For a long time she sat motionless on the floor and stared at one point on the wall as she grunted in tears. Her mind still couldn't digest the previous events that had taken place in a matter of minutes. She had lost track of time and had no idea how long she had been motionless. Felix, who bumped her on the elbow with his ginger head, brought her back to reality. She jerked with that gesture and got up instantly. She was breathing shallowly as she frantically searched for the keys and the phone she dropped to the floor. When she finally found them, she flew out of the apartment without thinking whether it might be her last time to leave her home.
The drive to Thomas's house looked like an endless vortex that sucked everything in front of it, including herself. She couldn't focus on the road. Her hands resting on the steering wheel trembled, and tears that kept coming blurred her eyesight. Scenes of lifeless Thomas's corpse and Sebastian stabbing her in the back were flooding her head. Why would he do something like that after all? She was cut out of her mind by a car whose driver was lying on the siren in order to call her to return to her lane. She jerked the steering wheel abruptly and avoided the crush that was inevitable a few seconds later. She quickly braked in the middle of the road, aware of the fact that she could have just died. She let out a painful scream from her throat, angrily pounding her fists on the steering wheel so that her fingers ached. She had to calm down. She had to calm down immediately. She can't afford that luxury of being a mess right now. Someone's life depended on her.
Fifteen minutes later, she found herself in front of Thomas's door. She used to have butterflies in her stomach from the excitement of seeing him and of being on in his house. And now she felt as if a thousand tiny tingles were slowly pounding along her spine and inside her womb that she thought would make her sick at any moment. She knocked timidly on the door with a trembling hand.
Moments later, she saw a black-haired young man at the door, with a pale, sweaty face and a panicked look. He was scared.
"Sebastian," she said softly over her lips, trying to hide her fear. Sebastian parted his lips and examined her carefully, then quickly grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him, not giving her a chance to react. He slammed the door and leaned her against the cold wood, finding himself so close to her that she could feel his breath on her lips. The air was full of tension, and their eyes were fixed on each other. It was as if their gaze could speak, but Scarlett felt like they were both lost in translation. Her chest rose relentlessly under his, unable to take any step. His left hand was now on her hip, and in his right, something shone like a blade that Scarlet saw out of the corner of her eye. It was a knife.
However, she was sure she heard a gunshot when she talked to Thomas. Then where's the gun?
She recoiled when the cold metal found itself on the bare skin of her neck, trying to cling even more to the door even though it was not physically possible.
"Scarlet", he uttered her name painfully and so poetically, making it sound like poetry that will awaken melancholy in you and break your heart to pieces. His gaze was pleading. ''Be careful. Don't provoke him, he gets angry very easily. I beg you.''
She was too dismayed to utter anything, so Sebastian carefully wrapped his left arm around her chest while the blade still rested on her neck. He walked with her through the hallway with an uncertain and sluggish step, and Scarlett did not know what to expect. She could feel his heart pounding in his chest as if it would explode at any moment.
Just as they were about to walk into the living room, she saw someone's motionless legs on the floor, but even though she wasn't close enough to see the person's face, she knew exactly who it was. It was Thomas - motionless, pale and expressionless, with his eyelids down and a red stain on his stomach that soaked the fabric of the shirt he was wearing and spread it on the floor.
"Thomas," she whimpered and tried to snatch herself from Sebastian's arms so that she would fall at his feet, but Sebastian grabbed her even tighter.
''Don't worry, darling. He's alive," she heard a new, well-known voice that froze the blood in her veins. ''For now.''
Seeing the silhouette in front of her that walked cautiously and lurked like a wild beast from the direction of the living room with a gun in his hand, she instinctively clung to Sebastian, who tightened his grip on her shoulder and caressed her comfortingly with his thumb as his breath, which was intermittent, tickled her naked skin. He was as scared as she was. And since he knew him better than she did, maybe he was even more.
A sinister smile flickered on George Wilson's face as darkness peered out of his eyes, making him look as if a black hole had swallowed him. It was not something that was characteristic and that she had ever seen on him.
''George? I don't understand," was the only thing she managed to say, still overwhelmed with information she couldn't digest.
''Of course you don't understand, Scarlett. That's because I'm so good," he said triumphantly, finding himself a few steps away from the two of them.
"You were behind all this all the time? You're ... a killer?"
He giggled as if she had told a greasy joke. "Isn't it obvious? I have to admit that at one point I thought you were going to see through my charade, but I don't seem to realize how much you actually trust me. "
"How could you do something like that?"
"Very easy, Scarlett," he told her. "You have no idea how easy it is to do things when you know you're able to do them and that you're doing them well."
She shuddered at his sinisterness. It seemed as if malice was radiating from him and making his face take on a different shape - spooky and distorted.
''You are devil.''
''Everyone is someone's devil, Scarlett. Get over it, '' he said a little impatiently, and then signaled Sebastian with a gun to move away from her. He hesitated. ''Come on, Sebastian. I don't have all day. You know what happens when you make me angry. "
His voice was authoritative and sinister. She could feel Sebastian's body stiffen and become more nervous - if it could have been more than he already was. Sebastian took a few steps away from Scarlett and stood beside George. He caressed her with a glassy look and apologized to her at the same time. He had never been so vulnerable, and Scarlett felt significant pain in her chest.
"Good boy," George muttered into his chin as if talking to a dog, then deftly nodded his shoulders and struck him with the tip of his pistol in the neck area, knocking him unconscious. Scarlet put her hand over her mouth to muffle the scream she let out.
"What did you do?!" she screamed.
''Don't worry. I didn't hurt your backup boy. I can't really say that about Thomas, but what can we do ", he shrugged carelessly, and then he took a plastic tie with which he tied Sebastian's hands behind his back. He still occasionally looked up at Scarlett and pointed the gun at her cleanly to let her know that his intention was very serious. It's not as if Scarlett didn't notice it herself. She knew she would not get out of here alive, but she was not ready to surrender without a fight.
"What are you going to do with me?"
"To kill you, of course," he said, as if it were a well-known fact. ''I mean, you can't blame me, Scarlett. I've tried several times to keep you from sticking your nose where it doesn't belong, but you just don't like to listen. You can say you're to blame for this. "
"Am I to blame for this? You gave me this case! '' She snapped at him as he took another plastic strap that was meant for her.
"You're right," he admitted, then nodded and threw her on the floor to tie her hands. Scarlett felt a sharp pain in her chin. "I did. That is a very big mistake for me. A little sloppy, actually. I seem to have allowed my fondness of you to distract me from the fact that you are very stubborn and like to seek justice. "
He turned her on her back, and then straightened enough to push her against the wall opposite Thomas. George squatted in front of her and analyzed her weeping face on which her hair was glued. He dared enough to use the tip of his pistol to move a stray lock of hair from her face. She wanted to spit on him in the middle of his face, but she didn't want to make him angry. She needed answers.
"Why did you do disgusting things to those girls? And to make Sebastian responsible for it? "He smiled.
''I know you have a thousand questions and sub-questions, Scarlett. Don't worry, I'll answer everything", he raised his hands in order to fence himself in a humorous, not at all appropriate way. "We don't want you to die with so many doubts, do we?"
She watched him silently with disgust. She always knew that he was a selfish pig as they talked about him, but this exceeded all the measures and limits of an egoistic pig. This was a monster with a head and a beard.
"So, as you know, I've been doing this for a very long time. And no, I don't have mommy issues, nor am I impotent to blame my shortcomings on unknown girls. I was just always interested in what it's like when you have the power to decide when someone's life will end,'' he said excitedly. "There is a certain charm when you see how someone's life shuts down and how the spark of life fades in their eyes. How their bodies stiffen and how their throats pulsate under my fingers. God, I get excited only of talking about it. "
''You're sick.''
"Is that your subjective or professional opinion?" He giggled. Everything she said seemed to amuse him. "So, let's move on. I remember my first murder. I can't even describe to you how excited I was and how blood was boiling in my veins. I almost thought I would get sick of the excitement. It was some drug-addicted slut from the neighborhood to whom you could do whatever you wanted for a few bucks. She didn't expect me to do things to her much more seriously than just having sex. "
"So you've been doing this even before Sebastian?"
"Of course," he said. "Sebastian is collateral damage. However, when I took him from the orphanage, I wanted to train him to do this together. I wanted a partner. But he was always too whiney and would cry whenever a girl whined. There was nothing useful from him. "
"Sebastian is not whiney. He was just a child from a broken family that you destroyed even more. You traumatized him for life. "
''Traumatized? Scarlett, you have no idea what opportunity he got in life. The power to control one's life. It's called a gift that is never refused. "
"How can you say something like that? You destroyed him. "
"He was already destroyed, darling. It was a matter of time before he would explode."
The lace cut into the skin of her wrists and made her uncomfortable. She wanted to pull all his teeth out of his jaw with her fist. With the two motionless men, she cared about and the information she heard, nausea ran up her throat. She had had enough of everything.
"Why don't you just kill me and finish all of this?"
"Well, that wouldn't be interesting. I love my prey to simmer tensely. The charm of excitement is lost if you just grab the prey by the throat. There is a certain charm in anticipation of a crucial moment. "
"I'm glad you're calling me your prey," she said indignantly. "You were like a father to me."
''Oh, Scarlett. I really looked at you and loved you as my daughter," he said sympathetically. "But I had no choice. Man has to do what man has to do. And you're preventing me from having a free life. "
"You are not capable of love. You are a monster. "
"I can't say it's something I hear for the first time."
"Screw you," she hissed through her teeth.
"Oh, I will," he replied. "But after I get rid of you."
"And what brilliant plan did you come up with? Still, you helped Sebastian escape from the cell. It's not like there is no camera or the fact that he couldn't do it alone. "
George chuckled as peas of sweat ran down his forehead.
"Do you really think I didn't plan everything? I told Maynard to turn off the camera a few weeks ago. I was the one under whose influence he installed the camera in the first place. I convinced him that I didn't trust you and that I wanted to keep you under control. After all, I'm a man of my word and I do my job damn well. It doesn't matter what job we are talking about," he said nonchalantly with a smile. "Also, I plan to kill you in a slightly faster way than other girls, and I will get rid of Thomas. In the end, they will arrest Sebastian and attach your murders to him. And I will say what I said weeks ago - that you took all this too personally. I will come out of all this unsullied and fully capable of enjoying my work behind the radar, you will be dead, and Sebastian will rot behind bars. That sounds like a victory to me. "
"You sick son of a bitch."
"It's the first time I've heard you swear," he said. "I see you picked up Thomas's jargon."
"How did you manage to persuade Sebastian to do all this again?"
''Scarlett, there's something you don't know about Sebastian. And that is that he can be manipulated very easily. You came very close to his heart you know that, right? It was enough to tell him I wouldn't hurt you if he agreed. He was too naive and eager to believe that he didn't realize that I would definitely kill you. But that's enough of chatter, it's time to watch life leave your body and leave an empty shell."
He lowered the gun to the side and step over her to have better access to her bare neck that his fists were so eager for, and Scarlett began to squirm like a dog full of fleas.
"Get away from me, you old bastard!" She hissed through her teeth and started fighting again. This was extremely difficult to do as her hands were still tied with plastic tape. A smile still flickered on his face - all this excited him. He placed his fleshy hands on her neck and began to press slowly, denying Scarlet an air supply. She felt as if her vocal cords were breaking, her head exploding, and her throat was full of thorns. George would loosen the grip from time to time, letting her inhale a dose of air, and then tighten the grip again. He loved to enjoy the role of God for as long as he could. Minutes passed, and her body became more and more limp.
Having a little more consciousness with her, she tried to slip out of the plastic tape, which so far cut so much into her skin that she had the feeling it was peeling her bones. As she began to lose consciousness, she felt freedom in her arms. She managed to break free.
George began to lower his guard, feeling her life slowly fade, but then Scarlett took the opportunity to scratch his face. She dug her nails as deep as possible into his face, wanting to mutilate him as much as possible. George screamed painfully like a raging beast and covered his face with his hands. That was enough for Scarlett to try to reach the gun that was close to the unconscious Sebastian. Seeing what she intended, George pushed the gun far behind them, completely throwing it out of Scarlett's sight. She just lost the only chance to win this cat and mouse fight.
He slapped her in the hope that it would calm her down, but Scarlett didn't want to give up even though the left side of her face ached with pain and her eyes glazed over with tears. He started choking her again and this time he didn't want to procrastinate. He had already lost control and a lot of nerves and he just wanted to get rid of her finally. He pressed hard on her slender neck, and Scarlett felt her life really fade before this figure. The last person to see will be him - and he knew it. He enjoyed it. He enjoyed the realization that his eyes and ominous smile would be what would follow her somewhere outside of this reality. That he would be the one who wiped her off the face of the Earth.
Just as her body began to limp and her eyelids closed with sheer weight, she heard a bang in the distance that would otherwise have driven her out of her mind, but this time she didn't have the strength to move. She wanted to sleep so much. She was tired.
Suddenly, the grip on her neck relaxed, and she felt drops of something on her face. She lifted her heavy eyelids and saw George's expressionless face and bewildered wide-open eyes with a bullet hole between them. George's body fell sluggishly over her.