As if in a trance, she stalked towards him. She had a thousand trains of thought all moving at full speed in her mind and it would not be long before they crashed into one another. She was clueless as to what she would do once she got to him. He also contributed to lessening the distance between them. Soon they had nearly an inch of space between them.
Ray took her and pulled her in for a hug, catching her unaware. He stroked her head as she heard his heartbeat stably in his chest. She found herself, holding him as well, hoping that all she heard was just her hallucination. He loved her, or else he would not be holding her like this.
"Big… sister…" Abel's voice broke through her fantasy and like a trigger, it snapped her out of her foolishness and Raymond's charms.
She pulled away and pushed him. "You fucking bastard," She said through gritted teeth.
Raymond was not shaken at all, instead, he smiled again.
Naomi had fallen for that smile again and again but this time, she recoiled at the sight. It was not a lovely smile anymore to her, it was a knowing one. He knew how well he had the village wrapped around his little finger. His good guy act had everyone charmed but at the centre dwelled a demon that had finally shown itself.
She made her way to Abel as fast as she could. She stroked his face, arms and legs; the ugly bumps on his skin did nothing to waver her. "What happened?" She asked him.
He did not speak but instead looked up at the figure standing behind her. She turned and of course, it was Raymond. She faced him and struck his jaw with a fist. Caught off guard, Raymond stumbled and cradled his jaw. "Bitch," He muttered under his breath. Curtis could only let out a cowardly gasp at the corner where he now stood
"What did you do to him?" Naomi demanded, her eyes blazing. "Tell me!"
The room was bathed in silence before Raymond started to chuckle until he was cackling maniacally. Without warning, he slapped her. She on the other hand did not stumble, she fell and bruised her buttocks.
This wiped the anger off her face and made her realise that she stood no chance against two grown men. She was just pushing her luck by hitting Raymond. Abel might not be able to leave this place alive if she did not play her cards right. After her blurry vision had cleared, she looked up at Raymond. "What do you want? Why are you doing this?" She questioned, her bottom lip quivering.
"What do I want?" He repeated as he crouched to her level. "They are staring right at me now."
Naomi blinked in confusion, he was so close that all she wanted to do was pluck out his fucking eyes. "What?"
Raymond let out a frustrated growl and punched her enough to knock the wind out of her. He was not only a psychopath, he was a violent one. It made her wonder how he had been able to keep himself in check for so long. "I am no fool, Naomi and you are no human."
Raymond reached out and she flinched. He cradled her face in his hand, using his thumbs to stroke her lashes. "They are so beautiful, Naomi." He told her sweetly, referring to her eyes. "You don't need them," He continued but his voice was harsher now. "You don't deserve them." He shook her head like a coconut. "You are a pathetic freak of nature." He disparaged her as she helplessly held his wrists to stop him. "Give them to me!" He screamed before abruptly letting her go and getting up.
Naomi managed to steady herself but she already felt her head throbbing. Worse still, he knew of her shame. No one would have been able to beat the secret out of her but Raymond knew.
Raymond paced as Curtis looked on nervously. "This fucking place is not where I belong," He halted in his tracks and pointed at himself. "With my intelligence? Fuck no!"
"Raymond, calm down." Curtis implored but not moving out of the corner he stood.
"Shut up, you spineless loser," He yelled. "You don't get to talk." He ran his hand through his hair. He turned his head slowly to look at her and flashed a lopsided smile. "You know what?" He stalked towards her with his hands in fists. "I can't wait any longer."
Naomi's eyes widened and she moved away from him. She glanced at her brother who looked too out of it to even open his eyes. He was going to kill her and then kill him to get what he wanted. "No, wait, Ray," She blubbered, her eyes pleading. "You don't have to do this, this is not who you are…" Trying to reach whatever humanity he still had in there somewhere.
It seemed to have worked since he stopped and laughed dryly. "You don't even know who I am, foolish bitch," He taunted. "This is who I am, you are nothing but dead meat like my mother and father were."
It took a minute but it finally hit her. She covered her mouth with her hands in astonishment.
"Yes Naomi, I was responsible but it was for everyone's good, how was I going to get a cure without some lab rats? If not for that little sacrifice I could have never been a doctor."
"You… killed… them?" It was Curtis and he looked like he had just seen a ghost. "What about my sister? Did you also…"
"That pregnant whore was not worth saving Curtis and you know it. She served other purposes." There was not one ounce of remorse in his flat voice.
"You are fucking crazy!" Curtis lunged at Raymond. Naomi, thinking fast, got hold of her Abel and carried him and started towards the stairs. Then she heard a gunshot and froze. She turned to find Raymond with a gun in his hand and Curtis on the floor, gasping for breath. He was bleeding profusely from his neck. He tried applying pressure on the wound but it looked fatal to him.
Raymond held a calm expression as he looked blankly at Curtis on the floor. Even when Curtis reached out a hand to ask for help, Raymond remained in his position and continued to watch as though he enjoyed it.
Curtis was used. Raymond had never planned to share anything with Curtis. He had always planned to be rid of him in the end. As Raymond started to turn to her, she tried to continue racing up the stairs but Raymond shot a bullet into the splint beside her.
"You are not going anywhere, come down here." He commanded.
She did as he said, still cradling Abel. She looked at Curtis and noticed he was no longer moving.
"You killed him…" She croaked. The look of pure depravity summed up by the blood splatters on his face made her stomach sink deeper.
"No, you did," He said. "You killed him."
"You want to frame me for murder?" She asked incredulously. "I have no motive, you sick fuck." She chuckled harshly. The gesture was a stark contrast to the fear that was engulfing her.
With his pistol still aimed at her, he wiped a bit of the blood away from his face. "My dear, concocting a story won't take me long and who do you suppose they will believe, huh?"
They would believe him, surely. Nonetheless, she had to survive no matter what it took. People would have heard the gunshot, no doubt, They were probably searching for where the sound came from. All she needed was time.
"You are a coward, you know that?" She plastered a smug look on her face and forced herself to stop shaking.
His smile dropped slightly.
"A coward? You think I am scared of something so weak," She raised her eyebrows. He continued as though he hadn't noticed her slight slip up, "But you are wrong, you see, I am not a coward because even after everything I have done, people still respect me." He walked towards her. "Meanwhile you have always and will always remain nothing, so don't you dare call me that!"
"See?" She grinned. "You are already ranting because you can't bear it when someone tampers with the narrative you have for yourself. The only reason you have been able to put on the charade for so long is that no one opposes you but doesn't think they adore you or show you kindness because they love you, Raymond. It is only because they pity you!"
She spat the word 'pity' as if it was poison, her tone mocking him.
His jaw twitched and his teeth ground together. His grip on the gun grew tight; it seemed it was taking all his strength to refrain from snapping her neck.
But she was far from done. "The poor little orphan boy," She
mocked and rolled her eyes. "All alone with a brother who could sell him for some booze." She cackled.
"Enough!" He roared but before he could pull the trigger, a sound from upstairs distracted him for just a second. A second was all that Naomi needed. She strung into action and soon they were wrestling with the pistol. Naomi was at a disadvantage because of Abel but she was no pushover either.
Shots once again rang out as a load of the villagers barged in. They both froze as neither was at first sure who got the bullet until Raymond fell. Naomi watched in horror as he writhed, his body convulsing. There was a gasp from the crowd before people began to scream. Then Raymond stopped moving and his chest didn't rise and fall anymore.
Naomi couldn't bring herself to move. She looked up at the villagers but they could not come anywhere near her because of the gun in her hand.
Without thinking she raised the gun at the villagers and screamed. "Get out of my way!" She had already implicated herself. Raymond might have won that battle but she was the one still alive and she planned on keeping it that way. She ran with Abel past the villager, out of the cellar and out of the house. She looked around for a moment and stared down at her bloodstained hands and dropped the gun. She had no plans of hurting anyone, she just wanted to get away. She heard the villagers coming and picked a race.
They must have realised that she was unharmed because soon they were screaming and running as well. It was getting dark but in the distance hence, she saw a figure in front. It was a woman, it was Hilda.
She looked confused as to what was going on. "Please," Naomi mouthed to her, her eyes pleading.
"Hilda stop that witch, she is a murderer." Someone from the pursuers yelled but to Naomi's surprise, Hilda moved out of the way and let her go.