PETER
He smiled as he walked into my room from the bathroom, his warm smile greeting me as he leaned against the door frame and rested his arm on the chest of drawers beside him. He had taken his grey button up from his chest, revealing his built figure. Something about him being here, something made me feel tense. I can't tell if what I'm doing right now is right, because I still miss... I still miss him. I still miss Jasper. Every time I think about moving on, his voice fills my ears, and I think about how I'm...violating him, in some way. I can't help but think that we're still together after all this time, that he's alive and he wants to be with me. I might still want to be with him. I do still want him.
Luke stepped closer towards me, pressing his hands around my waist. At the start of today, I didn't imagine this would be happening. At the start of the day, when Reyna invited him over, I didn't see anything happening, but I was wrong. He was readying me for tonight, that's for sure. His soft touch reminded me of this morning, the tender grip of his fingers against my skin. I don't know what to feel anymore. He presses his soft lips against mine, lacing his hand behind my back.
This is the first time since...since Jasper. I couldn't move on; I couldn't let myself forget about him. He was my everything once, and when I lost him, I didn't know if I'd ever move on without him by my side. Now, with Luke, I can hope for some closure, or something. I just want to be happy, that's all. I want to forget the pain I felt when I lost Jasper. Luke presses his chest against mine and dips closer to my lips, slipping his tongue into my mouth. My head rests on the pillow as he moves over my body, pressing his groin onto mine. My eyes focus away from him, towards the window, when I spot him.
Jasper. Staring towards me from the outside, looking in.
-----
The empty desolate streets surrounded me. I had seen him; I couldn't have been seeing things. I pushed it into the back of my mind so I wouldn't ruin the night, and ruin the chances of...moving on, but I saw Jasper. I saw him alive, and I can't deny it, because he's been texting me. Jasper must be alive, even if it hurts to think I let him go before I could see him again. I moved on too late.
Street lights flicker as I walk the lonely paths, searching for someone, anyone, who could have seen him. My feet hit the pavement, and I'm filled with the same feelings I felt the day I lost him, the day I searched the same streets and the same town, looking for him once more. I need to stop losing him. These empty places only keep me from remembering the happiness I felt with Jasper, because whenever I thought I was happy, I now know it was nothing but a distant memory leaping into the foreboding fire. The days I thought we would be together forever were the days I wish to forget, because I know I was wrong. Wrong all along to believe that love is meant to be forever. In our day and age, nobody remembers true love. I wanted to believe I did, but Jasper and I were a curse together, because I broke a relationship apart. I have no doubts she would have kidnapped him.
I found myself in the closest park, the wind tangling around me. The darkness caved in and the world around me seemed cruel and miserable, and I was alone. In this world of mystery, danger, and loss, I was searching for my past like a moth drawn to the flame, as if finding Jasper alive would make me feel any better. I guess I wanted closure from him. I wanted to move on, but at the same time, I loved him still. If he was alive, we could fall back in love and I could forget about moving on. After all, I was moving on to forget him, but now there was no need to. Jasper was alive. My love for him will relight the flame of desire and now I couldn't wait to find him. The sound of muffled sobs woke me from my trance as I moved closer towards the edge of the lake. It was him.
"Jasper...it's me." He froze, turning his head ever so slightly. Our eyes tangled in a sea of regret, and I knew why he was crying. Moving further with Luke was a mistake. I knelt down beside him, pressing my palm onto his back. He flinched, but proceeded to rest his head on my shoulder, hesitantly still. "I've missed you." I spoke, but he pressed a finger to my lips to tell me to keep quiet. He pressed his head further on my shoulder, his dark brown hair nuzzling my skin. Being with him here, I knew even if I know I lost him, we could change.
"I'm sorry for leaving you, Peter. It was my fault, and I promise, I do love you." He removed his head from my shoulder and faced towards me, planting a kiss of my rosy lips. If the heavens could sing, that's what his kiss felt like. I loved the way Jasper loved me, so I knew I could never forget him. I regretted moving on in every moment, because I still loved, I still love, Jasper.
"I know; I still love you too. I'm sorry for tonight." I replied, resting a kiss on his lips. Any thought of Luke had disappeared from my mind, and I know longer needed him to help me. I had helped myself. I didn't need to forget him, I know that now, I just needed to find him. He's alive, and so am I. Which reminds me, surely he'll know who kidnapped him. The memory of his ex-girlfriend has slipped my mind, and even her name was a distant blur inside. She could be anyone. The world around me has never felt so...so distorted. Shattered frames of memories, broken dreams and nightmares, this life I lead is crumbling each day due to the reckless actions I made as I grew up, learning through the rights and the wrongs of society. I knew it was right to love someone, but wrong to hate them. It was right to start a relationship, but wrong to force someone into one. It was right to agree to spend a lifetime with someone, but it was wrong to kidnap them. It was wrong to kill, but it was right to treat the wounds we receive. It was right for me to give in to the pressures of moving on after the loss I faced, but it was wrong for me to think it would be easy. Nothing is easy in this world. I knew this, but I knew something else too. Jasper knew who his ex was, and her name would be the best bet we had, because you can't hide from the past. "Jasper, can I ask you something important?"
He smiled, moving to face me with his head positioned towards mine. He intertwined his fingers with mine, nodding slightly. I continued, "Jasper, I understand that you're still recovering, but I need to know the name of your ex-girlfriend...the one you cheated on with me." He froze, turning away from me as he began to process me request. I know it's tough for him to remember, but it's the only possible lead we have, and we need a lead. We need something that could bring us closer to finding who she is. Who this killer is, before she murders us all. He turned back towards me, bringing himself to speak.
"She was a horrible girlfriend, and I hate to remember her. I wanted to keep my secret safe, so when I saw an opportunity to date this beautiful woman, I began to hide my secret under a fake relationship. I met you, and then I fell in love, and the charade I had kept up for that long had begun to disfigure, to melt into dust. We were caught at the wrong time in the wrong place, and I involved you in her sinister game of cat and mouse, and I'm terribly sorry, but I loved you. I love you still, so I want to keep you safe, but if you truly want to know her name, I won't hold you too tightly. Her name is... Brooke Ludgate." Her name echoed through my mind, but her name didn't fit in. Brooke Ludgate, this girl who Jasper trusted with his secrets and his life, this girl who... who could have kidnapped him. Who most likely did kidnap him. Part of me knows I need to find her, but some part of me wonders something... horrible.
Maybe after all along I've wanted Jasper to have been dead, so I could move on.
------
"Never set me up again, Reyna. You could have screwed up my entire life with last night." I stood in the driveway to my house, leaning against the car door as I spoke into the phone that rubbed against my ear. Reyna had called me as I pulled in, the sight of the garage door present as I turned my head to glance down at the caller moments before. Now she couldn't stop asking about Luke, and I couldn't stop pushing her away, because as much as I had pushed for the chance to break free and move on from Jasper, he was back in my life faster than it took me to jump out of the closet in my teenage years filled with regret. "Reyna, I'm going to call you back later, I'm super busy." One lie isn't too much. Besides, now I face the problem with Brooke Ludgate. Whoever she is, whoever she really is, she is the only clue I have to catching this deemed "devil's bride", and any clue is clue enough. I want to find her, even if I'm only a simple receptionist at a magazine company, catching this horrible woman would be something... remarkable. Her name flickers around my mind like a ticking time bomb, the more time I give her, the more time I let the lives of several people disappear as she attracts them, drawing them in one by one. I know now that this isn't a movie concept, this is real life, and I need to find her.
The click of the door sounds as I push it aside, my house dimly lit by the dipping sun. My laptop sits on the top of the kitchen table, awaiting use as usual. Tonight, however, I wasn't using it for endless research on this legend, or this myth, or that news story from two years ago, I was searching for her. Brooke Ludgate, the name that keeps slipping from my tongue all day. I can't stop thinking about the lives she could have given away, or where she could be hiding, or why she's deciding to kill. I couldn't think of any reason that would persuade me into killing a human being, someone who has a life so similar to mine, yet so different. I couldn't kill someone, even if I wanted to, because I'd remember the family that would be losing them.
The home screen for the internet browser opened, and I began to type her name in. Brook Ludgate. Her name stared back at me as the search engine began to trace the web for her name. I began to read the first link, the black words whirling around in my head. 'Brooke Ludgate Donates to the Hospital.' 'Brooke Ludgate Heralded as Our New Angel.' This couldn't be right, I remember her clearly, her rampaged screaming, the snicker, she wasn't an angel. Not to Jasper. I needed to talk to him about all this, because if she had kidnapped him, why did she seem so... perfect. So angelic. As I dialled his number on my phone, I clicked onto the images section and my eyes froze on a picture for the article 'Brooke Ludgate Wins Big.' Her face wasn't familiar, and I could see the true woman in clear colour, her devilish grin as she slapped Jasper, pulling him away from me as she glared into his eyes, the thought that her boyfriend was gay lingering in her mind. This girl, staring at me from the screen of the computer, was nobody I had seen before. She was kind, her light brown hair was long and curly, all natural, and she was genuinely elated to be in the presence of so many old people.
This woman couldn't be the Devil's Bride.
Jasper's soft voice filled my ears as he finally picked up the call, answering with a simple 'Hey, Peter.' I quickly replied to him before searching once more through the photos, swearing under my breath at how wrong I was. She may have hated him, but maybe not enough to kidnap him for a whole year and murder innocents.
"Jasper, I was wrong. Brooke Ludgate is innocent; she's just ended up as some big spender charity donator with a husband she married too young." I read after I had clicked on a personal article she had participated in a few weeks ago. "Hey, how about you come over later?" I spoke, forgetting about the woman and focusing on Jasper himself. I lost him once, I don't want to lose him once again.
"Sure, that sounds amazing. I have something to pick up, but after that, I'm all yours." He laughed quickly afterwards, and I was finally accepting the fact that he wasn't upset that I had slept with Luke, because he must know that I had no clue where he was. I didn't know he was alive, and how could I? I watched him disappear from my life as I stood alone, shouting him name, searching endlessly for him to come back to me. I knew back then it was likely he had been killed.
"I'll see you soon, Jasper. I've waited so long to say that." I waited for him to say goodbye before I heard the click of the call ending. Part of me desired to continue the search, so I tapped against the keyboard and added one more word to the search bar. 'Murder.' I awaited the results, watching the word murder frozen in place beside her name. Only one link referenced both her name and the key term of 'murder'. Only one. I began to read the print, and not only did it clear her name, it gave me a new suspect. Her sister. The title read as follows:
'The Famed Sister of Brooke Ludgate Imprisoned for the Presumed Murder of Her Neighbour.'
--------
THIRD PERSON
He sat at a computer desk in the local library, staring at a blank webpage. He began to type into the search engine, the words appearing in front of him. He sighed as he hit the enter key, the current results lining up as the internet sped up. He smiled, reading the first title.
'Brooke Ludgate Donates to the Hospital.' He continued scrolling until he reached another article, this one detailing the court trial over Brook Ludgate's sister. He began to scan the article, copying sections into a separate document for later use. He occasionally glanced down at his phone, awaiting something from someone. He typed harshly on the keyboard as he watched around for the librarian, hastily eyeing any entries around him. Something seemed to be bugging him, and he suddenly jolted up when he heard the librarian's voice begin. He noticed a woman holding two books in her hands, chatting disinterestedly to the librarian. He frowned, glancing back down to the phone perched on the desk. No texts had been sent to him, and he returned to his search on the computer in front of him. He backspaced what he had originally typed and began typing in a new web search for someone else.
In the middle of typing the new name however, a small chime sounded that he had received a text message. He scooped the phone in his hand and whispered to himself as he read the new message from an unknown number.
'Jasper, are you still there?' He turned his attention to the library around his, watching as the librarian passed around the space, fixing books and checking on the patrons of the local library. Jasper focused back onto the mobile phone and began to type in response. He sent the message and frowned slightly, before finishing his search. The message remained open on the desk.
'Yes, I'm here. Peter fell for the fake name.' He sighed as he clicked the phone closed, relaxing back in his chair. Only one name remained on his screen as he pushed back in the chair, searching around for the librarian. He focused back on the name.