Taken into the Unknown (Complete)

Chapter 32: Eating Dinosaurs

“Chloe was the first girl I ever loved. I didn’t think I could ever love another woman like I loved Chloe. In fact, when she passed away, I swore to myself that I would never love another woman ever again. I couldn’t put myself through that for a second time.”

Slowly, like the dark rain clouds that roll in before a storm, a formless, gloomy feeling seemed to crawl and settle its weight in over my heart.

“You make it sound like loving someone is some kind of torture or something,” I chuckled humorlessly.

“…It’s not loving her that was so agonizing, it was losing her. I can’t trust myself with another woman again. I don’t think I could recover from suffering that a second time.”
                The dark cloud became heavier and wrapped itself around me like a python until an odd hollowness filled me.

“What made you love her so much? Why was she any different than all the other girls in the world?”

He smiled, “It’s sort of cliché, but it’s because she saw me for who I was and not the 11 dollar signs above my head. It’s hard to find a woman who genuinely loves you for you rather than your money when you’re worth as much as I am. She wasn’t shallow either. She was so down to earth and knowledgeable about diverse subjects.  I felt like I could just relax and be myself when I was around her. I felt so fortunate to have found someone who I could share true love with and trust.”

“How’d you meet her?”

He closed his eyes and sunk back, stretching his legs out in front of him, relaxing himself into the boat. “It was during that time period that Bax had fled and hidden after the company was passed to me. I was at a business conference, a perfectly normal event.  She was a young college girl, sort of like you I suppose. She later told me that she was there to try and make some connections, gain some expertise and insight from successful business owners since she was an aspiring business woman herself. I happened to stumble upon her during one of our breaks, or rather, she stumbled upon me. She turned around abruptly, lost her footing, and spilled her drink all over me,” he chuckled, smiling at the memory which still seemed fresh in his mind.

“It all seemed to fall in place from there. We began to talk about both business matters and eventually our personal lives, and I found it very easy to make conversation with her. It was natural and some of the most fun I’d had in a while, my social life was quite pitiful I have to admit.  I offered her a chance to intern at my office, which she gladly took, and it all escalated from there.

 "And...her—her death, how did that happen."

He frowned. To the core of his glossy grey eyes all you could see was an intense pain, agony, and heartfelt sadness. It was all etched across his face like an open book with blurred writing.

"This might be somewhat of a disappointment to you if you were expecting some big dramatic ending, but, to be honest, I can't actually remember most of what happened myself. It was kind of a blur. I must have somehow been knocked out because I can't remember anything except for waking up, finding a gun in my hand, have a few bloody scratches, and...her body in a puddle of her blood on the floor next to me.  I had no idea what happened or what led up to it.

All I know is that I went to the convention center for some meeting. I don’t even recall Chloe being there or how she got there, but I assumed that I was at fault...and my suspicions were confirmed when I started to get blackmailed. I received an envelope in the mail filled with pictures and videos of...what happened...evidence.

There was no audio so I never found out why it happened; besides the video wasn’t actually very long, but it got the main point across. They threatened me and my company if I didn't comply with what they wanted.”