One year later
Time is passing like crazy. Everything is going great. Felix is studying at the sports department, all the while working at a place Mike arranged for him. For the past few months, they have been renting an apartment together, which is close to the university.
Today is the first day we are relaxing at an oceanfront vacation home in Los Angeles. This place is located in the middle of the forest, making it unique. We discuss strange topics, and the laughter is endless. Alcohol makes us goofy.
At one point, my friend has had enough and drunkenly falls asleep in her boyfriend's arms. Mike announces to us that he will carry her to bed, and he too will go to bed already.
I'm left alone in the living room with Felix, who continues to sip his beer while looking out the window.
- What are you thinking about? - I ask unexpectedly, and he shifts his gaze to me, looking confused.
- I just wonder what the future may hold. Time flies like crazy, not long ago, I was a child, and I'm already twenty. It seems to me as if we started dating yesterday, and it's already been two years. The more I think about the future, the more scared I feel. Occasionally, there are such fears in me that something will go wrong, and my whole adulthood will go down the drain, that one ill-considered mistake will make me restless and unhappy for the rest of my life.
I look at him carefully, perfectly understanding what he is talking about. I, too, am terrified by the vision of adult life. I guess everyone feels this anxiety at least once in their lives.
- The most important thing is that we have each other and support each other every time we stumble," I say, putting my hand on his shoulder. - We've been through quite a lot in our teenage lives, so as adults we can handle any problem too.
- Do you think so?
- Of course. We just have to stay positive, live optimistically, and everything will be fine.
I don't know if what I'm saying really comes from my heart, but I want to lift Felix's spirits.
- I think this place is bad for my thoughts," announces the boy, smiling at me. - I sense bad currents here.
His words make me start laughing.
- Are you a shaman?
- I don't know. Perhaps I come from a family of shamans. My mother was haunted.
The smile goes out of my face when I realize that he spoke of his mother in the past person. This means that she has completely disappeared from his life, and he actually treats her as if she had died.
- Shall we go to bed?
- Sure, I think it's time to sleep.
*
The powerful thunder makes me open my eyes. I glance at the window and see that a storm is raging outside. Raindrops hit the windowpanes, and I glance at Felix, who is wriggling restlessly in bed. He is mumbling something in his sleep, and his face is wet with sweat.
- I can't do it. I can't," he repeats.
I touch his shoulder, trying to wake him up so he won't be stuck in this nightmare.
- Felix," I say in a soft voice. - It's all right. It's just a bad dream," I add.
I watch as his face calms down. He sleeps peacefully, and I lie down next to him and cuddle with him.
The thunder gets more and more intense. I'm already starting to fall asleep when I feel Felix move. He moves away from me, but I don't open my eyes, pretending to be asleep. He steps off the bed, and then I lift my eyelids, seeing that he is facing the window.
It's two o'clock in the morning.
When he moves, I quickly close my eyes. After his steps, I hear him heading for the door. I want to see what's going on with him, because at this point, Felix is somehow acting strangely.
As quietly as I can, I leave the room behind him, seeing that he is putting on a hooded jacket, then leaves the house.
There's a storm raging outside, and he just goes somewhere in the middle of the night? He acts as if he is possessed.
I throw on my hoodie and, crossing my arms over my chest, follow him. Raindrops hit my face, and the terrifying darkness is illuminated by lightning. It's not serious that I'm walking in the woods in this weather, but I'm worried about Felix and want to see what's going on with him.
My boyfriend lights his way with the flashlight on his phone, and I bravely follow him. For a while, I manage to get so soaked that I will undoubtedly be sick.
I am hiding behind a tree when I see Felix stop in place. With a flashlight, he illuminates the ground, looking at a single point.
Thanks to the fact that it's dark, I get even closer, hiding behind a thick tree trunk.
- Coming back here was a bad idea, but I wanted to see you," he says.
Heavy rain prevents me from eavesdropping closely. I catch only part of his words.
- I don't know how long I'll be able to hide it, but I'm trying to live normally, as if you never existed. - He lifts his face to the sky, and then there is a powerful thunder that makes him look like the devil for a moment. I don't understand what is happening. I put my hands to my mouth, being damn terrified. - I punished you as we punished me all my life. You deserved such an end. So I am not going to apologize to you, mom and dad. Don't appear in my dreams demanding it from me. You also never apologized to me for destroying my life.
My legs buckle under me. I crouch under the tree trunk, feeling chills all over my body. I'm shaking, and I don't know if it's more from the cold or from fear.
- Leaving the psychiatric hospital was the best day of my life, because then you officially disappeared from my life. I don't know how long your disappearance will remain a secret, but for now, you are abroad, since you bragged about it to everyone yourself. No one is looking for you, no one misses you, because everyone hates you. If you were nice to people, at least someone would be interested in you...
I seem to find myself in a nightmare. I want to wake up, but whenever I pinch my hand, I realize that this is reality.
I'm breathing hard, feeling that through panic I'm starting to run out of air. I'm scared as hell!
I just witnessed my boyfriend talking to his dead parents, whom he killed a year ago and buried in the middle of the forest!
I'm weak, I'm sure that in a moment I'll drift away.... and this is what happens when lightning appears in the sky, and the last sight is the face of my boyfriend, who appears before me like a demon.
Then darkness comes.