DARK AND TWISTED

CHAPTER 29

She gripped the steering until her fingers turned white, "do you know Hayden West? The famous singer?" She paused to see my reaction. I nodded. "I watched on the news a few days ago that he went missing after his tour. Last night, when I snuck in, I saw him with someone. That someone, I assumed, the wax sculptor, forced him to pose."

"Then he died?"

She shook her head, "then he refused and he got shocked by electricity. He posed again until that sculptor was satisfied with it. Suddenly, he poured a giant bucket filled with hot wax on top of him."

I fixed my gaze on my fingers, trembling more than usual, "that's so brutal." My heart almost stopped when I imagined the hot wax running down a human's skin like that. I screamed and cried I accidentally splashed some hot water on my hand. Couldn't imagine hot wax.

"Uh-huh. His skin melted. His screams were too loud. They almost burst my eardrums that I had to get out of there. "She heaved a sigh.

She drove us straight to her apartment. As soon as we arrived, she clenched her steering while looking down and sniffled. Her tears dropped and landed on her jeans, making them damp. Nyx is crying? That's the first time. From her sudden change of behavior the other day, I didn't think she could shed tears.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I took off my seatbelt.

She ran her fingers through her hair and stared at me with her bloodshot eyes glistened with tears, "remember those police I called? I was trying to save people but I made it worse." She gritted her teeth. I could see her jaw tightening.

"What are you talking about?"

"They were murdered yesterday. When I strolled around the neighborhood, trying to get some exercise in the evening, I heard agonizing screams so I had to check it out. I peeked through the window of a house. I was two men hung upside down with a large tray underneath them and," she sobbed.

Patting her back, I knew I had to say something, "you don't have to tell me about it."

"I recorded the video, for a prove later on."

"Show me the video," I couldn't believe I said that. Why did I say that?

She raised her head and stared at me, "Come inside, I'll show it to you."

Right after we both went inside; she locked the door first and then grabbed her laptop with the video on it. She hesitated to press the 'play' button, glancing at me with her brows knotted together.

"What's wrong?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"You sure to watch this? You don't look like someone who can watch this without crying for days," she had a point though. Her face showed she was worried about me.

I'm pretty fragile so seeing something brutal can't be a good idea. But I'm curious how they killed the police.

Ignoring her, I pushed the 'play' button. She didn't stop me but she dashed into the kitchen, leaving me alone in the living room with the sound of the video echoed.

The footage was shaky, assuming her hands were trembling at that moment. Just like she told me, two of them hanging upside down with something underneath them. They had their pants on but were shirtless. A man at the corner snatched a knife and skinned one of the first police's cheeks alive.

I lowered the volume because the scream was too traumatic for me. He continued to skin their chests, faces, arms, and stomachs until they stopped screaming. The blood dripped on the tray until it was full and spilled all over the floor.

Nyx went back into the living room once the video ended, "it's all my fault. If I didn't report this, they wouldn't come here to investigate. This would never happen if I wasn't so stupid." She blamed herself. I ran to her, trying my best to wrap my arms around her as she did to me whenever I didn't feel good.

"It's not your fault. You saved people before. You saved me in a lot of situations."

Her breath shook like she had difficulties breathing, she murmured, "I want this to end. I'm pretty sure my friends died and their remains in someone's stomach."

We need to escape. We have to.

"Let's get out of here."

My suggestion made her dumbfounded. Her puzzled expression on her face said it all.

"Hope, I should tell you something. If someone wants to leave, they'll die. I told you I keep track of most things. We can't leave."

Maybe that was the reason Melissa didn't go back to Seattle if she was still alive.

"You know, why don't we do something to take our minds off of these things? Like watch a movie? You told Christian about the movie premier."

She rubbed her arms as she grinned, "I made it up so he wouldn't suspect anything. What movie do you want to watch?" She snatched the remote from the table in front of us.

"Anything but romance. I hate romance genre," lovey-dovey stuff wasn't for me.

"I thought I was the only one who hate them," she chuckled.

I stared at her with my eyes wide open, "I expected you to make fun of me when I said that. Usually, when I say things like this in front of people, they would use me as a subject of ridicule."

She gave me a playful punch on my shoulder, "you can be honest with me. I was taught by my family to never judge people or make fun of them no matter how odd they are. People are different. We can't expect people to like the same thing we're interested in." She switched on the television.

Thank you for accepting me for who I am, Nyx Parker.