Hearts And Daggers: His Bleeding Obsession

The sun shone brightly in the clear afternoon sky, and the trees on the campus ground swayed gently as I made my way to the school library. It was a distance away from the main building, but I needed to work on some projects I'd been given. By the time I was done, clouds could be seen clustering on the horizon. I decided to visit my friends who lived on campus before I headed home to prepare for work, but as I walked toward the dormitories, I noticed that the people I walked past were looking at me weirdly. I tried shaking it off as an irrelevant observation, but as I walked even farther, I realized they weren't the only ones. Everyone I walked past kept looking at me and muttering something to one another with stupid looks plastered on their faces. Confusion and panic seized me when practically everyone kept on staring at me, I had become the center of attention all of a sudden. Clutching my books a little tighter, I broke out into a run so I could get to my friend's dormitories faster. My brain worked overdrive, trying to figure out what was going on. A clue as to what it might be crossed my mind, but I discarded the thought from my mind. I dreaded that thought. When I got to the dormitories, I banged on the door, but no one answered. It seemed like they weren't in. I looked around me, and I still saw people looking at me, so I hurried to the female restroom. Once I was inside, I locked the door behind me and tried to catch my breath. A few seconds later, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, and when I brought it out, a notification shone on the screen. It was a notification from the students' w******p group, and when I clicked on it, the possibility I had dreaded was confirmed. Someone had posted a video of me performing at the club on the group. I was dressed in transparent lingerie, stripping, along with a few other women to entertain a group of old men. My knees gave way, and I crashed to the floor as I read the harsh comments people wrote about me. I couldn't stop the tears that meandered down my cheeks. The phone fell off my hand, and I began sobbing loudly. Only my friends knew about my job at the club and the reason why I work there. A few months back, my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer, and my cousin, Bella, was involved in a fire accident at our apartment a few days later. Both of them needed urgent treatment, but we didn't have enough money to foot the bills and see me through college. This was because my aunt was among thousands of people who suffered from job cuts that took place nationally a few months prior to the diagnosis. Worse yet, she didn't have health insurance to her name. I watched as she exhausted every single penny she had on her till she had no more and then, I began looking for jobs to support. I tried working a lot of jobs, but they were all so hectic and earned me little. It was then a friend of mine who introduced me to the owner of the club, a woman, who took interest in me. She got me to enroll in several lessons organized by her where I was taught how to be an exotic dancer, otherwise known as a stripper. I was even taught the art of pole dancing, which was the most difficult to learn. Our boss, whom we all referred to as Madame Belle, took care of all the expenses my family had incurred with the condition I pay her back by serving as a dancer in her club for a certain period of time. None of the people making those comments knew I had to go through this for the sake of my family, but they were all very quick to judge. That thought was enough to make me stop crying and steel my emotions; anger began to course through me. I don't know who posted the video or why they did such a thing, but I made up my mind to ignore the whole saga. In a little while, some other news would take their attention away from me, so all I had to do was live through it. The only thing I was worried about was what the school authority would say if this gets to them. Distraught, angry, but determined, I wiped my tears and stood to go; I still needed to get to the club this evening. If I miss a day outside of the time I'm given leave, Madame Belle increases the period I have to stay by a week. Harsh right?! Ever since I began working at the club, I carried a scarf and shades everywhere to hide my identity on my way to work. Seems like I don't need to do that anymore. Upon making my way out of the restroom, the stares continued, but I ignored them all and hurried to get off campus grounds. I had walked a good distance away from the school premises, and just as I was about to cross over to the other side of the road from the pedestrian pavement, a car came to a stop right in front of me, almost hitting me in the process. The door to the car opened, and my blood got riled up when I saw who it was. Dylan Parks. He's a player in school who asked me out publicly in my second year in college, which was almost five years ago. He's every lady's on campus's dream man, but I made a decision not to delve into any relationship again after my first heartbreak, so I turned him down, and he promised to make me pay for embarrassing him. Two of his boys stepped out of the car, walked over to where I was, and blocked my path. "Isn't this the virgin Mary turned stripper? You saw that little video I posted of you, right?" he said with a disgusting grin on his face. I almost face-palmed myself for not thinking it was him any sooner. I'm sure if looks could kill, he'd be dead by now cause I could feel my hatred for him ooze out of my being, but that only seemed to amuse the i***t. People were passing by, and some were starting to stare at us, making me uncomfortable, but he didn't care. That annoyed me the more. I turned to go before I could do anything silly, but he grabbed my wrist and forced me to look at him again. He leaned into me until our faces were uncomfortably close. "How's it when you ride those old men, hmmm? You have a taste for old men and ca.." He said but couldn't finish his statement; I landed a slap across his face. I slapped the hottest guy in Pathway College. When the reality of what I had just done dawned on me, I broke out of his grip and ran for my dear life, barely escaping the grasp of his boys. I could hear them shouting and running after me, but I didn't stop, even when I dropped my books in the process. The path I was running through was familiar to me; I knew every corner and alley. Thanks to a friend of mine who lived around. After crisscrossing several paths to confuse them, I came to hide behind a huge dumpster in one of the lonely alleys. I stayed there for a while, trying to catch my breath. A while passed, and the sun had almost disappeared from sight. I then began to notice shadows lurking around where I was. It took every bit of self-resolve in me not to hyperventilate. I grew up with a phobia for the dark; staying alone in the dark threw me into paranoia. My zeal to escape from Dylan's boys lead me to this, and losing my books as well. Gosh, I feel like killing them right now. I don't even know why I ran. I can defend myself, but I guess I just wasn't thinking straight after I slapped Dylan. I still needed to head to work, so I stood from where I crouched behind the dumpster so I could try to find my way out of the sparsely illuminated alley. However, just as I stood, I saw the dark outline of two men moving into the alley. Their shadows bounced off the walls, and they seemed to be struggling. Groans and several other sounds followed, and I hid behind the dumpster again, though I still stuck my head out to see what was going on. I know that's not exactly the wise thing to do, but who cares! The men were both well-built men, so I had no idea who the attacker in the fight was. As they were struggling, a huge wave of light flashed into the alley, and I made eye contact with one of the men. My heart skipped a beat, wondering if he saw me, so I decided to stop watching the fight and stay put till when they were gone. I closed my eyes during the wait to calm myself. A few minutes passed, and I couldn't hear the punches and groans that echoed through the alley a while ago, making me think they had finished fighting. Immediately, I raised my head to certify if they were indeed gone; I met the face of one of the men who was fighting. He had a flashlight in his hands, and the light pierced into my eyes, dimming my sight for a while. When I finally regained my sight, I noticed his clothes were torn and his nose was bleeding, but all that didn't capture my attention; his face did. Particularly his eyes. Those steel blue orbs reminded me of a certain man who made me flee Russia twelve years ago. The look on his face as I stared at him emulated surprise, but the next second, it was gone. He shifted my hair from my neck and tilted my head up a bit. I didn't struggle when he touched me for fear he might attack me. Tensed, I watched as the coldness in his eyes was replaced by a sinister gleam. "I can't believe I found you. It took me twelve years, but I finally found you, principessa", he breathed, a smirk snaking its way up his lips. Before I could process anything else, his hand captured my wrist like steel cuffs, and what he said confirmed my fears, it really was him.