Page 10 of Shattered Souls

“Rayvn?” He blinks a few times. “What happened? I lost you, I think.” I reach my arm out to him.

“You fell,” I lie. How am I supposed to tell him that someone I thought was just a scare actor hit him on the back of the head? “Come on. Let’s get out of here. I still have to give you my number, after all.” His eyes light up at that final part of my sentence.

“Yeah—” He’s talking one moment, then the next there’s a large metal hook wrapped around the side of his face, submerged into his eye socket. He lets out a labored gasp and his hand comes up to touch the source of the pain.

The second his hand touches the metal, it’s roughly ripped from his skull, taking his brown eye with it. The wet pop sound that follows churns my stomach, and I have to cover my mouth to keep my stomach's contents at bay. His remaining eye widens and his mouth falls open, but no words come out.

Mateo falls to his knees, lone eye watching me as if I might help him, before he falls face first into the cold earth. The look in his now unseeing eye is familiar, flashing unwelcome memories in my mind. Behind his body is a feral looking Hyde—hook back at his side, now with an accessory.

“Holy shit.” I cover my mouth with the back of my hand to keep the few pieces of popcorn down.

His free hand moves around in the air, but I can’t stop looking at the eye that was looking at me with desire less than five minutes ago.

When I turn and run this time, I don’t even bother looking behind me. I need to get out of here as fast as I possibly can.

“Right.” I mumble to myself, forcing my brain to remember my directions. My calves burn from the force of which I’m working them.

“Left.”

“Left.”

“Right.”

The path in front of me splits into straight or right. I slow my steps just enough to try and look down the right path. Worst mistake.

A bloodied hand clasps over my mouth and drags me down the right path. I scream out into his wet flesh, but it’s no use. My words are stuck in my hyperventilating mouth as the metallic taste spreads on my tongue.

He drags me down the path, the lights getting scarce, and I kick my feet to try and gain leverage. I thrash my shoulders against him, and just as I feel myself slipping free, he places the same hook I just watched him take a life with against my trachea.

I raise my hands in surrender, throat bobbing with fear, but he doesn’t stop.

He drags me until my feet catch on a threshold of some sort. I look down to see concrete under my feet instead of dirt. When I look back up, I see a section of the hedge wall closing, sealing me in here with this crazed man.

He removes his hand from my mouth.

“Please! Please, I saw nothing! I swear!” Tears have long since started to stream down my face. He doesn’t respond to my pleas and cries. Instead, he spins me and shoves me into a small room.

There’s a bed, a toilet, and a sink in the room. Nothing more, nothing less. I spin to face him but stumble back as the door to the room slams shut in my face.

“No!” I bang on the metal door as hard as I can. There’s no handle on the inside, but I still try to shove the door open somehow.

“Please,” I pound my fists until they bleed and my bones begin to ache. “I’ll do anything.”

I can’t be shoved in a prison like this. Not when I’ve been spending the last two and a half years running from this very thing. Not to mention the fact that my mind is a prison in itself.

If I had just kept my rule of not letting myself entertain the thought of friendship, then I wouldn’t even be in this position in the first place. I would be back at my shitty apartment with my laptop propped open while I stare at the article that talks about the man that’s been framed for my crime.

This is exactly what I deserve.

I deserve to sit here and rot, just like that poor and innocent man will.

4

Hyde

Istare at the door that I just shoved her in with trembling hands.

Seek is going to kill me.