Chapter 4

  “Why didn't you tell me?” Scott sounded rather pissed.

                “I was waiting for you to tell me yourself. The baby is on its fifth month and we’ve been together more than that.”

                Scott stared at her for couple of seconds and then looked down when he realized he could no longer hide his lies from her anymore.

                “I didn't know she’s pregnant.”

                “Pregnant or not, the point here is you cheated, you son of a bitch!” Samantha bit her lips, she didn’t mean to curse him, but her anger has gone to rage.

                “I am Karma, no need for you to curse me,” he muttered and looked back at her in a very different aura. “If you can't forgive me then it’s fine. I don’t need you to anyway.”

                Samantha couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She even refused to believe that it’s Scott she’s talking to; seems like a whole different person.

                “I don’t want to say something that could hurt you that’s why I didn’t tell you not just yet.”

                “Whether you tell me now or later, I’d still get hurt! Why prolong my pain?!” Samantha felt her lips quiver and heard her voice quaver.

                “And why still argue with that? You’re breaking up with me, aren’t you?! Then consider everything done.”

                Samantha has been left with no words. She only stared at the man she thought knew and her heart sank when he walked out without saying anything, leaving her nudging her chest in throbbing pain.

                She couldn't seem to process everything that just happened. The tears she was holding a while ago finally fell down and she broke into a loud, agonizing cry. She covered her mouth with both hands to not let any sobs escape and slowly curled beside her table to comfort herself until, Stella, one of her co-psychiatrists stepped in.

                She must have heard the two of them bawling a while ago, so she came to check. Stella offered to handle everything and let her go home which she did. She walked aimlessly along hallway, eyes pinned on the floor. Felt like gravity doubled its gravitational pull and she was having a hard time walking herself towards the elevator. Her right hand raised on its own and pressed the basement floor button.

                She was just staring into nothingness. She felt like her heart's gonna burst out any minute and what’s worse is she has no one else to talk to. She thought Kathleen might still be mad at her. Knowing her best friend, she’s not gonna make the first move for them to be okay unless she realized it’s her fault. She can't tell Kim much either. They're friends but not that kind of friends. She looked at her phone and felt the pain just tripled when she saw Scott's photo on her lock screen.

                It was taken on their first date in Paris. Behind him was the Eiffel tower and he didn’t have any idea that she took it. He’ll probably gonna take it down since he looks extremely ridiculous with his tongue sticking out.

                “You're really stupid!” She whined.

                “Men are stupid, babe,” Scott chuckled.

                Samantha blinked a couple of times and looked beside her when she felt someone tapping her shoulder. It's her senior psychiatrist, Takumi Takahashi. He was looking at her phone, so she immediately hid it in her pocket.

                “Oh, hey!” She tried flashing a smile but he only looked more worried.

                “The elevator is out of order,” he said, pointing the UNDER MAINTAINANCE sign posted just below the buttons.

                “Oh!”

                “Are you okay, Shane? Your eyes look tremendously swollen and that’s not an exaggeration.”

                Her lips thinned. She doesn’t know exactly how to answer him, let alone talk to him. Takumi and her have way too different wavelength and she don’t really like him at the first place. She felt as though something between them is—off? However, it’s safe to say that they’re friends. Samantha’s the only one who got issues with every person she encounters.

                She cleared her throat. “Ahh I-I’m just not feeling really well, so I have to go home early, sir.”

                “Do you want me to drive you home? You looked really pale. You might pass out along the way,” Takumi looked really concerned.

                “No! It's fine.”

                “Hmm... if you say so. And I know this is not the right time for me to ask you this, but I have to. Do you still remember Janina Gomez, one of the three missing patients?”

                For a moment, something at the back of her throat felt as though it burns, but she has to talk right away before Takumi suspects. “Ah, yeah. Why?”

                “Her body has already been found last night, stuffed in a cemented barrel.”

                “W-Where did they find her?”

                “Under the bridge leading to the South. She’s been stabbed in the chest, right through her heart which caused her death. Then the criminal stuffed her inside the barrel and throw it in the river in attempt to hide its crime."

                “T-That's cruel.”

                “Truly, and…” Takumi paused. “Even if you want it or not, I'm really gonna drive you home. You might get into an accident in your condition, you looked even paler.”

                Samantha was about to answer when she spotted something standing at the end of the hallway behind Takumi. Her eyes squinted—and—froze.

                “Shane, hey! You really don’t look fine. Let me just...”

                “NO!” She cut him off. “I'll be fine!”

                She immediately turned against her heel and ran as fast as she could to the next elevator. She pressed the basement floor button and swiftly entered when it opened. She knew very well that he's found his way back again.

                Fingers running through her hair, she was enchanted by the adrenaline rush of terror which made her senses more dynamic and made seconds feel like hours.

                “SHANE!! Hold on!” Takumi is almost shouting, trying to enter, but she blocked him.

                “Stay away from me!”

                “But...”

                “Please!”

                He fell short with words when tears started misting Samantha’s eyes. He’d only looked at her until the door completely closed. The moment she reached the basement floor, she immediately sprinted towards her car, but not long enough, she stopped when she saw Kathleen standing beside it.

                “Shane––,”

                “Why are you here?!” Samantha exclaimed, wiping sweats off her temples. She watched Kathleen's lips thin into a cruel line and remembered that the both of them are not in good terms yet. “Really now?” Kathleen almost grinned in sarcasm. “I am here to apologize and you do this?”

                Now that Samantha has been forced to rethink what got between the two of them, she had found herself entirely guilty. “I'm sorry,” she muttered. "But, please, just this once, I really have to go. I promise, we’ll talk later.”

                “Go to where?” Kathleen scowled horribly.

                “Y-You don’t have to know—not just yet,” Samantha continued walking towards her car but Kathleen blocked her way in.

                “Kaiser told me about what happened between you and Scott, so have the rights to know where you are going,” she groaned. “You're freakin' stupid sometimes and I won’t let you do anything crazy, not without me.”

                It was an inefficiently long conversation that Samantha started to feel tingles through her spines––a familiar sensation she felt when her sister, Agatha, disappeared.

                “For the love of—just let me go, Kath!”

                “NO! You're not going anywhere.”

                “Come with me, child! Come... come... come.”

                Samantha gasped when she heard the voice approaching in a fast pace.

                “LISTEN TO ME!” Her voice rose. “ALL OF YOU WILL DIE IF YOU WON'T STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!” Samantha mustered all her strength to push Kathleen out of the way that she almost fell, but she was quick to get in the car first the moment Samantha had it opened. She even slid herself beside the driver’s seat.

                “If you're leaving, you’re taking me with you!” Kathleen did not wish to have an argument with Samantha, but her eagerness to push her away isn’t something to be called normal for best friends. She had done her best to suppress her impulsive character just for them to be okay, but Samantha isn't amused.

                She held her head in rage. “WHY. ARE YOU NOT. LISTENING TO ME?”

Samantha’s anger was so fierce that Kathleen felt extremely uneasy when she entered the car.

The moment she closed the door, their voices rose to a shriek when a mysterious creature suddenly landed on top of the car.

                Seems like long, sharp nails kept scratching the roof which will definitely tear it to pieces if they won’t do anything. Fortunately, Samantha has kept her sane and gathered up the courage to turn the engine on and sped away, leaving the unknown creature behind.

                “Put your seatbelt on!” She yelled as she buckles herself up.

                She looked back in horror as its long, sharpened hair, surrounded its body in motions.

                “W-What... on earth was that?!” Kathleen kept choking in her words. She hadn’t seen the creature as the only person who could is Samantha or…

                “I told you to let me go, but you won’t listen. Now look what you got yourself into!”

                “L-let you go to where?!”

                “Somewhere! Somewhere away from everybody––I don't know.”

                “S-Shane, I don’t understand. Can you please talk a little c-clear?” Kathleen said between short breaths which worries Samantha. She has been clinging on the seatbelt but has not put it on. Samantha looked back at the road; she doesn't really have any idea where they were heading. She just has to get her away from there, from her, as much as possible. When she has made sure the creature ain't following them, she turned to look at Kathleen.

                “Kath, listen! I promise, I’ll explain everything. But as of the moment, I need to drop you somewhere safe.”

                “I-I want an explanation right now, Shane, or I’d go crazy!” Kathleen argued, looking back unsteadily.

                Samantha doesn’t know what to say anymore. She knows for a fact Kathleen won’t let her go this time and the moment that she will, it might be too late.

                “Kath, I just need you to understand that now’s not the right time,” she tried to talk calmly but her best friend’s no longer in the right shape to go in a smooth sailing.

                “No, I don’t understand, because I can’t! You’ve been pushing all of us away. Even Scott, your boyfriend. He loved you, Shane!”

                Tears suddenly dimmed Samantha’s visions.  “N-No, he didn’t. He never did!” She muttered. “He's not the man I thought I knew, Kath. He’s` just in love with the idea of being in love.”