Page 109 of Volatile Obsessions

In my search of another clue, I find two hand prints on the floor, prints that were clearly dragged out of the dining room to the…

Stairs.

I stare up it’s height.

Sporadic droplets stain the worn carpet all the way up.

Bracing myself, I follow them to the very top, stopping at the landing to examine both sides of the corridor. There’s nothing on my right, where mine and Sio’s rooms are.

But on the left…all the lights are on.

Swallowing deeply, I inch down it’s length, only then realizing should there be someone in my home who’s not meant to be here, I have nothing to defend myself with other than my fists.

I look around.

All that’s readily available are the family photos on the walls.

Plucking one down, I figure this is better than nothing. I can bash an intruder over the head, then use the glass that breaks free as a shank.

And it’s as that gruesome image plays in mind that I walk in on the most gruesome image of them all.

The image that would strip me of the last bit of my humanity and officially sell my soul to the devil…

The while Lillies sitting on my bed mocked me, as all her little gifts usually did.

It’s because of her any of that even happened in the first place..

That selfish, vindictive little bitch.

My ex was a million times worse than Lux, despite what Vic would say, and she’d fucking found me.

Again.

Swiping the bunch with an aggravated hand, I bent them in half until they snapped and tossed them onto the floor, destroying the petals bit by bit with the soles of my Oxford’s.

If Liza was here, that meant I was going to have to get the fuck out of here soon.

And at that moment, it meant without Lux…

I was not about to let that happen.

If she were mine, I’d say we could leave together, get to know each other better, travel the world…

But she wasn’t, and I was on the verge of a nuclear explosion.

I couldn’t take it anymore.

I only let her go last night simply because she’d been drinking. I could smell the fruity concoction on her breath. A lot of her bravado was all liquid courage. There were cops, too, and way too many people stopping to watch, as though we were some street-side act hoping to go viral on Instagram.

But this front of hers wouldn’t last forever.

Hell, she was already showing signs of throwing in the towel and giving in.

I just had to push a little harder… Before it was too late.

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