Mystery, suspense
5 min
No Escape
K Y
Twenty minutes lost. I twist my left wrist for the time. The scene has seamlessly cut from my bedside to one cozy corner of a restaurant. Before me sits a young lady whose hands hold mine across the table. ‘Sorry but do I know you?' I lift my eyes and meet her affectionate gaze. ‘Not well enough.' Gently she squeezes my hand and smiles.
I lean forward, ‘Not well enough?' I repeat. A ghost of smile flickers across her lips, ‘Don't worry,' she whispers, ‘It's only a matter of time for you to know me the way that I know everything about you.' I slightly tilt my head while a million questions run through my mind.
My eyes scrutinize every detail of hers, searching for any clues that may reveal her identity. I quickly flashed back every corner of my memories, trying to find a familiar face, but it is hitting the same dead end repeatedly.
A deep sense of unease settles in my chest. ‘Who are you and why are we at this restaurant?' I ask, swallowing hard against the nervousness in my voice.
‘Kendrick,' using my name for the first time, ‘Be patient.'
‘Can't you just tell me?' I huff.
She slowly leans back to her chair, ‘Sweetie, if I were to tell you now, what's the fun in that?' She begins to chuckle, a hollow sound that does not quite reach her heart.
I realise I am getting nowhere near the answers to her identity or this strange place.
‘Fine...' I spat, ‘Then can you at least tell me how I get here? One moment I am in my bedroom, now I am here sitting with you?'
She doesn't answer me immediately. Instead, she reaches for the glass of red wine and deliberately takes a slow sip.
‘It is YOU that brought us here.' she murmured.
I stared at her, ‘You are not making any sense.' I snap. ‘Give me a straight answer right now, or I am going to walk out the door.'
My voice is sharp enough to cut through the air, but she does not even blink. I have expected her to be at least startled by my sudden outburst, yet she seems unbothered. It is chilling, almost as if she wants to see me like this. She sits there in silence, just quietly watching me like a mother waiting for her child to finish a tantrum before getting down to business.
I cannot take this silence for another second. I scramble my feet, without a single backward glance, rush towards the restaurant door. I wrench the door open with such violence that the frame hits the wall so hard. I don't care; I just want to get away from here.
I burst through the door, expecting the cool night air outside. Instead, my feet meet nothing but an empty space. There is only a vast void in its place. Suddenly, an invisible force drags me down. I scream at the top of my lungs crying for help, but it's useless.
Just as the shadows begin to rob away all my senses, a sudden light enters the space. I rub my eyes frantically, trying to clear my vision.
When I look up, I let out a large gasp— it is the same glass of red wine sitting on the table.
SHE IS THERE.
‘You are back,' she whispers, her voice like a shiver down my spine. ‘I told you to be patient.' She watches me with a calculated warmth, like a hunter coaxing her prey into enjoying the hunt.
‘What was that?' I stammer, my voice trembling with what just happened.
‘What the hell was that?' I demanded again.
‘It is your punishment for not listening to me.' She says softly. She offers a sweet smile that is meant to be comforting, but I see the dangerous nature lurking right beneath the surface.
‘What do you want from me?' I ask.
‘You.' she replies simply.
I freeze and am confused by what she means. ‘So you want to be with me?' I falter. If she is trying to date me, I think I can find a way to resolve this easily.
‘No,' she whispers, ‘I want us to become one.'
‘One?' I repeat, the words feeling heaving on my tongue.
‘Yes, you and me, together. We merge until there is no ‘you' and ‘me' left—only one identity.'
My stomach churned. ‘What if I refuse?'
Her smile fade and her eyes turn cold as the void outside. ‘Then next time, when you walk out the door, you won't be coming back here alive.'
The answer makes my blood run cold.
‘What do you say?' she asks. She fixes her gaze on me like a predator watching a cornered prey. It is a look of certainty, almost like she knows I have no choice but to say yes to her.
‘Only if you tell me what is this place?'
‘Look at you,' she smirks, ‘bargaining like a pro.' The dimples flicker on her face are terrifying; it is a smile from the heart, the kind of joy that a hunter feels when the prey starts to play along.
‘Deal?' I manage to force a grin, though my palms are sticky with all the sweat. I know I am playing a dangerous game with her. If I play it right, maybe I can map out my location, giving me the leverage to break free from her magic.
‘This restaurant is inside your head. We are sitting at the very centre of your consciousness.' She replies.
‘Stop playing chess with me.' I ramble, my mind racing. ‘If this is my mind, why can't I throw you out to end this?'
She doesn't flinch. ‘Then why are you waiting for? Kill me. See if it sets you free.'
Her threat of ‘becoming one' echoes in my mind; I know if I don't act, then she will finish me. A desperate survival instinct kicks in. I jumped over the table and quickly lock my hands around her throat. I tighten the grip at her throat, expecting her to beg me for mercy. Instead, she begins to laugh—a hollow sound that seems to echo in my own chest.
As her face turns purple, my own vision begins to fail. It feels as if there is also an invisible hand strangling me in tandem.
When she desperately claws for air, my own lungs are screaming in agony. Horror drenches me when I realise our movements are perfectly mirrored. We are not two strangers fighting; we are the two sides of the same coin. I am the prey and she is the predator of my own reflection.
The room begins to shift and descend into the same void that had haunted my escape. A terrifying truth hits me: to kill her is commit my own execution. Yet, my grip didn't loosen, because I know the danger she poses. She is the shadow I tried to outrun.
‘Why?' I choke out. ‘Why would you want us to be one?'
‘I can take you further,' she whispers, her voice resonating with my own voice. ‘I can achieve the unthinkable.'
I know this is the only way to end this cycle.
As I watch my reflection dying in my own hands, a wave of sadness crashes over me. I hesitated for a moment. Then I remember, she is the darkest side of me-- reminding me of every lie I have ever told, every hidden desire I have suppressed, and the repressive lust I seek to bury.
I HAVE TO KILL HER.
The world around us starts to scramble, reality shattering into pieces. My consciousness begins to slip, I faint, but I feel something is reforming in the hidden corners of my mind.
A flash of light pierces my mind. I wake up from the horror, sitting on the edge of my bed—exactly where I was before that happened. I shake my head, trying to dismiss the horror as a dream. But the air is thin, my lungs are gasping for oxygen.
The restaurant is gone. The red wine is gone. She is gone. There is only silence left in my room. When I look at my hands, my heart skips a beat. My palms are marked with imprints of my nails and blood that didn't belong to a dream.
I rush into the bathroom, splashing water onto my face to wash away the bloodstain on my hands. A sense of triumph fills my mind.
I HAVE KILLED HER. I HAVE OUTSMARTED HER.
I grab a towel to wipe my face and look into the mirror.
I freeze.
In the mirror, my reflection stands still, even though I have stepped back. A warm smile flickers across the lips, the same dimple I have seen at the restaurant.
‘You can't run away from who you are.' My reflection whispered, its voice synced with my own lips, though I haven't moved them.
The light flickers and dies, leaving me alone in the darkness that is far deeper than the void.
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