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At first, I arch a brow in confusion because her serving tray doesn’t appear to hold anything. But when she places it in front of me, I recoil backward, my seat scraping along the polished flooring when I see what she holds.
“It’s okay,” Alek coos, gripping my upper thigh to stop me from fleeing.
But it’s not okay. How can it be when before me sits a large knife?
The long blade has a handle made out of what looks like ivory. It’s a decorative piece, like one would use in a ritual. My mouth grows dry, and my palms begin to sweat.
“Wh-what’s going on?” I stumble over my words, terrified.
Alek seems to be in his element as he smiles. “I told you. It’s time for dessert.” Unless we’re about to carve a cake made of rock, then I’m clueless to how this knife relates to dessert.
“Lev, we’re ready,” Alek calls out, grinning broadly.
I have no idea what’s going on. So I wait, my eyes peeled to the doorway. Seconds feel like hours but when the grand reveal occurs, I don’t understand a damn thing.
The man who escorted me here enters, but he’s not alone. Beside him is a man with a sack draped over his head. His arms are tied behind his back, and by the spilled blood on the front of his white T-shirt, I dare say a bloodied mess exists under that blindfold.
Lev drags the struggling man toward us, who seems to be gagged because his cries for help are muffled… just how mine were because the closer he gets to me…I smell it.
Whiskey.
“No,” I whisper, the walls closing in on me. I can’t move a muscle because I am frozen in fear.
It can’t be, I repeat over and over. There is no way the boogieman has returned. But as Alek hollers in delight, I know that he has.
Lev stops a few feet away, restraining the man who’s struggling to break free. He waits for further instruction from Alek.
“My gift to you,” he says, leaning in close while I’m dying on the inside. “Take off the blindfold.”
Lev nods, screaming at the man thrashing about wildly in Russian. To ensure he knows they’re not messing around, he punches him in the stomach, winding him. The man buckles forward, gasping for air. Alek hums his satisfaction.
Lev rips the sack from his head, and when he does…time stands still. My past crashes into me, and I’m suddenly fifteen years old again. I now understand why Alek shared his story with me about his stepfather because before me…stands mine.
“No,” I repeat, shrinking back in my chair. I’m desperate to flee, but Alek holds me in place.
The moment I speak, Kenny’s eyes fly open. It takes him a moment to focus on where he is, but when he does, they widen in utter disbelief. He may be covered in dry blood and his face beaten and bruised, but without a doubt, it’s him.
“Willow?” Although muffled, thanks to the gag, I understand him perfectly.
A fear so fierce scratches at the surface, threatening to leave me scarred for good. “Alek, p-please. I…ca-can’t.” I try to escape, but he doesn’t let me go.
“Shh. You can. You can do anything. It’s time for vengeance, just like I got mine.”
But he’s wrong.
Kenny is my kryptonite, my weakness because everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve shatters around me, leaving me the scared little girl I once was.
“I’ve done my research on you. I know what this vile man did. You and I, we are cut from the same cloth. Take back your life, my darling.”
Kenny glares at me, spittle foaming from his mouth around the gag. I shrink in my seat, shaking my head violently as I tremble in fear. Those eyes are still cruel, and although he’s aged, he still looks like the revolting predator he always was.
“H-how is he h-here?” I ask, not understanding any of this. How did Alek know about him?
Alek levels me with those eyes, and for once, I don’t see cruelness. I see my salivation. “Leave a trail for a scavenger, and he will follow,” he replies, brushing the back of his fingers along my cheek.
I’m certain I’m moments away from dying of a heart attack. “You know what he did?”
Alek nods slowly, nothing but sorrow shrouding him. I don’t understand why. Why does he care if Kenny hurt me? Isn’t he doing the same thing? But an epiphany hits. Alek has never hurt me the way Kenny has. This is an example of showing me he…cares.
