TRAP

Duru Ulusoy

I lifted my head slightly and cracked one eye open when the discomfort of sleeping while hugging my pillow woke me. Realizing I’d woken up because the morning sun was hitting my face in all its glory, I muttered a few irritated words under my breath.

I pulled my arm out from under the pillow and reached behind me across the bed. When my hand found the other pillow a moment later, I smiled in satisfaction and dragged it toward myself. The pillow I held up to my face finally shielded me from the sunlight.

I let out a peaceful sigh and was just about to drift back to sleep when the dryness in my mouth stopped me.

Still grumbling, I opened my eyes just enough to be able to walk without tripping. With slow steps, I went downstairs and into the kitchen.

I filled a glass from the cupboard all the way to the brim with water and took a few sips. The coolness spreading through me felt good. Just as I raised the glass to my lips again, a pair of arms wrapped around me from behind, making me smile instinctively. Still half-asleep, I murmured in a hoarse voice,

“Good morning to you too, Hotshot.”

In response, he placed a small kiss on the back of my shoulder where my pajamas left it bare. As my smile widened, I turned toward him without setting the glass down.

“What’s the occasion? You’re very quiet this morning.”

“Did you miss me, beautiful?”

My eyes widened in terror, my entire body going rigid at the same time the glass slipped from my hand and shattered on the floor.

“You…”

The fear numbing my brain didn’t allow me to say anything more, but the masked man in front of me didn’t seem to care at all. With an unsettlingly cheerful expression that sent chills down my spine—one that felt disturbingly out of place on him—he opened his arms wide.

“Suuurpriiise!”

“No, no, this can’t be real! You… you can’t be real!”

As if my words had hurt him, he pouted slightly before replying,

“This isn’t exactly how I imagined being welcomed, but you’re right. Showing up like this without warning must have startled you. Allow me to make up for my mistake.”

When he tried to approach me again, I broke free from the shock that had frozen me in place and backed toward the kitchen door. The horrifying realization that he wasn’t a hallucination but truly standing in front of me made my voice tremble as I spoke again.

“What are you doing here? How did you get into this house?”

Instead of answering, he leaned his hip against the sink and placed his hands on the counter on either side of him. With an amused expression, like a predator playing with its prey, he watched my attempts to put distance between us without taking his eyes off me for even a second.

When I finally bumped into the refrigerator behind me and had nowhere left to go, he raised an eyebrow as if curious about my next move. Swallowing hard, I asked the question I was most afraid to hear the answer to.

“What do you want from me?”

Fully aware that every second of silence was tightening the knot in my chest, he slowly lifted his hand and dragged his finger across the countertop. Then he brought it to his lips and blew away imaginary dust.

“Come on, Duru. You’re a smart girl. You should know very well why I’m here.”

I frowned and snapped angrily,

“No, I don’t! There’s no reason for you to be here. We did our part of the deal, okay? We dropped the matter. Kerem didn’t meet with that man.”

The moment I finished my sentence, he narrowed his eyes, a sinister smile spreading across his face as if he knew otherwise.

“Let me tell you two things about myself that you should know—and never forget, for your own good, sweetheart. First, I like my morning coffee without milk and with two sugars. Second…”

I frowned at the irrelevant information.

Calling this madness would’ve been an understatement.This man was a full-blown psychopath.

As I waited for him to continue, he straightened up, pushing himself away from the sink, and started walking toward me. There were only five or six steps between us now.

The panic alarm screaming in my head, I tried to bolt out of the kitchen—but his longer legs gave him the advantage. He grabbed my arm before I could even reach the door.

After pinning me between himself and the wall, he grabbed my chin and forced my face up to his with a strength that hurt. Locking eyes with me, wearing the same sickening stare that had frozen my blood on New Year’s Eve, he spoke in a crooked smile and a threatening tone.

“Never…I mean never, lie to me, beautiful.”

As if making sure I understood, he fell silent for a few seconds, then slowly dragged the knife he was holding near the corner of my eye.

“Or I’ll have to hurt you.”

My heartbeat echoed loudly in my ears. A moment later, he leaned in with a pleased smile and rested his forehead against mine.

“But neither of us would want that, would we, pretty?”

Nauseated by his closeness, I struggled to break free and screamed in fury,

“Get away from me! You sick freak! Let me go! Let me go, I said!”

Instead of making him back off, my efforts only seemed to amuse him more. His grin widening, he leaned his lips toward my ear.

“Do you want to know how much I enjoy it when you try to resist me?”

As he pressed his body against mine, the hardness I felt made the urge to vomit inside me unbearable, and I started struggling even more frantically.

His response was a burst of disgusting laughter—laughter I wished I could go deaf not to hear. Then, without warning, he suddenly let go and stepped back.

Stunned by his abrupt retreat, I hesitated, torn between running and trying to understand what he was after.

He glanced at the watch on his wrist, then looked back at me.

“It was nice seeing you again, but I have to go now, sweetheart.”

I watched him head toward the door like an idiot, unable to form a single word. He stopped at the kitchen doorway and turned back.

“Oh, before I go…”

He pulled something from his pocket and tossed it toward me. I caught it reflexively and looked down. It was a keychain with a metal skull emblem. I couldn’t understand what the car key dangling from it had to do with me.

“Your time is running out, little Duru. Tick tock!”