Nick's PoV:

I muffled my breath with the help of a scarf as it got louder and louder in panic. His icily cold voice penetrated through the slit of the closet like the sliding of a thin sheet of paper. My heart thrummed rapidly reverberating through my ribs.

I shouldn't get caught. Not again. A slight ringing was prevalent in my ears since the hit I took from previous day. I was too weak to take another.

"Nick, my baby, where are you? Come to daddy" His laugh was so villainous that I let out the sob that I had been holding back.

"There you are!"

I was caught. My body paralyzed in fear and was too tired to move or fight against his brutality. All I could pray for at the moment was to extend the dark, dingy closet into a secret chamber and then maybe into a secret world like Narnia.

Children were normally scared of the dark but I was scared of light. Light would lead him to me, light would give me the pain and suffering that an eight year old should never go through, light would scorch the life out of me. Whereas darkness was comforting, enveloping me in its warmth. Darkness will give me refuge and solace into a world that is void of suffering and harassment.

Unfortunately I was exposed. He opened the closet and grinned like a mighty tyrant. Sniffing my pusillanimity he was more than satisfied. He backed off and gave me a reassurance that he wouldn't do any harm.

It gave a tiny slit of hope that he changed. I wiped my tear stricken cheeks and put a foot down the closet.

"Daddy," I whispered.

He closed his ears with the palm of his hands, "Brat! Why did you do that? How are you supposed to call me?"

"So so ..sorry Sir. I didn't.. didn't..do it on..on purpose. Please forgive me sir." I stuttered in agitation.

"You lack discipline little brat. This must teach you some" He said, slamming the door of the closet and locking me inside. A pale glow of moonlight pervaded into the closet through the slits.

Under the glow was a grotesque figure that bared its blood dripping fangs.

My throat clenched at the lack of breath. Inhalation created a searing pain in the chest. I braced myself and gasped for air.

It came closer.

And closer.

"Nooo..." I screamed from the bottom of my throat and sat upright on the bed to realise it was a nightmare.

"Nick, what happened? Are you alright?" I woke Richie with all the screaming.

"Nothing. Just a bad dream. I want to get some air." I slipped out of the sheets and changed into sweats.

"Wait. I will come along" He offered, but I knew he was too tired from all the drinking.

"I'm fine Rich. I need to be alone." I convinced him and shut the door behind. To be honest, I needed a company. Being alone would be a stimulus to all the nightmares. Eventually I ended up having an unexpected partner to spend the night with.

Chris was crouched comfortably on a chair by the swimming pool listening to music and sipping a can of beer that was almost empty. He seemed to be enjoying his solitude.

A day back I was completely knocked out with the injury and Em's sudden disappearance. The shoulder injury restricted me from playing the finals of the tournament. I haggled with Coach Adams till the last moment but he was too obstinate about letting me play. The match should have been a piece of cake but we lost it miserably. The offence player who replaced me was a complete jerk. We lacked team coordination and failed. Inorder to vent out the stress, Rich suggested that we should take a week off and spend the vacation at San Diego. We rented a guest house for the seven of us and Chris accompanied, making it an eight.

I believed it was indeed a vacation until meeting Emily at the guest house. I conceived the secret intention behind the holiday was to get us back together. Though their motive was appreciable I'm afraid their off period would get nasty because of us.

"Hey mate, come on, take a seat" invited Chris to his little party of solitude.

"Dude it's three in the morning. What have you been doing?" I asked, taking a sip of his remaining beer. I assumed it must've been opened long before for it tasted awful.

"Nothing. I've been contemplating over some drunken thoughts. Who knows I may even come up with a Roberts Theory of drunken behaviour before dawn." Chris's scratched his chin and made the comment with a serious expression.

I guffawed and stretched out on the chair beside Chris, "At this rate you would never have a girlfriend Doctor Roberts."

"Says who" he reverted, "The guy who slams the door at the face of his girlfriend. I bet you'll scare off all women you see with that intimidating attitude of yours."

"Argh..stop getting on my nerves," Even while being drunk, Chris was right on assessing my behaviour.

I avoided his nagging and gazed at Emily's house. She was so well off here that I couldn't believe she lived in the shabby, cramped apartment to work for a living. Guess she had more resilience than I thought.

I never knew anything about her.

All the rooms of the two storeyed building were dark except for one which I presumed to be Em's. She must be undergoing difficulties in sleeping having me in the vicinity. The drapes of the window were often pulled aside at the edge and her shadow moved restlessly.

"Oh Romeo, Oh Romeo, Wherefore art thou Romeo," Chris mimicked feminine voice, pretending to be Juliet.

"Shut up before I throw your ass into the pool" I threatened inorder to stop his senseless mumbling.

"You love her, don't you? Why are you trying to hide it?" Chris asked disregarding the humour.

"I'm confused Chris. I can't trust anyone at the moment. The two people whom I care for, have varying versions of the past and I'm perplexed on whose truth should I believe. Emily has been my love from childhood and Richie my best mate. I can't afford to lose anyone." I hoped Chris being a psychologist would come up with a feasible solution.

"Both are right. You should believe both of them Nick." Chris's solution made the situation at hand even more complicated.

"What do you mean?"

Chris took a final sip of beer and wiped his lips with the sleeve of his sweatshirt, "I'm not supposed to reveal any personal information of my patient. It's against the law. But I'll breach my principles if it would give Emily a better life. Nick, Emily was not my patient. She was just a friend. She kept to herself and never talked about her problems with anyone. I gained her trust through friendship and little by little she opened up. I was more interested to dig into Emily's case so I made background investigation with the help of her brother and her highschool friends. After a thorough analysis I came to know Emily was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

I was taken aback, "Tell me it's not true Chris. I swear I would kill you if I came to know you were lying." It was surreal to be struck with a revelation that Emily had been going through a mental disorder all those years. I knew how worse life could get, living with a cranky brain. Never I imagined Em would be leading such a miserable life.

"That's not the worst part Nick. Emily... Emily has a twisted memory." Chris put his head down in anguish.

"Twisted... twisted what?" The cruelties happening to Em made my heart weak. Tears were almost at the brim of my eyelids.

"Her mind twists reality to prevent any further damage. Her memories pertaining to any bad incidents were faked by her mind in a way that she would be least affected by it." Chris couldn't bear to talk about Emily's state, but he somehow forced himself to convey it.

"You're lying. You are a damn lier. I don't believe in your stupid psychology concepts and theories. Emily is just fine asshole." I raged at Chris inorder to convince myself.

Chris pushed me away, "Believe it or not idiot. She is not alright. All she needs is love and care and you can't fucking provide it." It was the first time I saw Chris flaming with such temper. The warmth in his eyes was replaced with a unfounded coldness.

His strange behaviour left me dumbstruck. I backed off and stood facing the pool. "You're right. I can't give her the love and care she needs. I'm broken just like my dad. All I could do is break her even more."

I swirled back to meet his cold superior gaze, "I'm leaving Emily. She deserves someone who takes care of her. I will just make her life difficult."

Chris took a deep breath and stared back into my eyes,

"Right. Then let me love her"

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A/N: Hola dear readers. I'm extremely sorry, I can't hold myself back from leaving cliffhangers XD

Hope you liked the chapter.

Special thanks to SelnaMGayath for the amazing PoV posters. I love it ❤️

Thank you for reading ❤️

Happy reading :-)