22
I pushed the door closed harshly. Dad looked at me in confusion.
“Dream, what are you doing?” He raised his eyebrows.
I turned to look at him. My eyes were wet with tear.
“Him…?” His voice was low. “He hurts you?”
I slowly nodded and closed my eyes tightly.
Bill… was the one who hurt me. He made me sink into the endless fear. Because of him… it was all because of him.
Dad looked at me with comprehensive eyes and let out a big sigh before spoke.
“I know I shouldn’t let him in.” He shook his head. “But I can’t let someone injured out there as well. After treating the wounds, I’ll call the police.”
I looked at him briefly before stepped back from the door docilely. Dad opened the door. He looked at Bill with fierce eyes. He bowed in thank before stepped into the house.
Suddenly he fell on the ground. Bill tried to get up but fell again. Dad sighed before went to support him and led him to the living room with the first aid kit.
He sat Bill by one side of the walls then crouched down in front of him. They looked into each other eyes for a long time before Dad broke the silence.
“How did you get these wounds?” He raised his brows.
“I- I don’t know… I really don’t know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I… can’t remember anything…” Bill lowered his head.
Dad sighed, looking at me before shook his head.
“Why are you here?” He asked. “You should go to the hospital.”
Bill looked at me before lowered his head and whispered.
“As I said, I… I don’t know… I can’t remember.”
I stepped back a bit and wrapped my arms around myself. He was lying. No culprit would confess his guilt easily.
“Let me tell you bluntly.” He pointed at him in warning. “After you stop bleeding, you must resign yourself to the police. You’ve tried to hurt my girl so many times. I won’t let you off anymore. Understood?”
Bill lifted his head briefly before lowered it down again.
Suddenly, the light went out. Dad looked around before got up and went upstairs.
“I’ve warned you.” He turned to say fiercely. “When I’m not around if you hurt Dream in any way… I won’t spare you.”
The thunder was screaming in angry. I heard raindrops hit the windows around the house. The darkness from the cloud came back and forth, switching with the light from the thunder. The atmosphere in the room was eerie. I could feel something dangerous lurking around the place.
Bill panted heavily. I heard that people who lost blood would try to breathe harder to make up for the blood loss. Only his breathing could make me shake. I recalled that disgusting meat between his legs, aiming at me. The rough touch. The unsightly veins. Those images stuck with me.
Bill looked at me with blank eyes. Both of his hands were hidden inside his jeans. I stepped away instinctively.
“You… what do you want here?” I gritted my teeth.
“Dream…” Bill muttered. “You have to believe me. I… can’t remember anything.”
“Why should I?” I retorted. “Why do I have to believe someone who hurt me and even… even…”
A tear slowly ran down my face. I turned my face away, trying to hide the weakness inside.
“Dream…” Bill said gently. He stepped closer, opened his arms to hug me. I brushed his hands away before wrapping my arms around myself tightly.
“I… I’ve done something bad to you?”
“You’re still lying… You’ve hurt me… make me scared all the time.”
“I… did?” Bill took a small step back. “I- I- I’m sorry. I’ve never mean to hurt you. I really haven’t.”
“This is an apology?” I gritted my teeth hard, trying to contain my tear. “The way you try to harm Ton and me… That’s called you don’t mean to hurt me?”
Suddenly, Bill fell down. His hands covered his head in an attempt to apologize. He kept his head down without even glancing up. I loosed my arms a bit, looking at him with empathy for a brief moment.
Maybe Bill… wasn’t the real culprit.
No… those wounds… It was impossible that Bill would be innocent. Impossible.
“Get up...” I whispered. Bill remained still.
“No… I won’t get up until you believe that I’m truly sorry.” Bill said. “I’m sorry… for everything. About that I tried to hurt Ton and you. About that I couldn’t be a good lover for you. Everything… everything.”
I’d never see Bill like this. Usually, Bill cared only himself. He’d never bent down or suppressed himself for anyone. If anybody tried to shake his belief, he was ready to hurt that person just to save his stand to the end.
Bill… might really change.
No… no way. Bill had hurt me so many times. He hit me. He made me scared of the opposite sex. The worst thing was he’d destroyed the trust I once gave him completely.
“Just get up,” I demanded. “I don’t want to see your face again.”
Bill looked up. His eyes shone with tears. He got up, brushed the dust off his pants, and walked closer to me.
“That’s something I can’t do for you.” He said. “Since we’d broke up, I can’t forget you. No matter how hard I tried, I just can’t forget you.”
Bill touched my arm lightly. I shook off hard to send him the signal that I still didn’t accept his apology.
Bill looked at me with a twisted face briefly before lowered his head.
“I’m sorry…”
“I won’t accept your apology. Never…”
“What do I have to do that you will forgive me?” Bill asked. “I’ll do anything just so I can talk to you again… like we used to be.”
“It ends. There’s no more of that.”
Bill lowered his head and whispered something.
“I… since that time, I felt like I couldn’t control myself. It was like something possessed me.”
Suddenly, Bill gripped my arms tightly. I pushed him hard. Bill’s touch made me feel weak, but I had to keep my dignity. I wouldn’t allow him to hurt me one-sidedly again.
“I love you…” Bill gripped my arms harder. “I can… never… forget you…”
Bill tilted his head a little. His mouth opened slightly, and he moved his face closer. His breath touched my face. I tried to push him away but didn’t have enough strength. He was too strong for me to deal with him alone.
At last, he was still the same…
No matter what… I wouldn’t trust him again.
No way.
Suddenly, his blank eyes shone brightly. He looked at me in confusion before stepping back. His eyes were wet before he whispered.
“I’m… sorry.”
His actions were so different from the way I’d known. It was as if he was a different person from the brute who had been disturbed me for years. My hearted was filled with an indescribable feeling. The weakness made him look fragile. The hidden savage made me feel threatened. I was both feel sorry and hate him at the same time.
Suddenly, the siren was heard. Bill looked out the window before rushing through the door. He turned to look at me swiftly before ran away. The rain poured down hard. His soaked back gradually disappeared in the dark.
After Dad had finished fixing the light, he and I talked to the police.
They took note of the information we gave, interrogating more about our history and other problems regarding the case then they left.
I sat there silently with Dad to deal with the shocking fear I received tonight. I’d never face something so extreme in my life. Staying with him made me feel calm.
After I had felt better, I walked back to my room, then dropped myself on the bed, letting the silence to soothe my heart. My eyes became heavy. My heart became light. I fell asleep before I realized it.
When my conscious was sinking deep into my mind, I heard some familiar call. I opened my eyes slowly and looked at the clock hung on the wall.
I jumped off the bed. The tiredness made me sleep for two hours straight. After regained my composure, I heard a familiar sound. I looked around to find where it was from.
My phone was vibrating. I picked it up and checked the number on the screen.
I didn’t know that number, but the structure of the number allowed me to know that this call was from another mobile phone. I was hesitated shortly before answered it.
“Hi, Dream. How are you doing?” The voice from another end spoke.
“Is that Ton…?” I asked in a light voice.
“Yes, it’s m…”
“Where have you been?!” I shouted. “I called you so many times but you didn’t answer at all!”
“Sorry, sorry.” Ton said in a relaxed voice. “My illness resurfaced. About the phone, when we were running away from the psychopath, I broke it. I change to a new one and change the number, too. My old number was a bit hard to remember.”
“What about the classes? Aren’t you going to be forfeited from the exam absenting for too long?”
“Don’t worry.” His voice told me that he was smiling. “I reported everything to the professor.”
“It’s good then.” I signed in relief. It felt good to hear his voice again.
“Sorry that I hadn’t walked you home lately.” He said. “You don’t have a problem?”
I thought about what happened when he was absent. My life turned into a nightmare. The culprit disturbed me all the time. I had to run away from the hunt. The worst of it was that I was almost raped by a psycho murderer.
Even though everything was harsh, it was to confirm how important Ton was to me.
I couldn’t live without him.
“It…”
“What’d happened?” Ton asked.
“Let’s wait until we meet.” I replied. “I don’t want to talk about it now.”
“I understand,” Ton said. “But I think we should talk about it here and now.”
“Why…?”
“During the time I was absent, I felt I was followed,” Ton said. “I don’t know who it is, but I think it might relate to your case.”
“My case?” This was what I fear the most. Ton was already involved in my nightmare.
The signal was broke briefly before completely disappeared. I checked the phone before spoke.
“Hello?”
“The signal isn’t good.” Ton said. I heard him fumbling with the phone. “For your question earlier… Yes, I think the culprit already know about us. We must find more photos. From my note, I think we still don’t have all of them.”
When Ton explained to me, the signal started to broke again before went off.
“Why does the signal so bad today?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” Ton replied. “Let’s concentrate on what we’re discussing.”
“If we still don’t have all photo, it means we have to go to that house again?”
“If it’s necessary, we will.” He said. “And I think I might find a way for you, the way that can help you to regain your memory but it’s not completed yet. When I finish, I’ll…”
Suddenly, the signal broke again. I heard screams and screeching sound from the other end. The sounds were mixed together into some high pitched and harsh sound.
The scream became louder as if someone was torturing to death. My head stung hard. My brain felt like it was about to burst. I closed my eyes tightly from the pain.
The confusion went on just briefly before disappeared.
The eerily silent was back.
I opened my eyes slowly, looking around in confusion. Everything went back to the peaceful state as if the scream I just heard was unreal.
The moment I lifted my head up, I heard a light knock on the window. I turned to look at the window, searching the source of that sound blankly.
Suddenly, fear gripped my heart. When I looked up, a dried leaf fell from a large tree beside the house. It was the confirmation for my intuition.
Falling dried leaf represented the end of life.
Everything would end when death came to you.
I looked at the dried leaf before looked back at my phone. Ton’s line was gone.
After that moment, I’d never met Ton again.