Battle of Wits, Search for Identity, Horror

The room is spinning. I turn on my side and vomit, hacking up what little is left of my lunch. Or dinner? I’m not sure. I can hardly remember anything with the insistent pain in my head, like a rattling buzz. Shaking, my legs cramping, I get to my feet and look around my apartment. All the furniture is upturned. Water runs freely from the ripped out faucet. Kitchen drawers are pulled out and their contents are scattered over the floor.

I spin, looking for something. Someone. I can’t remember who. Then my eyes fall on the broken picture frame and it all comes crashing back. Elizabeth. Beautiful Elizabeth. My fiance. My love.

“Elizabeth?” The words crank out of a raw throat. “Elizabeth?”

Where was she? Was she hurt? My head throbs and I touch my temple carefully. The hand comes away covered in blood. “What the hell?” I ask the empty apartment. It doesn’t answer back.

“Elizabeth!” I scream her name desperately. There’s blood on the floor. Is it mine, or hers? Distantly, I tug at the tight cloth of the dark body suit that threatens to suffocate me. For a moment, I’m surprised by the suit. It takes a full minute to remember. “My super suit. Right. I’m a hero.” I can’t remember my powers, but I know I have them. Swords. It has something to do with swords. I’m the Moonlit Knight. The Violet Knight. Something. It’s on the tip of my tongue.

I can’t find Elizabeth. She was here. I know she was here. Did he take her?

His face was as dark as pitch. Red eyes glowed out of his mask, almost hypnotizing. He broke into the house looking for her. To punish me. He was going to hurt her. We fought, but he got the better of me. He took me by surprise, the red eyed monster.

“I’m coming for you, Elizabeth. I’ll get you back,” I whispered.

My hands glided over the counters, looking for a clue. The red eyed monster liked to play games with his prey. He always left something behind. A newspaper. A puzzle. Something to challenge his pursuers and make the game more fun. I scan the cabinets, upend the couch. It has to be here somewhere.

Then I see it. Scrawled in blood along the baseboard. The letters don’t make sense. They’re all jumbled up and I can hardly read them with how my head still swims. But I focus on the letters, willing them to reveal their secrets. I have to. For Elizabeth.

At last, I can see the words clearly. Some kind of code. It’s a cypher, but one that triggers something in my mind. Familiar. Almost like breathing. “You’ll find her pieces where the one you didn’t save is buried.”

I choke on a sob. “No. No please,” I beg. I fall to the ground and scream. “Elizabeth!”

Somewhere close, a soft sniffle breaks through my pain. I straighten, straining hard to hear it better. There it is again. Heavy breathing. The panicked gasp of someone holding back tears. I follow the noise into the bedroom. The soft scent of lavender plays across the room and makes a sweet contrast to the torn up bed and broken pictures. I cross the room in a few strides and throw open the closet door from which I can hear the vain attempts of a woman trying to stifle her sobs.

Elizabeth stares up at me with wide, frightened eyes. My heart lifts for one joyous moment. Then she screams.

“Help! He’s going to kill me, someone help!” She tries to leap past me, but I quickly reach out to grab her arms, pulling her close. My Elizabeth!

“Please don’t kill me!” she begs. “Don’t kill me!”

“What do you mean?”

She shoves me away and flees past me into the other room. As I spin to catch her arm, my eyes are caught by the monster. Those wicked eyes burn in his face and his arms raise up in a defensive posture. I freeze, staring in silence at the man who would kill my Elizabeth. And the monster freezes as well.

A choking sound escapes my throat. Something between a laugh and a cry of disbelief. I slowly walk forward, watching as the monster mimics my every move. We reach out. Our fingers nearly touch. A wall of glass stands between us. A mirror.

I look around the strange room. Elizabeth’s room. Or rather, the woman I’d come to kill. I’m not sure what her name is, but I know she’s beloved of my arch nemesis, the Shining Knight. Once upon a time, he neglected to save my Elizabeth from harm. It is only fair that I return the favor.

The woman struggles in the other room, screaming for help that will never come. I am the red eyed monster. I always get my prey.