Loving My Future Murderer

Someone Is Watching

Aira's breath got stuck right in her throat. She yanked her hand back from that silver padlock lightning fast. The loud crashing noise from behind the black door was still echoing faintly in her ears. The heavy sound of something dropping hard and slamming straight onto the wooden floor out of nowhere.

She took one step back real slow. Her bare feet scraped against the freezing cold wood floor. Holding her breath, she stared down at the tiny gap right under that black door.

A thin sliver of light suddenly popped up right under the door frame. A soft, dim yellow light clicked on, cutting straight through the dark hallway and shining right in front of her feet.

Someone just flipped a light switch inside that locked room.

Aira's heart pounded even faster now. Her whole body shook like crazy. She stood completely frozen right in the middle of the silent night hallway, staring at that yellow glow stretching out on the floor. There was actual life inside a room that was padlocked shut from the outside.

She forced herself to step forward again. Her burning curiosity beat out the terrifying fear taking over her brain. She leaned down a tiny bit, planning to peek through the gap under the door or just listen to whatever was moving behind that thick wood.

Right when she was about to move just two centimeters closer, the sound of footsteps tapped right behind her.

creak

The sound of floorboards rubbing together under someone's weight came straight from the hallway behind her. It was super quiet, but it felt terrifyingly close.

Aira froze completely. Every single tiny hair on the back of her neck stood right up. An icy chill crept fast up her spine straight to her head.

"Aira?"

That voice broke the night silence super calm. But the tone felt so insanely heavy with a hidden threat.

She turned her body around real slow.

Elian stood straight up in the middle of the hallway, just a few feet behind her. He wore a plain black t-shirt and casual long pants. Both of his hands were stuffed deep into his pockets. In the dim hallway dark, his face didn't show a single emotion. Total blank face, cold, and completely unreadable.

Aira squeezed the edges of her dress tight. She tried so hard to fix her face so she wouldn't look totally panicked.

"Elian," Aira called out, her voice shaking just a bit. "You... are you awake?"

Elian didn't answer right away. His dark eyes scanned her from top to bottom, down to her bare feet on the cold floor. His eyes then shifted real slow, staring at the gap under the black door that was still spilling yellow light, before moving up to the silver padlock on the handle.

"Why aren't you sleeping?" Elian asked quiet. He took one step forward. "Didn't you take your meds earlier?"

He clearly thought she was passed out cold from the sleeping pills he handed her an hour ago.

"I... I woke up," Aira answered, trying to make up an excuse. She grabbed her own throat. "My throat feels so dry. I wanted to head downstairs to grab a drink."

"Then why are you standing in front of this door?" Elian pushed again. His voice still sounded super calm, but his eyes stared at her without even blinking once. "The kitchen is downstairs, Aira. You're walking down the complete wrong hallway."

Aira swallowed the bitter spit stuck in her throat. "I forgot the way. This house is huge and I'm totally not used to it yet. When I was walking down the hall, I saw a light under this door."

She pointed at the gap under the black door with her shaking finger. "The light inside just clicked on out of nowhere. And right before that, there was a super loud crash like something dropped inside. That's why I stopped here."

Elian stopped walking right next to her. He turned to stare at that black door for a long moment. His face caught the dim moonlight and looked insanely hard. The muscles in his jaw clenched tight.

"A crashing sound?" Elian repeated flat.

"Yeah!" Aira said firm. "There's definitely something in there, Elian! Someone's locked inside!"

Elian let out a short laugh. A quick chuckle without a single drop of actual humor that sounded so freaking weird in the middle of the quiet night. He shook his head real slow, then turned back around to look at her.

"You're just mishearing things," Elian said.

"I am NOT mishearing things!" Aira cut him off real fast. "It was super loud! And the light suddenly clicked on from inside! You can see the light under the door yourself!"

"It's just an automatic light system!" Elian cut her sentence off fast. His tone went up a notch, not quite as soft as usual anymore. "The motion sensor inside probably triggered because something on a shelf was standing crooked, tipped over, and fell on its own. That stuff happens all the time."

"But the padlock..."

"Aira," Elian called out, interrupting his wife instantly.

He reached out his right hand. His cold fingers grabbed her chin real gentle, forcing her to look straight into his dark eyes. His grip on her chin didn't hurt, but it felt so locking.

"I told you earlier," Elian said with a super quiet tone, putting heavy pressure on every single word. "This is just my personal office. The spot where I keep all confidential documents and important company stuff."

"If it's really just documents, why lock it up with a padlock like this?!" Aira pushed, daring to challenge his stare. "Why do you look so stressed out every single time I'm near this door?!"

A fake, tight smile crept up the corner of Elian's lips. He let go of her chin, then switched to rubbing her cheek with the back of his fingers. That touch felt so wrong and freezing cold, making her stomach twist up with nausea all over again.

"I'm not stressed," Elian answered calm. "I'm just worried about you. You just got out of the hospital. Your brain hasn't fully healed from that nasty car crash. The doctor warned us, crazy anxiety and weird imaginations will just make your condition way worse."

"I am NOT imagining things, Elian!" Aira snapped back.

"You need rest," Elian replied, totally ignoring her pushback. He took hold of both her shoulders, turning her body around so she was walking back toward the master bedroom. "Let's go back to bed. I'll grab that water you wanted."

Aira had to walk along, pushed by his hands on her shoulders. But after just a few steps down the dark hallway, she noticed Elian wasn't walking beside her anymore.

His footsteps stopped dead behind her.

Aira stopped walking. She looked back real slow over her shoulder.

Elian was still standing frozen right in the middle of the hallway. He had his back turned to her, standing insanely close to that pitch black door locked up tight with the heavy steel padlock.

The yellow light from under the door shined right on Elian's rigid feet. He tilted his head up slow, staring at the black wood surface and the silver padlock hanging there with a super dark look on his face.

The vibe in the second floor hallway got way colder and creepy. The wall clock downstairs chimed once again, echoing through the house to mark the night getting deeper.

Elian didn't turn around at all. But he tilted his head slightly toward her, then spoke up in a voice that was pure ice and cut right through the air.

"You shouldn't ever open that door."