Prologue
A man once told me…that everyone is drunk on something that made them desire to continue living. That even if they already have everything they need, there will always be this one thing that they will clutch on desperately like their lives depend on it. Something that they will be willing to give up everything for.
Something that they worship.
Something that enslaves them.
“One day, you will meet someone who would be so drunk on you that no matter how hard you tried to run away – no matter how hard you tried to hide – you won’t be able to escape from it.”
The man in my past memory told me when I asked him about his reason as to why he killed my parents. His hands were cuffed behind him and four policemen surrounded him, holding both of his arms as they escorted him out of the trial court. But his expression was empty and cold like he did not care at all about the fact that he was being sentenced to lifelong imprisonment.
I stared at him for a while, with my hands shaking on my sides. I was furious beyond measure, but the pain in my heart caused by that man’s betrayal was enormous like the anger inside of me. I was even confused about what I truly felt as mixed emotions gushed in me uncontrollably.
My trembling lips parted to say something in response after a short silence. But before words could even come out of my mouth, the corner of Paul Jackson’s lips suddenly stretched and turned into a mischievous grin, and his eyes became menacing like he was hiding something dangerous in them. I absentmindedly took a step back, afraid of what he might do to me despite the fact that there were policemen surrounding us.
Then, a set of words rolled out on his tongue in a form of a threat, and it echoed in my ears like a curse cast on me.
“That person will be like your shadow and will always follow you even after death.” He said, then lowly laughed with his shoulders shaking. His laugh gradually became louder and louder until it was all I could hear.
At that time, I did not truly understand what Paul meant with those words because aside from the fact that I was only seven years old when that happened, I also thought…Is it really possible to lose sanity – to lose all control of oneself – just because of a single thing? To act recklessly just for that one thing? To throw everything away just for that reason?
I thought that Paul Jackson was the only one who could do that. That he was the most insane person I could have ever met and no one would be on the same level as him but…I soon found out that I was wrong.
The reality slapped me so hard with the realization that it was ridiculous to assume that Paul’s words were not true – that I would not meet someone who was as crazy as him. I soon realized it the moment I found myself sitting on a bed in a dark room with my hands and feet chained, and with duct tape plastered on my mouth.
My eyes were staring frighteningly at the man who was sitting on a wooden chair across the edge of the bed. It was dark in that room, but the moonlight slipping through the large glass window on the far side of that room, allowed me to see and recognize that man.
In front of me, was Nishimoto who was wearing a cold and menacing expression on his face as he stared at me like he was trying to swallow me through his eyes. His eyes bore on my body and he was silent, but soon, his voice echoed in the four corners of the room, sending shivers on my spine.
“I missed you so bad, Annika.”
