Locked In

5

THEON

She didn’t even remember what I sounded like. At first, I thought it might’ve been the phone distorting my voice, that she’d recognise me the second she heard it in person. But no, she was actually dumber than I’d given her credit for.

Her eyes met mine for the first time in six years, and the shock that widened them sent a rush of adrenaline through me. My lips curled as I closed the gap slowly, deliberately, enjoying the way her back pressed harder against the door, like she could disappear into it if she tried hard enough.

Panicking, she fumbled for her phone, and in the process, knocked the knives out of her jacket pocket. She crouched to pick one up, her knuckles white as she clenched it by her side, the phone shaking in her other hand. Her eyes were locked on mine, but her thumb hovered over her screen, blindly searching for the contact button she thought could save her.

She had no idea. Intercepting calls, blocking messages, hijacking someone’s network— spoofing —was something I’d mastered recently. It was a skill that would come in handy now, considering Ainsley and I were going to be crossing paths more often.

Seeing her standing there, helpless, brought a strange mix of emotions surging to the surface. Anger. Satisfaction. The thrill of watching her struggle to piece things together.

She didn’t deserve the luxury of ignorance. The girl who had left me to die was standing before me, and I’d worked hard to drag her life back down to this—her starting point, where everything had begun.

Her eyes, filled with terror, hadn’t changed. Her style was just as they’d been in high school, as though she was still that same fucking girl. She hadn’t evolved. Not really. But I had.

Her breath hitched as I stalked forward, and I could feel the tension rolling off her in torrent. She couldn’t even bring herself to speak, just clutching the knife, like that would save her. My voice broke the silence, low and mocking.

“What’s the matter, Ainsley? No smartass remarks? No fake courage to hide behind?”

Her eyes flickered with confusion, as if trying to process what was happening. The shock was only deepening, sinking in as her gaze darted from me to the door behind her.

I watched her pulse hammer at the side of her neck. She swallowed hard, the knife shaking in her grip.

“How...how are you alive?” she asked voicelessly, as though speaking was something she was incapable of.

“Well, surprise.”

Silence.

More silence.

My gaze dropped to her hand, and she hauled the knife in my direction, the same time spinning to try her miserable luck with the door again.

I chuckled as the knife clattered to the floor beside me, the sound of her relentless banging on the door echoing throughout the house.

“You’re helpless. No one’s coming to save you.” I closed in as she hit the door harder. I grabbed her by her shoulder and pushed her away from the door with the desperation to silence her tantrum. She barely landed on the floor before she began to shift away.

“What is this? Who are you? Why are you...”

“Why am I what?” I picked her knife from the floor. “Doing this?”

She was sweating, looking from the knife to my face, the heels of her palms behind her as she scrambled away. “What do you want from me?”

“I want your life.” I didn’t even think. Crouching before her with the knife dancing around my fingers, I smiled, savouring the incredulous look on her face. “You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.”

“That’s because you should be one.”

“Ah.” I let the knife fall from my hand, paused, and dived for her neck when she least expected. She gasped loudly right before I squeezed, her fingers clawing at my arm, face red in a heartbeat. Tears slid down the side of her face, and even though her mouth was agape, no sound was coming from it.

Right, this was how I’d always wanted to see her.

At my mercy. Struggling. Her life was in my hands at this moment, and this time, she knew it was me and not some stupid bad luck she believed loved to plague her life all these years.

“What? Want me to save you? To stop? You can’t breathe?” I was losing it, and yet, I didn’t want to stop myself. I choked her harder. “Feel the pain, Ainsley. How does it feel like to want air so badly but can’t have it?”

Her arms were everywhere, trying to stop me. The veins in her temple were on the brink of bursting out, and her face was turning purple. Ainsley had a lot of fight in her. She was the strongest, yet the most self-centred person I’d ever come across in my life. She gave no fuck about people around her as long as she was in her safe, peaceful bubble.

If there was anyone who knew Ainsley. It was me. Back in high school, and especially now.

When her pupils started rolling back, I released her, and coughs erupted as she fell on my floorboard, throwing up in between them. She threw up so hard I had to walk away from her, where she was on all four, wheezing out and trying to catch her breath.

“We’re just getting started. Yes, and don’t even think about relocating. You have nowhere to go anyway. And even if you do, know that I’ll always bring you back here.”

From her position, she glared at me. “Is that a threat? What are you doing?”

“Take it as advice.”

“If you want to kill—”

“No, Ainsley. I have no intention of killing you. Not with my hands at least.” She frowned. “I’m not like you.” Sick of her presence, I made my way to my room. “I’m much worse.”

I felt the intensity of her stare on my back till I was out of her sight, and the moment I unlocked the front door from my device, she bolted out.