell. I was drenched in sweat and looked around for some water.
Suddenly, a soft clang from an elevator hit my ears and I looked around to see what it was on the completely silent floor. The sudden flashes on me left me stunned for a few seconds as the lights on the floor switched on, one after the other. Looking around to see what was going on, I looked up in terror, sensing someone on the upper floor.
He smiled wickedly and said, "got you baby," before hopping down the stairs and rushing to my floor.
He was holding a gun and blood was still dripping down his shirt. It was my fault; I should not have stopped and should have continued running until I exited that fucking building. The lights went on as I walked down each floor. He was approaching so quickly that even if I had stopped for a few seconds, I would have become the rat of his poison. While I was on the seventh floor, I noticed piles of boxes on the side and pushed them to make an obstacle for him. Despite this, he managed to elude them and pursued me endlessly.
He was only a floor behind me and I didn't have the energy to run any further. I tried to skip steps to get ahead faster and didn't notice that one of the steps had papers that were out of the boxes, all over. I rolled down to the next floor after slipping my leg, losing my balance. It was extremely painful and I kept stumbling, falling further. My head was spinning so fast that my vision had blurred as I came to a halt on a random floor. I couldn't say anything and was in horrific pain. I figured if I stayed, he'd catch me at any moment, so I crawled with all my strength away from the staircase and up to the next floor. Not having an option, I hid in a dark place with a lack of light sources.
I heard his footsteps getting closer and I thought about all the chances I had before to avoid getting into this mess, but I still chose him and trusted my fucking love.
Looking at the scar on my hand, I realized why people had always been there for me and why I had been so stupid enough to not listen to them even once. Maybe if I had listened to Uncle Jay, I would have just gotten scolded by my dad and an ice cream from Bella to relieve my stress. My stupid brain's desire to know everything changed my entire fucking life. I should have listened to Harold's advice and gone home right away but no. Even though nature signalled a storm, I didn't think about anything with my dumb brain.
Harold actually warned me before, "GO HOME SAFELY BEFORE THE STORM HITS YOU." I should have known better by then. I deserved it because I didn't listen to my people, even though they told me not to go to him. I was feeling guilty because I was about to lose my life as a result of my stubbornness. My last thoughts were of my dad, with his beautiful smile looking at me while I was in his arms, playing with his tie with my tiny hands.
"I'm sorry, Dad; please help and take me away from this hell. Please help me, Dad."
He was pushing everything around, to find me, and when I peered out to look at him, I could tell he was enraged. I thought my life was going to end and it was pointless to pray to God, maybe send someone to save me. I gathered my courage to accept the shambles I had created, believing that this would be my punishment and the end of my life.
I stood up weakly and again peeked out but to my surprise he was not there. Before I could get my thoughts together, someone from the back grabbed my hand and dragged me backwards. I didn't want to die, and wanted to shout out for help but wasn't able to because the person had covered my mouth tightly. I mumbled, "Lucas, please..." as I was being led inside a small dusty room. The person said, "Don't scream because he might hear you."