I'm on my way to the location he sent me to, even after his warning. I'm still going because I'm not afraid of him, and most importantly, I know how to fight back. But... my hand isn't in the condition to be used much. It's fine, Alessia. He was just kidding; you won't need to fight him again. Lol!! Control, Alessia, control.

I'm finally at the main door of Crystal Terrace. It's such a big building and so aesthetically made. I took a lift to the 25th floor. As it was going up, my heart was beating faster and faster. At some point, I even thought of going back, but then I decided to face him no matter what. I don't care.

I'm finally on the 25th floor, and I can see the door of the paint house. I ring the bell on the door... Someone opens the door. It's him, Eric.

"You're here!" he said while putting his other hand on the wall.

I took a deep breath and finally spoke. "Yeah! I was supposed to come here, so I did."

"Hmm! Right. Come in."

I entered and looked around. It's all empty. There's only one sofa and a table in the lounge. There are several rooms; it looks big and beautiful. Wait! What? Why is no one here? Just me and him? Why?

I heard him closing the door behind me, and there's no other door on the 25th floor. It means I'm alone here, in this paint house, on the 25th floor, in the evening, and with him. With the guy I hate the most, the guy who threatened me yesterday. It's scary!

"You're late."

I got startled by his sudden voice and snapped out of my scary thoughts.

"Huh? What did you say?"

"I said you're late, ALESSIA."

"Ohh! Am I?"

"Yes, you are. The time I gave you was 5, and you're coming at almost 6."

"I thought you wouldn't come at all. Especially after my last text." He comes closer to me while saying it. He looks into my eyes. I tried to avoid eye contact with him. I step away from him.

"I was busy somewhere, and I don't care about your silly, childish things. You think you can scare me with it? Dream on, it won't come true."

"By the way, where are the others?"

He gets closer to me...

"Others? No one's here. Didn't I tell you not to come? Well, you never listen to me anyway."

He gets closer to me even more, and I back up as much as I can, but now I can't because there's a wall behind me. He's literally scaring me.

"Darling? When did I say anything childish or silly to you?"

"I swear I was too serious, sweetheart. You shouldn't have come here today. You don't know what you're getting into."

I stare into his eyes.

"What do you mean? What do you mean by 'no one's here'?"

He's standing in front of me. We're just inches away from each other. My heart feels like it will stop at any moment.

"Umm, I wasn't in the mood to work, so I sent them away and waited for you to come."

"Why didn't you tell me? Why did you let me in? Whose place is this?"

"What was I supposed to do? You were there, and I was desperately waiting for you to come, so how could I not let you in? Didn't you know how I was?"

"I'm going back," I said, trying to move and get away from him...

He blocks my way by putting his hand on the wall beside me.

"What are you doing? stay away!"

"What if I won't?"

"I said stay away! Can't you hear me?" I speak out loudly.

"I'm not going anywhere, nor are you. Understood, darling."

I don't know what I'm supposed to do to him. Should I just kill him? But I can't. I'm too sensitive to even kill an ant...

I felt Sick and down the whole day and didn't even had anything, neither lunch nor breakfast. With the fear of him, I'm feeling weaker and weaker. I should get away from him, or I might faint.

"Eric, please! I'm not in a mood to fight with you. Enough of your childishness. I can't handle it anymore. I'm done with you and your silly moves," I speak in a weak voice.

"I'm not childish at all, darling. Aren't you here because you wanted me? You wanted to be alone with me and have a fun date? That's what I'm doing. Let's just have some fun."

He tries to get closer to me, but not so close as to make me uncomfortable. His hand is few inches away from my shoulder; he's moving his hand closer to my shoulder. I feel like I will start shivering, not from fear but from the coldness of the air conditioner, and yes, I am a little terrified as well.

"Eric!" I call his name, and I feel my voice becoming weaker. It's as if I won't be able to speak anymore. I... I... I'm fainting.

I start falling to the floor, but he holds me in his arms.

"ALESSIA? ALESSIA? WHAT HAPPENED? ARE YOU OKAY? ALESSIA? I'M SORRY, ALESSIA. I WAS JUST JOKING WITH YOU. I HAVE NO INTENTIONS OF HURTING YOU. ALESSIA, WAKE UP."

My eyes are closed, but I clearly hear him speaking loudly.

"Don't touch me, Eric! Please," I say, and I don't know what happened after.

"I won't, ALESSIA. I won't do anything to hurt you."

Those were the last words I heard from him while I was unconscious.

...

I woke up from a deep sleep.

Where am I? This doesn't look like my bedroom.

The room is all gray, black, and silver, without any other colors. I wonder where I am.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaa>>>>>>

I scream after seeing a man lying on the floor beside my bed. Who is he? He seems familiar. Where am I exactly? Think, Alessia, think. Oh no! I was with Eric in his paint house. Is this man... is it him...???

There's a bowl of water on the side table with a piece of towel in it, like it was used to put on someone's head to lower their body temperature. Wait? Wait? Was it used on me?

"You're awake?" Eric speaks while looking at me, half-lying on the floor. His eyes aren't fully open. He looks tired...

What time is it? How long have I been here? I look at the wall clock, and it's already 12 at night. OMG, I've been asleep here for 6 hours.

"I gotta go now. Eric, please don't stop me now. It's too late and..." I was going to tell him that I'm a little scared of being alone with him at this hour, especially, but before I can say it, he interrupted.

"I will not stop you, but I won't let you go alone this late at night. Wait here, I'm coming with you."

"You don't need to, I will go alone. Don't worry, I can go."

"I know you can, but I'm not letting you go alone. At least when you're with me, you can't go alone."

"Just wait for me, let me take my car keys."

....

He opened the door of his car for me, and I hesitated to sit in his car because of what happened on my first day at university.

"I know you don't like to sit with me, and you might not be comfortable sitting beside me in the car, but darling, I don't have any other options."

"It's fine!" I got into his car.

He was driving while he said, "ALESSIA!"

"Hmm."

"I... I... Wanted... I..."

"I what?"

"I'm sorry, Alessia. I didn't know this would happen or you would faint. I was just trying to pull a prank on you. My intentions were never to touch you. I swear I can't even think about harassing you or making you uncomfortable. I know I've said I will take revenge on you, but I can never ever put my men's power on you. I'm not exactly that jerk."

I laughed a little at his honest confession, but from the way he was getting close to me and making sure he was at a safe distance, I stopped being scared of him. It wasn't his fault that I fainted.

"I'm fine, Eric. It wasn't because of you that I fainted. I was not feeling well the whole day; it's nothing to do with you. And I would have hit you if I was in my right condition, so don't worry about me too much. But don't do this again either. Call me only when everyone's coming; otherwise, please don't. I don't feel comfortable working alone with a guy, not because it's you, but it can be any guy."

"Okay, I will remember it. And I'm sorry again," Eric said to me, being considerate. I don't know if it's the same Eric I've met on the first day of my university.

I went back to my apartment and slept because it was already so late, even though I had a good sleep. But I still always need it.

.......

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"

(Loud screams)

I woke up from my sleep while screaming. What was that? Did I have a bad dream? Why did I scream? What was the dream? It was so weird. Everything was too dark. I couldn't see what was going on in my dream; I just screamed. But why? Why did I scream?

I've been having such dreams for a while now, and I can't remember what I exactly saw. The only thing I remember from my dream is one sentence: "Save me please, I don't want to die." But why am I saying such things? What's exactly happening to me?

Alessia, don't think too much, just sleep. But I can't sleep now. It's already midnight, and after this nightmare, I won't be able to sleep. What should I do? Maybe I should check my email. Maybe he wrote something for me. Maybe there's something for me.
...

I opened my laptop, and there was none. No email, nothing. It's weird, why isn't he sending me emails? Am I not worth his efforts?

Why are you thinking negatively, Alessia? He's not like that. He won't leave you alone, especially when you need him the most.

After few minutes, I found myself repeating the same words I heard myself speaking in my dream.

"Save me please, I don't want to die."

"Save me!"

"Save me!"

"Save me, I don't want to die. Please!"

"Please! Please! Please! Save me."
I stopped speaking as soon as I realized what I was saying. I feel scared, frozen, like I'm dying, but why is this happening to me? Why? Why?

Ahhh! My head is aching. What exactly is happening to me? I hide my face in my pillow...

© Soul🥀