CHAPTER 4 : THE BODY THEY NEVER BURIED
1700 Words
CHAPTER 4 — THE BODY THEY NEVER BURIED
I couldn’t sleep after Victor left.
Every time I closed my eyes, I heard his voice again.
He’s the reason they found your body.
Not you.
Your body.
Like I was already dead.
Like somewhere out there, another version of me had been buried while I woke up in a hospital bed pretending to still belong in this world.
The rain outside had stopped hours ago, but the city remained dark beyond the window. Silent. Empty.
Damian sat near the door without saying much.
Watching.
Always watching.
At some point, I realized he hadn’t checked his phone once. Hadn’t rested. Hadn’t even blinked much.
Like he expected danger every second.
And somehow… that scared me almost as much as Victor did.
“You should sleep,” he said quietly without looking at me.
“I don’t think I can.”
Silence.
Then finally—
“What did Victor mean?”
His shoulders stiffened slightly.
I noticed everything now. Every tiny reaction. Every hesitation.
“He talks too much.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No,” he agreed softly. “It isn’t.”
I sat up slowly despite the pain in my ribs.
“I’m tired of this.”
His eyes lifted toward me.
“Tired of what?”
“Everyone speaking like I’m some secret.”
The words came out sharper than I intended.
“I wake up with no memory, then suddenly I find out I supposedly died two years ago, someone erased my memories, people are afraid of you, and apparently somebody tried to kill me.”
My voice cracked slightly near the end.
“Do you even realize how insane this sounds?”
Damian looked at me for a long moment.
Then quietly—
“Yes.”
The calmness in his voice made me angrier.
“You act like none of this affects you.”
That made something flicker in his expression.
Pain.
Real pain.
“You think this doesn’t affect me?”
For the first time, his composure cracked slightly.
He stood up and walked toward the window again.
Always the window.
Like part of him constantly wanted to escape.
“I spent two years believing you were dead.”
The room fell silent.
“I buried an empty coffin,” he continued quietly. “I identified a burned body that barely looked human because they told me it was you.”
A cold feeling spread through my chest.
“And then three nights ago,” he said, voice rougher now, “I got a phone call telling me you were alive.”
I stared at him.
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I was.”
He turned toward me slowly.
“You disappeared after the fire, Elena.”
The name hit me differently now.
Not unfamiliar anymore.
Dangerously close.
“You vanished for two years.”
A strange pressure built behind my eyes again.
Another memory flickered—
A train station.
People rushing around me.
My hands covered in blood.
A voice whispering:
If they find you, you die.
I sucked in a sharp breath.
Damian noticed immediately.
“What did you see?”
I hesitated.
But something told me hiding memories from him was pointless.
“A train station,” I whispered. “And blood.”
His face darkened instantly.
“Anything else?”
“Someone told me not to let them find me.”
Silence.
Then Damian cursed softly under his breath.
“What?”
His jaw tightened.
“You were running.”
“From who?”
He looked straight at me.
“Everyone.”
A knock interrupted us suddenly.
Three sharp knocks.
Damian instantly moved toward the door with terrifying speed.
Protective again.
He opened it only halfway.
A man in a black suit stood outside.
Older. Serious expression. Earpiece in one ear.
The moment he saw me awake, relief crossed his face briefly.
“She’s awake.”
“I can see that,” Damian replied coldly.
The man lowered his voice.
“We found another one.”
The atmosphere changed instantly.
Damian’s expression became unreadable.
“What happened?”
“He was dead before we arrived.”
My stomach tightened.
Dead?
Damian glanced back at me briefly before stepping outside into the hallway.
But not before saying—
“Stay here.”
The door closed behind him.
And for a few seconds, silence returned.
Then curiosity won.
I slipped carefully out of bed.
Pain shot through my body immediately, but I ignored it and moved slowly toward the door.
Voices echoed faintly from the hallway.
“…same symbol,” the man was saying.
My heartbeat slowed strangely.
Symbol?
“We checked the security cameras,” the man continued. “Victor was there before it happened.”
“And the body?” Damian asked coldly.
A pause.
Then—
“The chest was carved again.”
Every nerve in my body went cold.
Carved.
Before I could think, another flash exploded inside my head.
A room painted red with emergency lights.
Someone lying dead on the floor.
A symbol carved into their chest.
And me screaming—
“No, no, no—”
The memory vanished instantly.
I grabbed the wall to steady myself.
Suddenly the hospital hallway lights felt too bright.
Too loud.
I stumbled backward—
And hit something.
I turned sharply.
A nurse.
But not one I recognized.
Young. Blonde hair tied back. Expression nervous.
“You shouldn’t be walking,” she whispered quickly.
I frowned.
Something felt wrong immediately.
Then I noticed it.
She wasn’t wearing a hospital ID badge.
My pulse spiked.
The nurse leaned closer suddenly.
And whispered—
“You need to leave before he realizes you remember.”
I froze.
“What?”
But footsteps echoed down the hallway instantly.
The fake nurse stepped back fast and walked away before I could stop her.
A second later, Damian returned.
His eyes immediately landed on me standing outside the room.
“You shouldn’t be up.”
I barely heard him.
My mind was still stuck on the woman’s warning.
Before he realizes you remember.
I slowly looked at Damian.
A terrifying thought entered my mind for the first time.
What if Damian wasn’t protecting me?
What if he was watching me?
“You’re shaking,” he said quietly.
“I’m cold.”
That was partly true.
But mostly, I was scared.
Not just of Victor anymore.
Of everything.
Damian helped me back into bed carefully.
His hands remained gentle despite the tension in his face.
“How long have you known Victor?” I asked suddenly.
Too fast.
Too direct.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
“A long time.”
“Were you friends?”
A humorless smile appeared briefly on his face.
“Something like that.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means people change.”
I studied him carefully.
“And what did you become?”
His expression darkened slightly.
“The kind of man your parents warned you about.”
The strange thing was—
That answer should’ve terrified me.
Instead, it made me sad.
Because for one second, Damian looked genuinely exhausted.
Like he hated himself more than anyone else ever could.
I looked away first.
“What’s the symbol?”
Silence.
Then slowly—
“What symbol?”
“The one carved into the bodies.”
The second those words left my mouth, the air in the room changed completely.
Damian went still.
Too still.
“How do you know about that?”
Damn.
I shouldn’t have said it.
“I heard you talking.”
His eyes searched my face carefully now.
Like he was trying to figure out how much I remembered.
“Who else talked to you while I was gone?”
The question sounded casual.
But underneath it—
Danger.
I swallowed carefully.
“No one.”
A lie.
And somehow I knew he caught it immediately.
But instead of pushing further, he sat beside the bed again.
“The symbol belonged to a group,” he said quietly.
“What kind of group?”
“The kind that destroys people.”
A headache began building again.
Pieces.
Always pieces.
Dark rooms.
Rich people.
Masks.
Fear.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
Then suddenly—
Another memory hit harder than the others.
A woman crying.
My voice whispering:
We need evidence.
Victor answering coldly:
Then Damian dies first.
I gasped loudly.
“Elena?”
I opened my eyes again instantly.
My breathing became uneven.
Damian moved closer immediately.
“What happened?”
I stared at him in horror.
“They wanted to kill you.”
His expression froze.
“What?”
“I heard Victor,” I whispered shakily. “He said you had to die first.”
For the first time since meeting him—
Damian actually looked shocked.
Real shock.
Then something darker replaced it.
Understanding.
“No,” he muttered quietly.
“What?”
His eyes locked onto mine.
“You weren’t supposed to remember that.”
Fear crawled slowly down my spine again.
“Why?”
But before he could answer—
The lights in the room suddenly went out.
Darkness swallowed everything instantly.
Somewhere down the hallway, people started shouting.
Then came the sound that made my blood freeze completely.
A gunshot.
Damian reacted immediately.
He grabbed my wrist hard.
“Get down.”
Another gunshot echoed closer this time.
Screams followed.
Hospital alarms exploded loudly through the darkness.
Red emergency lights flickered on and off.
My breathing turned shallow.
“What’s happening?”
Damian pulled something from inside his coat.
A g*n.
My stomach dropped.
“You carry a g*n?”
“Yes.”
The calmness of his answer terrified me.
More footsteps thundered down the hallway outside.
Fast.
Running.
Coming closer.
Damian moved in front of me protectively.
Then the door handle slowly started turning.
My heartbeat stopped.
Someone was outside.
Trying to come in.
The handle twisted again.
Once.
Twice.
Then suddenly—
A familiar voice spoke from the other side of the door.
Soft.
Cold.
Smiling.
“Open the door, Elena.”
Victor.
“I know you remember me now.”
chapter 5 coming soon.......
- Writer
