Page 22 of The Madness Within

Lifeless.

I screamed before I ran.

I didn’t remember how I made it back to my apartment. I didn’t remember climbing the stairs two at a time or locking the door behind me with shaking hands.

All I knew was I wasn’t alone anymore.

My laptop was on. I didn’t leave it on. A file was open on the screen. It was from my corrupted folder, surveillance footage I could never get to play.

Until now.

The grainy video showed a courthouse parking lot. A man walked into frame. Clean suit. Hands in pockets. Another man followed behind him, slower, limping, wearing gloves even though it was summer.

He looked up. Stared into the camera. And smiled.

I knew that face.

I’vetriedto forget that face.

It’s the same face from every nightmare I’d ever had. The man who killed my mother. The man who carved my cheek open like a signature. The man who wasneversupposed to walk free again.

I always wondered if I’d recognize him. The man who destroyed my life. The man who carved a memory into my face I couldn’t escape in the mirror.

Would I know his eyes? The cadence of his voice? Would my hands tremble, or would something colder take their place, rage, maybe, or vengeance?

Turned out, the body forgets what the mind won’t let go of. Scars healed over. Memories blurred at the edges.

But fear?

Fear never forgot.

It curled around my ribs like a vine, tightening every time I heard footsteps that sounded too familiar.

Every time I saw a stranger linger too long. Every time I caught my reflection and saw her blood on my skin, even when I knew it wasn’t really there.

I didn’t recognize his face the first time I saw it again. But my bones did. My spine locked up. My breath shallowed. My heart kicked like it remembered drowning.

Somewhere deep inside me, the part of me that had died that night woke up screaming.

And I knew.

I knew it was him.

My inbox pinged.

One new message. No subject. No sender.

I clicked it.

"I didn't finish what I started. But I never leave a job undone. See you soon,Ember."

I slammed the laptop shut. My heartbeat was a siren in my skull.

This wasn’t just about the scales anymore. This was personal. It alwayswas. And now he’s back.

Alive. Watching. Waiting. And wasn’t coming to hide.

He’s coming to finish what he started.

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