Page 38 of Forbidden Knots

"No one will know," she said. "No one will know, Rose."

I was sitting down. The moonlight now on my body showed trails of blood, bruises, and sweat. But I couldn’t move. She walked away, closing the door behind her. And I lay down on that filthy mattress, holding my body in a fetal position.

My eyes slowly shut down.

TWENTY ONE

Shadow

Aloud knock hit the door, jolting me awake. My eyes went wide, and I instinctively reached for Thalia, but she wasn’t there. My eyebrows knitted in confusion as I got to my feet.

"Storm," I whispered, but there was no answer. I walked towards the bathroom, noticing her wet clothes on the floor.

She wasn’t here. She left.

Another loud bang echoed through the house, making my eyes widen further. Anger surged through me as I stormed out of the bedroom and downstairs to the front door. I opened it aggressively, not even registering that I was completely naked. Standing in front of me was Christian, his face a mixture of confusion, worry, and anger. He still wore his carnival clothes, the mask in his hands. I leaned against the door frame, still not realizing the full extent of my exposure.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" I asked, scanning his face.

"I came to check on Sophie," he mumbled, avoiding my eyes and shifting his gaze around. "We had this... misunderstanding, and she ran away."

I grabbed him by his collar, pinning him against the wall, my whole body leaning against him. "What the fuck did you do?"

"N-nothing," he stammered, trying to move away from me.

"I swear to God, if something happened to her," I raised my voice, "I will squeeze the life out of you."

"Tristan," Chiara shouted behind me, hitting me with her heel. "Let him go."

I rolled my eyes, seeing her. I still didn't know if Thalia was inside the house or if she had completely left, and I didn’t want her to see Chiara. My heart pounded against my chest. If I could, I would have launched them both as far away as possible, just so I could be with Thalia. But that would make me no better than them.

"Why are you naked?" Chiara asked, her tone mocking. "Don’t tell me you believe in a full moon?"

Christian chuckled, and it finally registered that I was completely bare in front of them. I grabbed a beer bottle from the table and positioned it in front of my crotch.

"Better?" I asked her.

"Much," she squinted her eyes. "Did you see Thalia around here?"

My eyes widened. "Thalia?"

"She ran this way. I think she finally lost it," she chuckled, circling her finger near her temple.

"Go away," I said, trying to close the door.

But Christian's concerned face stopped me. "Chiara, was Sophie with you?"

"Yeah, but she went back to see you," she said. "She cried and mentioned this fucked-up dream she had."

A chill ran down my spine, making my body feel like it had been struck by lightning. The beer bottle fell from my hand, shattering into millions of pieces as I sprinted upstairs toSophie's bedroom. At this point, I didn’t care if they saw me naked; I just needed her to be there.

The last time she had this dream, she tried to kill herself, and she almost did. I rushed back to my bedroom, grabbed a pair of jeans from the closet, and pulled on a black shirt. Walking outside, I put on my shoes, still moving frantically, as I looked at Chiara and Christian standing at the door, their faces pale.

"We have to find her," I said, words filtering through my teeth. "NOW!" I shouted, exiting the house and closing the door behind me.

I forgot about the whole night, about Thalia, our passionate encounter, the sheets that bore witness to our sins. My main focus was only on Sophie.

"What's going on?" Chiara asked.

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