INSIDE

CHAPTER 13

“Get off me”

A teary but firm voice came from her. She held the knife tightly in her hands. Slowly, he rolled off her, standing to his feet. He looked at her in amusement. She looked like a wet kitten.

“If you were so scared you shouldn’t have come here alone, don’t you think”. He walked off without waiting for an answer. She stood alone in her fright, thinking of running away as she felt suffocated. She heard the scraping sound of a chair mixed with his footsteps walking towards her. She gripped the base of the knife with all her might as she watched him move across the room with no urgency in his steps.

She followed his movements as he turned to settle behind her. She noticed the scratch mark on his neck and felt disgusted. Setting his chair down, he sat directly under the light coming in from the roof. The light illuminated his haggard features. He looked well over 60, but he was only in his late 40s, the scratch marks on his face made him look worse. He had a lot of gray hair, his lips set in a straight line expressing his displeased state. He watched her, though he couldn’t see her clearly. He seemed satisfied.

Damn his eyesight.

He just wanted to watch her, he loved how she tried to look furious. But he loved her panicked eyes the most. He wished to gorge them out and keep them close to him, but that would only lead him to hurting her, and he didn’t want that. He knew what she was here for, she had already said it and he heard her clearly. It infuriated him.

“Stop following me.”

There it was, the voice again. She sounded too shrill; it was a clear sign of fear.

“The police will come after you if I decide to report it”. This piqued his interest.

“Why would they?”. He asked with a surprised look on his face.

“For stalking. And for every other bad sin you have committed till this day”. He didn’t speak. The only sound being heard was her ragged breathing. She just couldn’t keep it under control.

“You should be scared. Don’t you think so”. He said it as an afterthought, and she hoped he wouldn’t bring up what she dreaded the most. She didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t say anything because he was right. She should, in fact, be afraid.

“Speak”. He shouted in anger, jolting her from her myriad of thoughts. His voice echoed through the dilapidated building.

“Why would I be scared? I have done nothing wrong”. She shook her head inwardly at her pathetic attempt at being unaffected.

“You think I do not know what happened that day, don’t you?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about”. Again, she sounded pathetic.

Standing up from his chair, he made his way towards her but never got close to her as she never let go of the knife in her hands. “They won’t understand that all I want is to love you in ways you can’t possibly imagine. That boy will never be able to give you all of that”. She watched in horror as the words flowed freely out of his mouth.

“I am your daughter”. She whispered those words like it was an abomination to her. “And my mother, you hit her every night. You forced yourself on her every night. You bleed her dry every day of her life”. She felt her tears falling, she hated the fact that she had to cry in front of him.

“And you set her on fire”. He screamed like a maniac. She felt the weight of his words as they echoed in her head.

“I didn’t”

“We both know you did.”

“I did that to save her from a monster like you.”

“And I tried to show my love to her and to you. But you both never understood or appreciated the special care I bestowed on both of you. You killed your mother, remember that. Remember that if you go to the police, I will drag you down with me. So far, I have only shown you love. Do not push me Lisa”. His eyes showed just how he meant those words. They looked bloody and filled with rage.

“Stay away from me and Jason”. That boy's name infuriated him to his bones, his vision was filled with rage. Even at this moment she said his name

“Get out”