"Mom," Ginny came into her mother's bedroom. "Have you seen Gemma?"
"No, darling. I haven't," her mother said, removing her reading glasses.
"Okay then," Ginny said, retreating to her room. She was sure Gemma was in the living room watching her favourite movie as always. She was positively crazy. She had made a fort of her favourite things around her and watched that movie three times in a row before she disappeared.
Ginny slid her drawer out and picked out some comfy clothes for a good sleep. It took her a while but when she finally settled onto some red pyjamas, she hugged them and headed for the bathroom.
As she stood before the door, she could hear water trickling. She tapped lightly on the door. "Gemma, are you bathing?"
No one replied.
She shrugged and turned the doorknob. Her eyes instantly snapped to the ground. Water was sloshing everywhere and Gemma's clothes were soaked and drifting about. Shocked, she looked up to see where the water was coming from and that was when she saw her.
Gemma, hanging from a noose!
A scream of terror tore from her throat as she fell backwards onto the ground, kicking away in fear and sorrow.
"Gemma! No!" Ginny screamed. "MOM! DAD!"
She heard a lot of loud slams and heavy footsteps. When her parents appeared behind her, loud wails sounded amid gasping.
"NO!" her mother cried out before she shot forwards to try and get Gemma down.
Her father collapsed to the floor to hug her and Ginny shut her eyes tight, as her world began to crumble again.
❃❃❃
Ginny's eyes fluttered open. A grey ceiling greeted her along with soft beeps. She blinked a few times and looked around her.
Her mother came forward and grasped her hand into hers. "Ginny, hey," she said.
"What happened?"
"You fainted from shock."
"Shock of what?"
"Gemma - " her mother said, her voice breaking. "Gemma took her own life."
Memories came crashing back and a deluge of tears poured from Ginny's eyes. "No, no, no," she said. "Not Gemma too. Why did she kill herself?"
"I found a note in her room," her mother said. "She was suffering from Depression but didn't want to burden us by telling us about it."
Ginny didn't say anything, and only rested her head against her pillow as the tears flowed and flowed. Her mother soon left her to her own devices and she didn't see her father anywhere. It was about thirty minutes that passed when her phone pinged with another text. It was from that unknown number again.
It read: I told you about stalkers, but you didn't listen. Now look at what happened.
Fuck, it was Harold all along!
Fury split her head in two and she gritted her teeth as her fist flew into the side rail of her bed. She tore the drip from her wrist and hopped over the rail. She knew where that fucker lived because Gemma went over often.
Escaping from the hospital, she raced to the nearest road and hailed a taxi. Giving the driver the address, she waited and waited for the car to reach. It turned some dark alleyways before it reached an abandoned district.
Did he really live here?
Ginny continued to wonder as she stepped out of the taxi. She glanced down at the address in her phone and stared up at the building. Turning around, she saw the taxi behind her with its engine still on, but nobody in the driver seat.
Not bothering about that, she stepped towards the building and tried to find the unit Harold lived in. When she reached, she knocked on his door.
The door swung open to Harold. "Ginny," he said. "What brings you here?"
"You know why," she said.
He stepped aside to let her in. She walked into his home. "I knew you'd realise soon enough that we were meant to be, Ginny."
She glanced at her surroundings. There was a table on the ground in the process of being put together and a hammer conveniently lying next to it. He sure was dumb.
"Harold," Ginny said. "I've always wanted you."
"That's more like it," he said, laughing. She bent down towards the ground, near where the hammer was. He held onto her hips as he stood behind her ass. He was trying to lift her dress up when her hand closed around the hammer and she straightened her back, turning around to bring it down heavily across his temple.