When I was finally able to leave for lunch, I found a message from Flynn waiting for me at 1:45 p.m. I took the backpack and started following the wide corridor from the cabinets to the kitchen, following a group of colleagues who talked excitedly about some bars having returned to work even in the pandemic period."Did you know that I thought he was really good? I like Terror, maybe not as much as you, lol. But I liked this thing about marrying a little with a police movie. The idea is very good. Apparently it's not 100% based on the story of police officer Sarchie, but I was interested in learning more. ""I'm in love with the dark and the inexplicable, so I must have watched this movie about five times... lol. So, yes, you can say that it's hard to find someone who likes horror movies as much as I do."His answer didn't take more than three minutes, and I assumed that, in addition to being online, maybe he was waiting for me. I didn't want to sound stupid, but that's what it seemed
"The problem is that every time I meet a guy, we have three or four dates and then he just disappears. "I vented, putting the glass with a vodka shake on the table. My vision was already starting to get blurry at that time, and my voice sounded engrossed. On normal occasions, I would never drink in front of other people, because I didn't admit to being vulnerable in front of anyone. However, the three women around me offered me kind and languid smiles, so I could not refuse to drink and laugh with them. Because I needed a little normality, or I would end up freaking out for good. "Guys, I'll never understand that rotten finger of mine!”Luciana choked as she tried to laugh and drink beer at the same time, spooking a few small drops of the liquid against Alice, who was by her side. Her face turned completely red when she recovered enough to speak again."I think the problem is that you focus too much on one guy, Tas.”I reflected for a moment. Wanting to find my seriousness as Alice gr
So, every day he sent me a good day, I called him a beautiful creature. He said he felt like an alien, but that no one had ever called him in such a way, so I believed he liked it. And he never complained, on the contrary, he kept asking what ways I would like him to call me, so I said that any nickname was fair after I got him used to being called a creature.And because of him, I didn't even remember Cristiano's existence. Because of him, I slept very badly, I woke up with headaches, but with the mood in the heights. I spent the whole day excited, because I knew that any free moment would be dedicated to talking to him until dawn. And I still couldn't concentrate on anyone other than him. Even if at the end of that story my heart was broken, I couldn't have more than one person occupying my heart. So the story was repeating itself. Like Cristiano, Flynn became the center of my world, and there was no way it could end well.I knew I could be honest with my friends. I knew I had nothi
" But I want to make it work, guys! "I stubbornly insisted, whining again. "Not that I'm wanting the guy to be the love of my life, but it's very sad not to have anyone to count on in this life. I mean, having friends is not really like having a love. You've already been married, you know what I mean. "I sighed, looking at the sky. "I just wanted to get home and have someone to talk to about my day. I wanted to tell someone about how I believe that aliens exist and that we are controlled by them. I wanted someone to tell me to watch old movies and give my critical analysis of the history of the movie. I wanted someone like...”I stopped talking. Because I was describing Flynn, imagining a life with him, based on what we lived at the time. I shook my head to ward off my thoughts, but they still stood there, as if exposed in a window. That was crazy. A madness without any size. Because I had already been involved with many men, and none of them woke me up that way. None of them made me
Maybe one day I would be able to write a story about my life. Maybe one day I would put to the world what I didn't tell anyone. I could do this in the form of a story, and then no one could judge or feel sorry for everything I went through. Maybe one day people would know the worst side of the family I had, and understand why I was so dedicated to finding a family that my heart would accept, after everything I had done to get rid of that real family. When that day came, maybe the hole in my chest would disappear. Maybe I didn't need to rely on relationships to suppress fraternal needs.However, as long as I couldn't establish myself virtually as a writer, I couldn't mentally convince myself that I was one. I still considered myself just a person with too fertile an imagination, dreams beyond what is possible to achieve, and not a writer who had many stories to tell. I wanted to make a difference in people's lives. I didn't know how to do this so far. And I didn't want to create a self
At the end of the night, I literally had to be carried home, because I was not in a psychological condition to climb stairs or unlock a door. But somehow my friends managed to get me inside and waited until I locked the door to go to their homes. My apartment was silent, and even staggering I still had enough coordination to pick up my cell phone "to the moment forgotten on the shelf at home to prevent me from sending several messages to Flynn" ignoring several notifications to open my Facebook.My friends had posted sequences of photos of us and several stories. Luckily in all of them I was very presentable and nothing changed by alcohol, and there were many complimentary comments. Among the people who liked the photos was Flynn, and he also commented on an emoticon with heart. Immediately I closed the application and entered WhatsApp, where the last message had been from him wishing me a good fun. Entering the application, my vision was cloudy and patchy trembling, even so, I ended
I remember feeling butterflies in my stomach every second I looked at the clock on my cell phone, at the same moment that a constant sweat began to spread through my hands, revealing how much anxiety and stress accumulated in my body for the fateful and long-awaited encounter with Flynn Ashton.I had done too much that night with all those sprays of the most expensive perfume I had, and the fragrance that usually didn't bother me, that day even caused me a deep headache, after so much walking from one side to the other looking for accessories and paraphernalia that would make me a little more worthy than the usual apathy, causing the smell of the perfume to spreadAt that time my arms tinkled holding a pair of bracelets on each one, and my ring fingers boasted small shiny jewels " that were truly nothing more than costume jewelry. And the hoop earrings on my ears clung from time to time to the strands of my hair.God only knows how I managed to stick myself in a red tube dress that I
"Hi, creature" I spoke with an air of embarrassment, not knowing how to greet you.We were strangers who abused an overwhelmed familiarity. We knew almost nothing about the other, and this was very evident to his eyes landing on me and a singing smile appeared on his lips. Apparently, he was as awkward as I was. However, there was a glow of fascination in his green irises. I felt flattered to realize that he seemed delighted to see me. It meant that all the hours of housekeeping had served for something, after all.Or that my hope about the special bath was not as illusory as it seemed."I think that way I'll never stop feeling like an Alien," he replied humorously, leaning over to kiss my cheek and his silky hair slipping against my face. So up close, as he straightened up to move away, I noticed that the strands of his unshaven beard were short and of a darker tone than his hair, almost the same medium brown as his eyebrows. I think at that moment my heart stopped for a thousandth o
I almost no longer needed to use the tracker I had installed on Flynn's cell phone at the beginning of everything. I only used it because I still couldn't stop that mistrust when I noticed that he spent too much time working. But the conversations were always the same with the customers. And I didn't suspect that he was going out with other people, because there was no time when we weren't together. Still, I couldn't totally trust him. There were days when I didn't sleep. Not until I was really alone at home.My sleep problems remained the same. Always caused by that fear of being vulnerable next to someone else, and also by the constant nightmares about the murders I've been orchestrating with the help of someone else. I never told my therapist the truth. I never let him reach more than the edge of my feelings. At the same time I was policing myself to act and speak the way everyone expected Tasha Santos to do, although deep down there was that rabid animal that was always ready to a
"Can you behave like educated children? "He scolded my sister, pulling one of my nephews by the ear. "That's why I never go out with you!”" Jenyfer, it doesn't have to be so hard," countered my brother-in-law, reaching the smaller child who wouldn't stop climbing on the couch and throwing the cushions up. "They are too small to understand. And I'm sure your sister doesn't mind them playing, does Tasha?”"They will understand very well when their aunt put them on platters and bake for our lunch," shouted Jenyfer, looking with her eyes for any confirmation that I would be really furious.I left the platter with pasta in white sauce on the table and stretched my neck to see through the open door of the kitchen, finding my brother-in-law with my three-year-old nephew on his lap who kicked and shook his golden curl hair, in a desperate attempt to get back to mess up everything he found on his way. While my sister held her eldest son, ten years old, by the tip of her ear. It should be hurt
I still hid many secrets from Flynn. The biggest of them was also a surprise that left me in shock for at least three days, until I remembered that I needed to act normally so that he had no idea what was happening to my body, until I found the perfect opportunity to use this against him. At the moment, we were fine. We had sex every day. We ate in fancy places. We slept in the moonlight. And sometimes we resumed the sexual provocations and attacks within the company.Everything seemed very good in my life. So good that sometimes I even wondered where the hidden cameras of the prank were. Because trying to compare the woman of months ago who barely had time to eat and sleep because of the two jobs that they couldn't even pay the bills, and trying to find similarities with the woman who was having the life of dreams, was impossible. I still worked during the day and dedicated myself to writing in my free moments, wanting to reach higher and higher levels in that achievement, and willin
I knelt before the well-kept and immaculate tomb of one of the farthest cemeteries in the city, depositing my set of small yellow flowers below the concrete tombstone, which read "Diana Garcia. 08/23/1991. 12/24/2020."Despite bringing a handkerchief in my hands and touching it from time to time in the waterline of my eyes, I wasn't crying. In fact, the only emotion I felt was the pure satisfaction of having accomplished all my goals without anyone realizing where I was wanting to go. Diana Garcia had been the woman who gave the bad luck to cross her path to mine, when she decided to mistreat me and demoralize in front of her ex-husband, and my current fiancé, Flynn Ashton. I persuaded an unstable and deeply shaken man to take his life. I manipulated and orchestrated every step taken, and I still became some kind of national victim who was too traumatized to give clear statements to the police. Diana Garcia was my perfect victim, and Landon the criminal who freed me from paying for an
"What's going to happen now? "I asked against your chest. "What do we do with life? With the police? The investigator was here earlier. He asked me about my relationship with Leo, the man who held me hostage at the end of the robbery. In the researcher's opinion, I seemed to be too friendly with someone who always presented unstable behaviors.”"I knew," he said, leaning his chin on my head. "They want to discredit us in every way, Tas. But you don't have to worry. I have a real team of lawyers. No one will get enough arguments to cause fear. They have nothing to suspect, at the end of the day. The point is that it is much more interesting to focus on the relationships we had with the people involved in the crime, than to actually solve it. That's the problem with the police in this place.”"I'm still afraid, Flynn. "I commented in a trembling voice. "I'm still afraid that they might catch me off guard and make me confess something I didn't even do. I've never been in front of police
"I don't feel vulnerable," I said, already feeling in which direction that conversation would take. I had to show that I was very stubborn and the owner of my own will. "And I think this whole situation may have made you a little paranoid, Flynn. I'm not criticizing. I think anyone in their normal state would become a little suspicious. But if you're suggesting that I need security guards, I refuse. I can’t work every day knowing that when I leave the supermarket I will get into a car with two armed men and that they will leave me at home, or that they will take me to your house, because you no longer trust the people who live in my building, and that’s why you prefer to avoid it. I don't want bodyguards, just like you don't want to either. And I don't think that being with you will make me a target. I think this can even increase my security, since no one will want to mess with someone so powerful.”"I know the question is strange to you," he said, still without looking me in the eye
Flynn totally entered the room, and seeing him was like opening the curtains in a dark room. He was my sun on that rainy night outside, and I was really happy to see him. The hair was loose on his shoulders, and the smooth and silky strands slipped smoothly to make the face even more beautiful and shiny. He took off his mask and kept it in his pocket, while still watching me, looking as happy and radiant as I should be."The nurse told us that the number of visits was limited," Cristiano said somewhere far from my attention. "I don't think she'll be happy to see so many people in here. Tasha just went through a traumatic situation. She needs rest. You can't keep getting so many people in the room like that.”"You're right," said Flynn, looking away for a quick moment to observe Cristiano. "You can leave now. I've arrived.”"I'm not going out," Cristiano said with a dull giggle. "I arrived first.”"Oh, for God's sake! "Beatrice grunted, rising from a jump. She pulled Cristiano violentl
"Look, Cris... I really like you. I really loved you more than anything in this life. But you're not the guy I can call when the situation gets tight, you know? "I said, performing a mouth-in-mouth. "You're the guy who amuses me, makes me laugh, but that's all. All you do besides that is hurt me. And I know you may be being sincere in saying that you really realized that we were born for each other and that we should continue together, but now, after all, you no longer fit into my life, Cris.”"No, Tas. You don't have to say anything. "He interrupted, pretending that I hadn't really said anything. "I understand that you are already with someone else. And I don't want this guy to suffer, thinking that you'll be able to love him as you love me. I know you can't love anyone the same way you loved me, and I think he'll need some time to understand that. But I don't want to force anything. I don't want you to tell him out of nowhere that you don't want to see him anymore. We can make it wo
Beatrice snorted, but went to sit in one of the chairs, watching Cristiano like an eagle watching the chicks in her nest."What do you need to know? "He asked."How did the police arrive so fast? "I asked Beatrice, disappointing Cristiano's expectations. "How did they know what was happening in the supermarket, if the employees were surrendered before they had time to call them?”"The police had been following Flynn since the first crime," she replied, undoing the angry expression. "They considered him a suspect, yes, but the point was that they believed that the bandits would not leave Flynn alive to tell the story of what had happened. And, being a billionaire man in the middle of Brazil, they took on the role of following his every step to know if they would not meet the bandits at some point. And the moment came when Flynn came to pick you up that night. They were waiting across the street, in plainclothes, when they noticed that masked men entered the establishment. All we really