From Lucas' perspective
With pain in my eyes, I look at Sebastian's bruised face, who is suffering at the moment. I contributed to this in a rage when he admitted that he was the one who helped Felix and Selena escape. Although I feel like killing him, something is holding me back. I can't do it because I feel like I care about this bastard. Until now, he has been my most trusted man, my right hand, since I took him under my roof, gave him work and food. He got everything from me, and stabbed me in the back.
I want to punish him, but I can't kill him. Watching his pain and suffering makes me feel bad myself, and I regret now that I brought him to such a state.
I sit down in the chair opposite him. In the basement, he hangs on the ropes by his hands, being barely conscious anymore.
- Did I treat you badly before, Sebastian? Why did you do this to me? Why did you betray me? You know that this is what I hate the most.... and it's because of Felix, because of whom I lost my normal home as a child.
The boy is looking at me through one eye, while the other is so blacked out that he can't see anything through the swelling.
- Although I am grateful to you for everything, I could not watch Selena suffer. I did it for her. Before I was hit on by her friend, she was my crush. She was the first girl I liked," he replies weakly.
I burst out laughing.
- Seriously? Hannah was right when she said that everyone is obsessed with Selena. She, however, chose my little brother....
- Despite the years, she still loves Felix. I know she will do anything for him. I had to help them run away together so they could be happy, because you will never let them.
My face changes. I press my lips together in anger, looking at the injured boy with pain in my eyes.
- Do you really think they can be happy together? That's absurd! They are both poison to each other! She left him in a psychiatric hospital. She stopped knowing him when she realized he was seriously ill, and now that he's recovered thanks to my help, she's suddenly interested in him again? I won't allow her to ruin Felix once again to the point where he won't be himself!
- Boss, you are also doing it.... you are also hurting him by keeping him locked up and controlling him.... You are not helping him in this way.
- Don't try to sound like a psychiatrist. I know what I'm doing.
- You don't know. You cling to Felix because he is the only person close to you. Apart from him, you have no one. You are afraid of losing him. Selena is a competition for you, that's why you hate her so much.
There's something about it. His words hit me like a sharp arrow. They pierce my left breast, making me feel pain for the first time in my life.
- You are right. I won't deny it. I'm afraid of losing my brother, because besides him, I have no one left. He is my only family, and loneliness scares me....
- You have just admitted your fear. You're afraid of being alone, after Felix's parents kicked you out of the house when you were a teenager.
- Yes! - I scream unexpectedly and do not control it when tears appear in my eyes. - You wouldn't want to live aside my father — a monster! This life has become a nightmare for me! His methods were cruel, brutal, because he wanted me to be just like him, to be an emotionless bastard!
- Therefore, you should realize now that you are behaving exactly like him. Felix is your victim. You love him, but you are hurting him because you are selfish.
I get off the chair and walk over to Sebastian. I grab him by the hair, tilting his head to the side.
- Stop acting like you understand me!
- Who is supposed to know your feelings better than your right hand, boss?
*
From Selena's perspective
Days go by. We are locked in a house in a remote area, and it seems to me that surprisingly, Lucas is not looking for us. I don't know what he's planning, but it seems more frightening to me than for him to drop in here unexpectedly and raise hell.
It is late evening. A storm is raging outside. Felix is sleeping on the couch, and I'm sitting next to him on the carpet, staring out the window. Every glimmer in the sky makes me think I see a figure standing in the woods, watching our house.
Raindrops are hitting the windows, trees are leaning against the strong wind, and we are here alone, trapped at our request.
With anxiety in my eyes, I look at Felix when, during the next thunder, he moves restlessly and begins to say something in his sleep.
- Mom, Dad... I will never forgive myself for being the monster who killed you.
I stroke his cheek with my hand, looking at his face with compassion in my eyes. For so many years, he still can't get over the fact that he inadvertently killed his parents. I guess, however, that now that he is healthy, it hurts even more. Remorse is eating away at his insides.
- You are not a monster, Felix. We don't choose the disease. It affects us through what kind of childhood we had. It's not you, but the people close to you that contributed to you being weak and not winning the internal battle. You can no longer blame yourself," I whisper.
This is the frightening moment when, along with the thunder, there is the sound of a landline phone ringing.
It's midnight and the only person who knows the number is Mike. Why would he call us in the middle of the night?
Felix wakes up as I walk over to the cabinet and put my hand on the handset.
- Someone is calling? - He asks in a hoarse voice.
I pick up the handset and, with my heart beating hard, put it to my ear.
- Don't trust Felix... mentally ill person even after proper treatment, will never be healthy again. - After these words comes the sound of an interrupted call. This makes me hang up with a trembling hand.
- Who was it? - the boy asks me.
- Deaf phone," I reply, turning to face him. At that moment, it flashes, and I can see Felix's face perfectly. I recall the words spoken by an unknown person and feel apprehension.
- Do you think it's Lucas? That he already knows where we are?
- You said that he would not look for us, that he would make us return to him on our own," I say, walking towards him.
As I sit down on the couch, Felix puts his arm around me and lays his head on my shoulder.
- I already don't know myself what he can go to find us. It's too quiet, and this deaf phone call in the middle of the night is very suspicious.
I look ahead, trying to guess who the voice that spoke those words might belong to.
She's a woman I certainly don't know....
- Felix, how long do you think we should hide here?
- I'm beginning to believe that it doesn't make any sense," he answers me. - This deaf phone call is not a coincidence. Besides Mike and Eve, someone else knows where we are hiding.
- So where should we run to?
- I'm starting to question whether this hiding thing is even a good idea. One of these days he's going to get us anyway.
I furrow my eyebrows, wondering what he is thinking about.
- So do you want to confront Lucas? Go back to him? - I am shocked.
- After all, I told you that he would make us return to him ourselves anyway.
- So we're just going to give up like this? I gave up everything for you, Felix! - I raise my voice, moving away from him. I pierce him with my eyes, not understanding what is on his mind. - I did it because I wanted you to be happy!
- Only now did I realize that even if I am by your side, hiding and living in fear, makes me unable to be happy. I am overwhelmed, fearing every day that Lucas will get you and kill you in revenge if we don't return to him ourselves.
- What is happening to you, Felix? I get the impression that you lack courage, that you're becoming the same as you were as a child.... Is it really Lucas' influence?
- It's true, I became weak again. Sorry.
Another lightning bolt makes me look scary in his eyes now.
*
From Sebastian's perspective
The wounds on my face have already become less visible. I was due for betrayal, but I don't regret doing it.
Selena deserves to be happy, and Felix is free.
I still can't believe Lucas gave me a second chance. I'm still his right-hand man, but I have to work off the betrayal I committed to regain his trust.
Furthermore, I may act like a monster, but the moment I was brutally beaten, I realized that I still want to live. I'm too young to die, even if it sounds selfish.
Currently, thanks to Lucas, I have everything and if I obey him, I can live like a roll in butter.
These days you have to be selfish to achieve something.
I'm sitting on a park bench, watching people passing by. A smile involuntarily appears on my face when I spot the person I am waiting for.
A blonde woman walks down a path, holding her daughter's hand. Both are eating ice cream. The mother wipes her face, laughing radiantly at her.
She looks happy, even though her friend is still in danger.
- Beautiful weather we have today, isn't it? - I speak to the young woman, making her stop in mid-step. She looks at me with wide-open eyes, as if she is in disbelief of what she sees.
- Sebastian," she says quietly.
Her daughter looks at me with curiosity in her eyes, still eating her ice cream.
- It's fascinating that we meet on an ordinary day on a walk in the park," I declare, rising from the bench. - Do you mind if I accompany you?
She nods uncertainly in response.
- I haven't had a chance to thank you for helping Selena and Felix escape. You got most of the credit for that," says the blonde girl, looking at me with some concern in her eyes. Does she see me differently now after finding out that I am Lucas' right hand?
- I got a good deal for this betrayal. It's a miracle that I'm still alive," I answer her, smiling at the corner of my mouth, "He spared my life, but I was left without anything. I now have to live on my own.
- How are you doing?
- Somehow it flies.... to move forward. There are dark clouds in everyone's life, only to have the sun come out shortly. Let's hope that this will also be the case for Selena and Felix. Have you been in touch with them? Is everything okay with them?
- Yes, Mike and I spoke to them some time ago, but when we called them yesterday, no one answered.
- However, you don't seem worried about not being able to contact your friend. - I may sound cruel, but I had to remind her of that.
Eve looks confused.
- I'm worried, although I try not to show it from myself, I do it for the baby," she says in a whisper, glancing at Lily.
- You have a wonderful daughter," I declare, crouching in front of the little one. She looks at me with big eyes. She bears an uncanny resemblance to her father.
- Mom, who is this? Do you know him? - the girl speaks up. Eating ice cream, she scowls at me with her eyes. - Isn't this gentleman a villain, since he has a bruised face?
- Rest assured, darling, this gentleman is definitely not a villain.
Some people do not believe that over time people can change a hundred and eighty degrees and become villains, even though in their youth there was no indication of this.