Chapter Forty-eight

Athena's POV

I stare at him. Stare as he focuses on his phone; knowing that he might not possibly notice me staring but I was wrong, I have always been wrong. He notices everything. Almost everything. My lips curve up into a smile when I see him glancing my way.

His blue eyes held different emotions. Different meanings. Yet, I never get to discover them. I always end up lost; he manage to do that to people—to me.

He sighs, lifting his hand up to caress the side of my cheek with the back of his hand—making me feel sparks flowing right through his fingers; sending jolts of electricity. Both of us didn't need to utter a single word because we both knew how action shows it all.

But too bad, I was dreaming.

I blink, returning back to reality and I see him frowning as he looks at me confusingly, probably thinking how insane I am for smiling and caressing my own cheek. ''It was itchy.'' I mutter, changing my position on the couch.

''I can see that.'' He clears his throat, probably taking this as a joke. I smirk at the ground, not really knowing what to say. His phone rings and I peek to see Edwin sending him a text message, ''Do you mind staying home for an hour?'' He asks and I continue to look down at his phone—seeing that he doesn't even bother to prevent me from doing so.

''Why?'' I raise an eyebrow, wanting an answer from him.

''I'll be out with Edwin to buy dinner. You're okay with that or do you want to tag along?'' He tilt his head to the side, smiling. I know that smile. He's showing how he's acting all nice by inviting me to come along but he probably just want me to stay home and don't bother.

''Nah, too tired anyway.'' I shrug, not caring.

''You sure?'' He purposely leans in so that our face are inches away from one another.

I pull him by the jaw and push him back, ''Yes.'' He chuckles, patting onto my thigh before standing up and taking his wallet with him. I see him grabbing his phone from the coffee table. He turns around to look at me before pecking me on the lips.

''An hour and I'll be back.'' He whispers.

I watch his figure disappears and I keep my eyes locked on the closed door. From the window, I can see the car's headlights until they fully disappear. My eyes focuses back on the television in front of me before sighing, feeling like I've already missed him.

Wait, missed him?

The more I focus, the sleepier I get. It took me awhile to realise that my eyes are closing every second and as much as I want to fight the urge to stay awake; I couldn't. My vision goes dark and I finally drift away—slowly one by one and all at once.

''He's here, isn't he?'' I hear voices. Voices shouting. My eyes widen at the sight in front of me—seeing a familiar woman pointing at something behind but what freaks me out most is that I'm incapable of moving. Incapable of turning around.

''Run!'' Another voice shouts and I'm somehow running but everything stays the same. I'm moving but the surroundings around me doesn't. It's like a pity joke.

Once I get a grip of my own movement, I look around, protecting myself from any harm but the shouts, whispers, they tend to bother. ''No, don't. Just go.'' Someone else starts saying, ''Why didn't you tell him?!'' While another one scream, almost hurting my ears.

I cringe at the noise, ''Why didn't you?! Why?!'' I look down, covering my ears with my hands—not wanting to hear anymore noise. Facing up, I see someone crying while pointing at something in the dark alley. Someone walking closer and closer but something holds me back from running away.

''You should've told him.'' Whispers, ''You should've.''

''Now, it's all going to be your fault. Your fault.'' They keep on chanting, making me feel like I'm surrounded with my own fears. I turn around, running away from the voices but the more I run, they closer they get. I push through the darkness and I realise that I'm entering the forest with the full moon shining brightly.

Someone touches me by the arm, ''He's going to find you.'' The woman says, shaking her head in frustration before pulling out her hair, making me step away from her. It's like I've lost my own voice—I'm not capable of shouting, scream or asking for help. I'm all alone.

Who's going to find me?

''Him.'' Someone else answers, ''He's in the shadows. He has always been in the shadows. He's not going to go anywhere. Not until he gets you.''

''Run, run while you can. Run. Run.''

My eyes widen as I see the cliff in front of me. I look down at the dark hole—completely black, not a single light passing through. My hands shake in fear as I feel the cold breeze hitting my bare skin, ''He's here. You're too late.'' Someone else whispers near my ear—making me turn around.

A figure standing there, completely close before pushing me down the cliff—my body hitting hard, making me open my eyes wide and my body shaking endlessly. I grip onto my phone beside me and I see that I've been asleep for thirty minutes.

I breathe out, sighing at the confusing nightmare, ''What the hell.'' I mutter under my breath—it's difficult for me to breathe. It's like I've been running quite a lot. Everything felt real. How can it be?

My breathing hitched as I see the television has been turned off. I continue to stare at the black screen—utterly speechless. What happened? I thought. My palm starts to produce sweat; showing how nervous I am. I feel the wind coming from the outside and I turn around to see the sliding door open; revealing the swimming pool outside.

Without wasting a second, I fasten my step before closing the sliding door. Stepping back, I look around and see that nothing else has changed. Almost all of the lights are untouched from before. But I spoke too soon, as soon as I look up at the stairs, every single light has been turned off—making me lean against the sliding door.

I grip hard onto my phone before pressing the home button and quickly sending a text message to Alex,

Where are you?

Within seconds, I receive a reply from him. I quickly read the message, not wasting any time. As I read, I keep myself aware of my own surroundings.

On my way home, stopping by for ice cream. Everything okay?

I hear noises upstairs and my heartbeat raises immediately. I quickly type before pressing the send button,

Quick.

Using my phone's torchlight as my light source, I keep my steps slow—afraid if someone might appear from behind or from somewhere near. I avoid myself from going up the stairs so I run toward the kitchen, finding my way toward the laundry room. I close the door behind me before locking it.

I sit near the washing machine, trying to control my breaths. It feels like I'm dying just because of my breathing. They're faster than usual. I cover my mouth with my hand as I hear footsteps from outside. No, no. I thought. Looking down at the shadows, I see that the figure has stopped moving completely right in front of the door.

My phone rings and I mentally curse myself for not turning off the sounds. I bite hard onto my lower lip before quickly opening the text message,

Athena, is everything okay?

Before I could reply, I hear someone scratching on the door—trying to find a way to get inside. With every scratch, I know that the door couldn't hold back any longer. I keep on watching the door, not bothered to look away as it might make me lose control of the outcome.

The figure smiles down at me and I keep quiet, scared if he might do something to harm me if I move. He crouches, lifting down his hood and my eyes widen at the sight. His smile widens when he notice that I recognise him. There's a tiny cut on his cheek and he looks like he has lost a couple of weight but overall, he looks the same.

''Surprise.'' I hear him say before chuckling.

I scream out loud and he pushes me, hitting my head on the process. He presses his index finger on his lips, ''You better shut the fuck up or you're dead. Do you hear me?'' He breathes near my face, making me look the other way. He pulls me by the jaw, ''Look at me when I'm talking to you.''

Forcing myself to look at him when he grips harder. I hold around his wrist—wanting to make him loosen the grip but he's way stronger than I thought. My eyes are producing tears but I hold them back, not going to show how weak I am.

I look straight into his hazel eyes as they stare back at me with so much anger. He takes his time to look down at my body before looking up at me once more. Then he sighs, caressing my cheek and the other hand stays on my waist, ''You're much more beautiful than the last time I saw you.'' He leans in, whispering near my ear.

''Let go of me.'' I say through gritted teeth as I force myself to remove his hand away from my waist. He chuckles, pressing me harder against the wall and lightly running his lips on my neck—making me push him in disgust but nothing seems to make me fight his strength.

He purposely rip my shirt—making me push him harder as he exposes my bare stomach. I look away from his face when he tries to kiss me on the lips; forcefully. My hands holding him back by the shoulders, hoping he might move away.

''No, don't!'' I shout but he grips hard onto my jaw and slams his lips right on mine. Shaking my head endlessly as he trails kisses down my neck, near my collarbone. ''No, please, Jeremy. Stop.'' I beg of him. I couldn't stand the fact that he's going against my will.

My hand shakes in terror when he wraps my legs around his waist but I try my best to kick them out—ambitiously trying to free myself away from him, wanting to run away. When he bites onto my neck, hard and deep, I manage to let out a scream, which he finds very amusing, ''Stop this, please.'' I feel a tear drips down near his hand but he continues on pushing me higher onto the wall.

When he pushes me onto the cabinet, I immediately reach out for the nearest object—wanting to find a way to fight him. He keeps on pushing me roughly, trying to rip more of my shirt but I hold his hand; stopping him. His hazel eyes look straight into mine and for once, it's like I've completely lost him. It's not even him; his eyes shows complete darkness—not a single light passing through. My body freezes, thinking of a way to trick him and to stop him, ''Jeremy.'' I say as I slowly cup his face.

His grip on my waist loosen as I see him frown. I look down at his lips before slowly leaning in and kiss him—passionlessly and disgustfully; yet I manage to hide it. He kisses me back with the same rhythm as he pulls my body closer toward him. My other hand keeps on reaching out for an object and once I finally get a grip on it, I realise that its a fork. I carelessly pull him closer to me, wanting to fool him.

Within seconds, I lift up my hand and quickly stab the back of his shoulder—making him groan from the kiss in pain and look at me with anger in his eyes. I push him hard before running out of the room and as I turn around, I see him pulling the fork out of his body. I push all of the furniture that's getting in my way before running up the stairs.

I let out a scream when I feel someone pulling onto my leg as I fall headfirst on the stairs. I turn around to see Jeremy gripping hard around my ankle—wanting to pull me down. I fail to grip onto the stairs as he pulls me roughly, hitting my rib the process; but I try my best to ignore the pain. Now is not a great time to worry about small pains.

He turns me around so that I would be facing him and as I look up at him, he immediately crouches, grabbing my neck, holding me up, ''You're such a bitch now, aren't you?'' He says, full of hatred, ''After all the memories we have shared, this is what I get in return? Rejection?''

''You've lost me. You're never going to get me again. Don't you understand? Once you're out, you're out forever.'' I say, angrily.

He slaps me on the face and just in time, my phone starts ringing; catching his attention. I grip harder onto my phone—not letting him take it away from me but he grips my neck harder, ''Give it to me.'' He says, forcefully. I push myself further away, not letting him reach my phone which only raises his anger more, ''I said, give it to me. So, give it to me!''

Jeremy pushes me hard onto the ground, causing me to use my hands to prevent myself from receiving a great impact. He pulls my hair as he leans in, ''Give me the phone, Athena. Give it now!'' He shouts, making me whimper in pain; but he pushes me by the shoulder, making me fall.

''Give it.''

I ignore him by throwing the phone away to the kitchen and as soon as I hear the sound, I know that it might have broke pretty bad. Letting out a smile of satisfaction, I see he looks at me with despise, ''You fucked up bitch, didn't I tell you to give it to me? Why the fuck didn't you give it to me?''

''Over my dead body.'' I mutter, silencing him.

He laughs out of nowhere, making me push myself further away from him and grabbing the nearest couch; protecting my weaken self. His eyes are always staring at me, not removing me from his sight, not even a second, ''You know that I couldn't do that, right baby? I love you and I wouldn't hurt you that far.'' He sighs, ''All you have to do is come with me. Do you see the sacrifice that I made just to be with you? I ran out of jail, for you. So run away with me and we'll be together, Athena. Nothing can stop the two of us, nothing. Not even your pathetic husband.''

My heart stops at the word husband.

''Speaking of husband, where is he now? Out with some other girl? Completely forgetting you? How tragic.'' He lifts up my chin, ''If you were with me from the very beginning, I would've protected you with all my life, you know that?''

''But you messed and I left. Just because of your stupid mistake, you've become someone I never knew, someone I never met, someone I never loved. You're not him. You're not the Jeremy that I knew, he was way better even though he cheated on me. He would never hurt me, hit me or even insult me. You're not him.'' I say and I see a glint of regret but they fade away right after, replacing his hatred once more.

''Those women were nothing to me. They were just toys. I'm a man with needs, Athena and you weren't the one to give me!'' He raises his voice all of a sudden before sighing, ''But I'm sure that you've probably given him everything, didn't you? What a lucky bastard.'' He ends up chuckling.

We both hear the sound of the door unlocking so I keep quiet, scared if he might try to do something with all the noises. I stay still but Jeremy stands up, pulling out the knife from his back pocket before heading toward the door.

''No, what are you doing? No!'' I say, trying to stand up and pull him away but he continues to walk forward, ''Stop it, you're taking me with you, why bother wasting time on him?'' I try my best to prevent him from hurting Alex.

He ignores me by walking straight ahead. I immediately run toward him before wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him close to me—leaving me with no choice. He stands still, surprised at my sudden action, ''You have me.'' I say, faking affection.

Forcing myself to look into his eyes and I see them soften a little bit; showing that I manage to grab his attention. ''We can run away from here. Just you and me. No one else. Just the two of us. You would want that, wouldn't you? With me?'' I cup his face, making him look straight into my brown eyes.

He rests his forehead on mine before leaning in and kissing me on the lips. Painfully, I return the kiss; wanting to make the acting look real. I know how he won't hesitate on hurting Alex so I'm doing this for him—I'm doing this so that I could buy Alex some time and think of his next action. Jeremy pulls me by the waist, leaving no space to separate us.

''I shouldn't have left. It was a one huge mistake.'' I add, smiling at him. With every word I say, he's busy each one of them. He pulls me closer, wrapping his arms around my waist—mixing our warmth. Even though I might have felt disgusted by his kiss and his touch, I have no other choice left.

He breathes out on my neck, ''I love you, Athena.'' He says, causing me to freeze but I cover it up by pulling him closer and pecking him on the cheek; not wanting to say the same because I don't. I won't love him, ''And I would never, ever, hurt you again. You're everything to me. Everything.'' He adds, ''But things have to be settled for us to live together happily.''

My eyes widen when he loosens the grip around my waist, breaking the hug. I look down at the knife that he kept away from me and at the sound of the door before glancing behind me; seeing that the person on the other side has some trouble opening it. As Jeremy looks at me one last time before making his way toward the door—everything seems to move in slow motion.

I, turn around and watch the door open—seeing a glimpse of a familiar brown hair; making me run toward the door; wanting to push him out of the way. I force myself to run faster, slightly bumping onto Jeremy's shoulder.

Alex's eyes meet mine immediately as I arrive in front of him. Both of us, shocked to see each other and the situation that we're in. My eyes widen and my breathing stops as I feel a sharp pain behind my back near my waist; making me frown and fight with the pain.

''No, no, no.'' I hear Jeremy chant behind me as the sound of metal falling to the ground.

My legs weaken and I slowly fall down onto the ground but Alex has his arms wrapped around my body as he watches me. The look on his face shows confusion, anger and hatred. Confusion because of what's happening in a short amount of time. Anger because of the man who stabbed me and hatred toward himself for not being there earlier. But those are only visible in his eyes, not in mine.

He touches the side of my waist and I see my own blood on his fingers. Alex shakes his head in denial, ''No, you have to stay with me. Stay awake.'' He says, making me look only into his eyes. I remain silence.

''Baby please, don't.'' I look closer into his eyes and see that they're forming tears. Tears that I rarely see before but they're there, for me. My lips curve up into a small smile as he pulls my body closer toward him—not even loosening the grip around me. ''Athena, you're going to be alright, okay? You're with me.'' He says, once more.

''Alex.'' I call out his name as I feel myself staring into black dots but I fight them back, wanting to continue on looking at him. He leans in, seeing my struggle to speak as my body weakens at the amount of blood I'm loosing.

''Athena, I'm sorry! I didn't mean it, please—'' Jeremy says but Alex cuts him off by shouting.

''You stay there! Don't fucking come here.'' He shouts, making Jeremy look down in regret. I look only at Alex, not bothered to think of our surroundings. I see Edwin entering the house and his eyes widen at my condition before looking at Jeremy. Alex tucks a strand of my hair behind my ear, ''Breathe. Princess, please, breathe.'' He says once he realise that I have problems breathing.

I smile once more before touching the side of his face, completely closing my eyes and dropping my hand to the side—making Alex hold my body up to his.

I still feel every movement, every sound but they're fading away every second. Every second. I feel him trying to bring me back to him by keeping me close and whispering soothing words into my ear.

''Please, please come back to me. You're not leaving. You're never leaving.'' I hear him say. I feel myself being sucked into another dimension and as I do, I feel one last thing.

His tear drops onto my cheek, mixing with my own.