SEBASTIAN

I caught her.

God, I almost screwed everything up. I had to pretend - play the helpless Sebastian she trusted, the one she clung to when the world around her collapsed. She doesn't know. She has no idea.

Now think I am insane? Yes this sanity kills me and makes me become crazy!

Do you think I'm insane? Is that it? Maybe I am. Maybe insane is the perfect word - for everything I've done for Melisa. Every goddamn thing. I tried to build her a world, piece by piece, shaped by her dreams, her fears, her wants... just to make sure she needed me. Wanted me. Because I couldn't breathe if she didn't. I had to be the reason behind her smile, the anchor in her chaos. You call it madness - I call it love. Twisted, maybe. But it's hers. Mine. Ours. And if that makes me insane, then yes - I'm completely, irrevocably insane... for Melisa. And I'd do it all over again. Tenfold. Just to keep her close. Just to make sure no one else ever gets the chance to.

If love had a taste, it'd be her name on my tongue.

It was almost pathetic how she looked at me with so much faith. So much hope.

And yet... I wanted to believe it. Even for a second. That maybe, maybe the version of me she adored could exist. But it was all an illusion, one I created. And the moment she found that room... the one with the photographs, the pieces of her life, every detail I'd obsessed over for years... that illusion shattered.

I watch her sleep sometimes, not to protect her, but to remind myself she's real, that I didn't just dream her into existence.

Every time she walks away, she doesn't know what it does to me. How my skin itches for her. How I ache to pull her back.

She looked at me like I was a stranger. No - worse. Like I was a monster.

What she doesn't understand is that I am both the man she loves and the one she fears. I'm the reason she's alive. I've watched over her, protected her, followed her every move to make sure she was safe. Because no one else could do it. No one else cared like I did.

And now she's running through the woods like a scared animal, thinking escape is even possible. Thinking someone will save her from me.

I followed her trail through the rain. The storm soaked me to the bone, but I barely noticed. I could see her footprints, small, rushed, uneven. I knew every detail of them, just like I knew the exact tilt of her head when she laughs, or how she bites her lip when she's nervous.

She can run. But she'll never outrun me. And then... I saw her. Waving at someone, anyone. Hoping the world would come to her rescue. But there was no one else out here. Just her. And me.

She didn't recognize me right away. The mask always throws her off, until the thunder lit up the sky and the truth flashed before her eyes. She screamed. She ran. And I chased her - through the trees, through the chaos. I didn't want to hurt her. I just needed to stop her. She needed to see. To finally understand.

When she stumbled, I caught her easily. She fought, cried, begged "Please, let me go!" but her voice didn't shake me this time. Not like before.

"No, little doll," I whispered, gripping her legs and lifting her from the mud. "You don't get to leave. You're here with me. Forever." I laid her down in the wet earth, the thunder cracking above us. She was sobbing now, trembling in fear, but she didn't scream anymore. It was like she had given up. Like she accepted her fate.

"Please..." she whispered, barely audible through the storm. "Please... just set me free."

"I can't," I told her honestly. "I really can't."

"What do you want from me?" she cried. "If you're going to kill me, just do it. I'm so tired..." I gripped the axe tighter. Watched her close her eyes. Wait for the end. But I didn't swing. Instead, I leaned in, close enough for her to feel the breath through the slits of my mask. Close enough to hear her heartbeat panic in her chest.

"You little bunny," I murmured. "Why are you so stubborn?" She didn't answer. Didn't move. And for a second, I thought she felt that connection too. That impossible, twisted thing between us that neither of us could explain.

She's terrified of me... and yet, part of her still sees him. The version of me that was kind. Gentle. Safe. And if that part of her still lives... I'll use it. I'll make her see that I'm not the villain. I'm the one who loves her the most. The rain poured, thunder rumbling above like the heavens themselves were warning me. But I didn't care. I hovered over her, soaked and breathless, her scent overwhelming me even beneath the storm. God - how did she still smell like warmth, like the very thing I've been chasing for so long? Her eyes wet with tears, lips trembling, body pressed against the cold, wet earth - this wasn't supposed to be like this. But I couldn't stop myself. She made me this way. She made me lose control.

"You have no idea what you do to me, Melisa," I whispered, my voice low, hungry, and desperate. "The way you cry... the way you beg... it drives me insane.

You make me want to mark you, to remind you who you belong to. Because you do, Melisa. You belong to me - body, heart, soul." She didn't move. Not a scream. Not a plea. Just silence. Just those wide, broken eyes staring back at me - and that silence was louder than any rejection. "I could've taken you a hundred times before, back when all I did was watch you... but I didn't." My jaw clenched, frustration and desire twisting violently in my chest.

"Because even in madness, I respected you. I loved you. But now, I need to know you see me." I leaned in close, breathing against her skin, feeling the heat of her even in this freezing rain. "Say something," I demanded, my voice cracking. But still... nothing. She didn't run. She didn't fight. And that - that was worse.