CHAPTER 4: DOOM

Melissa

It's been 6 months in Alexander's home and to me it felt like years. The emotional and mental torture was one I couldn't deal with. Most of the days, I spend them in the room all alone without talking to anyone.

My muse had drifted away from me so bad. I was an artist, I loved painting, I love drawing but lately I couldn't find the courage to pick them up again. I had become my own shadow, lost without a direction, without a place to call home.

Alexander slept on the other side of the bed, snoring away peacefully. The whole room was illuminated yet I glanced into the darkness right in front of me, praying that I would find a way soon to color myself in it. My right hand unconsciously caressed my tummy.

In a span of 6 months, Alexander had me remove my babies, twice. He claimed he wasn't ready for kids now as they would deter him from his goal.

I was pregnant again but I couldn't let him know otherwise it would meet the same fate as others.

"Why are you rubbing your tummy?" His voice jolted me back to reality, I had no idea how long he was awake for. The hair at the back of my neck stood upright like I was about to be electrocuted and my skin pricked in fear.

"Nothing, just thinking of my dead kids," I replied calmly, standing up and walking into the bathroom.

His footsteps followed me into the bathroom, it stopped in front of the wardrobe, before it followed me finally.

I sat on the water closet to pee, he stretched his hand out for me to see what he held.

"A pregnancy strip? You must be joking," I scoffed.

"Just use it, I need confirmation that you are not pregnant," his voice held no emotion in it. His deep brown eyes stared at me coldly like a killer's, no single emotion graced his beautiful brown eyes.

"I'm not using it, do your worst," I challenged him.

"Fine, I take it that you are pregnant then," he waited for me to finish my business. He grabbed me by the arm and pushed me roughly on the bed.

"Alexander, please I beg of you," I started to cry. "Let me keep this one, don't turn me into a barren woman in my early life. Please."

I rushed to grab his feet but he shoved me away roughly without saying a word.

"Fine, let me go, I promise not to mention anything to anybody. I'll leave your life, disappear so far away."

"You have no choice but to remove this one woman. There's only one woman I would love for her to carry my offspring and you are definitely not her." he shouted, breathing in and out like an angry predator. I flinched, crawling to the corner of the room as a way to hide from him.

"Then go find her and let me go," I shouted from the corner where I sat.

"Never, you are mine and mine for life, I paid a huge sum just to get you, to show you that I can get whatever I want."

His words pricked my gentle soul, I could feel myself tearing from inside out.

"Felix," he shouted, standing in the center of the room. The door flung open and Felix stood before him, cowering.

"Yes Sir Alex," he bowed. His eyes looked around the room, searching for me.

"Take Melissa to Barker, make him remove that worm inside her at once."

"Yes sir."

Alexander came to drag me up and I fought recklessly with him, cursing him and abusing me. I slapped him multiple times, punched him sometimes but he never reacted. He just pushed me into Felix's arms who held me like a child.

The drive to the hospital had become another routine of mine, I laid in the backseat with my red swollen eyes, mumbling incoherently to myself. In the space of 6 months, I was already losing my sanity, my peace of mind. There was no way I could contact anyone, I wasn't allowed to leave. We walked into the doctor's office and my clothes were changed into the hospital's one. Felix waited for me outside and I was given a sleeping pill.

*****

Few hours later, I woke up to the light shining directly into my eyes. My head banged as I tried to sit up.

"Easy, easy," Dr Barker assisted me up. He handed me some pills and I hurriedly used them. "In a few hours, you should be fine."

He handed me my clothes and drew the curtains for me to change.

I checked into my clothes and dragged my feet outside to meet Felix. He rushed to me, helping me walk gently. He helped me to the back seat and drove away.

I noticed the unfamiliar route he took, he stepped on the gas and sped away, stopping in front of a bus terminal.

"Felix, what is going on?" I asked, obviously confused.

He opened the passenger's door and held my hands. "I wouldn't want Alexander to ruin your life. You are a young beautiful passionate woman, leave New York, find a good place to live. Work on that dream of yours and become the woman you have always wanted to be."

My eyes watered on its own, deeply emotional of how Felix thought of me. I crashed into a hug with him, irrespective of how tired I was.

"Thank you so much," I said amidst my tears, sniffing heavily. I broke the hug and asked him the question that haunted me. "What would you tell him happened to me?"

"I'll handle him, I've worked with him for years. Don't worry about it. I just want you to have it at the back of your mind, that he is not a bad person. What he battles with, is more than what we know. Just please, don't hate him."

I tried to make sense out of what Felix was saying but it wasn't sitting right with me. I watched him count some money for me, he handed it to me and helped me to the bus terminal to purchase a ticket.

"One more thing Melissa," he whispered so close to my ears. "Find your real parents, let that be your driving force."

He said, walking away before I could ask any questions. Two things came to my mind, one, he didn't have an answer to what he just said and two, I guess he didn't want to know where I was so I wouldn't be found easily. 

I took a last look at him driving away, waving from afar. "When the time is right, I promise to deal with you Alexander Pierce, for all the pain you have caused me in my life." I swore to myself, sure of all the hate I harbored for him.