He cracked his knuckles and gazed down at you with a sneer.
"Now, let the real show begin."
***
Crap. As if things couldn't get any worse.
You nervously fidgeted. Sweat dribbled down your neck.
"Come on, Mister," you joked, trying to lighten up the tense situation you were in. "What do you mean? The show's already over; no one's here. Just let me go already. I don't have anything you want anyway."
A harsh slap to your face made you temporarily see stars blotting your vision. White-hot pain seared across your cheek.
You tched and shook off the dizziness, glaring him straight in the eye. Something hot and wet was dripping out the corner of your mouth and you recognized it as blood from the taste and scent of it. Bitter and thick, with a metallic odor to it.
"I'll cut straight to the point. Hopefully, the police won't discover the secret to this trick anytime soon.
"You're the one who murdered your boyfriend."
A pause. A poorly-hidden snort. A laugh.
You didn't even bother to cover your mouth to stifle your laughs. An ungodly wheeze escaped your lungs as you turned the other way.
"Pffft... nice one, mister," you cough out. "Unfortunately, I have a solid alibi that's been backed up by evidence, so could you please let me go unless you've got something-"
Another harsh slap across the face. Your swollen cheek stung twice as much now. Stars blotted out your vision and your head throbbed and pulsed.
"Goddamnit, you're so infuriating. Can't you just stay still and listen for once?"
The venomous tone of his voice made you shut up instantly. He twitched his hand and made a motion like he was opening a water bottle.
You felt something shift in the back of your mind. The closest you could get to describing it was as if something was rising to the top of your mind, which had been previously submerged at the bottom.
And then all went black.
It felt as if you were dreaming but you knew you weren't. The best description was virtual reality but you weren't in control of your own body.
"The hell? What is this? What am I doing?" you heard yourself say.
"For a lack of better words, you're watching how events played out the night your beloved boyfriend was murdered."
You struggled and tried to free yourself, but nothing was happening, so you eventually gave up and decided to see what he was talking about.
Through your first-person point of view, the sky and surroundings were dark around you. For a while, you were completely in the dark about where you were until you saw the familiar silhouette of an imposing mansion on the horizon.
Isn't that Saguru's house?
Your gaze shifted down as you heard a few beeps typing the passcode in.
Immediately, you stiffened. Only a select few people knew the passcode, you being one of them.
Ooh boy. Kinda sus, but let's keep going...
Walking through the long hallway, you looked up and noticed the security camera that was usually blinking, signaling it was on and recording, was no longer.
Did someone sabotage it or something?
You stopped in front of Saguru's bedroom door. With inhuman quietness, you pushed it open to see your boyfriend curled up underneath the fluffy white covers, clearly in a deep sleep.
A jolt of horror went through you as you crept to his walk-in closet and grabbed a tie and walked out.
The suspected murder weapon was one of his ties...!
You tried once more to snap yourself out of this nightmare. With horror, you watched as you straddled your boyfriend and tied the tie around his neck securely.
He woke up slowly and groggily, blinking up at you in confusion.
"Huh...? (Y/n), what're you doing...?"
The full severity of the situation hit him like a brick and he tried to sit upright, but your position prevented him from doing so.
His handsome features slowly eased into one of regretful acceptance.
"Go on, (y/n). I knew this was going to happen sooner or later. Just get on with it already."
You felt something wet rolling down your cheeks and realized it was your tears.
"I'm so sorry, Haku-chan..."
And with a start, you were freed from the oxidizing nightmare of the murder you had committed without your knowledge.
***
You lay in a dazed heap atop your hotel room bed. The air conditioner hummed quietly in the background but you didn't hear it.
Everything had been revealed to you. It had been revealed to you that you were the one who committed the murder, as well as how you got away with it. Summarized, you had driven a stolen car to the city's dumpster and tossed everything that could be used to incriminate you into there, such as the wig you were wearing, the tie used to kill him, and your clothes.
You remembered walking to the tube station with the people around you shooting weird looks at you. A lady asked you if you were alright, to which you numbly nodded.
In a twisted sense of logic, it made sense that you'd be the murderer. You were the closest person to him and there were no conflicts between the two of you that could put you under suspicion, which was all too perfect for his plan. Also, you knew some sensitive information he'd have a hard time getting his hands on, such as the security password to the estate and being able to get past the retina scans.
"Why...?" you had remembered asking. "And how were you able to manipulate me into going along with your plans without my knowledge...?"
He had leaned down until he was eye level with you.
"I am an assassin by night, after all. With my illusion abilities, it's almost too easy to manipulate you as a puppeteer would into doing my dirty work."
You rolled over and almost fell off the bed, managing to catch yourself just in time from doing so.
The only question that remained was, what now? What were you going to do after this?
You checked the calendar on your phone. You were due to arrive back in Japan in three days. Before your flight departed, you had three days to think about what your next move would be.
You heaved yourself off of the bed and trudged to the bathroom, where you locked the door behind you.
After drawing a bath for yourself, you stripped and allowed yourself to sink into the warm water with bubbles rising to the brim and relax.
You felt like crying but found that you couldn't. Your eyes were dry and they burned at the back, but nothing came out from your tear ducts. Shock had gotten to your brain and numbed any sense of emotion left.
I... don't even know what to do with myself anymore.
Word count: 1170 words
Page count: 11 pages