The Haunted’s Kiss of Regret and Repentance

“I love it when you play hard to get with me, my love.” Rian’s voice echoed as I kept running away from him. The trees were getting thicker and thicker, and I couldn’t seem to lose him even if I tried. “You’ll never lose me. You’re mine, and I will never let you go.” The voice was getting louder and louder.

I could see lights from cars passing by in the distance, and I assumed it was a road up ahead. I could feel the air thicken, and I couldn’t breathe. Rian’s footsteps were getting closer, and I heard twigs breaking behind me. I finally reached the road, and I ran directly to the car.

“Please let me in! A guy is chasing after me! Please open the door now!” I kept hitting the glass as the fog thickened and the driver opened the door. “Thank you! Oh, my goddess! Thank you so much! Please get me out of here!” I stuttered breathlessly and put on the seatbelt. I turned my eyes beside the car’s window and saw that there was no sign of Rian. The car started moving again, and I finally looked up at the driver.

“I told you you’ll come back to me.” I froze in shock as I saw Rian driving the car. “What happened, honey? You know that I would never let you leave without our baby and me.” He then grabbed my hand as I just sat there wide-eyed, heartbeat racing and catching my breath.

Rian just laughed hysterically, and I heard a slight sound coming from the back seat. It took all of my strength and willpower to move my eyes away from Rian’s driving form and look at the thing behind me. In the back seat was a small pile of white cloth moving up and down as if it was breathing. My breath hitched, and I forgot about Rian, only to look at the small thing covered by the cloth.

“What do you think you’re doing, mommy?” Rin took my hand hard and pulled it close to his lips. “Don’t wake up the little angel, or else we’ll both be in big trouble.” I looked back at the moving thing behind us and finally snapped out of the shock and slapped Rian hard across his face.

“Are you crazy?! You should tell her mom now!” The angry voice in my head shouted twice. Everything was black, and I felt pain all over my body. A man’s voice called in the far distance. I could feel warm sheets covering me, and I could hear more bickering coming closer and closer as I tried to open my eyes. “She suddenly fainted, and you’re telling me that I should just keep quiet? How is that even the logical answer to”

“Shyne! Oh, thank God you’re awake!” Perry’s face was suddenly in front of me as she held my hand. “I knew you were going to be alright. How are you feeling? Does anything feel hurt? Is your head okay? Do you need water? Are you-”

“I’m fine, Perry. Relax.” I looked straight at Rex, who had a look of relief written on his entire face. “I assume you called this little sentimental rapper her?” I said as Perry playfully rolled her eyes and let go of my hand.Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

“Yeah. I would’ve called your mom, but your phone was locked, and I remembered that I was still friends with your nagging radio here on Facebook. Sorry I couldn’t contact anyone quieter” He earned a slap on his forearm with his comment, and I just sat on the hospital bed smiling.

“You suddenly fainted, and the doctor said you were too stressed, and you had a panic attack.” I swallowed hard and recalled the entire incident at the bus station as I looked at Perry in a panic. “Anyway, Rex, thank you so much for calling me and helping Shyne. I think you’ve been here too long, and you could still get the last bus to where you needed to go.” She said as she tried to cover my face from Rex’s line of sight.

“What? What do you mean? I still need to make sure you call Shyne’s parents and help you get her settled before I leave.” Rex was trying his best to get out of Perry’s shoving hands. “Shyne, do you want me to call your mom and dad for you? You could just give me the number and-”

“No, thank you, Rex. I’ll be fine. Perry is with me, and I’ll just tell my parents later after I’m fine. You should get going. I know you were in a hurry when we met, and I don’t want you to waste your time here any longer.” Rex looked like he was about to argue, but he just nodded and promised to update me on Facebook.

“Alright. Now Shyne, tell me what really happened to you back there at the bus station?” I told Pery everything, even up to my dream, before I woke up. “This doesn’t make any sense unless you still have feelings for Rian.” She eyed me cautiously, and I shook my head furiously.

“I feel like everywhere I go, he’s there, and I feel like I couldn’t run away from him. There is something wrong, Perry. I’ve been living a bit peacefully since I left our hometown. Now, why am I having these hallucinations and dreams now?” I said exasperatedly and took my phone as the two of us went silent once again.

“Okay. We need to think of all possible problems. Maybe you haven’t really moved on from Rian, or maybe you’re hiding something that you forgot to tell me. Like, oh, I don’t know, maybe that Rian is a witch or something?” Perry exclaimed as she took her phone and kept quiet when the nurse came and told us I could go home in a few hours.

“All I remembered was Rian was obsessed with me. He was too obsessed to the point where he already had our entire future planned out, and he would always say that our vows would be different when we got married. He said it would be ‘Not even death will take us apart.’ He always said that whenever I tried to avoid the question.” I told Perry all of Rian’s plans and even his tattoos of my name and the name of our future child.

“Wow, girl. I know you were a bit wild before, but I never knew you were into the freaks” I slapped her leg playfully, and we laughed for a while about how stupid I was. I slept early due to my medicines, and I couldn’t escape the darkness of sleep that overcame me once again.

“Why are you doing this to me, Rian? Why are you so obsessed with hunting me like a deranged animal, huh? Was the torture and shame you gave me not enough?! Come out of the darkness Rian and face me, you coward!” I screamed in the darkness, but nothing happened.

However, the voice I heard next was enough to nail me into place. I swallowed hard as the voice of a crying child became louder and louder. “Shhhh. Now the baby is crying, mommy” The voice was raspy near my ear, and I felt myself stiffen even more if it was possible.

The darkness I saw shifted, and then I stood on the side of a crossroad in the middle of nowhere in broad daylight. The heat was intense, and I was all alone. Everywhere I looked, there was no one in sight. “Pst. My love. Look at me” I closed my eyes as I felt lips brush my earlobe, and I felt a warm breath fan my cheek. “Open your eyes, honey, and look at me.” I closed it tighter than ever before.

“No, Rian. I won’ open it, and I refuse to move. Get away from me so we can talk at a distance.” I said as I felt him move away from me, and I opened my eyes. Rian was wearing his red shirt, the one I saw him use the last time I saw him. He was now clean, and he had this sad expression on his tanned face. The blood on his neck was gone, and he was holding a small basket. “What’s with the basket, Rian?”

Rian slowly told me to walk with him at the right side of the crossroad, and the image of my dream suddenly shifted again. This time, we were both at an open field, and he took the basket with a white cloth inside it. Similarly, the fabric was moving, and I had the urge to open it. Rian followed my eyes, and he left the basket near me and walked three meters away from me and the basket. I opened the basket, and a fetus the size of a phone was barely wiggling, and I screamed while I crawled away from the basket that toppled over.

“That’s the future that you deleted, Shyne.” Rian was suddenly behind me as his voice was but a whisper near my ear. “That’s the future that you denied the both of us without even a single explanation!” For the first time, Rian called me Shyne. He had no love for me in the sets of words he said.

“Come here, baby” Rian held both my hands behind my back, and I saw the fetus crawl out of the basket. “My love. I know you’re a kind and loving person. Our child has been longing for his mother” I screamed as loud as I could as the fetus slowly crawled towards me. Rian tied my hands with a handkerchief behind my back, and he used his legs to open my thighs a bit. My nightgown was now up my thighs, and I couldn’t move.

“Honey. Our baby needs you. I told you, I want to make a family with you and remake the future that you selfishly deleted” The fetus was now holding my leg. I screamed as he slowly crawled from my calf up to my bent knees. The little thing got closer and closer until I opened my eyes, yelling, and Perry came rushing into my room.

I cried to Perry and hugged her hard, and as I was crying, something small under my bed grabbed hold of my ankle. Perry and I screamed our lungs out at the little creature still attached to the ankle I lifted.