Chapter 8
The ManipulationELSAI opened my eyes, my head was banging; I was sitting on leather, or something like it.When my vision became clear, I gasped. I was in the back seat of a car which was in front of the police station. I remembered fighting with the stalker when he told me he was going to drop me here. I remembered him putting a white cloth on my nose, and that was it…“He drugged me! That fucker!”“Miss, you’re awake.” A male voice spoke up from the front seat, and I looked up at him. He was looking at me with both fear and surprise.My eyes searched all over his face; he didn’t look familiar in any way. But with his suit and black glasses, I guessed he worked for the stalker. “Who are you?”“I was asked to drop you here. Please kindly exit the car.”“You were asked? Are you crazy?” Anger flushed in my eyes. “Could you not see I was drugged against my will? You couldn’t even try to help by calling 911 or something.”He took in a deep breath. “Look, Miss. I have a child in kindergarten, and I honestly don’t want her to grow up without a father. Please, make this easy for both of us and get down.”I didn’t want to understand what he was saying, but I did. Every piece of it. The psychopath wasn’t only a stalker; he was a murderer too.I stepped out of the car and walked towards the police station. My thighs were sticky, and my legs ached. My hair looked messed up, but I didn’t care. All I wanted to do was get that psycho to jail.***“Did he tell you his name?” The middle-aged policeman in front of me asked. There were two of them.“No, he didn’t… B… but I can draw him.” My hands were shivering under the table. What if I couldn’t draw anymore? What if he runs far away before they can catch him?Or worse, what if he hurts Nathan because I reported him?“Miss? Are you okay?” My eyes went back to the man who was holding out a pen and paper for me; he looked genuinely concerned.No, I’ve just been sexually abused, and I have no idea if coming here has made things worse or not. “Yes, I’m fine.”I took the paper and pen from his hand and began sketching, trying to remember how exactly he looked.𝒀𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎, 𝑬𝒍𝒔𝒂. 𝑵𝒐𝒘 𝒔𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎!No, not that. I want to remember his face, how he looked so they can get him.Furrowed brows with a scar at the end of the right one with a piercing there too, stubble beards, maybe in his late twenties or early thirties.“This is a rough sketch of him.” I looked at the sketch I drew again; it looked like him… to some extent.They took the paper from me, and their expressions changed when they looked at the sketch. The two men looked at each other, both sharing a fearful and knowing look before the other one had spoken earlier dropped it back on the table, entwined his fingers together, and cleared his throat before facing me again.“Look, Miss…” He sighed. “We don’t think we can help you, not with this case. We are not permitted to. But we would advise you on one thing, if this man is after you, you shouldn’t be anywhere close to this town. You have to leave, run, and go far away.”I stared at both of them like they were insane, they were. “Excuse me?”“I’m sorry we can’t help. From what you’ve said, this man has traumatized you a lot, and I’m sorry about that. But you have to leave, now.”“Aren’t you supposed to be THE POLICE? How can you be so scared of an ordinary man?” It was a scream this time, and everyone in the big hall turned to look at us.The men bowed their heads in shame, “Will you leave on your own, or do we have to drag you out, Miss?”“I’m disappointed in all of you.” I threw the tissue they gave me on the table and stomped off. I could feel my entire life crashing down. I missed having a normal life; I missed it all.I picked up my phone and dialed Nathan’s number; I needed to talk to someone about all this, or I was going to explode. It was getting dark; the clouds and all. I sat on the bench outside the police station. Nathan picked up after the third ring.“Hey, El, did you solve the urgent thing that came up?” He sounded like he was still in the school atmosphere, flickering of students filled the environment.“Na… Nathan…” I sniffed, my voice cracking.“Hey…” his voice was calm, and the concern in it grew bigger. “What’s wrong? Where are you?”Tears were rolling uncontrollably now; I covered my face in my thighs. I was still outside, and although the number of people passing had reduced, I had no intention of being on social media. “Outside the Station.”“Don’t go anywhere; I’m coming to pick you up right now.” I nodded and ended the call before cleaning my tears. I missed Gianna.Twenty minutes later, a white car parked in front of me, and Nathan came out, he rushed to where I sat.I stood up and hugged him immediately. When I saw the car at first, my body shivered; what if it was the stalker?“Hey, I’m here…” he stroked my hair slowly. I had no tears left to cry; I was tired, but I knew I needed to talk to someone.“Thank you for coming, Nathan.” I disengaged from the hug and smiled at him; his curly hair had this extra glow to it.“It’s okay. Do you want to… um….” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Go to dinner with me so maybe you can talk about what’s bothering you?”I tried to suppress a smile, “I’d like that.”***My bed was warm and soft; I was finally in my room, safe and happy. Nathan and I went to dinner; it was the happiest I’ve been since my prom night. I was slowly forgetting my ex-boyfriend; heck, I’ve not thought of him for a while now, with everything going on.Nathan had dropped me at my doorstep and left. I freshened up and washed that psychopath’s scent from my body. I couldn’t tell Nathan what happened; it was too dangerous for him to know. What if the stalker kills him?I took in a deep breath; it was night already, and Rose wasn’t there. I guess that’s one of the perks of being a college student; you can do whatever you want, whenever you want it.I twirled the drawing pen gift I got from an anonymous sender. No matter how much I held onto it, it didn’t drain or affect me; it calmed me instead. Rose said she was going to find out; I was still waiting.A knock came on the door, and I jerked up. Rose had her keys, so why would she be knocking? Or maybe Nathan?The knock came again, and I gulped before knotting my nightgown rope and walking towards the door. I opened it slowly; no one was there. My eyes went down to the white box with a red ribbon that formed a perfect bow tie on top of it. It was on the ground.I looked around again; the hallway was empty. I picked up the box and studied it; it was packaged the same way as the brown envelope I got with the pen and drawing tab.I closed the door behind me and pulled the end of the red ribbon on the box, and it fell loose to the ground. I opened the box and screamed out in fear and dropped it to the ground.My heart was beating rapidly, my body vibrating; it was a finger that had a white fancy ring on, the exact one Nathan was wearing. I sighted a white paper that fell from the box; I opened it.S: 𝑰 𝑾𝑨𝑹𝑵𝑬𝑫 𝒀𝑶𝑼 𝑨𝑩𝑶𝑼𝑻 𝑳𝑬𝑻𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑮 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑳𝑰𝑻𝑻𝑳𝑬 𝑭𝑹𝑰𝑬𝑵𝑫 𝑻𝑶𝑼𝑪𝑯 𝒀𝑶𝑼Oh no! No, no, no.I looked at the finger again; Nathan wore that ring today at dinner. This was Nathan’s finger.CHAPTER NINE The ManipulatorELSAI looked at the finger again; Nathan wore that ring today at dinner. This was Nathan’s finger. Everything we ate at dinner appeared back in my throat. I rushed to the toilet immediately and bent to throw up; my stomach was hurting so badly.I took in a deep breath before flushing, then washing my face and hands in the sink. Why was this happening to me? I haven't done anything bad to anyone; I can't even call it karma.Maybe I should move out. My brain mentally reminded me that the stalker first sent me a message when I was in Ohio, prom night. There was no escaping him.I went back to the room; the finger which was covered with blood was still on the ground, making the room stink badly. Tears filled my eyes looking at it. Nathan went through this because of me, because I hugged him.I used a tissue to put the finger back into the box and disposed of it the only way I knew how. I was going to apologize and cut ties with Nathan. It was for his safety,
Chapter 10Death 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
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