2. Claustrophobic Souls

Dianne paced restlessly outside the hall door. The girl kept glancing at the clock that was getting closer to her mother's transfer to the surgery room.

"Ugh! Should I just go back to the hospital?" Dianne huffed and bit her lips. "Well, the important thing is I have shown my nose to Mr. Nicolas, so he won't fire me, right?"

Just as Dianne had made up her mind to leave the office, the door of the large main hall was suddenly thrown open. From the inside, everyone rushed out with panic and fear face.

Dianne pushed to the side of the door and find the hall was already filled with gray smoke. The ringing sound of the fire detectors rang and the firefighters must have been moving into the building when they received the signal.

"Gosh!! What happened?" Dianne just gaped at the people, completely ignorant of what had happened in the hall.

In the thick of people running around, the cell phone in Dianne’s hand vibrated. She quickly picked up the call which turned out to be from the hospital. "Hello?"

[Nurse Jo]: “Miss Dianne, where are you? Just hurry to the hospital. We regret to say that … your mother has passed away.”

The right hand that raised the phone to the ear now drooped down. Dianne stared straight blankly, her body also went limp.

The commotion of people running was now silent, replaced by a high-pitched ringing that overcame her senses of hearing.

This will be the most traumatic moment she has ever experienced in her life. Every second of her breath became the most painful and so suffocating.

-o0O0o-

The atmosphere of the funeral home that afternoon was already bustling with mourners, flower boards showing condolences from various parties filled the aisle.

Dianne Rosallee, who was dressed in a black dress, sat pensively near her mother's body which would soon be buried. Tears are already dry on the cheeks and don't know how much has been spilled in the last few hours.

Her younger brother, Kairav Alejandro, is still sobbing with swollen eyes. The student who had just graduated from high school was very shocked to hear the news of his mother's passing as soon as he finished taking the university exam which coincided with the time of his mother's surgery.

Now, the siblings have officially become orphans. They lost their father who died as a soldier while serving in Ukraine. Since childhood, both of them were raised alone by their mother and now the one and only wingless angel has gone.

The bodies were buried before dark slipped. Nothing can describe how empty the atmosphere of the small house in the corner of the city where the siblings live. On the same night, Kairav was immediately taken by a distant family to be evacuated until the situation was stable enough. While Dianne stays because the girl has a job in this city.

Dianne, a 23-year-old girl is now staring at the blank wall of her dark room. The feeling of loss, emptiness, and guilt haunts her endlessly.

"Dianne, you even let your mom die in loneliness," she muttered, pounding her chest with a fist. Just imagine, her mother must be very lonely because she could not see her daughter's face for the last time.

Her breath came back short like a heavy thing was pushing her from the front and behind. "I shouldn't have left the hospital! I should have stayed with my mother!" The girl began to ruffle her hair.

“Why weren't you beside her at the last moment!” she screamed with a shriek full of regret. Mentally broken and fragile.

“You fool, Diane! FOOL!"

“Now who else are you living for? Eh!!"

Whatever object she reaches always ends up being thrown in all directions. Her room was turned upside down by self-rage that was so rampant that she couldn't control it.

"If I don't follow the command of the CEO of Zero Attitude, then I will definitely still have time to see my mom’s smile," she whispered after sitting on the floor of the room. "If that bastard Nicolas shows a little bit of sympathy and allows me to leave, I will surely hold Mama’s hand until her last breath."

Dianne got up after taking a deep breath of emotion. A determination is now sticking out and firmly planted in her heart.

“Nicolas should take responsibility for everything!” she growled.

A revenge attack plan that she thought might be able to satisfy this claustrophobic soul for a little. "Like I care! I will quit the company and make calculations with that arrogant man!!”

Dianne who was acting impulsively moved immediately. The angry and vengeful girl took a hammer from her toolbox in the shed.

There is only one goal tonight, the villa where Nicolas rests at the weekend.

-o0O0o-

Nicolas Gauthier took one of the vinyl records from a rack and put it on the turntable. With a firm finger, he moved the dial over the gramophone record to produce the sound of music that was one of his favorites.

The musical composition that Nicolas has chosen to accompany him tonight is by John Sebastian Bach. The man likes classical music to calm himself every weekend at his luxurious villa.

Accompanied by a glass of wine, Nicolas replayed yesterday morning's events in his memory.

“Donation event, laser, and firecracker explosion,” muttered the man after swallowing the burgundy-colored liquid in his mouth. Nicolas has asked Keenan to immediately step in to investigate this case with the police.

The chaos that occurred during the handover of donations in the hall of the office building yesterday made him certain that all the series of terrors he had experienced over the past year would not end before he found out who was the mastermind behind them.

There are various forms of terror that Nicolas has received. Ranging from being sent dead cats, the pig's blood, and anonymous letters containing curses and death threats that have been subscribed every month.

Nicolas knows, being in the highest position of this big company was very risky. There are many enemies and pairs of eyes from all around waiting for him to fall and be destroyed.

Whether the terror was carried out by individuals or groups, Nicolas did not know how long he would be fine and how far the threats would grow to harm him.

A thin grin occasionally adorned Nicolas’s wet lips after taking a sip of wine. "We'll see how long they're going to play hide and seek and put on these shows," he growled.

The man moved to take a shower and get ready for bed because the big clock in the villa had already struck 12 times.

“PPT AARRR!!!!” The sound of lightning flashed on the night that had been clear.

"Looks like it's going to rain." Nicolas looked out the window while rubbing his wet hair with the towel. He had just finished taking a shower and was only wearing a navy bathrobe that covered his muscular body.

“Not bad! At least I'll sleep well tonight," Nicolas muttered heading to his room.

When Nicolas was already to lie down on his soft bed, the faint sounds of objects being dragged and footsteps outside the room. The sound was so close that it woke him up.

His brow furrowed as he realized the sound was so real. The man approached the door and slowly opened it.

Nicolas almost screamed when a woman in a knee-length white dress was standing in front of his eyes, his breath caught in shock. The room is dark and only lit by the moonlight from the outside windows makes the atmosphere seem scary.

“Wh-who are you?” Nicolas took a few steps back. If he didn't have time to glance at the feet of the girl wearing high black boots, of course, Nicolas would have thought that this figure was a ghost of the villa.

"How did you get in?" Nicolas tried to see the girl's face which was faintly covered by a black cap.

One thing that made the man nervous, his eyes stared blankly at the hammer that the woman was holding. He had time to think whether the terror that had been frightening him had finally appeared.

But when the girl took off her hat, Nicolas was surprised to find that the figure with the negative vibes was, "Dianne Rosallee?"