DARK LOVE ❤️

Chapter 9 : A night of no return

"I’ll be right back," I told the women, who didn’t seem reassured.

"Hey baby, you’re already back. Welcome," I said, giving him a kiss and taking his bag.

"What were you doing there?" he asked as we walked into the house.

"Hiro came back yesterday with women and children he found in your so-called ‘territory.’ I went to check on them."

"Why? That’s not your problem. Hiro knows how we handle things."

"I don’t want you to hurt them. Please."

"What do you expect us to do? Give them rooms and make them one of us?" he asked ironically.

"Yes, why not? Or just let them go."

"Weren’t they brought here during the day?"

"Yes, they arrived around 4 p.m."

"See? They might recognize the way back and bring the police someday. I won’t take that risk. This is a secret base. Do you understand?"

"Please, Jason, there are children—eight-year-olds. You can’t do this."

"Baby, let’s drop this conversation. Please. I’m exhausted from my trip. I need a good massage from my wife, okay?"

"Alright, but take a bath first."

"Okay, but before that, I got you something," he said, pulling out a small box. "Sorry, I didn’t have time to wrap it."

"Wow, it’s a beautiful necklace. Looks like diamonds."

"Yes, you know your gemstones. Let me put it on you. It looks perfect."

He placed the necklace around my neck.

"Thank you, my love. I really like it."

"You’re welcome. I missed you so much during my trip. All I could think about was coming back to see your beautiful face at dawn. I love you, my sweet."

"You’d make a great poet. You’re good with words."

"Thanks. I’ll be your personal poet."

"Alright!"

We chatted for a while, but I kept insisting that the women and children shouldn't be killed.

"You can take them to the other camp. Drug them first so they won’t remember the way."

"I’m not afraid, you know. I’ve never been scared in my life. But okay, I’ll do as you say."

"Oh, thank you, darling," I said, kissing him. I was happy to have saved their lives, even though I knew life in that other camp wouldn't be easy for them.

He started undressing me, but I stopped him.

"Take a shower first. I don’t know where you’ve been."

"Baby, you know I’d never cheat on you."

"I never mentioned cheating. Are you feeling guilty?"

"Of course not. Come shower with me—it’ll be fun. Then we’ll go hunting. I feel like eating geese."

"Alright!"

We went to shower and made love, as we often enjoyed doing under the water. Then we left for the hunt.

"What are you hunting with?" I asked.

"A gun, baby."

"Modern hunting. I prefer the old-fashioned way."

"Haha, what are you talking about? You hunt? Are you trying to say you know how to use a bow and arrow?"

"Of course. That’s why I learned how to shoot with guns so quickly—I already knew how to aim."

Jason burst out laughing.

"You’re too funny, sweetheart."

I didn’t like being mocked just because I was a girl doing what was often seen as "a man’s job."

I had never believed in gender-specific roles. The only thing unique to women is giving life. In my village, many said I’d never find a husband because I did everything men did, that my father raised me wrong, that I was a failure as a woman. But I could hunt better than most grown men and the boys my age couldn’t compete. So I challenged Jason to an old-fashioned hunt.

"Okay, since you think I can’t do it, let’s have a contest. Leave your gun. We’ll both use bows and arrows. Let’s see who comes back empty-handed."

"Alright, let’s do it," Jason replied confidently.

"Okay! I hope you won’t be ashamed when I win," I teased.

"That won’t happen, so I’m not worried."

"Alright!" I said playfully.

We drove for about 45 minutes to the hunting grounds. Once there, we noticed deer and wild boars in the woods. Since boars are harder to hunt, I started tracking them, and Jason followed.

Soon, we spotted a lone boar in the distance.

"Your turn, baby. Show me what you can do," I said.

"After you, madam," he replied.

"Okay," I said, positioning myself about 100 meters away. I shot an arrow straight into the boar's head.

"Wow!" Jason exclaimed. "You’re serious!"

To impress him further, I shot a hawk that was about to land on a nearby tree, hitting it mid-air. He was even more impressed.

"Your turn, baby," I said with a superior smile.

"To be honest, I don’t know how to use this," he admitted.

I burst out laughing.

"I knew it."

"What do you mean you knew?" he asked, confused.

"You only know how to use firearms. Clearly, you didn’t grow up in the countryside."

"Haha, true. My family hated everything rural. They were so-called civilized."

"Were? Why are you speaking about your family in the past tense?"

"Because they’re no longer part of my life. My family is you, darling."

"May I ask why? Only if it’s not too personal."

"I was 18 when I committed my first crime. I was madly in love with a girl in high school, Clara. She was the most beautiful girl to me, but arrogant and rude. I was shy. One day, I gathered my courage and approached her while she was with her friends, Amy and Sandra. I asked to talk to her privately, but she insisted I speak in front of them. So I confessed my feelings and asked her out. They all laughed at me, calling me names and humiliating me in front of everyone. After that, they continued bullying me at school. Every time they saw me, they mocked me. It was unbearable."

“So… you killed them?” I asked.

“Of course. Like I said, it was my first crime.”

“How did you do it?”

“They were girls who loved going to clubs. One Saturday, I went to a party they were at. I had secretly taken my father’s car. I offered to drive them home since it was getting late. But instead, I drove them to a remote place I had found — an unfinished house. And that’s where I did my dirty work.”

“All three of them? They didn’t fight back?”

“They were scared to death.”

FLASHBACK

"Where are you taking us?" Cléo asked me.

"Somewhere special," I replied. "By the way, do your parents know you're out this late? Wow, you must have really cool parents." I said, trying to figure out if anyone knew they were at the club.

"You i***t. No one knows we're here. We sneaked out," Cléo answered. "I bet you asked your daddy for permission before you even touched his car."

"Yeah, something like that."

"We want to go home, asshole," said Dina, who was the meanest of them all and spent her time insulting me.

"I'm taking you somewhere you'll like, I promise."

"It better be worth it," Elsa added.

They stayed silent until we reached my destination.

"Hey, where’s this great place you’re talking about?" Cléo shouted. "You’re seriously messed up, Abdel."

I pulled out my weapon —

my father’s gun — and I also had a knife.

"You’re going to get out of the car slowly. If anyone screams, I’ll shoot. And hand over your phones."

They were terrified. They saw the change in my face. They handed me their phones, probably thinking I only wanted to rob them.

"Can we at least have our SIM cards?" asked Elsa.

"Shut up. Get inside that house. Now."

They obeyed.

"Haha. This is where everything’s going to happen. I won’t lie to you. I’m going to kill you one by one."

"What did we do?" Elsa asked again.

"Oh, you don’t know what you did to this loser?" I asked sarcastically, walking toward Dina. "You three were my worst nightmare in school. You know, I really liked you," I added, speaking to Cléo, "I wanted to be with you, even though you were arrogant and rude. But no — you had to act all superior and humiliate me. You woke up something inside me that I don’t even understand."

Dina started crying.

"Stop crying," Cléo told her. "He won’t do anything to us," she said, stepping in front of me. "You’re not going to do anything. Now drive us home."

"Haha. Tell me, who knows you’re not home right now? Nobody. Tomorrow morning when your parents don’t see you come out of your rooms, they’ll think you’re just sleeping in. When they realize you never came home, they’ll assume you were out with boys, experimenting a little."

"You loser. You’re not going to do anything," Cléo said, staring straight into my eyes.

I pulled out my knife and stabbed her in the stomach, but only lightly, just to show them I was serious.

...