Gabriel's Obsession

A Dark Turn

The room was steeped in an oppressive silence, the dim glow of the bedside lamp casting long shadows that seemed to stretch and twist with a life of their own. The air carried the weight of something unspoken, a darkness that loomed over the fragile figure lying motionless in bed.

Amelia, her hands trembling slightly, held a tray with a bowl of steaming soup. She hesitated for a moment before stepping closer, her voice soft yet resolute.

"Angelica, I made you some soup," she murmured, carefully setting the tray down on the nightstand. "You need to eat to regain your strength."

The silence remained unbroken. Angelica's once-lively eyes were dull and vacant, fixed somewhere beyond the walls of the room, staring into the abyss of her trauma.

Amelia sighed, lifting the spoon and gently bringing it to Angelica's lips. Mechanically, Angelica sipped, swallowing without acknowledgment, without reaction. It was as if she wasn't even aware of what she was doing—just following an unconscious command, lost in a world no one else could reach.

Undeterred, Amelia tried again, her voice laced with cautious hope. "Angelica... do you remember anything about who did this to you?" She hesitated before adding, "We need to know who's responsible. We can't let them get away with it."

For the first time, something shifted. Angelica's fingers twitched against the blanket, her stare sharpening ever so slightly. Amelia's heart leaped at the possibility of a response, but instead, Angelica's gaze darkened, an eerie glint flashing through her haunted eyes.

The silence stretched unbearably before Angelica moved—suddenly, violently.

Before Amelia could react, Angelica's hand shot out, seizing her wrist with a strength that didn't belong to someone so weak.

"Angelica, what are you—?" Amelia gasped as her arm twisted painfully in Angelica's grasp.

Then came the first slap.

A sharp sting blossomed across Amelia's cheek, shock paralyzing her. Another slap followed—then another. Each blow more forceful than the last. Amelia barely had time to register what was happening before she found herself thrown backward, her back colliding with the cold, hard floor.

The tray clattered onto the ground, the bowl tipping over. The scalding soup spilled across Amelia's lap, burning her skin through the thin fabric of her dress. A cry of pain tore from her lips.

"Angelica, stop!" she pleaded, scrambling backward. But Angelica wasn't listening.

She was screaming now, her words incoherent, her body trembling with hysteria as she lunged at Amelia again.

The commotion shattered the eerie silence of the mansion.

Footsteps thundered down the hall, voices rising in alarm. The door burst open, and in an instant, Gabriel, his father, his mother, Anna, and a doctor rushed into the room.

"Hold her down!" Gabriel's father barked.

Gabriel moved swiftly, pinning Angelica's arms as she thrashed wildly, her screams raw and unhinged. His father and the doctor joined in, struggling to restrain her frail but frenzied body.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Angelica shrieked, her voice barely human.

"Sedate her—now!" Gabriel ordered, his voice sharp, commanding.

The doctor didn't hesitate. He plunged the syringe into Angelica's arm, and within seconds, her body slumped, her manic screams fading into unconscious whimpers.

The room fell deathly silent, save for the ragged breathing of those left standing.

Amelia, still sprawled on the floor, trembled as she cradled her arm, her mind reeling from the chaos. Her dress was soaked with the soup, her skin burning beneath the wet fabric, but the pain in her body was nothing compared to the shock that gripped her heart.