Charlotte's p.o.v

"Please drop the gun… Monique please don't do this to yourself,"  I gasped as I edged backwards. A silent scream escaped from my twitched lips as my sweaty fingers caressed the cold steel door.

There she was with the pistol pointed at her  head. Tears streamed down her sad cheeks as she stammered with meaningless words. 

Her jaws trembled and her face turned pale. Her mouth was gape, I couldn't tell whether she wanted to scream or talk. 

Her red scary eyes were not fun to stare at as they seemed as if they could just drop from their sockets at any moment.

My chest grew tight as I sharply breathed in. I froze at the spot as ice-cold sweat trickled down my armpits. My knees were literally shaking. 

I felt strength slip out of my body as I tightly held the door knob as if my life depended on it.  Monique was not giving up …in fact she pressed the pistol against her head till I could see her protruding veins.

"Monique… " my voice trembled with fear as I tried to construct a feasible statement to plead with her. I closed my eyes and what I heard next was the scary sound of a gunshot.

I let out a strangled scream. Her beautiful face was no more as  she lay hapless and helpless on the floor with blood all over the tiled floor … a mere shell of her old self. 

I was still confused when the fierce knock on the door jolted me back to reality. I was nervous and scared, shaking from head to toe… still trying to rejoin the pieces of what had just happened.

At once I glanced at Monique who lay in a pool of oozing blood and the gun beside her. How fast!

I had even forgotten about the knock when the door violently went open as if it had bombed by a grenade. 

His wild gaze send chills  down my weak spine as I ran my fingers in my hair with my shaking hands. "Dad … she killed…," I stammered in suffocated fear.

"Stop! "  He boomed in a deafening voice almost sending me off my feet with shock. 

He schooled me with his crimstone red eyes again. I looked away into the open window in fear to avoid his dangerous gaze.

"Don't waste my time girl," he paused and looked at the blood strained pistol before shifting his scary gaze to me.

I was barely breathing, my heart ferociously thumped against my chest as I  fixed my eyes on the blood stained floor.

"Tell me why you have killed her!!" He ordered. 

The question got me off guard. My stomach contracted into a tight ball as tears welled up in my eyes. "Dad… I didn't…"

"Don't tell me you didn't kill her!! Dare not lie to me, idiot!" He boomed again as he pressed my jaws. The sharp pain made me whimper in pain.

I wished I never came in. Here I was ,fated to death … to be crucified for the sins I didn't commit. How do I explain that I didn't kill her? How do I tell him that she had been depressed for months now?

I raised my head and my lips parted in silent terror as I glanced in his beastly eyes. I didn't see it coming. I felt a sharp pain on my head and then everything became dark. 

I must have been asleep…I don't know for how long but when I woke up I felt as though it was a year. The excruciating pain in my joints was just unbearable.

The sickening damp air hit my nostrils hit nose making me cough out severally. The sharp pains in my chest made me wish I had not coughed any more.

For once I couldn't tell where I was until I saw the red ribbon on the wall. It looked familiar… it belonged to the one of my cousins. Yeah… but I couldn't tell who.

The door noisily opened and someone stomped in. I was too focussed on the ribbon and didn't care to recognize who it was till he cleared his voice. 

At once fear took the better part of me and goose bumps shrouded on skin as I slowly turned. I could feel his firy eyes poke holes into my skin.

Dad… it was when I remembered when and  what happened before. I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out my dry lips. 

He just stared at me and I could tell how irritated he was. I felt something… sleep paralysis or whatever it was I got lost again in the dark world.

The next time I came back to my senses… he was staring at me. At first I was scared but he beamed wit a broad  wide toothy smile. 

His rover-blue eyes dug deeper into my soul as he stared into my eyes. He had a concrete jaw and his shiny goatee was just in position. His wrestler's shoulders well outlined in the of navy blue t-shirt.

His Viking gold hair was breathtaking to look at her but I was just tired to. I struggled remembering where I had last seen him… he looked familiar.

"Who… what …do you…" I tried to speak.

"Don't force yourself to speak, I already know what you want to hear," he said as he stood up and walked towards the door. He silently shut it  and sat beside me.

"Am Rotimi," he smiled again. His warm affectionate smile almost made me forget about my woes. He was charming and cute.

Why is he smiling at me ? I muttered to myself.

"You want to ask why am here, right?"  He asked as he rubbed his warm fingers against my cold forehead. I just stared him without saying a word. 

"You are sad … I can see.  But you don't have to worry yourself to death. You don't deserve what you are going through," he explained as he took my hand into his.

"What do you mean?" I sadly whispered. 

"You are innocent," he said as he stared into my eyes again. I had few friends and Rotimi was not one of them either. How he knew I was innocent buffled me.

"Though you won't care… am here to help you," he assured in throaty voice.

Rotimi… where did I last see him?

"Who are you?" I whispered in my honeyed voice.

"Mmmh… are you scared? Look you have to trust me am gonna help you," his husky voice was soothing to my ears.

I tried to peer into the future, into what my sour fate was preparing for me. But there was nothing only the darkness and grotesque fear.

For once I gorgot about his presence… just then the mahogany door creaked. I wished I could just melt and disappear in the bed. The monster was here.