❝I hurt people;
especially pretty girls like you ❞
In which an innocent but broken girl foxtrots with insanity.
And the music only stops when a demented man says so.
➳
Criminal psychology student...
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Tahlia's lungs were set on flames with every shallow breath she took.
With a fiendish glint in his moonlit eyes, Jace simply reached over to the surface of the wall by his side, pressing down on a switchboard she had missed before, effectively turning on all of the lights in the hall.
Tahlia couldn't help but squint as her eyes adjusted to the bright hot light, a movement which only made her sink down deeper against the granite. A wave of utter dread washed over her skin as the gravity of her situation finally settled in.
This wasn't Jace Montgomery the class clown, her best friend, her only friend; someone who spray painted public property for fun and brought her takeout and movies when she had a bad day.
No, that had all been smoke and mirrors. Jace Montgomery never existed.
As he took one singular, small step in her direction, her mind went into overdrive as she quickly whipped her head around in search for anything she could use as a weapon, a grunt of agitation leaving her throat as she found nothing.
"You should know, things would have been very different, if only you stopped being such a fucking pest."
Tahlia could swear his voice had gotten an octave deeper, no longer the airy tone she'd come to expect from her ever-so cheerful, ditzy friend.
How do you know if what you see is real?
"But then again," He sneered with sheer disgust, "You always were a dumb bitch, weren't you? You know, I bet you thought you could find the Westfield Ripper and change him with the power of love and compassion."
As a beat of palpable silence passed between them, the traces of a crazed grin began forming on his lips, as if suddenly realizing something.
"Would you like to see him?"
Her mouth parted open, heart threatening to pop right out of it as Jace leaned back to his side to knock on the wall thrice. Tahlia didn't quite have the time to process it all as she heard the distinct sound of a door clicking open. She had a clear view of the three doors, right behind Jace; flinching as the second door, the one that had been locked, opened slowly.
Out of the shadows he emerged— A face she'd gotten used to haunting her dreams every night, yet when the time came, didn't fail to catch her off guard, disorienting her effectively.
He looked infernal. Like a creature borne in hellfire, blessed with destruction and cursed with allure. Eyes that shifted between light and dark, lips set in a line that gave no emotion away; Tahlia realized this was her heavenly hell.
It was as Tahlia reeled between feeling stunned, helpless and panick-stricken all at the same time, that a groggy groan filled the space between her and the two men on the other side. On the floor, Wynn O'Neil stirred sideways, slowly opening her eyelids. First her half open eyes slipped on Tahlia, before straining her face to the other side, finding Jace's frightening stature hovering over her sprawled body. As if slowly piecing together everything, a shrill shriek tore out of her throat. Wynn attempted to shift her body away to the other side where Tahlia stood, crying pitifully as she struggled against her restrained limbs.
