Broken Lovers

Chapter 4

I pushed the door open wider and entered. It closed abruptly behind me. The room was gloomy. The blinds were closed and there were no lights. A figure moved towards me. I could barely make it out.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?"

No answer. He slowly walked around me. I would say he was observing me, but there wasn’t enough light to tell for sure. As my eyes grew more accustomed to the semidarkness, I could see the figure was tall and slim, but that was the only thing I could tell. He placed a hand on my shoulder and passed it down my spine before making the return journey.

"I have pepper spray, and I’m not afraid to use it." I hoped I sounded convincing even though I knew I was lying.

Silence.

"Please don’t harm me," I said quietly.

"Say that again," he whispered in my ear, sending chills through my entire body. At that moment, I felt both fear and another weird kind of feeling that I couldn't explain.

"Please don’t harm me," I said, louder and with more conviction than before.  

"What makes you think I would harm you?" a gravel-like voice asked.

"What you did to Benjamin,” I replied. “You are the one who did it, aren't you?"

"You speak as though you care about him."

"Benjamin’s a good person," I said. The man grabbed me roughly and pulled me close to his face. I still couldn't see his features, but what from the way he was holding me, I could sense that he was very angry with what I’d said.

"You have the wrong definition of good. A good person does not sell death," he hissed.

My reply was as much to convince me as it was him. "Those people were aware of what they were buying. They chose to intoxicate themselves, and if Benjamin hadn't supplied them, someone else would have."

I could hear the man’s steady breathing. "I wanted to see you. I wanted to hear what you had to say. It crossed my mind that you might have been a victim of that scumbag, but now I see you’re the same as him." His tone was menacing. I felt him relax his grip on my shoulders, so I took my chance to wriggle free from his hands and turn towards where I remembered the door was. But I was too slow and he grabbed my hair, using it to haul me backwards. My back was on his chest. He was hurting me, but I couldn't react. I was too scared.

"What do you want from me?” I cried out. “Money?"

His short barked laugh was full of derision. "You f**k your boyfriend so good that he gives you any amount of money you want. Am I right, w***e?” I felt the hand that wasn’t pulling my hair grab me between the legs. “I’m going to take your life away, piece by piece, until you feel so bad, you’ll want to end it all.”