4. Till death do us part, bad girl.

DYMOND 

The cold of the early morning air seeps into my skin through my meager clothes, and I rub my arms, shivering slightly.

I am headed to the subway, where I can get a train out of the city. I am walking so fast that I get to the stairs leading underground in mere minutes.

The streets are deserted, so I am really startled when a sudden sound comes from behind me.

Whirling around, I look for the source of the sound, but I can not spot anything out of place. The streets are empty, and a couple of recycle bins lined near an alley are the only things behind me.

Still, I know unexplained sounds are a bad sign, so I turn around and run down the stairs.

I am heading further into the subway to get my tickets when I hear another sound, this time, it sounds like footsteps.

I did not bother to look back, I just increased my pace to a jog and soon I was at a counter, getting my train tickets. The woman giving out the tickets is some middle aged woman with a nice smile.

I am fidgeting when she suddenly glances behind me and asks,

"Did you come with someone?"

"What? Why?" I frown.

She hesitates, looking back at her desk, "Well, there's a man standing near that sign, and he has been looking this way for a while now, so I thought—"

"What?" I whisper in terror, looking back to the spot she described. "There's no one there."

I look back at her for some explanation, and she takes another look herself. She raises her eyebrows and gives me a small confused chuckle. "Oh, I'm sorry… I must have been… mistaken…"

She does not look quite convinced herself, and neither am I. There is every possibility that I might be in danger right now. I have never wanted to get on a train so fast.

She hands me my train ticket and I all but snatch them from her hand, turning around to continue on my way.

This subway is different in design from the ones I have previously been in, so I have to cut through some corners before reaching the tracks. There seems to be no other person heading for the tracks as well, and it unnerves me. On the other hand, it has a good side. It means there will be no crowd for anyone to hide in and follow me.

I am so preoccupied by my thoughts that I do not hear the harsh breathing behind me until it's too late.

A rough palm slaps against my mouth from behind, slamming me back into a male chest. I immediately try to scream, but the sound never leaves my mouth.

Undiluted fear melts my heart into nothing but butter, as my assailant begins to chuckle, dragging me away from the open and into some far corner where most of the lights are broken.

That chuckle is so familiar, that even if I have any doubts on who is attacking me, those doubts are gone now.

He pushes me against a wall, and I gasp in pain, crumbling down to the floor.

"You think you are so smart, huh?" He booms, pacing in front of me.

Slowly I raise my head from his scruffy boots to look at his face.

Greg's face has not changed much, apart from the sunken cheeks and the crazed bags under his eyes. His short beard looks unkempt and prickly around his chin, and his hair straggled around his face.

This is the appearance of a man who threw his entire life away, just to follow me around and make mine miserable.

"Get away from me." I whisper pathetically.

"Or what?" He snaps. "You sneak out and try to get on a train, thinking you have fooled me?? But now, you should know that you can never get away from me, Dymond. Now, you're going to come with me."

I shake my head frantically, and suddenly spot a piece of bent metal a few feet away from my hand.

Greg steps forward to crouch in front of me, touching my face with his disgusting fingers.

 "You have no choice but to cooperate with me. I can kill you here, or you'll be a good girl and follow me out of this subway. I must have pushed you against the wall too hard, right? You're nose bleeding. Come on, let's go, my love. I'll get you treated."

"Never!" I scream and grab the piece of metal lying at my side and strike him on the head with it. 

He let out a pained groan and fell on his elbows. I scramble up from the floor and try to run off, but his hand clasps around my ankle, stopping my escape. I lose my balance and fall to the hard floor, screaming.

I repeatedly smash my free foot against his hand so the pain forces him to let go, but to my terror, he only holds on tighter.

"You think you can escape so easily?!" He snarls and pulls me back roughly. 

I slide against the floor, back to him and the rough concrete scratches painfully against the skin of my elbows and knees. Greg flips me around, and I start swinging blindly, screaming so hard, desperately hoping someone would hear me and come to my rescue.

"Shut up!" He yells and slaps me across the face.

He wrangles the metal out of my hand and flings it far away.

Pain is radiating through my face and every part of my body, but I know keeping my mouth shut like he wants would be a terrible idea. I keep shrieking, weakly trying to push him off me.

He slaps his palm over my mouth, and leans so close to my face, laughing maniacally.

"Look at you, Dymond. So stubborn, so pathetic." He spits, then lowers his free hand down to find my pocket.

He rips the fabric open and raises my train ticket and remaining cash, so I can see them.

"I wonder why he would give you money when you tried to steal from him. Did you tell him about me?" He asks. "Did you tell how your crazy ex has been making your life miserable for months, is that why he let you go?"

In a fit of rage, I sink my teeth down into his palm, biting so hard that I am sure I drew blood. He curses and pulls his hand away from me. He is livid with anger.

Scattering the cash all over the floor, he pushes both of his hands around my neck, squeezing tight. I gasp, clawing at his hands as I feel myself unable to breath. The pressure of his weight is crushing my throat, and I am convinced that this is where I die.

"I did not want it to end like this, but you leave me no choice, Dymond!" He croaks, choking me harder.

His eyes are filled with sadness, that even I am almost fooled.

But I know better than anyone, that Greg belongs to a mental asylum. He is completely and utterly insane.

"It hurts me to see you like this, my love!" He smiles, tears running down his face all of a sudden. "But you have to die. You have been a bad girl, so this punishment is long overdue. Remember when I told you that only death can keep us apart? Yes, this is it, baby. This is it."

He begins to laugh.

My vision darkens as I struggle. My nails draw blood from his skin as I try to get his hands away from my neck. My feet kick and drag against the floor as I fight to hang on to life.

But it is not enough.

I am slipping away faster than I can fight. My movements slow down, and my hands fall to the ground. There is a ringing in my ears, permeated by Greg's laughter, and a single tear rolls out of one of my rapidly drooping eyes.

"...this is where the screams came from, I'm telling you, I heard them loud and clear!"

"What? But I can't see anything. Are you sure we shouldn't call the cops?"

"We have to be sure first, I don't want to be arrested for making a false alarm—"

Those voices are unfamiliar, and I suddenly feel Greg freeze.

Footsteps echo closer to where we are, and I realize in my barely conscious mind, that people are coming in our direction. To help. They are coming to save me.

"Wait! I can see something! It's a dude… what's he doing?—"

"Oh my god, he's attacking someone! Hey! What in the world are you doing?!"

The footsteps turn into footfalls as the strangers run closer.

Greg begins to panic.

He glares at me and whispers, "You got lucky, sweetheart. I'll be right back!"

He gets off me and runs in the opposite direction. I gasp in the air, but at this point, breathing feels too painful. 

"Hey, go after him! Don't let him get away!" Someone shouts.

"No, wait. It's a girl. And she's badly hurt!" I feel someone crouch down beside me. "Let the creep go, he could be dangerous for you to go faster alone. We have to get her some help immediately!"

Another person hovers at my side, "Y-yes, I'm calling the paramedics right now!"

Their anxious voices slowly merge into one, and a numbness takes over my body. The little bits of their conversation no longer reach my ears as I slip into unconsciousness.