Melina steps out of the car and follows Thomas into a warehouse. He leads her into a room that appears to be a shooting range. Why did Thomas bring us here?
“Why are we here?” Melina voices the question she just asked herself, but he doesn’t answer; instead, Thomas places something in her hand. Her eyes widen as she sees the gun in her hand. Melina quickly gives it back to him, but Thomas forces it back into her hand. He moves behind Melina, places his hand over her shoulder, and aims forward.
“What are…?” Melina is cut off by a piercing scream.
She doesn’t know where it’s coming from, but she can hear it clearly. Tears pool in her eyes as she recognizes the scream. Melina knows how she sounds, even when she screams. She sees the target board pulling up as Thomas moves from behind her. He walks to the target board and places something on it. Thomas moves out of the way, and Melina sees what he has placed on it, and something in her shifts; it’s a picture of James.
With the gun aiming at it and the target board backing up, Melina can’t stop staring at the image of James. She flinches as she hears an earth-shattering scream rip out of her from the playing audio. The sound of her screaming takes her back to the room where she was tortured.
Melina looks down, feeling her feet barely touching the ground, as if she’s hanging in the air. Her brows furrow when she looks up and sees her hands tied and hooked on something above.
Where am I, and why am I tied up?
Melina begins to struggle with the rope to free herself but stops when she feels something flowing down her legs. Her eyes widen, seeing blood stain her clothes and the floor.
Why am I bleeding?
Melina is not given time to find out why before something else happens.
“Ouch,” Melina cries, her ribs burning as if someone had just punched them.
Something isn’t quite right. What happened to Thomas? She recalls seeing him in the room with her.
Melina blinks her eyes open, and she finds herself back at the shooting range. She quickly closes them, cringing as the audio of her screaming continues to play in the room.
“Shut it off!”
Melina recalls the moment, she lost her baby. She wraps her hands around her tummy as her heart breaks once more.
“You can make it stop; shoot him,” Thomas whispers into her ears. He is asking her to shoot the image of James.
Melina ignores him, trying to forget the horrors she experienced that day. She refuses to relive the moment she lost her child. It’s simply too painful. She closes her eyes and tells herself she isn’t there, but rather here with Thomas, but it doesn’t work.
A wince escapes her lips as she feels a hot whip tearing her skin. Melina quickly opens her eyes to take herself away from there, but her brow furrows as she sees someone else other than Thomas in front of her.
Melina blinks a few more times to double-check her vision. James is still standing in front of her.
How did he get here, and what is he doing here?
Melina doesn’t get a chance to find her answer before she feels an ache in her wrist. She looks up and notices her hands are tied and hooked above her. She tries to free her hands from the ropes but fails because they are too tight.
“Stop trying. It won’t work “James says, standing in front of her with a whip in his hand. Melina’s eyes widen in terror as she recognizes the whip. She looks closer and notices that it is stained with blood. Her heart begins to pound against her chest, wondering if that blood belongs to her, and if so, how did it get on the whip?
“You’re a pitiful excuse for a human being.” “You couldn’t even shoot at an image of me.” James brings the whip to his lips and licks the blood off it.
Melina cringes, gagging. Did he just do that? “You taste as sweet as I remember,” he says, grinning and showing off his blood-splattered teeth. She couldn’t believe he had just licked her blood.
“No, I’m not.” Melina didn’t shoot at the image because she disliked guns. Firing at a picture of James didn’t seem like the best way to relieve her pain right now.
“Ha, Ha, you’re weak, and you will live in pain forever because of your weakness.” He lifts the whip and hits it across her chest.
“No, no, stop, you’re hurting me, stop.” Blood spurts from her wound as tears well up in her eyes. She clenches her fists as she tries to take in the pain.
“Kill me, Melina; that’s the only way your suffering can end.”
“No,” Melina couldn’t kill someone. It will haunt her for the rest of her life.
“Kill me, kill me,” he taunts, repeatedly slashing the whip across her body. New whip marks appear on her skin, her body hurts as if a knife was slashed across it. Melina’s blood stains her dress. She screams at the top of her lungs as unexplainable pain courses through her body.
“Please stop.” She cries out for him to stop, but he doesn’t. As the minutes pass, her throat begins to burn, but James continues.
“Kill me, Melina, kill me,” James says as he grins and hits her, relishing her agony. Melina’s body moves from side to side with each hit. She gives up on her torturing ending when something happens. She smells Thomas’ scent all around her and feel his breath on her skin. Hope grows in her heart that he is here to save her..”Shoot him, principessa, shoot him and end your suffering,” Thomas says out of nowhere. She looks around the room, searching for him, but doesn’t see him anywhere.
“Where are you?” Melina takes another look around the room, but she still doesn’t see Thomas.
“Where I am doesn’t matter. Just shoot him so you can be free,” Thomas says.
“But he will die. I don’t want to kill him. I just want the pain to stop.”
“There’s no other way, mi amore,” Thomas appears before Melina. Her heart swells, seeing him. She won’t die here. He lifts his hand and brushes her hair out of her face. Her eyes close as she presses her face into his palm.
“You’re not killing him, mi amore; you’re ending your pain and suffering,” Thomas says, gently stroking her hair.
“I am not” Melina opens her eyes and stares at Thomas, wondering if he’s telling the truth.
“Yes, you’re not killing him; you’re only ending it.”
“Really?” Melina ponders over his words, and she realizes what Thomas says makes sense because that is all James is to her, a source of torture, heartbreak, and pain.
“Yes, so now, end your suffering.”
Thomas is right; James isn’t a human being to her but a source of pain. “How?” Melina asks, ready to finally end her suffering forever.
“Look at your hand,” Melina does as Thomas says; a gun appears to be in her hand.
How did it get there? When did my hands break free from the ropes?
Melina raises her head to see that Thomas has disappeared, and James is back in front of her. He’s panting and sweating as he grips the whip. James has used all his energy to bring Melina immense pain. Pain she never did anything to deserve, but because he’s a cruel bastard who feels the need to hurt Melina and cover her body in scars.
A sudden rage builds in her heart and spreads to the depths of her soul. Her grip on the gun tightens as she glares at James with hatred. All the sympathy she felt earlier for taking his life vanishes. Melina feels no remorse as she contemplates pulling the trigger and permanently ending his life.
“You’re weak, Melina,” James smugly remarks.
“No, I’m not,” Melina says confidently before pulling the trigger and shooting him in the chest. Melina expects to see blood on his shirt but doesn’t. She shoots again and still the same. Melina keeps shooting at him, emptying rounds into his body, but he doesn’t die. James’ wicked laughter echoes throughout the room as Melina fires even though there are no bullets in the gun. She only stops when the weapon is taken out of her hand.
“That’s okay, principessa, come back to me,” Thomas says softly and
Melina looks around the room, searching for him but doesn’t see him.
“Close your eyes and pay attention to my voice. You will see me soon.” Melina does as he says and closes her eyes.
“Take three calming breaths, then open your eyes.”
Melina does as he says. Her brow furrow when she sees him and their surroundings. Melina couldn’t believe everything was in her head. She looks at her body and finds no whip marks or blood. She really thought James was whipping her again.
“Thomas!” Melina rasps as fatigue sweeps over her body. Her legs give way, but Thomas grabs her before she hits the ground. “I shot him.” Melina knew it was all in her head, but she still pulled the trigger. That is a big step for her.
“I know you did,” Thomas says, smiling as he holds Melina in his arms.
“Thank you.” Melina understood what Thomas was trying to tell her earlier while she was hallucinating. James is the core source of her pain and suffering. The only way to stop it is to end him.
It’s not my right to take someone’s life, but the amount of pain James has caused me has given me the right. I will not hesitate the next time I see James, as I did earlier. I will put a bullet in his head.