GABRIEL

Oliver is out of his room for once. I don’t know how to deal with this.

He’s sitting in my lap, a movie playing in front of us as we eat out of a shared bowl of popcorn. This whole setting feels relatively normal. I know it won’t last, though, nothing’s normal about living with your fiancé in a cabin deep in the woods, leaving that same house only twice every month for grocery shopping, and your fiancé, who is meant to give you love and affection, be hooked on ever single serial killer case he can get his hacking fingers on.

No. Nothing normal at all. Still, I stroke his face softly against my chest, and watch as his bagged eyes grow heavy while his curls rest across his forehead.

“Oliver,” I kiss his head slowly, softly, scared to break this rare moment, “What’s all this loving for, sweetheart?”

Oliver sighs, nestling his face closer to my heart. “The Judges of Man are on the run.”

My jaw tightens. Of course it’s about them.

“Oh. So you’re just so bored. Are you now?” My voice is flat as I straighten, Oliver sliding out of my grasp.

Oliver doesn’t notice. He continues to talk, a hand going into the popcorn bowl. “Yes. Of course I am.“

“Then why don’t you go find them!” I spit out, pushing him off of me and watching him stumble on the floor. “Since you put your attention on them so much instead of me—your fiancé, may I remind you—why don’t you just go and join them because you watch them so much!”

My chest hurts, burns, but it has never felt lighter. How long have I wanted to say that? How long have I wanted to call Oliver out on his crazy behavior and obsessions with these absolute psychopaths?

He watches me from the floor as I leave the room, running a hand through my hair. “I’m leaving, okay. We were supposed to love each other, Oliver. We were supposed to get married months ago. I wanted us to. But you, you just—“ I scream, unable to form words when I tear open our room door and lift my suitcase from beneath my bed.

“Fuck you, Oliver! Fuck you!” I open our shared wooden drawers and pick up all the clothes I can. I don’t need them all, I just need to leave this place. “What was the point with toying with me if you never fucking cared?!” I go in our bathroom and take my self-care stuff, then grab some money and put it in my back pocket. Oliver hasn’t responded; I don’t even hear a footstep.

That’s why I’m surprised when I feel a cold, wet cloth on my face. I struggle, thrashing against his unbelievably strong hold. Tears rise in my eyes and my heart is pumping like a rabbit’s. A metallic smell invades my nose, curls in my lungs, and pulls my life from me. My eyes start to droop. My limbs start to numb. All the while I hear Oliver in my ear.

“Calm down, Gabby, calm down. I don’t know why you accuse me of these things. I would never go to find them. I only watch, you know that.” His breath is soft against the shell of my ear as he slowly lowers my crumbling body to the wooden floor. My eyes close on their own; I can’t stop breathing in the drug whisking me away. “Go to sleep. If you want my time, you only had to ask. You can sit with me as I watch, if you’d like. We can watch together; we can have fun together; we can get married. Anything you’d like. Just stay with me. I love you so much, Gabriel. You can’t leave me.”

His words are registered by my brain, even as it’s putting me to rest, handing me off to unconsciousness. Sadly, I know he isn’t lying.

And that’s what scares me.