Psycho Hot (BoyxBoy)

TWENTY-FOUR

One Week Later

     I awake with no one sleeping next to me. The sun shines through the maroon-coloured curtains, obnoxious and bright. I'm alarmed by Darren being nowhere in sight; he's usually next to me when I wake. Sometimes, he'll just sit and watch me snooze away the morning.

I manage to climb out of the duvet and onto my feet. Before leaving the bedroom, I check my ragged appearance in the full-length mirror resting against the wall. The massive, purple bags underneath my eyes aren't very appealing. I move on to search for my missing spouse.

I check the bathroom first, but no trace of Darren. Hasn't he even been in here this morning? That's rare. When I finish checking the second-floor rooms, I decide to travel down the steps.

"Darren?!" I call out when I reach the bottom.

No response.

The kitchen? Nope. The dining room? No. The office? Not there ei-ther. There's one place I have yet to check, and that's the living room. I get a pang in my chest from the panic settling in.

"Darren?" I shout as I inch closer to the last spot. I peek in to find him tied up to a chair with rope and his mouth shut with duct tape. "Darren! Oh my god!"

He makes an effort to speak, but it comes out incoherent. His pupils are filled with fear, just like my own. I run over to my boyfriend and rip off the sticky tape.

"Are you okay, Darren? What's going on? Who did this?" I shout.

"S-She's here," he says, voice shaking.

"Who's here?"

"Turn around," Darren tells me.

As I hesitantly look over my shoulder, I sense someone behind me. I can't see them, though, so I flip my entire body around- shit.

It's Catherine, pointing a gun just a couple of inches from my face. I can't breathe. I CAN'T BREATHE.

"Cathy..." I put my hands up in the air, defenseless. "P-Put the gun down, please. We can talk!"

She doesn't pipe a single word. My hands are shaking, but my feet are frozen in place. I can't move. I don't know what Darren is doing behind me, but I can't look back. Otherwise, our lethal fate might be sealed if I make any sudden movement.

The possibility of death, whether of Darren or me, is absolutely terrifying. I never did well with the idea of dying.

"What do you want from us?" I scream.

"I want you to suffer, eternally, for what you have done," she finally speaks.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." I shake my head. "I swear!"

"You know exactly what I mean," Catherine wickedly smirks. However, this time, her voice is morphed with her response. She sounds like a man, but a familiar one.

Then, I suddenly realize that voice is my own.

"Take a look in the mirror, Kenneth."

With the weapon still aimed at my forehead, the warden's face shifts and shapes into mine. This is getting bizarre. Why the hell is my clone threatening to kill me? Is this even real? Am I having a nightmare?

"I don't get it-"

"This is what you deserve," the evil version of Kenneth spites me.

Before I can stop him, the trigger is pulled, and a golden bullet leaves the muzzle. The scene happens in slow motion as it brushes past me and into Darren's skull.

I try to scream, but no sound comes out. This cannot be real. Please...

"DARREN!"

     That's when I wake up, for real this time. I shoot up, gasping for a breath of air and drenched in sweat. The beat of my heart is beginning to slow down to its average pace. I feel drained, as if the life has been removed from me. There's a sick sensation bubbling inside my body.

Adrian runs into my bedroom, concerned. "Are you okay, mate? I heard you yelling."

"Yeah," I sigh, rubbing my eyes. "Just had a nightmare. Thanks."

***

As usual, Darren enters my office at eleven a.m. for his "therapy" session. His guardian dismisses himself right after, leaving us with privacy.

"Good morning, darling," Darren whistles.

"Hi," I reply, continuing to read over the paperwork on my desk.

"Someone's in a mood," he says, jumping up to sit on the countertop next to me.

I put my pen down to defend myself, "Sorry, I was doing my job for once, Mr. Impatient."

"And he's extra sassy today too," Darren chuckles, clearly entertained by my demeanor.

"Always," I wink. Darren stifles his laughter.

I catch a glimpse at the empty chair in front of my desk. It reminds me of the days before there was an "us." We would go through the procedural routine of a therapy session. He would say something snarky, and I'd get frustrated even if I secretly enjoyed his comments. Although it was a few months ago, it feels much longer.

"So-" I switch the subject. "-about the visit with your mum..."

Darren's expression turns unreadable. "Yes?"

"I forgot to mention something about when I went over there."

He's going to hate this.

"And? What's that?"

"I saw one of your childhood photos," I confess, pretending to have a serious tone.

"Ken!"

"What?" I burst into a fit of laughter.

"You made my heart drop for nothing!"

"Aw, can't you handle a little banter, Walker?" I tease. "Well, the picture made me melt. I thought you were the cutest kid."

"That's when life was good between our family..." Darren reminisces.

"I didn't-"

As I'm about to finish my sentence, I get distracted by a guard shouting outside my office, "Hey! You can't go in there right now!"

"Oh fuck off," the other person retorts.

Edward opens the door without warning and says, "Kenneth, we need to talk, now."

Darren rolls his eyes at the sight of my friend. Meanwhile, I'm more concerned about what he has to tell me. It has to be an emergency if he's entering my office like this and telling off the guards. An endless amount of scenarios pop into my brain.

"What's the matter?" I ask.

"Ella told me that Catherine's going to make all the employees stay till midnight," he reveals.

"Why?"

"She's going to call a midnight meeting," Edward breathes. "I can feel it in my bones."

I repeat, "A midnight meeting?"

"Catherine knows something that we don't. The last time she held a meeting like this is the week after she killed Dr. Peterson," he discloses. "I think it's safe to say that we're screwed."

"Shit," I curse, starting to unravel. "What the hell are we going to do?"

"Nothing. We just wait."