Page 34 of Cruel Cravings

As if sensing my thoughts, she suddenly stops pacing and turns to me. Her eyes lock onto mine, and I see the moment she realizes I’m awake. The surprise fades for satisfaction I can tell she’s been relishing the past few hours.

Her lips curl into a smile. “I’m not alone anymore.”

Her words hang in the air as I answer her with silence.

She steps toward me, her hips swaying almost seductively, though naturally, without her realizing it. She stops in front of me, the spark in her gaze wild and chaotic. The same reason I became so obsessed from the moment I saw her.

“I’m Jael, but you must already know that,” she says. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

11.Jael

Sane - Fear of Men

When I was eight, I learned I would never see my mother again. She had been brutally stabbed to death. I wasn’t sure what to think or how to feel. I wasn’t even aware of what had happened at first.

All I knew was that my mother and my sister were gone and I was home alone.

It was that way for days.

I had to cook myself dinner and put myself to bed. I had to walk myself to and from school. I tried as best as I could to clean up after myself. My mother’s scolding voice echoed in my ears when I tried sweeping the floors and dragging the garbage bag outside. I knew she would say I’d done it wrong.

I couldn’t do anything right.

At least my sister was a genius. She played Chopin as well as any adult, my mother bragged.

It was why she spent so many hours practicing. It was why our mother dedicated herself to ensuring that my sister was the perfect piano player. She hired a special instructor who oversaw her lessons and taught her advanced techniques.

My mother and sister went to his home sometimes. They would be gone for hours, sometimes even a day.

So when they didn’t return at first, I thought they must still be practicing. They must’ve been with the strict instructor who spoke with a Russian accent.

Then the police showed up at our apartment and told me to gather some of my things. I was going to stay with Grandma Opal for a while.

I didn’t know it at the time, but my entire life was about to change…

Memories fade for the present as I tape the newspaper clippings to the wall and then start brainstorming. It helps to pace around the small space that’s the cabin. The movement gets the gears inside my head spinning.

It even keeps me awake.

I can’t fall asleep if I’m moving around.

The cabin’s cozy enough that it would be so easy. There are two bedrooms with warm duvet covers and a mountain of pillows.

When I finally dragged the shadow man’s body past the threshold, my back had ached and my eyes burned. I had wanted so badly to give into sleep and get some rest. But I couldn’t let myself. Sleep was not an option.

Not when I had taken the man who has been stalking me captive. I needed to be alert every minute of every hour in case he broke free and tried something.

The simple solution would be to kill him. Get revenge and end him.

It was a part of my fantasy, but one that needed to wait until I got answers. The shadow man was going to tell me where the hell my sister was or else he wasn’t going to like what came next…

Sensing a sudden shift of energy in the room, I stop in the middle of my pacing and turn toward him. His eyes meet mine from behind his mask.

He’s awake.

I smirk. “I’m not alone anymore.”

He gives no reaction as triumph surges through me. I slowly step toward him, drinking in every detail about him for the hundredth time since last night. When I chained him up, I considered taking off his mask. Curiosity screamed at me to do it. Rip off his mask and see what my tormentor looks like.

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