𝓚𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓮
"May your weapon be kindness. Your shield compassion. May the flowers grow again", I quietly read aloud the poem to myself.
"To sprout love from all this sadness." A voice spoke over my shoulder.
I turned my head and it happened again. My face was inches away from Xavier's, our noses almost touching. I breathed in before moving away a bit.
"How long were you standing behind me for?" I narrowed my eyes at him, while he moved around the couch and took a seat beside me.
"Hello to you too."
"Sorry", I mumbled. "Hi."
He smiled. "Not long", he said with a shrug.
It was now Thursday at 4 pm. I decided to come to the library to read my poem book.
"You really are taking your time to read that one." He pointed to the book in my hands.
"Reading shall never be rushed", I told.
"Correct", he said while staring into my eyes.
"But I'm getting impatient to read book two." I pouted.
"Have you ordered them yet?", he asked.
"Hm?"
"You said there's a whole set of the book and you can't wait to read them. If you borrow them from the library, you'll have to return them."
"Yeah. I'll order them at some point", I said. "It would be nice to have a copy of the entire set." He then looked back into my eyes."What are you going to read today?", I asked him without breaking eye contact.
"You", he mumbled. "I mean, uh - I would like you to read a book to me."
"You fell asleep the last time I did", I chuckled.
"Only because your voice is relaxing and soft to hear", he mumbled.
I cleared my throat." Well then, let's make it more interesting", I said with a suggestive grin.
He raised his eyebrows, seeming interested as he mirrored my grin. "Alright, how?"
"I'll read you the poems, but you have to find me first in this huge library. Each time you find me, I'll read you a line."
He leaned in closer. "Let's." I saw a glint in his eyes and it felt like the other side of me was taking over. The one, who really just doesn't care at all and does things without thinking.
❇❇❇
"I'll find you, Kristine." I heard Xavier spoke not too far from where I was hiding. I hid behind one of the bookshelves on the other side of the library, I could hear his footsteps. Seconds keep passing, and my nervousness grew.
All of a sudden, the sound of footsteps stopped. Slowly, I walked to the end of the shelf and peeked my head out.
Nothing.
"Found you", he whispered in my ear. His hot breath fanned my ear and my grip on my book tightened. I turned around and there stood Xavier towering over me. I let out a sigh and looked up at him, who was looking down at me with a smirk on his lips.
I smirked too. "Well done."
Opening the book, I asked while looking up at him, "Amor? (Love?)"
"Yes."
I looked up to find him grinning widely and my eyes widened.
"I . . I meant the poem . . . ."
His grin only widened. "That's what I meant to."
Oh dear god . . . . .
I cleared my throat, a little too awkwardly, and returned my attention to the book.
When suddenly Xavier leaned his head down and whispered lowly, "Amor. (Love.)"
Our eyes met again.
I thought he'd be grinning, but he wasn't. He looked . . . serious?
He just stared through me for what felt like forever and I stared right back.
Until his signature grin returned and his eyes gestured towards the book. In a matter of seconds, my eyes fell to the book and I started to flip through the pages. I found the poem. A love poem.
"This is my life", I read out while looking at him. Pushing myself up to stand on my toes, my face was now closer to his. "It's a quatrain. You have three more lines", I whispered before turning around and walking away to hide.
After a while of finding a place to hide, I settled on the ground behind a large couch. My breathing was now heavy, the nervousness keeps growing and the excitement was building.
Only a minute passed, and the sound of footsteps entering this lounge was heard. I held my breath and closed my eyes while leaning my head against the back of the couch.
"Found you." I opened my eyes and saw him leaning over the headrest of the couch.
I giggled. "You found me", I said softly. We just stared at each other in this position until I opened the book and read out the next line. "And I will fall for you every day."
Quickly, I got up from the floor and disappeared to a new hiding spot.
I decided to hide on the second floor of the library. It was empty, just like the first floor. I sat beneath one of the long study desks, laughing softly due to the excitement.
Out of nowhere, a hand grabbed mine and pulled me out of my hiding spot. I was about to say something but his hands grabbed my waist and lifted me up onto the desk. His hands were placed on either side of me, caging me. Our faces were still at a safe distance as we just stared into each other's eyes for almost a minute.
Or two.
I was the one, who broke the eye contact. Looking down, I opened the book and read the third line.
"Because you are my love."
I felt his fingers lightly trace my hairline before tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. Then, his index finger traced down my cheek down to my chin. He lifted my chin for our eyes to connect. His eyes slowly roamed around my face until they stopped to stare deep into my eyes.
"Realmente eres tan hermosa (You really are so beautiful)", he whispered.
I'm letting him touch me. Why?
Leaning my face closer to his, his breathing trembled. I smirked and gently pushed his chest with my hand.
"There's one more line", I said before sliding off the desk and walking away to find a hiding spot.
I took a hiding spot behind the curtain of the large high-ceiling window. My heart was beating a little faster than usual.
'You don't have a heart', the voice in my head spoke, 'Remember what it is you do.'
This time more than five minutes passed. The sound of footsteps couldn't be heard. I took in a deep breath and waited for Xavier to find me.
'You kill, Kristine.' My breathing started to become rapid. 'You kill people, cold-heartedly.'
I shut my eyes and tried to get my breathing under control.
'Nobody ever looks for you, Kristine. He's not coming and you know it.'
"Stop. Just stop", I whispered.
My grip on the book tightened as I held it close to my chest.
'He won't find you. Just like everyone else. Nobody could ever care - about you.' That was the last thing the voice said for me to crack.
I couldn't breathe.
The place I was hiding in was not helping. With my breathing unsteady, I started to feel dizzy. My vision was blurring. My hand reached out and I found the edge of the curtain. After pushing it open, I quickly walked away.
"A girl with no memory, is a girl begging for loneliness."
"Xavier?", I called out. My breathing was hard and I felt so close to fainting. The room around me couldn't stop spinning and I almost lost my footing.
"She succumbs herself to the empty space her memories were meant to be. The single thought of someone not remembering her, could break her."
"Please", I begged while gripping the book tighter.
I walked to the other end on the second floor.
"She doesn't remember being cared for."
"Xavier?!", I cried out.
My vision became a blur and the illusions formed before my eyes. My own mind, betraying me.
"What do you think she craves for now?"
"Xavier", I breathed out.
I was about to turn in the other direction, but a hand grabbed my waist and spun me around. My face collided with a hard chest and strong arms secured themselves around my body tightly. Wrapping my arms around his torso, I pressed my face into his chest and tried to calm my breathing.
"Love."
"I found you." Xavier's hand caressed the back of my head.
I breathed out a sigh of relief before pulling my face away from his chest to look up at him. His hands cupped beneath my jawline and I felt his thumb caress the lower area of my left cheek.
"And I see you in everything", I whispered.
The look Xavier had in his eyes changed. It held worry, concern and something else.
"Thank you for finding me." I smiled. There really was something about the way he looks at me. But I don't know what to feel or think about it. My hand reached up to push him away so I could leave. But once my hand touched his chest he placed his hand on mine.
My eyes widened.
His hand that lingered on my jawline moved down my arm to the small of my back. He pushed me towards him and wrapped both arms around me tightly.
"Only three minutes and I already panicked", he mumbled.
I actually felt something when he said that. Something's happening and I'm more scared than ever.
'Kristine -', the voice started.
No.
Hesitantly, I wrapped my arms around him.
It feels nice to be found.
❇❇❇
'You don't have a heart.'
"I found you."
"Pull yourself together, Kristine", I mumbled.
My hands tightened around the steering wheel. I was lost but that was the best part. If I found my way, I would fear the destination. Taking in deep breaths, I tried to recall the memory.
I drove through the forest road and up the hill.
The forest road led all the way up to a grand iron black gate. I parked my car right in front of the gate and stepped out of the car. Walking up to the old gate, I held on to the bars and looked through the gate.
Found it.
After dinner, 8:45 pm
𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐒𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞:
𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐇𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐞𝐲
"You were wrong", I said.
"About?", Sophia asked.
"Your sister is kind and sweet", I said, "It could all be an act sister. You make me sound like I'm some princess."
She chuckled."Well if you don't want to be a princess, what do you want to be sweetie?", she asked softly and smiled just as soft.
"There probably was a time I wanted to be a princess", I said, almost in a whisper. "No I . . . I wanted to be a princess. Imagined myself as one."
"What happened?"
"Reality."
At that moment, we arrived.
"If you wanted to murder me, you could have done it in Paris. I told you that's where I wanted to breathe my last breath", Sophia scowled while looking around the dark place.
"Oh now sister I would never hurt you", I pouted and chuckled. "Remember when you said you wanted a castle when we were younger?"
"Yes", Sophia chuckled.
I opened my car door and my blood-red heel stepped onto the ground.
"If it's a castle my sister wants, it's a castle she'll get." I stepped out of the car with Sophia following after.
"What is this place?", she asked while folding her arms.
"Your castle", I told before pulling my handgun out and shooting the gate lock.
"Kristine!", she whispered yelled.
"Relax. There's nobody around this area, nobody comes up to this place." I pushed the gates open and the sound of metal ringed through the dark area.
"Why doesn't anyone come here?", she asked once she stood beside me.
"It's rumoured to be haunted." I winked at her and walked down the path.
She scoffed and walked up to me. We both continued to walk down the path until the abandoned castle-like mansion came into view. We both stopped in our tracks.
"Wow", Sophia mumbled.
"Is it big enough for you, sister?"
"What if there are ghosts?"
"All ghosts should be afraid of me", I told before walking up to the mansion.
I heard Sophia sigh before walking after me.
My blood-red heels stepped over the old stone steps up to the mansion's patio. I pushed the door open and welcome home.
"Yeah not creepy at all", Sophia mumbled.
"Shall we?", I asked and stepped into the abandoned mansion. I glanced over my shoulder at her.
She grinned. "We shall", she said and stepped in.
A grand staircase was in the centre of the front entrance room. The entire place looks completely run down, with cobwebs, broken glass, holes in the wooden floor, bats hanging on the ceiling, and a numerous amount of dust.
"How lovely." My sister smiled.
"We can fix this up", I said.
"Of course, we can." She nodded.
"Shall we split?", I asked and I knew her answer.
"Absolutely not", she shook her head. I held her hand.
"Sophia, you know I'll be fine." I gave her the look and she sighed.
"I think I'm more worried about myself", she muttered and I chuckled.
"Don't worry nobody, including ghosts, would even dare to harm my sister", I reassured and she smirked.
"True. I'll take downstairs and you can take upstairs", she told and I nodded.
Slowly, I walked up the ruined stairs, making creaking sounds here and there. I took in a deep breath and speeded my way up the steps.
I made my way down one of the halls. The moonlight beamed through the cracked and broken windows. The floors were covered with dead leaves and cobwebs were everywhere. The breeze blew in through the holes in the window. The leaves blew over my red heels and my black coat flowed behind me.
At the end of the hallway was a wooden door. While I opened the door, a creaking sound rang through the hallway. I stepped into the room and my eyes scanned the place. It looks like a bedroom. There were dolls on the ruined bed and a few scattered all over the floor.
'I hate dolls.'
"Especially, these dolls", I muttered as I picked up an old China doll from the floor. The doll had long brown curly hair with a knitted hat on top of it and it was wearing a long white gown. Rosy cheeks and dead blue eyes, "Jolie. Quelle horreur. (Pretty. How disgusting.)"
I grabbed my blade out of my thigh holster and started to trace it down the doll's face down to the centre of the chest. Then, I stabbed the doll's body repeatedly. To finish my art, I detached its head and left the body hanging on the wall with the blade through its chest.
"Maintenant c'est joli. (Now that's pretty.)", I muttered while looking at the hanging body of the doll.
"You're crazy." Sophia sighed while leaning against the room's door frame. I turned to look at her and saw her with a small smirk on her face.
"Call me psychotic", I smirked.
𝒬𝓊𝑜𝓉𝑒
𝐁𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝, 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐥 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐝
- Johnny Ramistella