64 Hours

40 h0urs

~the fortieth hour~

"She was beautiful. But she was beautiful in the way a forest fire was beautiful - something to be admired from a distance. Not up close." -Terry Pratchett.

Unknown - 2:36 PM: Tick tick.

Unknown - 2:36 PM: Welcome to my pain.

This is the first mundane statement Unknown has ever made. Pain. The monster that claims to shriek and throw fits in the deepest parts of our bodies, and the source of our fear. Pain. 

Unknown has experienced fear before. 

But as I glanced at Bella, Aria and I, this was no exception. Whatever he's been through, it can't be as fiery as what he did to me in a matter of two days. Bella sat opposite of me across the couch, clearly going through the recent airless situation. Not being able to breath in a dark room, smelling nothing but cold plastic and stale blackness was like sinking into a world of a very dangerous oblivion. 

I wonder what that does emotionally to a mother. If I put myself in my sister's shoes for a moment and imagine my daughter in this traumatic hellhole, I would blame the person who did this to her. Adam Browning. Me. Unknown. 

Crazily enough, I feel like Unknown is now a part of me. Everything he does is like what I do. He is my puppet master, the strings remaining solid with the reins of blackmail. Aria is probably scared of something else, too. If my master pulls too hard, my strings will shatter. 

I put my hand just above my heart to the left, where my knife wound remained fresh. The pain was still there, but whatever Unknown put in it certainly silenced the agony that would've killed me. 

"The police are coming soon." Aria said quietly. 

"I know." I responded automatically, then slowly got up from the couch and approached the windows. I looked down at the villa next to my apartment. My gaze lingered there for seconds that I was not aware of. 

Aria saw me do so. "Adam, no." 

"What choice do I have?" It almost came out as a sob, and suddenly the weakness inside of me was flooding around the room. "For Bella. I know you would do the same." 

I glanced at my sister, who was sullenly picked at her fingernails, eyes like two sharp blades of hate. She didn't say anything else. 

I picked up the tattoo machine, which was still on the black coffee table. It didn't weigh as much as I thought it would. I scrambled to the bathroom with the packaging in my hands, and dropped the machine in the cabinet under the sink. 

I couldn't avoid catching myself in the mirror. I looked like hell. My dark hair was sticking up in spikes, shirt bedraggled and scarcely torn at the bottom edge, with a pale, eerie illuminated tone to my face. When I saw myself, I felt all my worries zap through my head like lightning. 

I groaned and held my ears with my hands as if noises were running through my brain. It hurt. Sweat was gathering in between my arms and creeping down my back, and suddenly I felt the tattoo itch on my back. The once-steady sound of the tap dripping in front of me was now like a giant bulldozer ripping through my happy memories and all I wanted to do was-

"Adam?" Aria yelled to me from the living area. "Reece is calling you." 

What did Reece want? 

I splashed my clammy face with cold water and snapped out of my panic. I was aware of how Bella watched my every move as I stormed to my phone and answered his call.