SEBASTIAN

We get each other. Her love, her smile, her fears , they're mine to read, mine to carry. Looking at her now, I wonder... What would it be like if we had kids? If she wore my last name? If we became one, husband and wife. A future I dream of every damn night. I can't wait for that, Melisa. I want us. She keeps trying to see my face, to peel off this mask I wear. She thinks if she sees who I really am, maybe she'll understand.

But I won't let her. Because what if she's right? What if I really am the monster? Melisa... is that what you see when you look at me? Then maybe I don't deserve to show you who I am at all. "We're here," I said, the carnival lights flickering like a dream around us. "I have something planned."

"Wow, but... no people?" she asked, glancing around. That curious look on her face - it does things to me. She always has a question. Why, when, how, where - sometimes it drives me insane. But the way her eyes light up when she asks... I fucking love it. "Yes," I said. "Because I wanted this place. Right now. Just for us. I want to confess something."

"To me? About what?" she snapped, already backing away. "I don't want to hear it."

"Melisa, why won't you fucking listen to me - for once!"

"Because I don't want to!" she screamed, her voice like knives. "You're a monster! No matter what you do, I will never love you. Ever. Do you understand that? Now let me go - or I swear I'll run until I find a way out of this!" My chest caved in. Her words, each one stabbing me deeper. I couldn't breathe. My vision blurred. The world spun, and it wasn't the carnival lights.

It was her.

It was losing her. "Why - why can't you choose me, Melisa?" My voice cracked as I fell to my knees in front of her. "Why can't you love me? Please, just choose me. I'll be better. I swear I'll be good. I'll do anything." I wrapped my arms around her waist, clinging to her like a child desperate for comfort. I didn't care about pride. I didn't care how pathetic I looked. I wanted her love - her care, her touch - the way she used to hold me years ago, back when I was locked away in the asylum. I wanted to feel needed. I wanted to feel wanted.

But Melisa hates me. She doesn't want me. She doesn't love me the way I love her.

She's forgotten about me.

I just wanted her.

My Melisa.

"You're fucking insane," she hissed, trying to yank herself from my grasp.

But I didn't let go.

I couldn't let go.

Something in me shifted. Broke.

If she wouldn't love me willingly...

Then maybe I'd have to make her.

"You have twenty minutes to run and hide." My voice was cold. Final. I curled my fingers around the hilt of the knife hidden beneath my black suit, the metal biting into my palm like a promise. Her eyes widened. She took a step back, her body trembling. "W-What are you doing, Sebastian?" There it is - that fear. That truth in her voice. She sees it now.

The monster.

Am I right, Melisa?

"If I can't have you," I whispered, tilting my head with a smile that didn't reach my eyes, "no one will."

She ran.

God, she ran like the world depended on it. Gasping. Panicked. Desperate for freedom.

It turned me on. Not just the chase - but her fight. The illusion that she could escape me.

"Run, little one. Run..." I murmured, stepping through the abandoned carnival grounds, the carousel lights flickering like broken stars. My laughter slipped from my throat - twisted and strangled in equal parts pain and rage.

"Melisa... Melisa... Melisa." Her name tasted like an obsession on my tongue. I prowled between rusted rides and shadows, my mind a haze of voices hers, mine, the ones I kept locked in the dark corners of my soul. Every part of this place belonged to me. Every part of her did too, even if she didn't accept it yet.

"You don't know how much I crave you," I growled into the night. "You can't hide from me. I know every move you make - every breath, every twitch, every fucking heartbeat." I spun slowly in the center of the carousel, eyes gleaming under the flickering lights.

"I know how your skin smells when you're scared. I know how your lips tremble when you lie. I know how you think, Melisa. For years, I studied you. Loved you." My voice cracked, half-sobbing, half-laughing. The knife gleamed in my grip now, no longer hidden.

"Yes, that's right. I'm insane. Fucking insane in love with you."

"And you... you just can't accept that love." I heard the stumble - sharp, desperate - echoing off the damp concrete. My head snapped toward the sound, and there she was.

There you are.

She darted toward the Escape Room building, her silhouette flashing through the broken carnival lights. This was going to be fun. I followed - slow, steady, calm. The blade in my hand kissed the side of my leg with each step. I didn't need to run. She was already wearing herself out. She's nervous. God, she's beautiful when she's nervous.

"Run, Melisa... Run!" I shouted through the still night, my voice a sing-song growl that bounced off the walls around us. "Because once I catch you..." I licked my lips, my breath fogging the cold air.

"...I'm going to fuck you right here, baby. Against the wall. On the floor. Doesn't matter. And you'll take it. You'll take all of me." I pressed my palm to the Escape Room door she'd slipped through, my heartbeat calm, unlike hers.

"We'll have so many babies, Melisa. Little versions of you running around. Doesn't that sound perfect?"

Silence.

Then, a soft whimper behind the wall.

I grinned.

"You think you can hide in a maze, little one? This whole place was designed to trap people." My hand tightened on the door handle.

"I dare you to scream." The maze was painted in blood-red shadows, the devil's light flickering against the twisted walls. I held her tight, so tight. Her body writhed in my arms, but her strength was fading, and mine was endless.

"Welcome to Hell, Melisa," I whispered against her ear, my breath hot, ragged. "This is where I belong. And now... you do too."

"Just set me free, Sebastian!" she screamed, voice trembling, cracking. I only grinned. She pushed, clawed, but we were so close. Her heartbeat thundered against my chest like war drums. It made me high. Addicted.

"You can't outrun what's already inside you," I murmured. She tried to twist away, but I grabbed her hair - gently at first, then tighter. She stilled. The whimper that left her lips?

Perfection.

Tears streamed down her cheeks. I wiped one away with the back of my hand, slow and delicate. "Shh... don't cry, baby. Not yet. Not until you understand." Then, I pressed my forehead to hers.

"Don't move," I whispered, voice low as death. "Or I will kill you, Melisa. I swear it." Her breath hitched. I saw the fear swimming in her eyes. It only made the ache worse.

"I'm not afraid anymore. I already lost everything... even myself," I said, a trembling laugh slipping through the cracks.

"If I can't have you, then what's the point of my life?" I brought the blade up slowly, almost reverent holding it to my own throat, the steel cool against my skin. "Say the word," I whispered. "Say you'll stay... or watch me bleed." She tried to stop me begging me to put the blade down. Why, Melisa? Because you love me? Because what? I gripped the blade tighter against my neck, the sharp edge biting into my skin. Her reaction only turned me on. She wanted me. Needed me to live. I could hear her voice trembling, whispering, "I'm sorry." Fucking liar. Sorry? I hate that word. That same pathetic word mumbled by my parents before they abandoned me for no reason. That useless word my father spat before hitting me, over and over again.

"Sorry" doesn't mean anything, it needs to be erased from the human vocabulary.

She tried to move closer, but I stepped back.

Sorry for what? For loving the guy she called her Prince Charming Sebastian, and not me, the real monster Sebastian? She hates that side of me. And I hate how much it makes me burn inside. Jealousy tearing through me like fire. And yet? Here I am, standing in front of her, ready to cut my own throat if she dares to run. Yet she hates me for giving her no choice. But she doesn't see. I know her. I know her weakness. That little sweetness she carries like armor. That fragile innocence she wears like a shield. That too-kind heart of hers, always so eager to trust the world, the people in it, everyone but me. And that's what drives me mad. That's what burns through my bones like wildfire. She trusts strangers with soft words and empty promises, but not me - not even a sliver of trust offered to the one man who has watched her, craved her, understood her better than anyone else ever could. I ache for it. For her to need me. To beg for me. To look at me like I'm the only goddamn thing keeping her tethered to this world. Because I am. I know it. She just won't say it. Why can't you just tell me that, Melisa? Tell me that you see me. That you feel this pull, too. That you want me to stay. That you want me - not the idea, not the mask, not the fantasy. Me. I'm the only one who can save you.And deep down?you know it. No? she will never love you, Sebastian Vale.

The voice in my head won't shut up. It's screaming again, clawing at my thoughts. I hate it. I hate this. Please? just go away.