Masked screams of resistance in the darkness filled the dim silence in the room, followed by the shuddering sound of being hit.

An eerie scene displayed, what looked like an unmoving body of his, that seemingly moved from several attempts of being stabbed brutally.

The silence was interrupted by him shouting threats for exposing private and explicit videos of his girlfriend.

Another video of breaking into a house, in an attempt to film, followed by pleads of let go's and forgiveness.

Every single video and clip, portrayed the same theme, the same thing, and the same person.

My ex, Hayden.

And his girlfriend Iris.

My face contorted into a frozen stun and my body was paralysed in my position, with Edward's phone still in my trembling hands. Somehow, I couldn't manage to bring myself to look at him now, unable to digest the one after the other, revelations. I felt him shift uncomfortably in the bed, probably unable to decipher my expression. Nevertheless, my voice remained stuck in my throat, and the silence grew several decibels with the passing minutes.

But Edward decided to break it. "It was all for you Michelle, and there was no other intention or purpose behind it. I know I did it for the best,"

Those words somehow helped me to peel my eyes away from the screen and towards him, and the glimmer in his eyes caught me off, guard.

"I-" I choked, not knowing what to say. I averted my gaze back to the phone again in extreme nervousness, backing away from the opened album. My shaky finger hovered over another album that was named after me with a heart emoji. "C-Can I... See this?"

I looked at him wide-eyed, and he nodded, the ghost smile on his face not leaving. He scooted dangerously close to me, and typed in the passcode, with his phone still in my hands.

The album unlocked and it was the polar opposite of what I had seen earlier. Pictures ranging from my young age to the present, all were revealed by a single tap on the folder. Pictures, I didn't even remember I had taken, some of my old recorded videos, all of them were there. Some of them were screenshots of my conversations with friends, my university classmates, my college mates, acquaintances, my dad, everyone.

"How..."

"I know all of that is too much to take in, but I had access to your phone so... Yeah. But do you realise now how much I love you, and how much you matter to me?" His voice broke in again, silencing my pacing thoughts.

My eyes snapped towards him again, and my lips curled into a small smile. I didn't know what I was supposed to do, what to think, or what to feel, so I let Edward's words take charge of that.

"I... Yeah, I do believe you," I stammered, feeling uncertain and scared, my tone not matching my words.

And then, we spent the night together, with Edward feeling happy and assured that I didn't leave and me feeling apprehensive, masquerading it with reassuring smiles.

By early morning, I crept out of bed, wriggling out of Edward's grip, just wanting to see Mum. I sprinted out of the room, and in the living room to find her busy in the kitchen with something. I took a seat on the couch, greeting her good morning and she smiled brightly at me.

"Good morning Shelly," She chirped in her usual cheery way, looking completely unaware of mine and Edward's argumentative discussions from last night. "Do you want pancakes or bacon?"

"I'm not hungry right now," I groaned a little, as I sipped some cold water from the water bottle on the table.

"What's up with you again?" She asked, slightly suspecting something.

I didn't want to blame her though, for always being oblivious of my feelings. I'd been keeping her in the dark about my stuff from her as long as I knew, just as a toxic coping mechanism for not wanting to get judged. Now though, I couldn't suppress my emotions that were just revealing on their own.

"Can I have your phone for a second? I need to talk to you about something... Important," I boldly stated, unsure. I had a feeling Hannah, Edward or I don't know who would probably have hacked Mum's phone to eavesdrop on my conversations with her.

She simply nodded with wide eyes, her expression serious, as she grabbed the phone from the kitchen counter and handed it to me. I quickly went to my room and hid it in my dresser drawer, meanwhile, double checking on Edward if he was asleep. I rushed my way out back to the living room to Mum who seemed to be neatly perched on the couch, waiting for me patiently. With curious eyes, I looked around the living room towards the walls and the ceilings to make sure there weren't any cameras either. Even if there were, I couldn't be so sure, so I had to scoot myself and sit closer to Mum so that my voice couldn't be recorded. She pursed her lips a little at my paranoid actions, but I knew it was just because of how unaware she was of Edward.

"Why did you put my phone away dear?" She asked with an indifferent tone.

"Can you speak slowly, please? Someone might hear us," I whispered, and she paused for a minute, analysing me before nodding a little bit. "I had to put it away so that no one would eavesdrop on us,"

Her lips turned into a grim line, as she exhaled a loud sigh. "What do you want to talk about?" She whispered back and I was glad she was finally trying to understand me.

I had decided to ask the one question, that had kept bothering me all night, and even now. I begun with a deep breath, mentally preparing myself for an uncalled answer. "Mum, do you think I'm mentally ill?"

The words themselves felt bitter on my tongue, feeling overwhelmingly unsettling. Mum's expression faltered a little bit from smiling to distant, as she blinked her eyes. "Who told you that?"

"Whoever told me, I just want you to tell me that am I?"

"Michelle you're not..." She stopped herself as if to regain her breaking composure, and then continued with a dramatic sigh. "I don't even know what's caused this,"

"What do you mean?" I frowned, more confused. "I just want you to tell me the truth,"

She waited for a while as if lost in a train of her own thoughts and then said. "Did Edward say that to you?"

I shook my head slowly to myself, feeling the pang of disappointment fill my stomach. "Yes."

"Michelle, if anything you're the smartest girl," She told me, looking me in the eye seriously. "You're not mentally ill or anything, just a little paranoid maybe, but nothing's wrong with that. Edward must be overthinking this,"

"He's not!" I sniffed. "He told me I was crazy last night and has been talking to a therapist for me this whole time without letting me know,"

She gave me a sad look. "Do you want me to talk to him about it?"

"No," I huffed, tears forming in my eyes but I pushed them away from my hands. "Did you really believe in everything I told you that day? About what Hannah did and about Edward's prying into my stuff? I want you to tell me the truth!" I half whispered, half hushed.

She pursed her lips and then looked away. "No, I couldn't believe any of that,"

I scoffed hard, looking away from her as well. "Why? You thought I was making stuff up? Just like Edward always thinks I am?"

"Michelle, I know he isn't the best guy, but I think he wants the best for you. Yes, he told me that he thought you were... You had severe anxiety and you were paranoid, or-"

"Oh God..." I shook my head to myself. "He said I was delusional. And you believed him?"

"Michelle that's why I was telling you to take therapy, so we could be sure about what's going on. Maybe both of us could be wrong, and you might be right," She nearly beseechingly, spoke, almost on the verge of forcing me to get help.

"I will not take therapy. I'm not crazy," I choked and didn't bother caring about who was listening to me at that point or who wasn't. It only made me more furious over why she wouldn't understand, and worse how many people must've listened to my conversation right now.

"Okay," She curtly replied, getting up and heading to the kitchen, disappointment etched on every inch of her face.

Even she thought now that I was crazy and Hannah had done a great job of manipulating her. Angrily, I marched back to my room and slammed the door shut. Edward shifted a little in his sleep, opening his one eye and looking at me. I ignored him and took out Mum's phone from the drawer to return her. I walked out and quietly put the device on the table, which she ignored and I went back to my room.

I silently moved about the room, fetching clean clothes and heading into the washroom. My body ached with dread to move, feeling exhausted from not doing anything. Exiting the washroom, I found Edward wide awake, perched on his elbows and smiling at me.

"Good morning love," He spoke, sliding his legs out of the sheets, and ruffling his golden hair with his fingers. I forced a small smile, replying with an incoherent greeting.

He didn't react to my quietness, instead clearing up the bed for me. I quickly cleaned my face and teeth before packing my bag. I needed to get ahead of my studies now because I was sure I was going to fail this semester if I kept getting into this mess of whose intentions were what against me.

"I need my phone back," I demanded Edward, who looked occupied on his laptop, most probably searching for other mental disorder labels to put on me.

He looked up, eyeing me for my strange tone of voice, and shook his head. "Why?"

"I have university today," I almost pleaded. I was quite ready for another argument, and it seemed like he was calling for it. "It's my phone, Edward."

"Michelle..."

"I need my phone back, right now," I firmly stated.

He looked at me with a serious expression and then looked away. He got up from the bed and tucked my phone from his back pocket and handed it to me quietly. I took it from him, unable to contain my fright and disappointment at everything. After I was several feet away from him, I quickly switched my phone open for any sign of Hayden but there was nothing. I quietly stuffed it into my back pocket and silently made my way out of the room.

I heard Edward shuffle and follow behind me but I pretended to not notice his presence. Walking out of the house and into the clear sky, I walked past his car as I heard him unlock the door, and revved the engine to life. Still ignoring him, I kept walking very slowly towards the bus stop alone. For some reason, I didn't feel like being around him anymore, but I just didn't know how to do it without triggering him.

He stopped the car near me, looking at me as if expecting me to join him. Feeling a little shaky, I quietly opened the door and seated myself beside him, not really looking at him anymore. Understanding my awkwardness, he simply turned on the radio, streaming Folklore by Taylor Swift, to lighten the atmosphere.

Just to distract myself from the tenseness of the situation, I opened my phone again, and decided to write some lines, formulating into poetry, to release my thoughts. I named it, Til Life Do Us Apart.

Minutes later, Edward parked the car in front of a shopping mall. I returned him a quizzical look, feeling instantly annoyed at the very sight. "Edward, I have class today,"

"I was wondering..." He begun, turning his full attention to me, with his arm lazily hanging against the steering wheel. "That we could go out shopping for the wedding, what do you think?"

Without thinking a second thought, I blurted. "Who told you we're getting married?" Edward gave me a shocked look. "That soon," I finished my sentence and he sighed.

"I understand, but we should at least start from somewhere." He shrugged, obviously pretending like nothing happened between us last night.

"Edward... I have a lot of work to do, I'm going to fail all my classes, my attendance is so low that I might drop out, I have so many leftover assignments, and God knows how many quizzes have I missed. I am such a failure," I whined, feeling frustrated all of a sudden. "I need to be at university,"

"Don't worry about all that Michelle," He assured me with a smile, searching my eyes for the same. "Do you know why you haven't failed any of your semesters yet and passed with the best grades, or why you haven't dropped out? You won't fail, I know it because I have it all handled."

"How..." I stammered.

"Because I have been talking to some people about it to get it handled." He answered in the most nonchalant way possible. "I know you've been stressed lately so I've been handing in all your assignments and projects, so you don't have to worry about anything. You should only worry about us, that's all."

I didn't know how long was it that I blankly stared at him, until he touched my hand, making me jump at the touch. "It will be alright. I'll help you with everything," He whispered, his voice promising.

"I want to be alone and think for a little bit. I need to go to university." I wrung my fingers together nervously, just wanting him to comply.

"You get paranoid and anxious when you're alone. It's not good for you. I can't leave you on your own." He scowled, holding my hand in his.

"Please," I croaked, feeling on the verge of breaking down again. "I want to be alone,"

I saw the hurt flash in his eyes, his smile vanishing at my words. He blinked, but then revolved his eyes to the road ahead, and silently started the car, surprising me at him giving in.

We simply sat in silence the entire ride, the anxiety inside me kicking again. I didn't mean to disappoint him, but I didn't know how I was supposed to have my personal space, with him constantly checking up on me. He finally pulled up to my flat, parking the car near the building, staying quiet and silently waiting for me to leave.

"Why aren't you letting me go to university?" I almost snapped, feeling agitated at his stubbornness.

"You wanted to be alone," He answered back, not looking at me. My patience ran thin at this point, but I was choiceless, so I curtly got out of the car, slamming the door behind me.

It was true, I always used to feel paranoid and anxious when I was alone or when he wasn't around, but he wasn't being much help after how he had started behaving so weirdly as soon as I had proposed the idea of leaving him. Shaking away my terrible and distracting dishevelled thoughts, I went inside my house, seeing how Mum had already left for work. Thankfully Edward didn't follow me this time, and I locked the doors behind me. I got into my room again and peeked outside the window to see his car moving onto the road and zooming off.

Partially relieved, I sunk into my bed, taking out my phone again after closing it for the hundredth time and forgetting what I was going to do. I opened Facebook, but it seemed to have been locked. That was where I used to type texts on the search bar and waited for posts as answers from Hayden. I needed to speak to him again about how he was right about Edward all this time.

I groaned internally and decided to type a quick text to Hayden on my notes application, waiting for his response on Instagram instead.

I scrolled past videos and quotes, none of them seemingly relevant to the message I wrote him, so I assumed he hadn't seen my text yet. I closed my phone again, steadying my uneven breathing.

Sighing to myself, I lay against the headboard, deciding to wait for him. I switched apps and opened Google, and decided to search about obsessive love disorder that Edward had told me he had it, the other day. I scrolled past through blogs, clicking links and watching symptoms, not believing in any of the articles. I didn't want to go around, manipulating Edward into saying he was crazy to have extreme feelings for me.

I begun reading the symptoms and treatment from a random article, which read, about having obsessive thoughts about someone and feeling the need to protect them from something.

Maybe that's why Edward had been labelling my problems as a disorder and trying his best to protect me from it. I also randomly found out that he was too codependent on me, meaning that he made big sacrifices in order for my approval and never needed anything back in return.

Disoriented and feeling like an unfixable mess, I tugged at the cigarettes from the nightstand and the lighter. Several flicks later, I lit the stick hanging between my lips and dragged a long inhale, the smoke fading the anxious jitters inside me.

And I decided to do the one thing, I could do to feel better.

I cried. I cried as much and for as long as I could and didn't stop myself this time.

I cried over whatever had happened to me in the past and nothing I could've done to prevent it.

I cried over what went wrong between me and Edward all of a sudden again.

I cried knowing how my past life was repeating itself on its own now, and no matter how much I ran from it, it kept coming back to me.

I cried for Edward not able to understand what I'd gone through.

I cried more over feeling so lonely and having no one to help me around.

I cried about being so vulnerable and helpless and how everyone thought I was crazy.

I cried over how everyone in university hated me and gossiped about all the bad things about me.

And finally, I cried over my existence.

All of a sudden, my crying session was interrupted by a light tap on the window and I instantly shot up from the bed. Taking deep shuddering breaths, I quickly wiped my hot stinging eyes with my hands. Descending the bed, and quickly rubbing my face with my palms, I tried to look normal and muster a normal blank face.

I lightly drew the curtains and unlocked the window to find Hayden standing there, with a sad expression. I took another deep shaky breath and gave him a very small smile and nodded at him to come in, and he obliged.

"Hey," I breathed, my voice coming off as hoarse. My eyes followed him while he took a seat tiredly on the corner of my bed.

Hayden looked up, his face looking strikingly similar to the one I knew before university. His dark orbs met mine, as he replied. "Hey,"

"So... How are you?" I randomly questioned, failing at the attempt of making small talk. No wonder I had no friends due to my lack of communication skills.

"How would I be after trying to help someone but just failing in the end instead?"

I placed my palm on my forehead, my head feeling very hot, as I managed to think of anything that would make him feel better. "Hayden I'm sorry..." Was all I could rack out of my brain.

"No it's okay," He quickly responded, shaking his head. "It's fine, I understand,"

"You don't know how stupid I am," I slowly muttered the words and he let out a humourless laugh. "Edward... And everyone else thinks I'm crazy. That I have this weird mental disorder or something,"

"Seems like they're all up to something again." He shrugged. "But it's okay, as long as you love him, it should be fine for you right?"

I knew his voice held that mocking of when I told him I liked Edward nonetheless. I laughed at myself for even thinking that dense.

"No Hayden, every time seems to be getting worse and there's nothing I can do," I told him, giving him a horrified look.

"It's too late to do anything now..." He shook his head slightly. "He is obsessed with you more than a crazy person would be. And instead, he's gaslighting and calling you crazy, so that he could fix you. Calling you crazy and then, trying to protect you from it, gives him purpose. He doesn't love you, Michelle, he never did. And I don't even know what else he has planned to trap you into his manipulation,"

His words struck me like lightning, as I comprehended them. Everything he said always made sense and seemed so real. But this time, it was terrifyingly real, and to think I was ready to marry Edward seemed like a nightmare now.

"I can't be helped." I scoffed, smiling slyly to myself and shaking my head. I put my head in my hands, tears forming in my eyes all over again, and I bit the inside of my cheek to stop.

Hayden stood up and sat beside me, looking at me and I looked back at him, with wet teary eyes. I mouthed him, silently, "Please help me,"

I hated how vulnerable and pathetic I looked and sounded, but I just couldn't help it anymore. This was what I had become now, a weak girl begging people for help.

A thick silence fell between us as Hayden wrapped his arms around my body, and I struggled to keep myself together, tears leaking from my eyes.

"I want you to come with me," I heard him speak, and I instantly looked up in surprise.

"What?"

"I want you to leave all of this behind... Forever," He seriously said, staring deeply into my eyes and I cleared my blurry vision with my hands hastily as I looked back at him with utter hope.

"But... But how?" I whispered, and he returned me a small sad smile.

He pushed himself off the bed, took my hand in his and slowly led me towards the bathroom at the end. He went inside slowly, and I heard his footsteps echo on the cold tiles and I followed behind. He turned towards me, holding a white bottle of bleach in his hands.

He walked me out, setting the bottle down before looking at me with optimistic eyes. "This... Will make everything better, and forever. I promise. And we can be together, away from Edward, and all the worries,"