Page 80 of Twist Me

I am a coward to do this to you. I always thought I would be strong until the end, but the thought of disappointment in your beautiful brown eyes makes me feel sick.

As you have probably noticed by now, I am gone. I have to do right by you. This madman cannot stay living when he’sthreatened you so many times. I won’t live without you, and so I’m going to kill him.

It’s not like I haven’t been called a monster for most of my life.

I know you wanted me to be what I was, to leave the asylum with you and live out our lives until we were bitter assholes with kids…but I can’t.

I can’t be what I was.

I don’t believe in the justice that I used to risk my life for, and I don’t know how to be normal or how to be a man for you.

I only know one thing, and that was what I’ve done since being thrown into my own hell—protect what I love and embrace the monster within myself.

I know if I get back to you, you will be done with me, but just know I’ve fallen so hard. You, Little Lamb, are my truest defeat, my greatest weakness, and my very heart.

I love you.

Your Giant, Eternally,

Goliath

“I didn’t want you to change, you big estúpido.” I cried, hugging the paper.

Letting an icy rage settle in my bones, I found the wire hanger I was looking for and twisted it into a gnarled mess. My hands were bleeding, but I didn’t care. I shoved the wire outside the hole in the door and hooked the padlock. Looking at the letters, I knew in my heart what to put for the code.

“S-T-O-N-E.”

When the lock clicked, my anger melted, and I wiped my face. I had to find this infuriating man I loved so he didn’t turn into the monster he had always been afraid of becoming.

Grabbing the gun, I put it into my pants pocket and pushed the door wide.

The forestat night was creepy at best, and, at its worst, it was a freaking nightmare come to life. I hated nature. I was never one to go outside, and lately, with crazy people trying to carve me into ribbons, it wasn’t exactly making it more enticing.

I shivered at the realization that Joe hadn’t been found. I didn’t even know how many people were killed. Goliath only said that not many had survived, and Hospital Twelve was gone.

A rustling in the bushes made me jump. My heart was pounding at the damn owl that flew away, probably to grab some unlucky mouse.I really needed to chill out. I wasn’t finding anything if I didn’t stop freaking myself out.

Getting closer to the facility, I saw the graves—some unmarked and all with fresh soil.I read the names listed. Faces of the people I’d come to know really well flashed through my mind, and the screams of that night echoed in my head.

Tick-tock, another drops.

It was bad enough that I felt like a coward unable to help anyone who had been attacked, but now their graves were haunting me.

Mary’s face appeared beside me.

You didn’t say a word. You like to watch, don’t you, you whore!

Shutting my eyes tightly, I mentally pushed at the image. Another face surfaced. This one was a mangled guard, his mouth gaping open like a fish. You used my blood to save yourself. How does it feel, coward, to be bathed in the blood of the innocent?

“Stop it!” I yelled, grabbing my head and shaking it, trying to free myself from the memories.

Awe, poor pretty cop, sorry our deaths are bothering you!

This voice was Katerina. I didn’t like her, but her death was particularly brutal. Joe was known as a cannibal, but no one had told me he ate his victims alive. The poor nurse was literally tethered to the ground with a knife while Joe ripped her flesh with his teeth.

I started to cry.

The onslaught of the names was swirling around me like a snake, the screams and laughter a crescendo in my ears. No matter how much I shook my head, I couldn’t escape. I lay on the ground, trying desperately to run, but I was frozen in pain.

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