<Always have an escape plan>

|Jadesola|

*Slightly unedited! Also, play the song above on repeat as you read!*

10:20 pm, Friday, September 17, 2021

IF I happened to stare into the eerie darkness one more time, I would go bat shit crazy. For hours–not that I could tell the time–Richard had departed to God knows where with the dead body, leaving me alone in total darkness. Not only was I terrified, I was still bound to the chair, my wrists, ankles and buttocks hurting from sitting down on the metal seat for too long.

Cold air brushed my cheeks, its icy fingers trailing over my skin. I shivered and shut my eyes tight. It was already scary being stuck alone in the dark, the thought of ghosts lingering around skyrocketed my anxiety.

Inhaling a deep breath of the rancid air circulating inside here, I mused on what Richard had divulged to me. He was probably right, because while I prayed for safety, there was no fucking way Kian was rushing to rescue my kidnapped ass. Especially after my father had killed his mother. Honestly, at this dire point, it was up to me to save myself and my baby.

"You'll be fine, Jade. God doesn't let anything bad happen to his children. You'll get out of here, all you need to do is calm down and think. Remember the ultrasound? You need to be strong for your baby," I muttered beneath a shaky breath, the matra taking a hold of me until fatigue and hunger threatened to knock me out. Until he arrived.

I perceived his presence before I saw him, the woody smell of burning incense tickling my nostrils.

My lashes fluttered open, as they adjusted to the blessed light chasing away the darkness once Richard flipped the switch on.

"Missed me?" he mocked, deep voice ricocheting off the damp walls.

I plastered a look of disgust on my face and said nothing, wondering why the fuck he'd changed his appearance.

He was clad in a priest's garb, the white garment decorated with splotches of red, bloody stains. Around his neck was that blasted chaplet of his, the metal beads glistening with red. In his right hand, a thurible containing incense, burned. It was suspended from a merge of chains, while in his left hand, he clutched a crucifix outwards as if to ward off an invisible enemy.

What was he up to?

"Did you know that incense is the only material that bridges the gap between heaven and earth? It sends our prayers to Mother Mary immediately. Whenever I make a kill, I have to burn incense and cleanse the place to chase away any lurking spirits. It's the only way Mother Mary accepts my sacrifices." As he spoke, he walked around slowly and swung the thurible in a gentle to and fro motion so that white smoke billowed from it.

Horror rolled within me at the utter nonsense he spewed. Gritting out between clenched teeth, I asked, "Are you doing this because Kian found out my father killed your wife?"

Richard's robe swayed to the right, enclosed in a cloud of smoke that proved difficult to peek at his features. "Far from it. In fact, now that you're very much curious, I think it's time to let someone finally read my letters. Give me some minutes, dear."

Letters? Swallowing down hard, I wished I had closed my mouth, that my curiosity hadn't gotten the best of me. But it was too late.

Ignoring me, he began advancing towards all the corners of the room, humming:

Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.

For a slight second, the cloud of smoke cleared and I could glimpse his expression. Hair gelled back, the man appeared relaxed, serene and so engrossed in his task of purging evil away.

Goosebumps pierced my skin as I watched him in awe. He was the perfect picture of irony, chasing off whatever demons plagued him when he, himself was the very root of evil. The fucking devil. Richard was possessed, there was no doubt. Because how else could a well-known senator pull this off if he wasn't a lunatic?

With every undulating whiff of incense, the acrid smell spilled into my nostrils until I could hardly inhale properly. My eyes watered, the spicy scent nearly choking me.

Eventually, he was finished, after he'd rounded the basement several times. As if woken up from a trance, he shot those piercing, glittering eyes at me, thin lips curling into a wicked smile that exposed his canines. "Mother Mary is of the same mind as well. She agrees that you should read the letters."

Gliding forward, the hem of his robe brushing the floor, Richard planted the still burning thurible beside the door. Then he placed his crucifix on the desk before tugging out a notebook from a backpack, a few weapons tumbling out as he did so. Needless to mention, the fierce looking knives, guns and pliers didn't bode well for me.

He tucked the tiny book in the crook of his elbow, his tone, giddy with excitement as he advanced close. "Finally someone gets to read my book!"

Was everyone in their family crazy?

The insane glint in Richard's blue eyes gave me my answer as he untied my wrists behind the chair, leaving them unrestrained.

For a mini-second, I contemplated punching him and making a run for it but he must have glimpsed that decision in my eyes because he shook his head. "Ah ah. I wouldn't do that if I were you. Now, I'm going to tie your hands forward but not too tightly so you can read without any disruptions."

He yanked my wrists forward and looped them together again. As he worked on bounding me, a whiff of blood, sweat and Kian's signature rosewood cologne assaulted my nose, almost making me recoil but I stayed still, loath to make any move that would warrant my death.

Finally, he shifted away, done. Rotating my shoulders to a degree, I enjoyed the little freedom I'd been granted, my wary eyes pinned on his frame.

Richard jerked his notebook out of his elbow, opened to the first page and settled it on my lap. "You have an hour to read through. Enjoy."

Lowering his grimy fingers down on my scarf, he patted my hair and caressed my cheeks in an affectionate manner before he took his nauseating leave.

I shook off his stomach-churning touch, and scoured through the page. At first, it was hard to make sense of the childish scrawl, coupled with the dim lightning and my squinted eyes but I scaled through.

His mother's death. Childhood abuse by his psychotic father. The raping and killing of little girls. His rocky marriage and negligence of his children, Kian and Jared. Then the girl he'd groomed sexually.

As I read, my mouth flew open in disbelief, tears forming in my eyes. Not only were the dates unrecognizable, the words were written in blood and the atrocious crimes this man had committed were gut-wrenching.

He'd even killed his own wife and not my father?

Every turn of the page, every word I happened to read, appeared worse than each previous entry. It seemed that as he grew up, he evolved into a beastlier version of himself.

Lord have mercy!

"Crying for me already?"

I jerked my blurry eyes away from the haunting words, fixing them on him. He stood at the entrance, a mocking hand laid over his chest. "I knew you would understand that it wasn't of my own choice."

Apparently an hour had passed but I'd been unaware, totally riveted in the monster's world.

"No! I weep for the innocent boy who died when you came into the picture." I clapped the book close and spat, "And after reading this diary, all I fully understand is that you're inhumane."

"Pregnant women, always harping on about nothing. Don't worry, it's between you and I. No one will know you cried for my sake." He grinned and clasped his fingers behind him as he walked into the basement. "Were you confused by the dates and the abbreviations? Well, I'll give you a quick run down."

Half-tempted to pitch the notebook away, I tamped down the urge to and sucked in a deep breath. Now was the time to stall and fully understand what exactly made him tick.

"My father was born into a very religious, Catholic family. In fact, my grandfather was once a deacon and he made sure my father followed in his footsteps. Father was enrolled in a seminary school, passed all the exams but he, unfortunately for me, didn't make the priesthood. He became depressed because all his mates had the opportunity to become priests while he couldn't."

A bitter laugh escaped him, his voice and demeanor faraway. "You see, back in the 1950's and '60's, it was easier for one to become a nun than a priest so my father thought if he couldn't make it, his child could, provided that child was born a girl. So he got married but, alas, I came out a boy. Father became increasingly violent, saddled with marriage and a son he didn't want."

His features contorted into an ugly snarl as he curled his fingers into fists, pacing forward and backward. "Years went by, my mother died. Nobody knew but I watched him push her down the stairs and claim it was an accident. That very night, he began abusing me. He continued in that way, subjecting me to a lot of tortuous events that shaped the man I am today."

Pity, sorrow and horror swamped my heart at all that poor guy had gone through. But it was still no excuse. "Why didn't you tell anyone? Why did you keep silent?"

He cocked his head, staring at me intently as if thinking of the question just now. "I couldn't say a word, Father made sure of that. My mother's parents were dead, my father's parents lived far away so it was just him and I. But I did find a way to release my emotions. I started writing in Mother's favorite diary. She'd gifted it to me the day before she died. I used odd dates because I was afraid someone would get a hold of it and reveal my secrets."

"These odd dates are a type of code we used in school. We called it the jungle language. This is where you let every consonant be accompanied by the letter A, then you assign numbers, 12345 to the vowels, AEIOU respectively. In my diary, I tweaked mine by writing the date and year backwards, except that the century is removed and replaced with a comma. For example, today is September 17, 2023. In my diary, I would write it as; SA2PATA2MABA2RA 71 '32."

He paused to spear me a smug look. "Brilliant, right?"

I could only shake my head, appalled yet intrigued at how smart this man was.

"Back to my sob story." Veering sideways, Richard picked up a knife and ran his finger along the jagged edges of the blade. "I killed my father, everyone was blissfully unaware. They thought he'd committed suicide. After that, I was bundled by the church to live with my grandparents. There, I killed more girls, basically became A.M, Ave Maria the serial killer and I also met Ava, whom you read to be V."

"Again, I used a single letter because I didn't want anyone guessing who owned the diary. I fell in love with Ava and I believed Mother Mary brought us together because her name was quite similar to mine, Ave Maria. We got married but she failed at the one task I expected of her."

He shot me a fierce glare, tone glazed with fury as he toyed with the blade. "Ava fucking gave birth to boys. That was the saddest days of my life but I had to endure it, since I was vying for a political position then. But Mother Mary was faithful, she presented me with a girl I could groom as mine. You might know her, Katharina, aka A and Kian's ex-wife. Everything was falling into plan, until Ava caught us together so I killed her and blamed your dad for my crime."

Christ! My head was already pounding furiously from all his confessions but I ignored the persistent ache and hurled out, wishing I could fashion daggers out of thin air and into his graying temple, "You are crazy and delusional! Why kidnap me then?! I wasn't even aware you existed!"

"Well, I did." Smirking, he placed the knife back onto the table and tugged out the rest of his menacing weapons. "And me kidnapping you was to teach my son a lesson. He thinks he can defy my orders to get back with Katharina and have a family with you? No, not while I'm alive."

Speechless, I could only glower at him, unable to do anything but watch him go on like we were merely conversing about the weather. Like it wasn't a dangerous game of cat and mouse we both played.

"Any other questions? I need to get everything ready because Sunday comes within twenty hours."

Without waiting for my input, he began rummaging through his backpack and pulled out a packet that I couldn't identify. Veering towards the faintly, glowing thurible, he crouched down and added the unknown substance which was clearly incense inside it. Orange sparks flew and the room was enveloped in the overpowering stench of flaming incense once more.

Just as he was about to return to his base, he cursed loudly, "Fuck, I forgot the shovel. Richard, you bloody fool."

He departed again, but not before making sure I was bound tightly.

Shut in the dark, heavy dread hit the pit of my stomach. Shrouded in the nun's habit as I was, I was scared shitless from the cold and inevitable, totally losing hope. From his story, it was obvious that he had lost all sense of empathy and was now a robot whose aim was to maim and kill. I couldn't even plead with him if I wanted to, the man was psychotic.

A faint feeling overcame me as I shut my eyes, surrounded by blackness and spicy smoke. Settling my hands on my belly, I tried to comfort myself and my baby even though I lacked any sort of conviction. "We'll make it alive, I promise you."

Tough luck, Jade, a very tough one.

The scraping of a metal against the floor indicated Richard had made his way inside. I pried my eyes open only to view him settling a shovel against the wall, its sandy edges, red-rimmed.

"You want me dead, right? Fine. But what if I give birth to a baby girl?" I asked, my mind roaming fast, thinking of ways I could slow him down.

Tilting his head to the side, he halted, forehead wrinkled in concentration.

Licking my dry lips, I added, "You could groom her, teach her the ways of Mother Mary. I'm pretty sure it would be a win if you let her be yours. Think of all the possibilities."

A guffaw escaped him and he rotated on the balls of his feet, swerving towards the table. "I'm not stupid, Jadesola. You're stalling."

I was. Just like I'd seen in the movies, I would do anything to halt whatever plan he had in mind. So I had to keep him talking.

Quick to shake my head, I pursed my lips. "No, I'm asking perfectly normal questions. This is your grandchild and if you kill me now, you will never know what its gender is."

His raptor gaze dropped to my stomach, a thoughtful frown etched on his face. For minutes, I waited with bated breath, hoping that I'd gotten to him until he dipped his hair in disagreement. "No and on second thoughts, Mother Mary has ordered me to kill you immediately. You know too much already, I cannot risk leaving you alive till Sunday morning."

A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I'm having a hard time with this scene.😭 I was supposed to post all parts together but part 2 isn't finished and I don't want to be too hasty and post rubbish.

Please bear with me. Next part would be better, I promise xx.

Also, thank you for 105k reads. You all are amazing!❤️✨

Love, Nita!