Next Day.
Nylah let out a low groan, stirring in her sleep, feeling like it was time for her to wake up.
She yawned, stretching as her eyes fluttered open, adjusting to the dark room. Looking over, Kentrell slept in the same state she'd saw him in last night, and she rubbed his face.
She softly pecked his lips, before standing up from the bed, walking to the bathroom.
Deciding to mind her business this time, all she did was pee, wash her face, and then brush her teeth, finally walking back out the bathroom.
Knowing that Kentrell would probably be hungry once he woke up due to her emptying his stomach last night, she walked downstairs to the kitchen to make him breakfast.
Connecting her phone to the speaker, she shuffled her playlist, turning it down so that it wouldn't wake Kentrell up.
"Do me a favor, pick me up, take me out later." She sung, pulling eggs and bacon from the refrigerator.
She grabbed out some onions, tomatoes, ham sandwich meat, blended shredded cheese, and then a few different seasonings from the counter.
"Are you down to be a distraction baby?" She gestured with her hands, scrambling some turkey sausage in the skillet, rolling her hips to the beat of the song.
"But don't distract me, let me ask you baby." She used the spatula, scraping the meat around as it cooked on a high burn level because she hated waiting when she put it on a low level.
She laid a few strips of bacon in the air fryer, her face frowning up as a smell invaded her nose, and she damn near gagged.
Leaning over, she smelled the air fryer which she'd previously cleaned, trying to see if something had maybe burned beneath the surface.
Waving it off, she let the bacon air fry inside, adding sautéed onions, diced tomatoes, and shredded cheese the her turkey sausage.
She loved cooking. Especially things that she liked, which was about the only things she could cook. She didn't know how to make extravagant dishes, just simple things like nachos, spaghetti, fried chicken, side dishes such as macaroni, greens, cabbage-things like that.
She also knew how to make certain traditional dishes from Haiti and the Dominican Republic as well; such as Griot, Accra, Tassot Kribit, Sancocho, and Huevo y Queso Frito-courtesy of her parents and grandparents.
As a kid, her and Kylah rarely ever ate fast food. Their parents loved to cook, so it was a home cooked meal made whenever it was possible.
Nylah would forever be appreciative of the way her parents raised her. Not everybody had the same loving family she did, and she knew that she was very blessed.
She shook her thoughts away, combining everything she'd cooked onto the skillet where she was frying a large egg, and then folded it over, making an omelette.
She drizzled syrup on the top side, flipping it over so that the flavor could cook into the egg, doing the same on the other side.
She repeated the action with another omelette, melting cheese on top of only hers because she knew that Kentrell was lactose intolerance and hated when his stomach began to hurt.
She cooked some cut up breakfast potatoes, crisped on the outside and soft on the inside, drizzling syrup over them for extra flavor, also adding a dash of powdered sugar, and then turning the burner off.
She made two plates for both him and her, also making two cups of apple juice, sitting the on the table.
She could hear the sink running from Kentrell's room upstairs, and she chuckled, knowing the reason he woke up was either because he smelled the food, or didn't feel her skin on his. Most likely the food though.
The foul smell invading her nose again, she frowned, internally gagging. Following the scent, she covered her nose, approaching the basement door.
Twisting the knob, she pushed it open, the smell becoming stronger, and she had to physically stop herself from throwing up.
She flipped the light switch on, before her eyes widened, screaming at the sight in front of her, a dead girl's body tied to a table, a puddle of blood on the floor with her face severely bashed in.
Nylah backed up in fear, bumping into a hard chest, and her heart dropped.
"Y-y-you k-oh my god it's you. You're the k-." Her heart raced, tears brimming in her eyes at the realization.
"Nylah I-." He reached to touch her, and she flinched, backing herself into the wall, avoiding his gaze as she cried.
"Don't fucking touch me! You k-oh my god it's you. Oh my god." She covered her face, sobbing into her hands.
"I'm sorry Symani." He mumbled, his arms wrapped around her as she fought in his grip.
"You're fucking crazy! Get the fuck off of me. Let me go!" She cried, pushing down on his arms, trying to remove them from around her body.
She literally felt sick to her stomach. She couldn't believe her eyes, nor that fact that it was him. The one who'd killed all of those girls-it was him.
"I'm not crazy. Please stop fighting me Nylah. Stop." He held her tighter, but that didn't stop her from trying her hardest to free herself.
"All of those g-oh my god. It was so many Kentrell. You k-oh fuck." She groaned, before leaning over and throwing up, tears falling from her eyes.
She couldn't-like literally could not process the connection she'd just made. All of those girls who resembled her, did that mean that he wished that it was her who he'd killed instead of them?
Why would he go out of his way to find girls that resembled her in a way, and kill them? She recalled seeing over twenty girls just within the last month. There was no telling how many he'd killed in total.
"I'm sorry Mani. Baby look at me." He mumbled, grabbing her face as she sobbed, wiping her mouth.
She was so afraid at this moment, afraid of the man that she loved, standing in front of her as if he hadn't killed all of those girls-and probably many others.
"Oh my god I c-let me go. Please please get off of me. Please." She cried, not able to stand the thought of even being around him right now.
"No baby. I'm sorry." He buried his face in her neck, holding her tight and lowly sighing as his jaw clenched.
He was upset with himself for leaving the mess of the girl he'd killed yesterday. He never did that, he was too high to function, and then after doing it, he got even higher and forgot all about her being down here.
"All of these girls. Oh my god you are sick. Get off of me!" She pushed hard at his shoulders, trying to separate her body from his.
"Nylah I'm s-." He started, being cut off as she slapped him hard across his face, and his jaw clenched.
Unintentionally, he slammed her by her neck against the wall, the forceful impact to her head making her pass out.
«────── « ⋅ʚ♡ɞ⋅ » ──────»
Nylah's eyes slowly fluttered open, groaning at the soft headache she felt from the back of her head, letting her eyes adjust to the room.
Remember what had happened, her heartbeat sped up in fear, attempting to stand up, before frowning seeing that she was handcuffed to the bed.
Pulling hard at the cuffs, she struggled, trying to free herself as she became consumed in fear, afraid for what was about to happen.
"Stop it. You're hurting yourself." Kentrell mumbled, and she jumped, just now seeing him standing next to her due to the room being dark.
"Get me out of these. What are you doing?" She frowned, her voice cracking, trying not to cry.
"I don't want you to leave me. I'm sorry for putting my hands on you." He spoke genuinely because it was a natural reaction, he didn't intend to hurt her.
"My head hurts so bad. Get me out of these please." She cried softly, flinching once he tried to touch her, making his jaw clench.
"Baby I'm not going to hurt you. Don't be scared of me." He mumbled, sitting next to her, playing with the hem of his shirt.
"You let me talk to you about being scared of th-and it was you. It was you the whole time oh my god." She shook her head in disbelief, stopping her attempts at freeing herself from the cuffs.
"I'm sorry. It wasn't me Mani." He rubbed his temples, also having a major migraine, in fear of the consequences of his actions.
"What?! You are fucking crazy! It was you! I saw that girl in th-you are sick!" She frowned, beginning to pull at the cuffs again.
"Stop saying that please. Can you just let me talk? Stop it Nylah." He grabbed her wrists, and she screamed, making him quickly cover her mouth.
"What are you doing? Stop." He frowned down at her, before hissing, removing his hand once she bit him.
Nylah screamed again, and he groaned in frustration, pulling at his dread.
He kept the frown on his face, his leg shaking as he listened to her unnecessarily scream, probably trying to get the attention of someone.
"Baby you know my house sound proof. Please stop you making my head hurt." He mumbled, placing his face in his hands and sighing.
"Kentrell get me out of these." She tugged on them, and he ignored her.
"Let me out please." She mumbled, her voice soft, and he turned his head.
"No. I don't want you to leave me." He pulled at his dread again, and she sighing in defeat, an even bigger headache occupying her head than before.
She sniffed, tears falling from her eyes as she stared up at the ceiling. She didn't want to be here, or be around him at all.
"All of them look like me. Why Kentrell?" She mumbled, and he shrugged because he really didn't know why he'd targeted girls that looked like her.
"I'm obsessed with you." He spoke lowly, not removing his face from his hands, too many emotions occupying his mind for him to function.
"I wanna go home. I don't wanna be here anymore. Get me out of these." Her voice cracked, she really did want to go home. She didn't feel safe anymore.
"Baby I'm not going to hurt you. I'll take them off, okay? Just don't leave me please." He mumbled, reaching over and using the key he had, freeing one of her wrists.
"Take my feet out." She used her free hand to rub her other sore wrist, a frown on her face.
Kentrell uncuffed her ankles, and she sat up in the bed, pulling her knees to her chest and wrapping her free arm around them, looking at him with her red eyes, stained from tears.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what I be doin'. I'm sorry." He ran his fingers through his hair, feeling guilty for the first time.
"Sorry isn't going to work this time Kentrell." She sniffed, wiping her eyes.
It was hard for her to believe that she was sitting in the room so comfortably with a serial killer. It didn't feel real.
"I know." He mumbled, sighing under his breath as his leg shook.
"I got some shit wrong wit' me Mani. It's more than you think." He told her, standing up and walking to his bathroom.
He opened the cabinet, grabbing all of his medicine bottles and walking back over to her.
"I don't want you to leave me fa' being scared. I need you Symani." He sat down next to her, looking at her with sad eyes, and she sniffed, looking away, making him sigh.
"This Xans. I got OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder, and it give me real bad anxiety, so this what my docta' gave me. Hm." He held the bottle out to her, and she hesitantly took it, reading over the prescription.
"It's called an anxiolytic. To make me calm. I take one at 10 everyday so that it works all day, but it don't ever work past like two hours. That's why I take Oxy's and shit." He explained, still pulling at his dread because he was lowkey scared, for the first time in a while.
"And this called fluoxetine. I take it cause I got intermittent explosive disorder. That's why sometimes I get real mad out of nowhere, or like cuss somebody out real bad for nothin'. It's a behavioral disorder." He mumbled, passing her another bottle, and she read the label on that one as well.
"This Setraline. I Uh-got some shit called schizoaffective disorder. Most people don't get it til they like thirty, but I got it early. I been through some shit that triggered it, I guess." He passed her a third bottle, watching her unreadable expression.
"It's like bipolar disorder. But ion really think I got that but that's what they told me." He said, and she looked up at him, about to say something, but she held it back, afraid.
"I just want you to try to understand me before you decide if you gone leave me or not. I'm not a bad person Nylah. I can't help it sometimes." He looked down, ashamed of himself as he twisted his hair around his finger.
"W-what are the rest?" She kind of stuttered, and he grabbed another pill bottle from his lap.
"These antipsychotics. I don't know how to pronounce the medicine name. I got borderline personality disorder." He mumbled, giving her the bottle.
She looked up at him, her face frowning in realization. The diagnosis of BPD explained the reason why he was so scared for her to leave him, one of the symptoms was a severe fear of abandonment.
And the self destructing behaviors he had, the constant degrading of himself and questioning was he worthy or not, was another symptom.
It was finally starting to click, everything he did, the way he aggressively spoke and how he violently reacted to small situations. His mind wasn't like hers, or like anyone else that she knew. He didn't function the same as other people, and it wasn't his fault.
"Kentrell why didn't you tell me?" She frowned, tears falling from her eyes as she watched him anxiously rub at his skin.
"Because I don't want you to leave me." He mumbled, repeating the same thing he'd been saying, because it was true. He wouldn't know how to function without her.
"You mean so much to me Nylah. And I know I don't always have a good way a' showin' it, but it's true. I love you so much and I don't know how to be normal for you. I try so hard but I can't stop it."
"I done been to so much therapy, this like my fifth set of prescriptions and nothin' fucking works for me. I been in and out of mental asylums, I try to get help but don't nothin' work. I try so hard to just be normal, and I can't."
"But wit' you, I be feeling normal. Because you don't know about what I got goin', and you treat me like I'm normal. I love that feeling Mani. I don't wan' you fa' to leave me. I'a do whatever you wan', buy you whatever just please don't leave me. Please." His voice cracked, and he covered his face in his hands, physically able to feel his heart breaking.
"I try so hard for you. And for me too, and it's like ain't nobody noticin' that I'm tired. I don't act like this on purpose. Nobody know 'bout the lil dark spirits that tell me to do shit, tell me that ain't nobody out hea' lovin' me. You don't know what it's like to hear that shit everyday, no matter how much drugs or medicine I take."
"I got uh-dissociative identity disorder. And it don't be me-hurting them girls. I'm not like that Mani I would never hurt you. Top got a mind a' his own. And I know it sound crazy, you probably don't believe me, but I-I don't know how to explain it. He do shit by hisself, and he got his own way of thinking, it don't be me."
"He tell me to kill them people, and when I don't, he do it by himself. I sound crazy as fuck but I'm telling you the truth. I try so hard to get rid of him, I swear to god. But I-baby I'm fucked up, aight? I know that. But I can get more help-I a' go to some more therapy for you just please don't fuckin' leave me mane I need you." He wiped the tears that fell from his eyes, becoming sad.
Kentrell couldn't even remember the last time he had cried. The last time was probably when he was a child, before he even started witnessing the real things his disorders did to him.
Seeing Nylah so afraid of him, of what Top-or Kentrell-could do, hurt his feelings, because he really did try.
He felt like everything he did, all the efforts, went unnoticed. He just wanted to be normal, and nobody understood that. He loved Nylah so much, and it felt like he was losing her, and that made him so sad.
"Kentrell." She covered her mouth, placing her face into her knees as she cried.
"Baby don't leave me please. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry Mani." He uncuffed her all the way, wrapping his arms tight around her as he cried on her shoulder.
"I'm so sorry. I'm trying Symani. I don't know what to do." His voice cracked, tears falling from his eyes.
"Oh my god I-Kentrell you need help. Help that I can't give you." She wiped her face, and he shook his head.
"No. Don't leave me Nylah. Please? Baby I'm sorry." He pulled her in his lap, and though she didn't feel 100% comfortable doing so, she wrapped her arms around his neck in a reassuring hug.
Kentrell broke down, and she felt her heart melt as she rubbed his back, allowing him to cry on her shoulder.
"I'm so fucking sorry." He quietly sobbed, and she sniffed, feeling bad. She didn't know how she felt.
A part of her literally did not even want to breathe the same air as him anymore, knowing the brutal things he'd done to those innocent girls.
But the other half of her felt so bad that he had been going through this alone, and had finally found her, just for her to leave because of something he couldn't quite control.
"I'm right here sweet face. I'm here." She mumbled, rubbing his back, soothing his soft cries.
Kentrell was so disappointed in himself. He should've stopped a long time ago-he shouldn't have even started. But no one understood that it literally wasn't him.
It was so hard not having self control nor self discipline, having two separate and very fistic personalities, yet still one in the same. It was confusing to him, and to everyone else as well, and he was tired.
He wanted to be better for Nylah, but he didn't even know where to start. All he knew was that he didn't want her to ever leave him. He loved her way too much.
He'd kill her before he allowed her to leave him.
Smcht, he learned nothing. Look at his last sentence 😒