A Mad Woman, Allison.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: MAD WOMAN

“It's alright, Alli. Everything will be alright soon,” Sylvia let out as she was caressing my back to comfort me while crying.

They came back safe after the plan had been accomplished. The camera that serves as a piece of important evidence is now in Benjamin's hands. The complainant also submitted a sample of the drug Ryan and she has been using since. She told us they met a year ago and that their second meeting happened in the previous months. Meaning, the girls he met after her were also captured in that camera she hid. Including myself as his last victim.

We had a conversation earlier but I was still processing it until now.

The girl was just one of the customers and consumers of Ryan's company's brand. The perfume brought her an unfamiliar yet addicting scent — the one she liked smelling. One morning when she was about to purchase again, Ryan saw her. At first, she thought that the company's successor was just nice and approachable. Little did she know, she already become one of his targets. She didn't think that what she was entering was a dark room full of his secrets. The secrets that hide his bad reputation. She told us that Ryan was good to her during their first meetings, but not until she got curious about his lifestyle. He taught her every single thing in his routine — then later introduced her to the drug he was using. She even knew that he was a womanizer, but all that was disregarded when Ryan told her that he liked her and was willing to change for the better.

She was a fucking teenager. And he's already an adult. Damn it. He's really not the Ryan I once knew. Or did he like her just because she looked like me?

The girl thought what they did was fine. That it was mutual. Not until she realized Ryan was doing it with other girls as well. Just when she thought he changed. That's when she realized that she was just his prey. She was the one who broke up with him; well, if they were truly together that time, at least. She let us read their conversation, and it was clear that Ryan was trying to win her back. An idea popped into her mind, that she should take action and let him be accountable for his wrongs. She set that camera up sneakily when he was asleep. But she never dared to report it as she supposed that adults would not believe her enough since they had done it together already. That it will not submit as a rape case as she's just a woman oppressed. She didn't have the power to do so. She was just a girl he once liked.

So, when she found out from her friends that there was a case involving the company Ryan was running, she didn't hesitate to come along. To finally reveal the things he was up to behind the curtains of his sacred name. She also realized we do look alike. She understands that I may be the first love he mentioned to her. Maybe that's the reason he liked her because he saw me in her.

Before leaving, she said she was willing to take part in the case and be a witness and victim. There's much possibility to win the case against Ryan Javier if the victims come together with me being the front person. With so many cases piling up, the jury will then decide to put Ryan in jail. We'll fight together no matter what and let our voices be heard by this unjust society.

I'll file a case against Ryan Javier and let him be put in jail for the rest of his life.

When Sylvia let go of our hug right after I cried, she then wiped the tears that almost dried in my face. “I'll help you no matter what. I'll help you win this case against him, Alli. He can't hurt you again this time. I'm here,” she hushed.

“I don't know him anymore, Yve...” I whispered. “He changed so much. He turned into the beast I hate the most,” I broke. “Why is it that the ones we once loved turn into the people we hate, Yve? Why can't it be just love and all the good things?”

She smiled at me painfully. “Because that's life. We often hurt ourselves by loving someone who only hurt us.”

Our gazes locked each other for seconds. Her eyes scream plenty of emotions all in one. It felt like she saw right through me at that very moment we were staring at each other's eyes. She caressed my face once again with her soft bare hand. Her fingertips linger on every inch of my face she's touching. It was very gentle and calm. Like the breeze meeting with sand in the ocean. It's the hues of blues in the clear sky when the weather is just right.