CHAPTER FIVE: Glass Shattered!

SERRA

I turned around but I couldn’t see a thing. I strode forward without any idea where my feet would take me. A rattling sound echoed every time I stepped. Darkness was everywhere but I could see my way as if I lived in the dark.as if I belong here.

“H-Help...” a raspy voice whispered in my ear.

I averted my attention at the side but no one’s there. I walked forward endlessly. My mind was blank but my feet knew where to go.

“H-Help...” I heard the same voice however it wasn’t just in my ear.

I don’t know where to settle my head. The sound bounced from one place to another. The owner of the voice sounded like he was everywhere. I tried to follow the voice but it lead me to nowhere. My heart beat fast out of excitement. I should be scared yet I felt thrilled.

A light from afar suddenly surfaced. I leaped towards the light and revealed myself. I froze seeing a feeble and naked man tied to the chair.

“H-Help...” he uttered once more.

Bruce!

I called but he didn’t seem to hear me. I yelled his name one more time but he remained still. I cursed on my mind and decided to go near him but I couldn’t move. My body was numbed, I couldn’t even bat an eyelid. I glanced at my hand when it moved on its own. My mouth ran dry seeing a small knife covered with blood on my hand.

I glanced at the ground and saw red heels beneath me. I raised the knife in front of me and saw my reflection. My blood-red lips curved a playful smile. My hand holding a knife trembled not because of fear but because of excitement and anticipation to–

“Kill,” I mumbled against my will.

He slowly lifted his head. My mouth gaped seeing blood sluggishly dripped from the carved letter on his forehead to his eyes. Ruby veins popped out of his eyeballs. The corner of his lips slowly rose and formed a grin as blood trickled down his cheeks from his eyes. He then faced the ceiling and burst into demoniac laughter.

I tightened my grip on the knife and raised it with the tip in his direction. I tried to pull my hand away but it was beyond impossible.

He growled which made me flinched and brought me back to my senses. He banged his head sideways repeatedly. His howls filled the entire place.

I walked near him and called his name but I immediately retreated when he lunged at me and growled like a beast. The atmosphere suddenly became eerie and cold wind swept over my body giving me goosebumps.

He moved his head sideways in slow motion as his eyeballs rolled upward until all white broached. The movement of his head escalated synchronized with the swaying of the lamp above his head. My fast heartbeat rang on my ears and I started to sweat.

He shook his head at an absurd speed. His body twitched randomly and his toes curled as if he was having seizures. He produced foreign sounds and grunts accompanied by the quaking of the ground and clinking of metals.

My legs crisscrossed multiple times as I maintain my balance. I quivered seeing a silhouette of a man following his movement. The light flickered and I saw different tools hanging on the wall. Saw, ax, scythe, hammer, hooks, sets of knives, and any tool that could kill you could think of. I dropped the knife I was holding the entire time when the light suddenly shut off. Silence sheath the place. I could only hear my heavy breath and wild heartbeat. Strength slowly drained from my system.

The moment the light turned on Bruce appeared in front of me and grabbed me by the neck. His glaring eyes were all white and blood continued to stream down his cheeks. The corner of his lips stretched up to his ear revealing his dusk teeth. His grip on my neck tightened and he lifted me off the ground with one hand still choking me. I tried to remove his hand off me but he looked like he gained superhuman strength. I scratched his hand and croaked helplessly.

“B-Bruce...” I managed to utter and the moment I blinked the pressure on my neck was gone.

A cold breeze hugged my skin and blew my hair. A ringing sound pestered my ears. My eyes widened seeing Bruce in front of me. My lips parted on how the table had been turned. I was the one strangling him at the moment. We were at the edge of 85 meters high clock tower. His body inclined and my clutch on his neck was the only thing that kept him from falling.

“She’ll soon join you, Bruce,” a familiar voice of a lady said.

I wanted to look in her direction but I couldn’t move. I could only see her side profile using my peripheral vision. She was wearing a crimson-red dress, heels, and veiled hat. Her face was covered by a net-like veil. Her dark sky hair sways down her decanter waist.

“We’re not sure about that,” Bruce responded. He closed his eyes and extended his arms.

My hold on his neck loosened. My eyes widened more.

No!

I couldn’t do anything but shout in my mind, resist mentally. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fist.

“Bruce!”

At last, I managed to control my body. Joy overfilled my heart. I grasped on the railings and followed Bruce with my eyes. He was smiling while tears glided down his cheeks from his closed eyes and his body was dragged down by gravity.

“N-No!” I cried. Warm liquid flowed down my cheeks. I shut my eyes and shook my head. “No!” I repeated and grabbed the railings and jumped over it.

I dove at the rustling wave of the wind and reached out for Bruce. He silently accepted his fate but the demon that possessed him drastically whimpered.

A shadow-like figure roared out of Bruce’s body and desperately reached out for me growling in anguish and terror but to his dismay, he was sucked back by Bruce’s body.

I extended my hand. Bruce was just beyond my fingertips.

“I’ll protect you with my soul, Amara.”

His smiling lips didn’t move. It wasn’t spoken through his mouth but through his heart.

“Serra!”

I gasped and opened my eyes. Amanda’s worried face greeted me.

“Are you okay?” she asked with knitted brows.

I didn’t answer her and just sat on the bed and lean my back gasping for air. My hand traveled on my tensed neck. Sweat drenched my clothes.

“Wait!” She hurried to the kitchen and went back with a glass of water in her hand.

She handed it to me and I accepted it. I glanced at her hand with fresh scratches. My heart pounded in a random rhythm.

I wish I was wrong.

“What happened to your hand?” I couldn’t take my eyes off her hand.

She immediately hid her hands behind her. My lashes batted at her in askance.

“Umm... you were dreaming and choking yourself,” she started hesitantly. “I tried to help but I ended up getting grazed,” she added looking down.

Her tone was exceptionally opposite to her actions.

“Sorry,” I muttered. She lifted her head and gave me an awkward smile.

“It’s nothing. Don’t feel sorry about it!” She shook her head and hands at the same time.

I nodded and gave her back the glass but it slipped and broke into pieces. The shattering repeatedly sounded like a broken record.

Glass shattered!

I covered my ears when I heard my own voice shrieked in my head. My body shuddered and my teeth chattered. I swiftly got up from bed and went to the kitchen. I grabbed a cup that looked the same as the cup Amanda broke at the day Bruce was murdered. Then, I intentionally dropped it on the ground.

“No.” I shook my head in despair. I snagged another cup and dropped it.

I leaned on the sink to support my weight. The sound the cup made was different from the glass. The shattering of the glass was louder than the cup. The night before Bruce fell from the clock tower, I heard a glass shattered. I thought it was just a dream or it was Amanda’s doing but it wasn’t. It was nearby.

“Oh goodness!” Amanda exclaimed seeing me breaking the cups to my heart’s content. “What happened?” she questioned, alarmed.

I gave her a cold shoulder and went off the kitchen bumping her.

“What is wrong with you–”

A squeal from the next room cut her off. With bated breath, I ran outside with bare feet and headed to the room next door. I saw a lady tumbled on the kitchen floor. I swiftly approached her location. I covered my mouth with my hand after witnessing a bloody mess in the kitchen.

Broken glass was on the floor and beside it was a pool of dried blood. A trail of blood painted the floor but it miraculously ended right before the wall. I could tell that Bruce’s body was harshly dragged by the killer. A day had passed since Bruce’s death shocked the entire island.

The investigators were slacking, how come they didn’t inspect the victim’s room?

I sat beside squirming Amara and hugged her. Her sobs filled the room. She has been crying a river ever since Bruce died. A pang cramped my chest.

“Goodness! I’m going to call dad,” Amanda said from behind.

My embrace on Amara tightened.

I couldn’t believe it. Bruce, he was... he was just next to me. He was just a wall away yet I wasn’t able to save him.

“As expected,” a deep solace voice mumbled.

I lifted my head and saw Grip staring at the lake of blood.

“Bruce’s soul is not here either,” he added.