Page 7 of Demise

Chapter Four

Skyla

Idon’t know how long I lay on the bedroom floor. My ribs are screaming in pain, my stomach coiled tight with nothing left to empty, and my legs ache where the thick rope is now cutting into my bare skin.

Eventually, the bathroom door opens, and Professor Corwin steps out with a towel wrapped around his waist. His chest hair is a mixture of black and grey, spreading everywhere on his torso. The beer belly straining against the towel has me cringing as I look away in an attempt to mask my disgust.

His footsteps move across the room before pausing before me. I feel my body begin to shake in fear as his arms slip beneath me, lifting me into the air as he turns around and walks into the bathroom.

Setting me down into the tub, he plugs the drain before turning on the water. I flinch at the feeling before my eyes hesitantly meet his. He’s watching me with a pinched look as he scoops some of the filling water in his hands, pouring it over my hair.

“You’re a mess, my love.”

I don’t say anything, I just watch him quietly. He lets out a ragged sigh as he shakes his head.

“It wasn’t supposed to be like this. It should have been easy from the start, you know?”

“What should have?” I ask carefully.

He grabs a loofa, covering it with soap before beginning to wash my shirt and legs. I’m a little confused why he’s doing it, but I’ll take this over him stripping me naked.

“Everything. You know, I met your mom in the same class that I met you.”

“My mom?” I echo.

His murky brown eyes come to me as he nods, mindlessly wiping the vomit off me as he continues.

“She was so beautiful, like sunlight walking into a room,” he smiles. “I sat by her on the first day. The way she looked at me, I knew it was always going to be us, forever.”

I swallow roughly, waiting for him to continue. When he doesn’t, though, I push for more.

“And then you saw me, and you thought I looked like her?”

He looks at me and shakes his head. “You don’t just look like her. You’re a spitting image, her doppelganger. I couldn’t believe it when I laid my eyes on you. I watched you for weeks, waiting for an opening to show you all we could be.”

The wistfulness in his eyes slowly fades, a darkness taking over.

“Do you know what it was like to sit back and watch you with them? Watch them touch you, watch them hold you. Do you have any clue how many times I wanted to slit Walcott’s throat in the middle of class just for breathing in your direction?!” he snarls.

I stay quiet, fear gripping me tightly as I try to gently steer the conversation away from the boys.

“So, you and my mom dated?”

He hesitates for a moment before that soft, dreamy look re-enters his eyes. Oh, my God, he’s a fucking lunatic.

“We did, for several months, and we were really happy. Until that piece of shit Parris came along,” he spits. “She hated him, couldn’t stand the guy. He had just graduated, and his father chosemyGiselle as his bride.”

His movements become jerkier and more harsh as he soaks the loofa into the rising water and begins scrubbing at my bound legs.

“Then fucking Putnam came into the picture, just like they always do. He thought he was owed Giselle, that she…she was some kind of property! And being the pig that Henry was, he shared her like a common whore!” he snaps, his eyes practically popping out of their sockets.

He closes his eyes, blowing out a heavy breath before looking at me.

“And then she died; she was taken from the world, from me. I have no doubt in my mind that Putnam and Parris were behind it. They are behind everything bad in this goddamn world.”

My body freezes, his words slowing in my mind as I try to process them.

“Wait, you think my father killed my mother?” I ask.

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