Page 27 of The Dark Obsession

“Hello?” I answer with a lump in my throat.

“Rosalie, I’m sorry to be calling so late. I need you and your brother to come to the hospital now,” Rafael says his soft-but-urgent voice.

???

Time passes with unbelievable speed when what you fear most is approaching, only to slow down, almost to a stop, when what you fear arrives. My hands shake violently as I hold her cold, stiff fingers. A horrid scream pierces my ears as I stare at her battered and bloodied features.

I love you. Please, let this not be true, just another taunting nightmare.

The scream gets quieter as I recognise it to be my own when a hand rests on my shoulder, spiralling me back into reality. Each breath I take attacks my heart with a sharp stab, and I turn to bury my face in Rafael’s chest.

His tense arm wraps around me.

Shuddering, I take a deep breath and step backwards. I see Benjamin kneeling at the other side of her body, his face buried in his hands, with his body vibrating intensely. His cries torment me, forcing my pain to rise from the inside once again. My knees weaken.

“Rosalie,” Rafael whispers and holds my face steadily between his hands. “We will find whoever did this.”

I turn back to my mother, her body stiff and bloody. Her mouth droops open, blood staining her lips and nose. My stomach flips, and bile spurts from my mouth onto the floor as I try to focus on her eyes. They are gone.

Blood-crusted voids mark her barely distinguishable face where her large blue eyes used to sit. My legs give way, my trembling knees no longer able to hold my weight.

Benjamin scurries around the hospital bed and wraps his warm arms around me. He lifts me off the floor and cradles me like a baby when he walks me out of the room and into another. He sets me onto a cold leather sofa.

“I’ll get her a blanket,” I hear Rafael say in the distance as Benjamin sits next to my head.

Benjamin’s hands shake as he strokes my hair. He is humming something beautiful, his voice on the verge of breaking. Footsteps approach me, and someone throws a warm blanket over me.

“Is she asleep?” Rafael asks, tucking the blanket around me.

“Asleep? Passed out? Anything’s better than being awake right now,” Benjamin says, barely breaking his melody for a second to reply.

“The poor girl, just too much for her brain to handle. She needs this bit of rest.” Rafael’s hand brushes my forehead. “I’m so sorry for your loss, Benjamin. You have the best working on this case, myself included.”

Benjamin doesn’t answer. His melody falters. He clears his throat and starts again.

I let myself drift into a dark and empty slumber.

???

My eyes burn as I force them open. It’s pitch black in the room. I can see a brightly lit corridor through a small square window on the pale cream door. Benjamin’s light breathing above me soothes me enough to think straight for a moment before my heart pounds in my chest once more.

I stand before my scream breaks free and run to the door. I pull it open and fall into the corridor. My face hits the cold tiled floor, tears spilling, my sobs uncontrollable. I hear an exasperated sigh behind me, the feeling of someone staring at me, probably standing there in shock; well, I don’t care.

For a long moment, I stay still, pouring my heart onto the icy floor. I gather the energy to look up to see who’s watching me have a meltdown. Shakily, I lift my head, pulling myself into a sitting position. No-one. I’m completely alone in a cold and deserted corridor. I snap my head back to look behind. Still, I see no-one. A light flickers near the end of the corridor as a dark shadow rushes towards me. With each step growing louder, I clench my eyes shut, as if it will protect me from whoever is running in my direction.

“Rosa.” A concerned familiar voice eases my fears instantly.

“Rafael,” I say with a deep exhale.

He takes my hand and stands me up, then throws me straight into an awkward hug. My body is stiff as he walks me through the hallways.

“It’s four thirty in the morning, Rosalie. You need sleep.” Rafael murmurs after a long silence.

“Don’t, Rafael. I couldn’t sleep now if my life depended on it,” I shout, unable to control what is left of my emotions.

“Nothing you do right now will help,” he whispers. He holds my shoulders as we reach the end of the corridor and he pushes open a cream-coloured door, the empty and cold night hitting my face. “Let me get you home.”

The drive home is silent. I barely remember how I got out of the hospital or even how I got into my house. Rafael barely spends two minutes with me before he rushes out of the house apologetically.

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