Chapter 10
Death WishELSAI took in a deep breath and smoothed my palm on my red round-neck top and a jean skirt that stopped at the middle of my thighs before my knuckles came in contact with the door in a subtle knock.I was outside the front porch; it was Nathan’s house. It’s been one week since what happened to Nathan, and I didn’t know how to show up at his doorstep.These past few days made me realize one thing: I liked Nathan more than a friend. The stalker had also been off my neck; he stopped texting, and I didn’t have that fear of being followed anymore. Me withdrawing that amount of money put him and his business on the edge… I hope.“Hello…” An old woman who seemed like she was in her early eighties said, opening the door with a wide smile, her dimples visible, probably where Nate got him from.“Hi, ma’am, I’m Elsa.” I looked around; just standing here made my heart ache at the realization that I caused this to him. “Nathan’s friend.”“Oh, come on in, dear.” She held the door wide for me to enter. “My Naty boy has said a lot about you.”“Grandma!” Nathan’s voice vibrated from inside the room, and we both laughed before she left.Nathan was sitting on a three-seater chair in the living room, with a white bandage on his right hand.Tears filled my eyes; this was done to him because of me. “I’m sorry, Nathan.” I looked at him, he was in pain, it was obvious.“It’s not your fault, Elsa. Don’t worry about it. Grandma hired a private bodyguard for me, so I’m safe… I guess.”“Will you be coming back any time soon? The school feels so boring without you.” I sighed; after the hacking with Rose, she had been MIA. Not like I expect us to be friends instantly or anything.Besides, we know nothing about each other.“Elsa… before all these happened, I wanted to ask you out, with a nice dinner, a table filled up with your favorite foods.” I stared at him, my entire face was red now, and I was blushing, hard.“Wanted?” This was a dangerous game I was playing, and Nathan’s life was the one in danger, not mine. But the stalker hasn’t contacted me since then; it’s possible he gave up. Why can’t I be happy because of a stalker?𝒂 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕.𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒕𝒐.𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒐𝒃𝒆𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒎.“I just don’t know if you’d say… yes … you know..” he brought his bandaged hand up, and I laughed.“Because of a missing finger?” I held his other hand in two of mine. “I don’t see you as Nathan less than the Nathan I know.”“Would you go out with me then?” He looked like he was begging not to be turned down. I took in a deep breath; the stalker wasn’t here, he hadn’t been here for over a week, and we’d be extra careful too.Maybe it’s time I fully move on from my ex; Nathan’s a nice guy.“Yes, I would.” That answer sealed it; I owed him that at least. I mean, every bad thing that happened to him happened because of me; I owed him that much.***More weeks passed; Nathan was back at school, and although there was no way he’d grow extra fingers, everyone stayed respectful about his state. I strengthened the bed again for the tenth time; everything needed to be perfect for tonight. Nathan and I agreed to meet up in my room tonight, and although he didn’t say, I knew what exactly followed. I spoke to Rose, and she agreed to stay in her bestie's room tonight. Rose and I were not close, but we were supportive. I still heard nothing from Mr. Stalker, and that was a good thing. I hope he died wherever he disappeared.“Come on Elsa, calm, down… this isn’t your first time.” I paced around the room nervously. I wore a crop top that showed my upper breast and a skirt that barely covered my thigh. I wanted to do it with him; I was prepared. The last time I had sex was six months ago; how would it feel to have it again?A knock on the door made me almost jump out of my skin.“Coming…” I screamed before rushing back to my vanity mirror. I reapplied my red lip gloss, and my brows, perfected my light make-up, and put up my perfume again.“Everything is in place.” I took in a deep breath before rushing to open the door. Nathan was outside; he was dressed in a white polo with blue jeans.“You look…” his eyes scanned me, desire evident in them.“Beautiful?” I pushed a strand of hair behind my ear slowly.He smiled before coming in. He placed his hand on my waist and dragged me closer to him so my hands were on his chest. “Like a dinner, I want to devour.”His lips grabbed mine in a hot kiss. I tried, I tried, but I wasn’t feeling it; his hand groped my ass, and I gasped in his mouth. He continued to kiss me.Nathan was such a good boyfriend, but he didn’t have that spark I needed. I felt happy on the day we started dating, but after that day, it felt like I only liked him as a friend and accepted him because I felt responsible for what happened to him. I thought if we had sex, then I’d start feeling something real with him, but we were about to, and it still didn’t feel that way.“Nate…” I broke the kiss and stared into his eyes. He still had a hand behind my back.“Mhh” he mumbled, his eyes staring into mine. “What’s wrong El, you know it’s fine if you’re not ready to do this.”“I wanted to ask if you brought a condom.” I laughed, and he smiled, exhaling a breath he probably didn’t know he was holding. I wasn’t going to destroy this night for him; I wasn’t going to do that.“Of course.” He reached for a pocket behind him as he struggled to grab something from it.Immediately, the door handle rattled. Nate and I paused and stared at it. Rose agreed not to be here till tomorrow. Did she forget anything?“I’d check it out,” Nathan said before removing his hand from his back pocket and walking towards the door. Before he could open it, it opened, and his entire body stiffened. He started walking backward, and when the other man’s leg became visible, I sank into the wall, my heart hammering in my chest.The door was closed, and three men came in…“If anyone looks at Elsa, they’d die too,” the first one stated, and the other two turned backward immediately. I covered my chest which was barely hiding my breasts. The first one looked like—“Hello, Kitten.” He gave me a fake smile, his face looked angry. Nathan was shivering; the stalker had a gun to his head.Chapter 11 Red is for bloodELSAHello, Kitten. I recognized that voice all too well.“You… what are you… why…” I couldn’t utter words; all that was in my mind was Nathan. He was going to hurt Nathan for real this time.“Who are you?” Nathan screamed, trying not to shake. His life was already flashing before his eyes.“Please, please let him go. I swear I’d do anything you want. Please…” My heart was racing so fast at this moment; that I couldn't breathe properly.A smirk appeared on his cheeks, the scar on his eyebrows furrowed, “You’d do anything I want either way, Kitten.” His voice was so deep it held so much vibration.“Why are you doing this? It’s my life, why won’t you let me live my life?” Tears flowed freely from my eyes to my cheeks now.Nathan looked confused at me. “You know him?” His voice had hurt in it; it was all my fault. I should never have gone to his house.“You didn’t tell your little friend that the reason he is one finger short is because of you?” The stalker t
Chapter 12All for the fansELSAI stared at him like he was insane; he was insane. He wasn’t going to put a bomb on me just to fuck me and make it blow up if I scream.Someone, please tell me I’m in a dream, and I’d wake up, and then everything would go back to normal.“Do you know how much I missed you, Kitten?” He was in front of me within minutes; his hands smoothed my hair. I removed my face from his hand immediately.“You can have my body and my life, but you… you’d never have my heart.” I didn’t know how much I was shaking until a tear slipped from my eyes down to my cheeks.He reached his hand behind me, and the ribbon that was tied to my wrist released. “That’s fine by me; at least you get to keep one thing to yourself. You see… I’m not that stingy.” He grabbed my waist and threw me across his shoulder like I weighed nothing.“Let me down!” I wiggled on his shoulder, but he didn’t budge. He dropped me on something soft, Rose’s bed. I gasped when a cold metal clanged on my wri
Chapter 13To all the boys we loved beforeELSA“…Forever in our hearts.” The pastor did the cross sign before closing the casket of Nathan.“My sweet boy.” His grandma shivered, I held her hand in mine and my Aunt Tiana held my other hand from beside me, she heard what happened to Nathan and the fact that we were close, so she rushed over to the school and asked they give me one week break to recover, after the burial, I was going to her house.I felt tears fall down my cheeks, staying here made me feel guilty, like I caused Nathan’s death and here I am, mourning him. It had been two days since the police found his body, that’s incorrect since it was dumped in front of their station at midnight by two masked men.I shook my head and the guilty feeling that was eating me up and left the arena. Tiana followed me and rubbed my back slowly, I wrapped my hand over her body and let it all out, the guilt, the anger, everything.“It’s alright… I’ve got you.” Her voice penetrated through plac
Chapter 14 Maybe, Maybe NotELSAHe grabbed me by my waist and threw me over his shoulder. I mumbled through the thick cloth tied to my mouth and tried to come down from his shoulder, kicking my legs. It felt impossible.He walked to the bed and threw me on it. His hands immediately dragged my legs down, tying them to a rope I didn’t realize was there before I came in. My two legs were tied to both sides of the bed. The ropes were strong, and the more I tried to push my leg out, the more it hurt. He was by my head next, his hands moving over mine, tying them to another rope across my head. My chest heaved with fear. I had just finished attending Nathan’s funeral, one that this stalker in front of me caused. Why couldn’t today just be to honor him?The stalker stood in front of me. I was tied to all four sides of the bed. He looked over at me with a smirk at the corner of his lips. The fear that filled my eyes could barely be explained; I was certain he saw that too, he just didn’t ca
Chapter 15Shark manELSAI was far away from the car and the vicinity where we parked, by now, they must have noticed I had escaped, he must be looking for me now. The entire place was crowded with people going about their daily lives. A man was sitting alone and drinking from a cup, the other seat was empty, and there was no other way to hide from a stalker other than blending into the crowd.I immediately sat opposite the guy, he looked up from his phone and gave me a weird look, he looked like he was in his late twenties. “Hi, will you be my boyfriend? Just… for a minute.” I tried not to show that it was obvious I was hiding from a psychopathic stalker who would kill both of us if I was found. “You’re not a.. serial killer are you?”He folded his arms and dropped his phone on the table. “That depends, how many times does it take till you get to serial?”I did a hurried thinking with my eyes. My voice filled up with uncertainty. “Five?”“Oh, no. We’re good.” He smiled and I genuine
Chapter 16Fire and IceELSA“Tie her up and put her into the front seat, you’re both dismissed,” he ordered before taking the white towel one of the guards gave him then he cleaned his hands on it aggressively.I didn’t say anything as one of them carefully tied my hands together with a strong red ribbon that felt like a rope, the car was already at the entrance of the alleyway, he opened the door wide for me and gestured towards the front passenger seat. I obeyed and sat there.“Can I ask a question?” I turned to the man holding the car door, he let out a tired sigh before shaking his head negatively.“I’m not permitted to talk to you, Miss.” he proceeded to close the door but I held out a hand and it bounced back to him, he brought a brow up in a questioning stance.“You don’t have to talk, just nod for yes and shake your head for no.” When he didn’t argue, I proceeded. “Kian, Is his name Kian?”The man kept looking at me before he finally nodded and walked away leaving the door wi
Chapter 17 Survive if you canELSA“Take off your clothes and bend, or the injury on your neck would be a whole lot worse and I’d bend you over myself.”“Why on earth are you doing this to me?” I screamed, tears accumulating in my eyes, my body was shivering, I couldn’t even survive underwater for ten seconds, how would I survive for three minutes? “This is rape.”He grabbed me by my arm and bent me over so I was backing him, I placed my hand on the hem of the well to maintain my stamina. “Try not to die, Kitten. You can only report me to the police if you’re alive.”I wiggled, trying to push him off me from behind, he grabbed my two hands and tied something on them, it felt hard and like metal… a small chain. “No no no… please let me go… leave me alone, please—“My words were cut short when I felt his hand at the back of my neck, he instantly pushed it down and my face was inside the pool of water, I kept struggling to come out, the hold of his hand on my neck was strong, too strong
Chapter 18 IconicELSA“Lift your chin and swing your arms with full energy,” the martial arts instructor ordered, and I did as he instructed, punching the sandbag with so much intensity that it flew to the edge before coming back to me.“Good job, Miss Reed,” the man looked at me with a smile on his face. Kian had kept to his word. He said if I survived, I’d be free for a week. I haven’t seen or heard from him. I used that opportunity to enroll in a self-defense class at my university. I canceled my leave and came back to campus. I was alone; I had to be alone. Anyone who got close to me in any way was going to get hurt. I needed to learn how to protect myself.“That’s enough for today. I’ll see y’all in the next class.” The trainer’s voice echoed over the hall, and I took in a deep breath. Mentally, I was exhausted; physically, I wanted to die, commit suicide maybe.I tied my shoelace into a knot and exited the center. The walk back to my dorm was short. Opening the door, Rose, my