“What? No, that’s not at all the case.” I pull at my collar to get rid of this choking feeling.
“Whatever it is, we will find out soon enough. We’re on our way to your home right now.”
My eyes grow wide. It takes me a few seconds to respond. “Ah–okay.”
Fuck.
“The car is just pulling up, so we’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“You’re already here?” I ask, a little too loud.
“Yes, does it surprise you?”
I close the phone.
Fuck! I have to get her back right now.
I scramble out of the door, almost tripping over my own shoelaces, which are loose because of my hastiness, but at this moment, it doesn’t matter. I rush down the stairs, not bothering to take the elevator because it’ll only slow me down. As I run out the door, I frantically look around, trying to find her.
When I do, my heart is ripped out of my chest.
Arthur has his hands clutched around her side, horror clearly visible on her face as they drag her back to his limo. Gaping, I watch, anger and fear tearing me apart as she’s stuffed into the car and the door closes. I stumble across the pavement, my hand reaching for a ghost that has long disappeared.
My little fairy is gone, taken by the evil of this world. I failed her.
After all I did to keep her safe, she’s still snagged away from me, just like that.
Defeat washes over me, tugging at my heart, but then I push it away again. I won’t go down that easily. I made a promise, and I’m sticking with it, no matter how tough it gets. I’ll get her out of there, and I’ll set her free, even if I have to sacrifice my own life for it.
I will give her the peace that she deserves.
Accompanying Song: “XL-TT” by Hiroyuki Sawano
My screams do not penetrate through the thick hands that cover my mouth. A man is pressing me into him, holding my hands behind my back while someone else puts a rope around them. A grin is plastered across his face, one that I recognize. This guy is one of them, the monsters were coming for me and now they have me in their claws again.
I yell for Sebastian, for help, for anyone, but all I hear is their faint muttering and laughter.
“Stop crying, girl,” one of them says.
His voice sends chills down my spine. I recognize the sound.
“It’s no use. No one’s going to come looking for you.”
It’s him; the man who took Ashley and used her like a sex doll. The one who stole my mom from my dad and then killed her. Newman. He’s in the front passenger seat, looking back at me over his shoulder with a smug smile and a cigar in his hands.
“Lucky we found you wandering across the street,” he says. “Wouldn’t want you to fall into the wrong hands.”
“Let go of me,” I scream through Arthur’s hand.
He shushes me. “Now, now, calm down. Nothing to be worried about. We’re just taking you back to where you belong.”
The one in the front seat, Newman, twirls his finger close to his scalp. “Back to the nutter.”
Fear drains me of my energy while I struggle to breathe. The stench of Arthur’s hands on my mouth is making me want to hurl. However, I’m not going to let them take me without a fight.
So I kick and scream, biting his hand, making him yelp as well. The back of my head is smacked, and everything spins. With a banging headache, I continue pushing and shoving at everything around me, trying to make it as hard as I can for them, trying to give Sebastian enough time to come and save me.
If he is even coming to save me.
How would he save me from this? One against four is never going to work. He can’t win, and he doesn’t want to. He said so himself; he still needs their trust in order to defeat them.
This is when I realize that nobody will come to rescue me. It’s all on me now.
“Say, pretty girl, how much do you know?” Newman says. “Can you remember me?”
I want to shout and tell him to fuck off, but I realize that anything I say can be used against me quite literally. If I say anything that pisses them off, I know that I’m done for. They don’t give a shit about my life; they’ve proven it. There is only one way that they will ever let me live, and that is when I lie.
So I shake my head and breathe through my nose to let the anger out.
“You don’t know us?” He laughs. “Oh, this is too good to be true.”
He puts the cigar in his mouth.
“Maybe Sebastian was telling the truth after all,” the one beside me says. “He did say that he was well on his way with his book. Maybe it is going according to plan and this little redhead just can’t seem to stay away from him, that’s all.”
“Maybe so, but it’s still dangerous to have her walk on the streets like this,” the one holding me down says. “Whatever she forgot will undoubtedly someday resurface and I’d prefer it to be kept quiet.”