Obsessive Love

Prologue: Griffin

All of my life, well for as long as I can remember, I have been passionate about things. A bit excessively might I add, it made me good in leadership and sports, but not so much in the personal aspects of my life. Girlfriends? After three I started to just consider them as ways to burn time. I already know how it's going to turn out, me snapping and them running away. So if I know how it's going to end, why should I put in effort into the relationship? It saves me the heartache and pain, and her the fear. So, all girlfriends I have are mostly casual, until one day I met who I thought was the one.

Now, I'm not too sure why I thought she was the one for me. It might have been how she fit so perfectly in my arms, or how she managed to make me laugh and be happy, or maybe even how she wrinkled her nose when she was deep in thought. Regardless, I was smitten and had already thought about our future.

I had just graduated college when it happened. We bought a decently sized apartment in a nice neighborhood in a nice complex and we were doing fine, great even. We moved in and everything just felt right. But then, it all had to change. She just had to go do that.

It all started when I left from work early. I was walking along the streets and decided I was going to take the long way just because. As I was walking, I turned and looked through the window of this random bar. And there she was, my girlfriend, on this random guy's lap and making out with him. I wouldnt have even known it was her if she hadn't come up for air.

I felt something deep inside me snap, and the ugly part of me reared its head. I stormed in there, fuming and mad with rage and grabbed her. I landed a solid punch right to the guy's face and she screamed in horror.

Arm still in my tight grip, I dragged her out of the bar and all of the way home. Ignoring her complaints and struggles. We finally got back to the apartment and I finally let go of her. She flew to the floor because of her momentum and teared up from the pain.

I looked down at her, and felt so much rage and betrayal. I had never felt like this before. This was the girl I had been with for a year, maybe even longer. And she just went behind my back making out with some random guy? Wait. What if he wasnt a random guy? What if she did this all of the time? Had I not caught her, would she have continued to lie to me? Smile at me like I was the only man in her heart?

The very thought made me crazy, and it made me want to kill. Now, it wasnt like I had never killed someone before. I have lost my temper many times before, but only twice have I ever been mad enough to take a life. This was probably going to be my third.

When she looked up at me, she probably knew it too. She probably saw what everyone else saw, my insanity. My lack of control over my emotions. She scrambled up and ran for the door immediately. I watched her go. Cheater or not, I still had feelings for her, and it was enough to make me not chase after her.

I walked over to the couch, where we had snuggled so many times before, and felt disgusted. I wanted to burn the damn thing. Burn the whole apartment down. Everything she had touched, everything she looked at, everything. I put my head in my hands and sighed deeply, trying to get in control of what I was feeling. Something I was never very good at. Just as I had regained my calm, I heard a knock on my still open door.

I glanced up from my hands and saw her, Raven. Rex went on and on about her, and I had only ever seen her once before. But with how much Rex talked about her, I felt like I knew her myself. Along with the praise about her though, he made sure to warn me about what he would do to me if I ever slighted her. I kept it in mind.

Here's what I knew:
Her name was Raven Sensaker. She had long black hair and a pair of crystal blue eyes, a heart shaped face, and plump lips. She was pretty tall for a girl, I wasnt exactly sure about how high though. And she was very calm and reserved, she had earned the name Ice Queen in the apartment complex because of it too.

She leaned against the doorframe and looked at me. She kept her stoic face and tilted her head to her apartment door.

"Need a drink?"

And I accepted her offer. We made our way to her apartment and I was not suprised that the whole place was immaculate. What did surprise me, however, was the artwork. It was all aggressive and abstract, it was something that I could relate to on an emotional level, and it made me wonder of she could too. I looked over at her and saw her usual ice cold atmosphere she gave off and trashed the idea.

She poured whiskey into two glasses and gave me one. I fiddled with it in my hands, thinking about the year of my life I had wasted on that woman. Raven just sat next to me, taking small sips and being there in case I wanted to talk.

"It's always like this you know. After so many times, you'd think I'd be used to it already."

Before my brain could catch up, my mouth was already open.

"Mm."

She gave a hum to show she was listening and signaled me to continue. So I did.

"I don't want to creep you out or anything, but I have always shown my love in an... intense way I guess. I know myself it isn't all that normal too, but I just can't seem to help it."

I was worried about how she was going to handle my confession, but she seemed alright with it, hell if I didnt know any better I'd say she understood it. I continued on.

"She was all over some other guy in some bar that I had been passing by. You'd think that after dating for a month she would show some loyalty, but I guess that's a rare thing to come by nowadays. She was basically on top of the guy and he had an arm on her waist n everything."

Just thinking about the scene made my blood boil and my rage overflow, but I wasnt about to explode on my confidant. Perhaps sensing my feelings or just seeing that the atmosphere had gotten cold, she offered me more and I nodded. She poured more whiskey into my glass and waited patiently for me to continue.

"There's no other way to explain it, I snapped. Like something deep inside of me snapped. I stormed in there, grabbed her, and took her back to my apartment. She took one look."

I dropped my head and took in a shuddering breath as I recalled her eyes looking up at me, wide open in fear. I should have known it would turn out like this.

"One look into my eyes, and she reacted the same as everyone else. Called me crazy. The bitch."

Raven was thoughtful for a second, maybe trying to find a delicate way to tell me I was in the wrong, crazy maybe too. She spoke, finally. But what she said went beyond my expectations.

"Well, maybe you are. But who cares? People like to judge and define people based on what a majority believes. Whether or not you think you're crazy is all that really matters."

For the first time since I saw her, which wasnt very often, she smiled. And let me tell you, all of the ice in my heart seemed to have thawed and I found myself smiling along with her.

And that's when I decided that I was going to be friends with Raven Sensaker. Whether she wanted to be or not.