Chapter 36: Chapter 36: Fear

My arms stayed stiffly at my sides as I was lost for words on what to do and whenever I would move an inch, a crushing feeling would be exerted on my shoulders, making it difficult for me to even gulp down my own saliva. The crook of my neck was constantly under attack by Mark’s hot breath, sending a tickling feeling down my spine.

“Um…” I wanted to say something, but immediately drew the words back into my mouth; biting down on my bottom lip nervously.

With hampering movements, I slowly raised up my arms. As the best that I could, I coiled my arms around his broad back. Mark went rigid in my arms and I could feel my heart hammering away against my rib cage as I tightly shut my eyes.

‘I must be crazy for trying to console my stalker.’ I sighed in resignation as I looked up heavenward and slowly patted him on the back.

“There… there…?” The words came out drawled with a perfect mix of hesitation and confusion.

The vibration that joggled Mark’s body as he let out a low chuckle in the crook of my neck could be felt beneath my fingertips. “You’re so cute.” He breathed.

“Shut up.” I grumbled shyly, but the patting on the back didn’t cease.

He pulled himself away and stared at me with fondness in his eyes. “How can I not find you cute when I see you trying to console me?”

I sputtered, embarrassed. “I-I wasn’t trying to console you! You were crushing me with those beefy arms of yours and I couldn’t breathe, so I only patted you so that you would release me.” I rambled fast, hoping that he wouldn’t notice the slight high pitched wobbly voice of mine as I folded my arms in front of my chest, turning away from his smiling face.

He snickered. “Uh-hu let’s just say that.” His voice didn’t sound convinced at all and the mirth in his eyes was only growing, causing the blushing on my face to intensify.

“Whatever.” I mumbled as I stomped away from him.

“Where are you going?” He asked, laughing at my behavior.

“Trying to see if there’s a way to escape from this hellhole.” I answered in a grumbling voice.

“Okay! Have fun in getting to know the house!” He waved off cheerfully. “I’ll prepare dinner in the meantime.” He added, and I grimaced at the traitorous sound of my rumbling stomach at the mentioning of dinner as I went on the red carpeted covered stairs. 

…

I had already exited the fourth bathroom as the seasonal aroma of the dinner slowly engulfed the entire house. Ignoring the intensified rumbling sounds of my stomach, I was astonished at the amount of rooms that were present in this giant house.

“For what does he need four bathrooms?” I mumbled, annoyed, as I let my fingers run through my hair.

That was the umpteenth room that I just came out from and there just seems to be no end to these rooms. It’s a maze. Some rooms had no windows at all, which only set a shiver down my spine questioning myself for what he used those rooms for. And if there was a room with a window, that window would be locked with the same fingerprint lock as the one from the living room. No matter how hard I try to bust down those windows, they will just not crack.

It looks like I’m really stuck here.

I sighed, frustrated, as I rested my hand on the doorknob of the next room that I was going to enter. Expecting it to be another bathroom, I idly turned the doorknob.

Through the crack opening of the door, I could only see a void. Worried and scared that it was going to be one of those creepy rooms, I only stuck my head inside to quickly scan the room and to just leave if it was one of those rooms.

Instead, I was taken aback by the shimmering light of the sunset that was trickling through the curtains, basking the black wooden desk with its light. Rows of wooden bookcases that were dyed with the same color as the desk were covering all the walls with books neatly lined up. The serene ambience of the room amazed me, but the thing that really caught my eyes was the silver laptop which laid on top of the desk.

As if compelled, I trudged towards it. I quickly whipped my head around in case Mark was standing behind me before flipping open the laptop. Turning it on, I was curious to what I would find, only to be slapped in my face by the screen that was asking for a password.

Tilting my head back, I let out an inaudible groan. “Seriously?” I frowned, displeased.

“Password… Password… Password…” I kept chanting that repeatedly, as if I hoped the answer would hit me like a sudden wave.

I groaned, frustrated, as I ruffled my head. “Seriously, what could it be? It’s not like the password would be his birthdate or something… hmm?”

A sudden realization hit me and I leaned back, muffling my mouth with my hand, as I muttered to myself. “Not his birthdate… but maybe mine?” I wondered.

“No, no, no.” I said as I shook my head in denial. “There’s no way that he would use that as his password, right?”

Eyeing the monitor, I questioned myself if Mark would really do something stupid like that. Not able to withhold my curiosity in a hunkered position, I let my fingers type in my birthdate and pressed enter. Seeing the loading screen for so long, I thought the password was wrong and exhaled, relieved.

“Yeah!” I exclaimed. “There’s no way that Mark would… huh?”

My words got derailed as the loading screen flickered to the home screen. I saw a picture of me as a kid playing in the meadow in the background.

Thoughts filled with questions were racing through my mind, wondering how in the world he got his hands on that picture, but those thoughts got overshadowed by how flabbergasted I was that his password was indeed my birthdate.

‘Damn Mark for an ingenious killer. You’re sure are stupid.’ I thought, shaking my head as my jaw hung slack.

“Hmm… let see.” Gathering back my focus, I let the cursor roam around the screen, searching for something that I could use as leverage against Mark.

“What’s this?” I queried when I let the cursor hover around the folder that was nameless which only had a chess piece on it. I clicked on it and nausea rolled in my stomach, wiping away my previous hunger.

One by one, pictures popped out of the folder. Pictures of random people who were killed by Mark. The sight was so gruesome that I couldn’t describe what I saw. My breathing became shallow as I tried my best to prevent the bile from coming up my throat. My stomach was churning, and I had to usher my eyes shut when even videos on how Mark tortured them popped up.

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I clicked them away quickly as I wasn’t able to withstand their heart wrenching cries any longer.

Heaving, I tried to compose myself again. My eyes were bloodshot from suppressing the tears and I had to bite down my lips, almost drawing out blood.

‘No, calm down, April. This is what you needed. Hard cold evidence that Mark is a killer.’ I told myself. If I show this to the police, no… even to the media, then Mark has no chose but to be locked up behind jail.

Forcing myself, I let my eyes glaze over the folder, not letting them linger too long on the pictures or videos in fear that I may throw up.

I had noticed a few things after looking around the folder. Mark wasn’t on them and even if he was, he was fully disguised. This bastard knew that this could be used against him so he made sure that he wouldn’t be recognizable.

The other thing that I had noticed was that under every picture or video there was a chest piece basically indicating what each victim was.

There was also no sign of the king and queen chest pieces to be seen. Instead, each of them had their own folder. It scared me to open them since I don’t know what I would find, but I still did.

When I opened them, my eyes went round and I couldn’t hold back the vituperation. “That mother-fucking sicko!”

Like with all the other chess pieces that I saw, the kings and queens were marred beyond recognition, but not only that, he also wrote a note about each victim. He wrote about their daily life, how he ruined them, how he slowly killed all their loved ones and how he would kill them in detail. And the worst things was that he enjoyed it! It was like a game to him.

Anger poured through me at the inhuman act until I saw my own name on one of those folders. My face was contoured in fear, and my index finger was trembling as I clicked on it.

“The fuck?”

Just like the others, all my information was on it, but that was not what put me off. What put me off were the pictures that were taken of me and how, under each picture, he wrote what he loved about it or how he felt when he took it.

It was basically a stalker’s diary.

“I’m going to get sick.” I said as I deviated my eyes from the screen. Plopping down on my knees, I was preparing to hurl as I placed both of my palms on the ground.

“We can’t have that.”

My body stiffens at the casual voice. A hand made its way, plastering on to my forehead with its ice-cold palm.

My pupils dilated, and I glanced sideways to see Mark, who was crouching down as he checked his own temperature with his hand. He hummed thoughtfully. “You don’t seem to have a fever… baby, you’re shivering. What’s wrong?”

His voice was laced with worry, and his eyebrows were knitted together as he looked down at my shivering form.

My mind was in disarray. I didn’t know anymore if I was shivering from the chilly feeling of his fingertips or if I was shivering because it finally downed on me that this man in front of me was someone dangerous.

Every muscle in my body screamed at me to flee. I slapped his hand away and scrambled back until my back hit the drawers of the desk. “Don’t touch me!” I screamed, my voice trembling in fear.

My body was still shivering as sweat poured out of my skin. My eyes were quivering as I stared at the man, who now seemed like the devil.

Hurt flashed across Mark’s eyes before he covered it up with a smile, not realizing that the smile scares me even more.

He carefully approached. “What’s wrong, kitten?” he asked, his voice soft. “What made you so scar-”

His words slowly derailed until he halted his speech when his eyes landed on the monitor with all the folders on full display. His eyes shifted back to me and, as if something finally clicked, he quickly closed the laptop as he cursed under his breath.

Two pairs of firm hands engulfed my shoulders as they roughly pulled me closer to Mark. “I know I can’t talk my way out of this and that no matter what I say, you wouldn’t believe me.” He said in one quick breath. The deep blue eyes filled with panic as they bored in to mine. “But it’s not what it looks like.”

I glared at him in disbelieve. “Yeah, it sure doesn’t look like you’re a vile fucking sicko.” I sneered and shrugged myself free from his hold.

He sighed. “Okay, so it is what it looks like, but don’t act like you never knew I literary killed three of your work colleagues and you sure as hell didn’t act like this to me back then.” He pointed out.

A pang of guilt could be felt in my chest. He was right and at that time; I was terrified. And I don’t know whether it was because I didn’t like the people that were killed or if it was because I knew that my stalker was the one who did it and that I just had to watch out from now on, but I wasn’t really scared of Mark after that.

“Mark,” I began slowly as I stood up. “There are over hundred people saved on that laptop. People that you have killed.” I said deliberately, as if I was talking to a child who didn’t know right from wrong.

He shrugged. “It could have been more if I wasn’t busy with you.”

The casualness took in his tone caught me off guard. “Don’t you realize that you have robbed hundreds of people of their family and friends!?” I yelled.

Mark sighed, frustrated, and grabbed me by my shoulders, pulling me towards him until we were face to face. “Don’t stress your pretty head over it.” He started as he stroked my trembling cheek with his rough hand. He brought his mouth to my ear and whispered. “Just remember that your loved ones can also end up like that, so act wisely.”

He drew back and smiled sweetly at me. His moon crest shaped eyes, which I normally would swoon over now, scared me. My dreadful expression was reflected in his eyes.

I frightened by Mark many times whenever he would threaten me, but this was the first time that fear impaled me.

I fear this man.

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