Chapter 1
Tessa
It was almost 2 am and thy sky was roaring as the thunder broke the silence. The violent wind sprinkled dust particles into my eyes which caused such burning that it made me squint. The lonely streets were filled with an eerieness that sent shivers down my spine. Not a sign of a living being could be traced. Only some burnt and broken buildings were at eyes sight, and they were obviously abandoned. Why did I even think this was a good idea? But most importantly, why would Henry ask me to wait for him in a locality like this?
I stood alone under a bridge debating whether to stay or to leave. Instead of listening to my instincts, I decided to trust the man who was so dear to me. I chanted the names of God and hoped he would appear soon. Only if I knew, if only I had even the slightest premonition of what was about to happen, would I have waited so long? Of course not.
Standing there, I was waiting for my best friend, Henry. He shared the location via google maps and persuaded me to come out and meet with him, he said that there was a surprise for me. It felt weird at first. He could have just asked me out after work. But he didn’t. And now, all of a sudden he wants to hang out. I thought maybe it took him a while to make the preparations. Before I arrived I was hoping to see many people, at least the members of our team but there was no one. Did I get the location wrong? highly unlikely, because it is what the GPS is showing. Time went by and Henry didn't appear. Thankfully! The storm was gone! It didn’t even rain. But the atmosphere became scarier than it was. The calm and quiet streets had a strong aura like that of a horror movie! I was the only person alive. By then, it was almost 3 am. I have had enough! I turned around as I was ready to leave. Henry probably pranked me or got stuck somewhere. But either way, it was unreasonable for me to wait any longer.
My phone was low on power. I tried to navigate my way in the dim light from the lamppost as I didn’t know what to expect ahead. I might as well save battery. But then suddenly, I was hit in the head with a loud bang. Someone lurking in the darkness barged from nowhere and very forcefully swung something heavy on the back of my head, maybe a brick. It caused a concussion sending me into a state of hysteria. I could barely fathom what was happening but could comprehend that there were three men. They were strong! One person tied my limbs and taped my mouth! While the man in the middle was carrying me over his shoulder. The third man in the front leading the way, so I could not see his face. God knows how long they walked! I kept losing and regaining my senses for what felt like every 5 seconds. The blood from the wound on my head left traces of where they were taking me, but that won’t help me escape because the man behind the one carrying me was making sure to rub off every drop of it. It was only after taking me further into the darkness did they finally put me down. Now, I could see their faces, although blurry. They stood right in front of me. I realised that I had never met these people. I was sure that I had never done anything to hurt them in any way.
Are they muggers? Probably not. Maybe kidnappers? Oh, my god!
“Who are you? What do you want from me?” I asked in a weak voice, I sounded so frail that I almost felt sorry for myself while at the same time, I knew very well that it was my fault I landed in this situation. They heard my voice loud enough but didn’t budge. I collected all the strength I had left and attempted to understand what exactly I was dealing with here.
“I want to go home. If it is cash you are after, then I don’t have any at the moment. Let me go home so I can transfer any amount you desire to your bank accounts!” this time one of them turned to see the other one’s reaction. He seemed greedy, so I took the opportunity to negotiate more. But before I could even create my next sentence, to my utter surprise, I heard the voice I was least expecting to hear after suffering such a fate.
“Dear Tess, you do not own enough to be able to buy my men. So don’t bother bargaining.” The sexy soft and caring voice which once used to calm my soul set it on fire.
“Henry! Is that you?” I couldn’t believe my ears. “Is that really you? Henry? Are you the one who hired these men? But why?” my voice cracked, and I couldn’t hold back my tears anymore. The sorrow in my voice was as palpable, the intense emotional pain somehow subsided the physical pain and I only felt numb around the area of the wound. Hearing my words he got closer, squatted down bringing his face to eye level with mine, and whispered to me caressing my face while he wiped my tears away.
“Oh, sweety! Dont, cry. You see, I do not have a choice. I am helpless. You have no idea what you did to me. How much you made me suffer! I have been ignoring you trying to deal with the situation peacefully but you have exceeded my limit of ignorance and now I am teetering near the edge of my tolerance level. My mind is about to explode! I cannot take it anymore!” He yelled and all I could do was wonder what I did to deserve this. But he continued.
“So before l can allow you to completely destroy the remaining things that are dear to me. I will have to say goodbye to you. And then I will rebuild my empire from the ruins you left after you shattered the beautiful city. From the ashes, a new life will begin and it will thrive to be stronger and more beautiful than before.”
“What did I even do? I looked up to you. You were my mentor. You trained me when I joined your team. And have always been so proud of me. What changed? What happened? WHY?” I said in agony and started sobbing painfully, screaming these questions at him, demanding an answer. The numbing pain disappeared within an instant. Fear was replaced with sorrow and rage.
“YOU!.. You happened! If only I knew this was about to happen, I wouldn’t have let you survive for this long. I regret my decisions now. I should have never let you join my team! that I was careless enough that you got away with everything. I let you come too near to me and you took the opportunity to ruin me! And you will suffer till death.” Henry took out a dagger and scraped my tear away then proceeded to trace my jawline with the tip.
“Dont cry dear, just know that I have no choice but to kill you. May you rest in peace after your soul escapes this deadly suffering, because I won’t kill you so easily, I will torture you until you get a hint of how much you made me suffer.”
“Wait! D-do-don’t kill me, please! At least, let me explain, tell me my sins. Maybe we can solve this misunderstanding. I never did anything to hurt you! I would never do you any harm intentionally.” I pleaded, but he kept shaking his head, not wanting to hear anything. And punched me hard, and my nose started to bleed. “You do not know how much I love you! I was too shy to ever confess. I used to admire you from afar, and imagine someday you would discover my love for you and accept me.” I tried luck, I tried to persuade him. Nothing matters now, no one but my life.
“Oh honey, but I do. I know how much you love me and I also know how badly your heart aches seeing me date your deadly foe from high school. And that is why you go around bad-mouthing the woman I love and also go beyond your limit to make her feel bad about herself. You create fake stories and tell her lies about me being in love with you. You have no shame! You and I both know how you got this promotion. You secretly f*cked the boss and made him prioritise you over everyone else. You fed him lies about my Bella and now he is about to transfer her to another branch and work at a lower rank.” He sneered and spat on my face. “There is no misunderstanding. I know everything.” His eyes looked inhumane, I saw only pure hatred and it was so intense that even the last drop of hope left my heart, he will not discuss this and I will never survive this. I will die today!
He pulled me up by the collar of my shirt and knee-bumped my abdomen multiple times. Then he punched my face. I could feel the soft bones of my nose switch sides, and my front teeth wobbled. He did many more and all sorts of other things to vent out his anger, but I was too absorbed in pain to count or even anticipate his next move. The last thing I felt was a very sharp piercing pain and then icy coolness followed. The cold was slowly taking over my body numbing my limbs in the process. I am about to faint, and I fear I will never wake up. Maybe this is the end of my life, I look at him one last time and my eyes well up watching the expression of pure satisfaction on his face. One last drop of tear escapes my eye as I chanted a prayer to god under my breath.
If reincarnation is real I wish to take my revenge. I wish to never forget this incident till the end of time. I can never forgive him after this particular incident! Not even in my next life! I will never forget this. He lied to me and brought me to my final destination to face my death! I will shiver every time I think about this day, may the smell of my blood linger on my nose. Let me come back to this world, I want to come back to this planet and make you pay Henry!
I close my eyes without averting my gaze. Henry will be my last vision and I want him to be my top mission when I shall reopen them in my next life.
