Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 88305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 442(@200wpm)___ 353(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
I’m such a sick person.
I can’t believe I’m replaying the thrill I felt that night in the forest when someone else suffered from something far more traumatizing in real life. When did I become like this? When did I turn into a glutton for something even I don’t recognize? Is my childhood catching up to me after all? Is the monster from my nightmares real now?
I finger my phone before I swipe up the screen. I stare at the sketch I sent to Sebastian, at the invisible eyes and the anonymity of it. All this time, I’ve tried to bury that part of me and when it kept appearing in my moments alone and nightmares, I fought it. Then I denied it.
And yet, it’s still alive.
In fact, it’s been festering inside me all along.
I shake my head to focus back on the documentary. There’s a blur of pictures before they move on to the retelling of events. The shot is dark, shadowed, and the suspenseful music makes my toes curl.
A dark figure appears at the edge of the screen and then…
The lights go out.
Not just the TV. The lights are out in the entire house.
I freeze as my heartbeat skyrockets. I fumble for my phone to turn on the flashlight, but it clatters to the ground.
“Shit.”
I fall to my knees on the floor and even that sound is haunting in the silent darkness.
My fingers are stiff and my pulse roars in my ears as dark images from the past shoot through my head. The smell of the newspaper, the weight of a body, and the blood.
Lots of hot blood.
My hand feels sticky, as if I’m touching it again, as if the motionless body is hovering over me about to tear through me.
I inhale a deep breath. It’s not real. It’s over.
Despite chanting those words in my head, I can’t stop feeling the stickiness on my fingers, the liquid heat, and the sound of droplets of blood dripping into a pool.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
Then…there’s a voice telling me it’s all over now. That no one will hurt me anymore.
Or maybe, like the shrink said, I could’ve been hallucinating to make myself feel better. That’s what victims do. They escape reality to feel better.
But not me. No.
My sweaty palm finally latches on to the phone and I nearly cry with joy as my stiff fingers swipe for the flashlight icon.
That’s when I feel it.
Even before I turn around to see it, I sense a presence at my back, hovering, waiting, biding its time.
Maybe it’s been there all along. Since I was fighting with my mind to let me go. Since I was a fumbling, trembling mess.
I open my mouth to shriek, but a strong hand wraps around my neck from behind, cutting off my breathing. “Shhh. Not a word. We’re doing it my way tonight.”
17
Naomi
Sebastian.
The one who’s currently cutting off my air supply while looming from behind me is none other than Sebastian.
I’d intended to kick and claw, to yell at him so he’d let go, but not only is he confiscating most of my oxygen by grabbing my throat, he’s also yanked both of my wrists behind my back and imprisoned them.
My phone has clattered to the ground and the flashlight outlines dark shadows.
Mine and his.
We’re gigantic on the wall across from us, like some beasts coming out at night to let their instincts loose.
If it were anyone else, they would’ve panicked at being immobilized in the dark by someone who might as well be a stranger. And while that feeling bleeds into my bloodstream, it’s not the only one.
It’s not even the prominent one.
The temptation I’ve been escaping my entire life burns inside me, resurrecting and rising from the ashes like a phoenix.
“Se…bastian…” I manage through the small air opening he’s allowing me.
And I know he is allowing it, because if he chose to, he could choke me to death in no time.
Hot breaths assault my sensitive ear as he whispers dark words, “Shh. Don’t say my name. We’re nobodies right now.”
“W-what?”
“We’ve played house for long enough. Time to play chase.”
“What do you mean by…chase?”
“I’ll let you go and you’ll run. If I catch you, I’m going to take you, use you, abuse you, and fill your cunt with my cum and make you choke on my dick until you’re crying and begging me to stop.” His voice lowers to a threatening range. “But I won’t stop.”
My stomach tightens with sensations I’ve never felt before and it extends to my core. I’m so stimulated by his words alone that I think I’m going insane. That I’m imagining things.
But I can’t imagine it if he’s here with me. If his thoughts are toying with mine, seducing them, trapping them in a chokehold.
Literally.
Figuratively.
The promise in his words is like my worst nightmare and my most coveted dream.