SHADOWED OBSESSION

Chapter 5

“What was that you said again?” I asked, picking up the blood-stained towel on the cabinet and wiping off the blood on the knife with it before turning backward to face the half-dying man tied to the chair of nails. Every movement he made caused him pain and made the nails shift in his body.

“I’m sorry, we didn’t know you were in this city; we would have—“ I hit the sharp blade on the handle of his chair where his fingers were separated, a screeching scream came from him as he closed his eyes trying to endure the pain. His pinky finger was on the ground, cut out from his hand and making it four fingers left. He was missing his left ear and one pinky finger, both on the ground.

“You’re not sorry for trying to s*x traffic and sell little kids going to school or young thirteen-year-old girls that still have their whole life ahead of them.” I walked around the chair, trailing the blade on the wall as I passed. “You’re sorry for getting caught by me.”

“Who are you to judge us?” Tears were in his eyes now; his face had turned red. “You kill too; we know you, everyone does, but when we do it, it’s the problem?”

“When they said your gang were fools, I didn’t believe them but now, I do.” A laugh crept up my throat. “You can kill whoever; you can do whatever you want, but kids? Girls who you know very well cannot protect themselves, that’s where I draw the fu*king line.”

“They are what we need in business; you can’t blame us for wanting to eat. What’s the difference from you and i? You torture us like you’re the better person, but in reality, you do worse than what we do.”

“I never said I was a good person; I don’t plan on being either. I’ll own up to my doings any day, any time. Can you?”

“Is that what you tell yourself whenever you stalk that girl? Beth Reed?”

“I’d rather wait till I know she is mature enough for me. Why do you think I waited for eight years? I’d be willing to wait for fifty years more until I’m sure she’s mature. Do you still want to pull strings?” I squatted before him.

“The difference between you and i is I’d never pretend to be what I’m not to please her. I’d rather show her exactly what I am and make her fall in love with all the f****d-up parts of me.”

“If you kill me, my people will come for you… and her.”

“People like you are the reason why Hazel isn’t alive. And till I take my last breath in this world, I won’t stop till all of you are six feets under.” I immediately plunged the knife into his right eye socket. He screamed, he kicked. Blood came oozing out from his face. I didn’t remove the knife; I left it in his eyes and walked away from his chair. He couldn’t remove it either because his hands were tied.

“Let. Them. Come.”

I washed my hand in the sink right beside the door; he was still screaming, but it was obvious the screams couldn’t be heard. He was far away from human ears.

“Come and finish him off, clean this place till it’s sparkling too. The last thing I’d want is to get this fucker's infected blood on my ground.” I ended the call before walking out of the building, leaving him tied up there. This was my torture warehouse, for anyone who deserved it. It was far deep inside the woods, like a small cabin; away from prying eyes.

Every time I dealt with any child or girl trafficker, it reminded me of Hazel, I swore that as long as I breathed, I was going to catch every trafficker and make them pay, in the most dangerous way possible. Ironic maybe; I'm saving children and girls from being s*x**ually trafficked, but that doesn’t make me a good man. I never have been a good man, and I don’t plan on being one now either.

?BETH?

“Ma’am, we are going to need you to be more specific; you are not giving us enough information.” The policeman sitting at the other side of the table sighed in a frustrated manner, still holding his jotter and pen.

“He… his face, it was… he wore a mask, I couldn’t see.” My hands were shaking profusely. I held it together under the table to calm down the intense shivering. “I’m sorry… it was dark, and I… I couldn’t…”

The man in front of me looked at me sympathetically before dropping his pen and jotter. “Look, Miss Reed. I know this must have been a very traumatizing experience for you, but we can’t help if we don’t know how he looks like.”

“I understand.” I nodded, holding back the tears that filled my eyes before standing up.

“We will look into the camera footage of yesterday and also ask the school for information that might be helpful. We will try the best we can.”

“Thank you, I’ll appreciate that.” I forced a smile before walking out of the station. The school said the same thing. I didn’t blame them for not being able to identify him from just his eye color, but it didn’t feel good either, knowing he was out there, probably still watching me, monitoring.

One step outside the police station, and the cold evening breeze caused a shiver on my body the moment it touched my thighs. I placed my hands inside the pocket of my jumper gown that stopped at my mid-thigh for comfort. I wore a white long sleeve with it. My eyes looked around the area; this was a new town. I’ve been here once or twice for holidays with Aunt Tiana, yes. But I’ve never had to come to the police station before.

I was far from campus, and yet I felt him, the masked man. I could feel his eyes on me, every part of my body.

???, ??????. ?'?? ???? ???????? ??? ????? ??? ???? ?????????.

My heart felt like it was chained; the thumping increased, and I rushed to a corner of the busy area and held a tree nearby.

“My inhaler.” I breathed out the words as I searched through my little bag, not minding the other contents that were dropping out. I couldn’t find it; it wasn’t here. I always keep it here; I can’t breathe…

I can’t…

“Hey, it’s alright; it’s right here.” Someone bent down then picked something up from the ground and handed it over to me. Without much thought, I plunged it into my mouth and took in a deep, sharp breath. I felt my entire body calm down; my asthma was getting worse.

I finally looked up to him, the guy who just saved me. “Nathan!”

“Good to see you too, Beth.” His cheeks were lit with a comforting smile, his dimples deeply visible, his eyes searched through my face and body worriedly. “Are you alright?”

“Yes.” I nodded. “No, not really. “ I couldn’t exactly tell him about the stalker; it’d be too dangerous for him. What if the stalker went for him?

He placed a hand on my shoulder, which caused me to shudder a bit, but it wasn’t really visible. “I understand if you don’t want to talk about it, but whatever it is, I know you’d get through it.”

“Thank you, Nathan, for finding my inhaler for the second time.” A little laugh escaped my throat, the only real one I’ve had since today. “We really have to stop meeting like this.”

“I agree.” He nodded, helping me pack the remaining stuff that fell on the ground. “We should probably walk back to campus together?”

“That would be great.”

?

I fumbled with my keys and let out a sigh of relief when I was able to unlock the door to my dorm room. I never want to be in any hallway alone again.

I pushed the door open and locked it behind me once I was inside; the school stated that I was going to be assigned a new roommate soon. I took off my bag and dropped it on the chair, but my entire body froze when I saw what was on the bed.

It was an envelope that had a big red ribbon. I didn’t keep that there, who did?