little valentine's day gift! hope you all had a great day! and as usual, thanks for sticking around and i hope you like this chapter! oh and ps, sorry for anyone who wanted to read the book i mention in this chapter, there's like huge spoilers (but i doubt you'll ever read it) anyway see for yourself! see ya!
Disclaimer: This story contains violence, gore, sexual content and strong language. Subjects covered might trigger some. If you are very sensible or easily offended, please abstain from reading.
The cold air whipped Dan’s face as he walked dangerously fast. He couldn’t stand Phil, he couldn’t stand his assumptions, he couldn’t stand his blindness anymore.
His hands shoved deeply into his coat pocket and his hair flying around at the rhythm of the icy wind, he walked. A millions thoughts were battling inside his head, and it felt like a mess. He just wanted to calm himself down. But the thoughts maddened him even more.
Phil had discovered something. Dan knew it would happen. Phil knew him too well, he couldn’t just make an important change in his life without telling his best friend and expect him not to notice. He knew Phil was good to notice flagrant attitude modifications, but he knew he never mastered the art of finding what it was. In this situation, Dan found it ironic, because, honestly, who would just assume their best friend was a mass murderer?
But this time, Dan thought Phil’s assumptions broke records of ridiculousness.
“I’m just not sure if that thing is doing you any good.” He heard Phil’s voice resonate inside his mind. “I mean, it seems to be bringing you down a little…”
Dan heard his own maniac laughter echo throughout his head. He liked the feeling of watching Phil dance under his nose, trying to find what made Dan so… different than usual. But at the same time, he wished he could just tell him, to prove him.
“Look, Phil, I am revolution! Change is going to come! THIS WORLD IS GOING TO SEE A NEW LIGHT, IT’S GOING TO BE PURIFIED!”
“Dan, are you kidding me?”
“WHY ARE YOU SO BLIND, PHIL!? WHY ARE YOU SO BLIND?!?”
Dan’s body rammed into something. He was propelled back slightly. He heard something hit the ground, and his thoughts vanished like steam and allowed him to witness the world in front of him.
“Oh my God! I’m so sorry!”
A very beautiful lady stood in front of him. Her hair was jet black, thick red lipstick covered her lips and her deep blue eyes shone under the moonlight. A book and a keyset were in front of her on the pavement, and Dan frenetically looked at them, then at her again. He had no idea what had just happened or where she came from, but the only thing he knew is that he struck his fist right on her nose. He grabbed her long black hair in his hands and wrapped it around her neck. He pulled on it tightly, until the woman’s face turned as blue as her irises, and until the only thing that shone in her eyes wasn’t life but Dan’s satisfied silhouette, as the number sixteen slowly traced itself on her flesh.
“I’m very sorry!” She exclaimed again, covering her mouth with her hands. “I didn’t see you there… I must be blind!”
Dan’s heart banged hard against his chest.
“It’s okay…” Dan stammered. “Everyone’s a little blind…”
They both leaned down to pick up her belongings. Their hands touched, and the lady’s cheeks turned a flaming red. She grabbed her keys and Dan took her book. They stretched back up again and faced each other.
They stared at each other for a long minute, in which her cheeks never flushed the burning sensation. Dan smirked slightly, more to himself than to her, realizing what was incoming.
“Here you go,” Dan whispered, handing the book.
“Oh, thanks…” She replied shyly.
“Oniria..?” Dan questioned.
“Huh?”
“Your book.” Dan specified.
“Oh!” The lady beamed. “Yes, Oniria!”
Dan noticed her accent. It sounded American, but not quite.
“What is it?” He asked.
“Huh…” she laughed nervously. “It’s a horror slash sci-fi book…”
“Oh yeah, Oniria! I know what that is!” Dan lied.
“Don’t lie to me, I know you have no idea what that is.” She giggled.
“You caught me…” Dan laughed in turn. “But if you told me more about it… maybe I could read it and then I would know what I’m talking about.”
She chuckled again.
“It’s in French.” She announced.
“Oh…” Dan said. “Well, that’s inconvenient. I don’t speak French.”
“You’re cute.” She said after a short silence, smiling shyly.
Dan nodded modestly.
“Thank you, I would say the same thing about you.”
She blushed even deeper.
“Look, I was just going back to my flat,” the lady said. “Do you want to come over and have tea? I could tell you more about Oniria.”
Dan smiled from ear to ear.
“I accept gladly.”
“Awesome!” she beamed. “Oh, and, by the way, my name is Emily.”
“I’m Dan. Nice to meet you… Emily.”
~
Nervousness dominated the room. Papers flying, furious keyboard typing, people running, people shouting.
“I need to know who the first victim was!” Quest shouted for the whole team to hear throughout the office. “Find me a list of the people who have been reported missing in the radius of at least seven days preceding the death of Bradley Cox! Their names need to start with the letter A!”
He sat down. He put his chin on his fist and tapped his fingers on the table nervously. Quest felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Well done.” Wade said behind his back. “You cracked it fast.”
He moved his hand away and sat beside him. Quest’s fingers were still running on the table frantically.
“Yeah, well, we can’t be sure yet.” He replied stiffly. “With as little evidence as we have now, even if this pattern is confirmed, it’ll take one hell of a time to find the assassin.”
“Let’s pray they make only one little mistake.” Wade said, smiling.
“Kadner, we got it!” Dallas exclaimed.
His long legs crossed the office and stopped in front of the table Quest and Wade occupied. Dallas’ hair was dangling on his forehead, and he handed a paper to the agent before passing a hand through it.
“This is the list of the people who were reported missing in a radius of 31 days and whose names start with the letter A.” He announced. “If you want further information concerning one of them, we will proceed to get it for you.”
“Thank you, Wiseman.”
The document was a single sheet. Only five names were written. He read.
Abigail Wolden - Age: 16 Last seen: December 31st 2014
Alex Saul - Age: 7 Last seen: December 20th, 2014
Aiden Danley - Age: 12 Last seen: December 29th, 2014
Agana Baldwin - Age: 19 Last seen: January 17th, 2015
Adele Cornwell - Age: 20 Last seen: January 15th, 2015
Quest’s eyebrows furrowed.
“All of them aren’t from London, are they?” He said.
“Uh, no…” Dallas replied. “They’re from all around Great Britain.”
“Oh great, at least we won’t have to search in Ireland!” Quest exclaimed sarcastically. “The three victims we have so far resided in London, the first victim has to be in London as well. Just like our killer.”
“Right…” Dallas replied quietly.
He walked back up to where his other teammates were and they all started to type on their keyboards and search through paperwork again. A few minutes later, Dallas walked back up with a new sheet. He handed it over to Quest. Only two names were left on the sheet.
Agana Baldwin - Age: 19 Last seen: January 19th, 2014
Adele Cornwell - Age: 20 Last seen: January 17th, 2014
“They disappeared two days apart…” Quest whispered to himself, caressing his bottom lip with his thumb. “But Agana Baldwin… She disappeared two days before Bradley Cox died… What were the circumstances of their disappearance?”
“Adele Cornwell was last seen on January 17th by her boyfriend.” Zarah read out the reports. “It was midday, and she claimed she was going out to get something to eat. Basically, 5 hours later, boyfriend doesn’t get any news, she doesn’t answer her phone, neither her texts. He goes to every restaurant she likes to frequent nearby and no one saw her. Boyfriend calls the police. For Agana Baldwin, she was last seen January 19th by her parents. She went to sleep that night, and when they woke up the next day, she wasn’t in her bed. They claimed she was an exemplary daughter, that she always replied to phone calls and text messages, and that she always told them if she left. Mum and Dad called the police.”
“So, Agana Baldwin disappeared during the night, then.” Quest deduced.
“Most likely.” Vincent replied. “Apparently, she was an insomniac. Her parents said that she liked to go out at night and walk to ‘kill time’.”
“All of the victims so far were killed at night. It’s very likely that she was murdered that night.”
“Well, don’t look further.” Quest concluded. “Agana Baldwin is our victim. We only need to find her!”
“Agent Kadner,” Tucker exclaimed. “Our best research teams are already on the case and have been moving heaven and earth to find that missing girl! They have no clue where she can be! What the hell are you expecting my team to do?”
The whole room silenced. Quest stood up from his chair slowly. He took a few steps in Tucker Essex’s direction as everyone held their breath. He stopped a few centimeters away from him, and looked directly into his little eyes.
“Well, they must not be the ‘best’ research teams if they haven’t found anything yet. If they have you as a chief, no wonder why, honestly.”
Tucker’s tense mouth opened to say something but quickly shut. His eyes squinted so much that it felt almost cartoonish.
Quest turned away from him and addressed the people he knew were willing to follow his orders.
“If they haven’t found anything yet,” he said, “that means they aren’t looking at the right place. I want a record of the places they’ve looked at so far. I will go see Agana Baldwin’s parents to question them on places she would possibly frequent during her nocturnal adventures. Sadly, I highly doubt she is still alive. If she’s part of the pattern, she’s most definitely dead as we speak. If she got out during the night to kill time and got murdered at that moment, the killer couldn’t drag her body all across London. So we will install a perimeter around each place and search from top to bottom. Literally. Look up buildings, look in the sewers, I don’t give a crap, look everywhere you wouldn’t expect.”
“Heard him?” Wade said.
Everyone nodded and started to work. Quest turned back to Essex.
“Tell that to your ‘best’ research teams.”
He then headed towards the door, followed by Wade Allaway, as Tucker let out a frustrated growl.
~
The sofa found its balance when Emily sat back down next to Dan. She put two cups of tea on the coffee table in front of her and adjusted her hair subtly. She blushed slightly when she remembered how pretty Dan was, and awkwardly sipped on her tea.
“That’s a nice place you have.” Dan complimented.
“Thanks…” Emily replied.
She sipped again and Dan didn’t move.
“So… You wanted to know more about Oniria?” she remembered.
“Indeed.” Dan answered with a neutral voice. “So, who wrote it?”
“The author is called Patrick Sénécal.”
“Patrick Seyné who?”
Emily giggled joyfully.
“Sénécal. He’s French Canadian.” She specified. “Just like me.”
“Oh, interesting.” Dan said, pulling the naughtiest smirk he could.
He saw Emily’s cheeks burn.
“That would explain the accent.” He continued, not erasing the smirk from his lips.
“Evidently.” She replied, chuckling.
She sipped again, but Dan still didn’t touch his cuppa. Emily was too mesmerized by him that she didn’t even notice.
“Sénécal is very popular in Quebec. He’s renowned for his twisted writing. He’s written quite a few books, and even a few of them were cinematically adapted.”
“Was Oniria one of them?” Dan questioned.
“Unfortunately not… I’m sad, that would’ve been a really good movie!”
“What about you tell me the story now?”
“Right. Oniria is the story of four murderers, Dave, Jef, Eric and Loner-”
“Loner?” Dan exclaimed. “Is that his real name?”
Emily giggled.
“No, his real name is Normand. They call him Loner because he’s solitary.”
Dan nodded. “Four murderers, is that so?”
“Anyway, so these four guys are in prison for murder. But Dave, the main character, is convinced from the bottom of his heart that he did not kill his girlfriend, the reason why he’s in jail. They elaborate a plan to escape and when they do, they can’t go any further because police cars are blocking every street ends. So they decide to break into a house and stay there for the night, to then exile to the United States. The house they break in is actually Dave’s therapist’s house, Dr. Vivianne Léveillé. Loner and Eric take her husband, Angus Zorn, and their housemaid, Eva, as hostages whilst Jef and Dave go downstairs to find Vivianne. In the cellar, they witness weird apparitions. They see mutilated people and someone looking strangely like Ben Laden. They finally find Vivianne, and she explains them what the apparitions were. She says they are oneiric apparitions from the patients they keep interned in their cellar.”
“What are those..?” Dan questioned.
“They’re materialized dreams, basically.” Emily explained.
“Whoa…”
“Yeah…” She said. “They invented the machine that makes it possible. They call their cellar Oniria as well, which explains the title. Anyway, I’m not going to go in deep details but basically, they discover that Eva is a materialized dream of one of the patients, and that she can’t be turned off by the machine. She’s permanently materialized. They call them projections. Those kinds of dreams are usually the version of the patient they wish they were. The only way to feed Eva is to let her give you a blowjob.”
Dan almost choked on his saliva.
“What…”
“I told you, twisted writing.” Emily reminded him.
“You have to be kinky to read those kinds of things.” Dan grinned.
Emily’s whole face turned crimson. Dan kept staring deep into her eyes. Emily felt intimidated, but found Dan even more fascinating.
“You wanted to read it as well, I shall remind you.” She grinned back.
“True. So how does it end, then?”
“They discover that Dave is actually a projection himself. His true self, David, a patient interned in Oniria, did kill his girlfriend. The better version of him wanted to be convinced he had never done it. So Vivianne switched David and Dave. She sent Dave back to prison so she could study him and kept David interned in Oniria, until the two met.”
“Wow.” Dan said. “Now I wish I spoke French.”
Emily chuckled and sipped on her tea again. Dan still hadn’t touched his.
“Yeah, it’s a very good book.”
She slowly put her cup back in the saucer.
“Eva is an interesting character.” Dan pointed out.
“D-do you think?” Emily squealed.
“Oh, yeah. She is.”
“Why? Is it because of her never ending thirst for oral sex?”
“Maybe.” Dan said with a neutral voice.
A short silence settled.
“But who can blame her?” Dan teased with a languorous voice.
He stared deeply into Emily’s eyes and held on her gaze. He had won. Emily had fallen into his trap. He had seduced her. She leaned in, slowly, breathing heavily. Dan could almost hear her heart pound from his side of the sofa. He leaned in as well, and their faces were suddenly very close to each other.
“Right… who can blame her…” she breathed.
And just like that, their lips met. At first it was slow, steady, intimate. But Emily grabbed Dan’s shoulder and pulled into a deeper kiss. He followed her move. He licked the inside of her bottom lip and he felt her shudder under his hand placed on her cheek. The kiss became more heated, and Dan’s right hand gently crawled up her leg. He started massaging her inner thigh, and he felt her smile in the kiss. Emily kissed more deeply, more ferociously, languorously. Dan felt her hand reach for his own inner thigh. He grabbed her neck with his free hand and squeezed.
At first, she giggled at how rough Dan was, but after a few seconds, her laugh fainted.
“Ow, Dan, that hurts!” She said, breaking the kiss. “Câlisse, Dan, stop! Tu m’fais mal!”
Dan smirked from ear to ear and looked at her straight in the eyes.
“You were right.” He said, a spark of madness glowing into his own eyes. “You must be very blind.”
Before Emily could register what Dan had just said, his other hand had wrapped itself around her neck. He squeezed hardly, choking her. Emily gargled, coughed, gasped for air, but Dan’s grip was too tight. Her hands were flying everywhere, trying to push Dan away. She knocked her fists on his thighs and on his arms fruitlessly. And suddenly, she stopped fighting. She wasn’t breathing anymore.
Dan pulled away, satisfied. He looked at Emily’s inert body lying on the sofa.
“I’ve had better make out sessions with guys, to be honest.” Dan sighed, detached.
He wiped his forehead with his forearm.
“Now, what do I do with you, Emily..?”
He smiled widely.
“Before I start, Emily,”
Dan kept stressing her name. It sounded so good in his mouth, Emily. Emily, Emily, Emily. He had waited three days, and now he was ready to continue the pattern. E-m-i-l-y.
“You remind me of someone.”
He laughed humourlessly.
“Someone dear to me.” He continued, pacing around the sofa. “A friend. A very, very, good friend, Emily.”
Dan stopped behind her, leaning in to whisper in her ear.
“See, both of you are very blind.”
He continued pacing, examining his nails.
“So I thought, why not dedicate my next victim to him? Send him a little message. Well, since he’s so blind, I doubt he’ll even understand.”
He sniggered to himself.
“But I’m sure he’ll appreciate. You know, when the pattern ends. He’ll be grateful. Just like you, and everyone else.”
He stood silent for a moment, his hands joined behind his back.
“Well, shall we get started then?”
Dan reached for his backpack he had left next to the sofa. He reached for the bike gloves inside, slid his fingers in and stood back up.
“This is going to be fun!” He exclaimed.
He lifted Emily’s dead body off the sofa and sat her down on a chair in front of the kitchen table. He then opened the cabinets.
“My friend quite likes cereals.” Dan said, searching through the cabinets. “Hopefully, you do too.”
He finally found a bowl and a spoon. He placed them in front of Emily on the table. He then opened the pantry door and found a box of cereal. He grinned as he grabbed it and poured some into the bowl.
Dan walked back up to his backpack and retrieved his penknife.
“Wouldn’t be quite as exciting if there wasn’t blood, don’t you think, Emily?”
Dan exploded into a maniac laughter. He put his hands on his ribs, hysterical. He wiped a tear sliding down his eye before heading back to Emily. He switched the blade and took her wrist in his hand.
“Oh, Emily.” Dan murmured. “The pattern wouldn’t be complete if you didn’t take part of it.”
He delicately placed the blade upon the skin of her wrist, then added a bit more pressure and slit. The blood poured out gracefully, sliding down her hand into the bowl of cereals.
“Who needs milk these days?” Dan laughed.
He grabbed the spoon and stirred the mixture. He couldn’t brush the smile off his face.
“Now, Emily.” Dan exclaimed with an excited voice. “It’s time for your eye operation. All blind people need one, don’t you think?”
He cackled to himself as he lifted his hands up to Emily’s eyes’ level. He licked his upper lip with concentration, and penetrated the spoon under her eyeball. He scooped it gently, and it popped out its socket. Dan smirked to himself and grabbed his penknife again. He cut the muscles that withheld it in the skull, and the eyeball finally fell into his hand, leaving nothing but an empty and bloody eye socket. He dropped the muscle into the bowl.
“If only you hadn’t been so blind, Emily.”
He repeated his process with the second eye and dropped it in the bowl as well. He put the spoon in decoratively, and positioned Emily’s body to make it look like she was eating breakfast. Dan stepped back and admired his work. He kissed the tip of his fingers and sent them flying in front of it.
“Beautiful.” He spoke in an awed whisper.
Dan then searched for a clothe he could borrow. He washed her cheek and her neck to erase his fingerprints. He switched his blade again and said:
“Now for the final touch…”
He lacerated each of her cheeks with the numbers “5” and “16”. He took a few steps back and admired his work once again.
“Truly beautiful.” He commented. “I call this one…”
He took a deep breath and nodded to himself, grinning.
“Blind Breakfast.”
Dan retrieved his backpack and left the apartment.
“Now, let’s see what you think, Phil.”
hehehehehehe another victim! sorry for french/french canadian people who wanted to read oniria oh well you can still read 5150 rue des ormes or aliss, they're all very good tbh! shoutout to my man patrick sénécal. also shoutout to myself for introducing y'all a bit of culture from my home, quebec! also shoutout to quest's sass bc literally same.
would be good if you shared with your friends! oh and we're almost at 10k reads, that's amazing!! thank you very much!!!!
goodbye!