"I love it when you play hard to get with me, my love." Rian's voice echoed as I kept running away from him. The trees were getting thicker and thicker, and I couldn't seem to lose him even if I tried. "You'll never lose me. You're mine, and I will never let you go." The voice was getting louder and louder.
I could see lights from cars passing by in the distance, and I assumed it was a road up ahead. I could feel the air thicken, and I couldn't breathe. Rian's footsteps were getting closer, and I heard twigs breaking behind me. I finally reached the road, and I ran directly to the car.
"Please let me in! A guy is chasing after me! Please open the door now!" I kept hitting the glass as the fog thickened and the driver opened the door. "Thank you! Oh, my goddess! Thank you so much! Please get me out of here!" I stuttered breathlessly and put on the seatbelt. I turned my eyes beside the car's window and saw that there was no sign of Rian. The car started moving again, and I finally looked up at the driver.
"I told you you'll come back to me." I froze in shock as I saw Rian driving the car. "What happened, honey? You know that I would never let you leave without our baby and me." He then grabbed my hand as I just sat there wide-eyed, heartbeat racing and catching my breath.
Rian just laughed hysterically, and I heard a slight sound coming from the back seat. It took all of my strength and willpower to move my eyes away from Rian's driving form and look at the thing behind me. In the back seat was a small pile of white cloth moving up and down as if it was breathing. My breath hitched, and I forgot about Rian, only to look at the small thing covered by the cloth.
"What do you think you're doing, mommy?" Rin took my hand hard and pulled it close to his lips. "Don't wake up the little angel, or else we'll both be in big trouble." I looked back at the moving thing behind us and finally snapped out of the shock and slapped Rian hard across his face.
"Are you crazy?! You should tell her mom now!" The angry voice in my head shouted twice. Everything was black, and I felt pain all over my body. A man's voice called in the far distance. I could feel warm sheets covering me, and I could hear more bickering coming closer and closer as I tried to open my eyes. "She suddenly fainted, and you're telling me that I should just keep quiet? How is that even the logical answer to"
"Shyne! Oh, thank God you're awake!" Perry's face was suddenly in front of me as she held my hand. "I knew you were going to be alright. How are you feeling? Does anything feel hurt? Is your head okay? Do you need water? Are you-"
"I'm fine, Perry. Relax." I looked straight at Rex, who had a look of relief written on his entire face. "I assume you called this little sentimental rapper her?" I said as Perry playfully rolled her eyes and let go of my hand.
"Yeah. I would've called your mom, but your phone was locked, and I remembered that I was still friends with your nagging radio here on F******k. Sorry I couldn't contact anyone quieter" He earned a slap on his forearm with his comment, and I just sat on the hospital bed smiling.
"You suddenly fainted, and the doctor said you were too stressed, and you had a panic attack." I swallowed hard and recalled the entire incident at the bus station as I looked at Perry in a panic. "Anyway, Rex, thank you so much for calling me and helping Shyne. I think you've been here too long, and you could still get the last bus to where you needed to go." She said as she tried to cover my face from Rex's line of sight.
"What? What do you mean? I still need to make sure you call Shyne's parents and help you get her settled before I leave." Rex was trying his best to get out of Perry's shoving hands. "Shyne, do you want me to call your mom and dad for you? You could just give me the number and-"
"No, thank you, Rex. I'll be fine. Perry is with me, and I'll just tell my parents later after I'm fine. You should get going. I know you were in a hurry when we met, and I don't want you to waste your time here any longer." Rex looked like he was about to argue, but he just nodded and promised to update me on F******k.
"Alright. Now Shyne, tell me what really happened to you back there at the bus station?" I told Pery everything, even up to my dream, before I woke up. "This doesn't make any sense unless you still have feelings for Rian." She eyed me cautiously, and I shook my head furiously.
"I feel like everywhere I go, he's there, and I feel like I couldn't run away from him. There is something wrong, Perry. I've been living a bit peacefully since I left our hometown. Now, why am I having these hallucinations and dreams now?" I said exasperatedly and took my phone as the two of us went silent once again.
"Okay. We need to think of all possible problems. Maybe you haven't really moved on from Rian, or maybe you're hiding something that you forgot to tell me. Like, oh, I don't know, maybe that Rian is a witch or something?" Perry exclaimed as she took her phone and kept quiet when the nurse came and told us I could go home in a few hours.
"All I remembered was Rian was obsessed with me. He was too obsessed to the point where he already had our entire future planned out, and he would always say that our vows would be different when we got married. He said it would be 'Not even death will take us apart.' He always said that whenever I tried to avoid the question." I told Perry all of Rian's plans and even his tattoos of my name and the name of our future child.
"Wow, girl. I know you were a bit wild before, but I never knew you were into the freaks" I slapped her leg playfully, and we laughed for a while about how stupid I was. I slept early due to my medicines, and I couldn't escape the darkness of sleep that overcame me once again.
"Why are you doing this to me, Rian? Why are you so obsessed with hunting me like a deranged animal, huh? Was the torture and shame you gave me not enough?! Come out of the darkness Rian and face me, you coward!" I screamed in the darkness, but nothing happened.
However, the voice I heard next was enough to nail me into place. I swallowed hard as the voice of a crying child became louder and louder. "Shhhh. Now the baby is crying, mommy" The voice was raspy near my ear, and I felt myself stiffen even more if it was possible.
The darkness I saw shifted, and then I stood on the side of a crossroad in the middle of nowhere in broad daylight. The heat was intense, and I was all alone. Everywhere I looked, there was no one in sight. "Pst. My love. Look at me" I closed my eyes as I felt lips brush my earlobe, and I felt a warm breath fan my cheek. "Open your eyes, honey, and look at me." I closed it tighter than ever before.
"No, Rian. I won' open it, and I refuse to move. Get away from me so we can talk at a distance." I said as I felt him move away from me, and I opened my eyes. Rian was wearing his red shirt, the one I saw him use the last time I saw him. He was now clean, and he had this sad expression on his tanned face. The blood on his neck was gone, and he was holding a small basket. "What's with the basket, Rian?"
Rian slowly told me to walk with him at the right side of the crossroad, and the image of my dream suddenly shifted again. This time, we were both at an open field, and he took the basket with a white cloth inside it. Similarly, the fabric was moving, and I had the urge to open it. Rian followed my eyes, and he left the basket near me and walked three meters away from me and the basket. I opened the basket, and a fetus the size of a phone was barely wiggling, and I screamed while I crawled away from the basket that toppled over.
"That's the future that you deleted, Shyne." Rian was suddenly behind me as his voice was but a whisper near my ear. "That's the future that you denied the both of us without even a single explanation!" For the first time, Rian called me Shyne. He had no love for me in the sets of words he said.
"Come here, baby" Rian held both my hands behind my back, and I saw the fetus crawl out of the basket. "My love. I know you're a kind and loving person. Our child has been longing for his mother" I screamed as loud as I could as the fetus slowly crawled towards me. Rian tied my hands with a handkerchief behind my back, and he used his legs to open my thighs a bit. My nightgown was now up my thighs, and I couldn't move.
"Honey. Our baby needs you. I told you, I want to make a family with you and remake the future that you selfishly deleted" The fetus was now holding my leg. I screamed as he slowly crawled from my calf up to my bent knees. The little thing got closer and closer until I opened my eyes, yelling, and Perry came rushing into my room.
I cried to Perry and hugged her hard, and as I was crying, something small under my bed grabbed hold of my ankle. Perry and I screamed our lungs out at the little creature still attached to the ankle I lifted.
I kicked my leg hard, and I saw the rat flying across the room and ran outside of my open door. Perry screamed harder, and I was left in shock. My heart was beating like crazy, and I felt like the world was spinning as I lay back slowly on my bed. "What the heck happened to you, Shyne?" Perry asked worriedly but softly. "I think the entire flat could hear you. They might think I'm trying to commit murder here. Did you dream of him again?" She was rubbing my arm to soothe me while I continued to stare at the ceiling. "Perry, I cannot believe that this is happening to me. I made a mistake in the past, but I never expected to be tortured this much". My tears were now falling, and my throat felt like it was burning as I tried my best to tell Perry every det
In the morning, I woke up tired and felt terrible due to stress and lack of sleep. I was inside the publication office with my juniors while recalling the day I confronted her mother about her possible pregnancy.Flashback…I came back home late and saw my mother, Lyna De Leon, in the living room. My mother looked like she wanted to explode, but she bit her tongue since my siblings were there. I could feel the dread that she perfectly hid. I felt the same as I looked at her composed face. The seemingly collected woman understood complicated cases, yet she failed to understand her daughter.“Why are you late? Where were you? I can't contact you for hours, and the security guard back in your school said you left after lunch” There was venom laced in her word
“Wow, sis, talk about obsession. We’re going to need a full-on food date today just to piece all of the puzzles together.” We rode in my car and went to the mall to talk and shop at the same time.“I can’t believe that out of all the guys that you’ve dated, you landed a voodoo addict for a stalker. I mean, I knew you were wild, but I would have never imagined you were wild enough to bag the spawn of Satan’s heart”. Perry tried to lighten up the mood, and I couldn’t help but smile at the support system that I had.“So what did you tell mom and dad for them to let their youngest child come all the way here without a bodyguard?” I’ve noticed; these past few months that the secret bodyguards my parents appointed to tail me, became lesser in numbers, and I assumed Izz
"Please tell me I'm dreaming right now, and this is not real. Please tell me Rian didn't commit suicide," I felt like I could faint, and all I could hear was my ragged breathing and loud heartbeat. "This is all my fault, and I know he wouldn't have killed himself if I didn't leave him." "Shyne, calm down and breathe," Perry held my arm, and Izzy took away my phone. "Don't faint on us, Shyne. You need to calm yourself down and remember that his decision to kill himself was his own choice. Do you hear me, Shyne?" I heard Perry's words, but my vision was getting blurry, and I did my best to avoid passing out completely. Tears kept falling from my eyes as realization dawned on me. "Perry, he killed himself because of me. He killed himself because of me, and he even dared t
The knock on the door repeated again, and this time, it was a bit louder. Izzy was the only one brave enough to open it, and since I've been seeing the shadow all day, I had to hold on to Perry as the three of us went to the door. As soon as Izzy opened the door, no one was there. I screamed as Katherine's smiling face popped up from the left side of the door. "Wow, you guys need to tone down your caffeine intake, you're too jumpy today. You guys need to get a life and get out of this room. You will all turn into one of those hermits if you won’t leave this place." Katherine proceeded to go inside of the house while the three of us calmed ourselves down. She kept laughing, and only stopped a few seconds after we were seated on the sofa. &n
I jumped out of bed, and Perry's head popped up under the covers as my ear-piercing scream echoed in the night. She instantly covered my mouth to stop any scream that threatened to come out."What the heck do you think you're doing under the covers, Perry?! MY GOD! You are going to be the death of me even before this stupid curse could get me!"I felt like I did the ice bucket challenge, and every part of my body was shaking like crazy. It felt like the ice in my veins formed earlier out of fear suddenly melted and turned into lava."You are such a noisy roommate, Shyne. Did you forget that you passed out last night because of the sleeping pills, and you nearly begged me to sleep beside you so you won't be afraid? I only agreed because it saved me time and energy
"Shyne, what is the matter with you? We've called your name three times already. Are you alright?"I snapped out of my hallucination when Perry touched my arm a bit harder than expected. I felt like I was losing my mind, and I began to look straight at Brixton and Rex."I'm sorry, I was in deep thought, and I thought I saw an insect near my leg, so I just froze, but it was nothing."Perry saw right through me and gave me a look that told me we would discuss the scenario later when we got home. I always tried my best to change the subject and focus on the task at hand, which is separating Rex and Brixton."Why are the both of you so tense, Brixton? Seriously, you look like you don't even wanna try the white chocolate
"How does it feel to know the full extent of my love for you?" A man's voice whispered near my ear, but no matter how much I struggled, I couldn't move or open my eyes. "How does it feel to know that my promises were all true and that you could never escape me nor my love for you, Shyne?" My eyes snapped open to search for Rian, but it was pitch black. The chest that I bumped into was nowhere in sight, and I couldn't feel it either. "Are you looking for me, my love? I'm not in front of you, I'm not beside you, nor am I behind you. Look up and look at me, Shyne" I saw Rian hanging with his tongue sticking out long enough to be terrifying like a demon's tongue. His eyes were closed, and his neck was bloody as if the rope was eating his flesh.