Phantom Rider: The Aftermath | Book 1

Bleeding Hearts

Bill's POV

I chased the car for an hour, unable to catch it. I wasn't about to give up the chase, but something else in me did start to vanish. Tom would never torture me this way. He wouldn't make a fool of me like this. I felt like I was running out of gas - out of the hopes that had fueled me all this time to keep going.

That purple car was not the real Phantom Rider – I was.

Living in a world halfway to afterlife, trying to catch ghosts. Trying to stretch my hands to the other side and pull him back here, just to slowly kill myself with the hope that we would meet again.

I was half-dead, half-alive.

Drugs wore off, and my confidence disappeared with them. I slammed on the brakes so fast that my car skidded, the tires making an eerie screech. I stopped completely and looked through the window.

"I AM DONE!"

To my surprise, the Phantom Rider also stopped. The car stood meters away from me as if waiting. I felt a strong emotional pull towards it.

I got out of my car, my legs shaky, my heart pounding. I took a few hesitant steps toward the purple car, feeling like it was drawing me into a different realm. I wasn't curious anymore, I was in a trance.

Then something weird happened – I felt a connection, like a thread of energy stretching between me and the person in the car. "Who are you?" I asked, too many times already.

The presence I felt was both familiar and alien. But it didn't feel like Tom. I would recognize him right away. That heartbeat locked in the car was different. "Why are you doing this?" I asked, the question more for myself than for the rider.

In response, the car's engine revved, almost sounding like a heartbeat. Emotions took over me, suddenly – I felt it all. Longing, sorrow, inexplicable hurt, anger, and pain. I fell to my knees in the middle of the road, completely exhausted.

The purple car's engine roared to life, and it sped off into the night.

I stayed there on my knees, broken and defeated.

It hit me, then.

Tom is dead.

He is really gone.

I had been chasing a ghost.

The Phantom Rider wasn't Tom. It was someone else, who knew how to reach into my soul and rip it out like raw flesh, leaving me losing blood.

I collapsed, crying uncontrollably, hoping someone would ride over me, making it an easy way out. I longed for my mom, for my dad, for my brother. I cried, and I cried until I couldn't cry anymore.

I went back to my car and sat there for hours. The chase was over. I was alone. I was truly alone.

I replayed it all in my head countless times. I went through every single past memory I had, and when I got to the present, I cried again, letting myself be in this moment. Then I reached for the future. What reason did I have to live? I had no idea.

I'll figure it out.

"Thank you for everything, Tom. Wait for me there, okay?" I looked up at the sky.

Mila's POV

I slammed the doors with all the power I had. Then I went to the table and threw all the stuff on it  - my wallet, car keys and pack of cigarettes. Just for the thrill I kicked the chair, and threw my only houseplant to the ground.

I opened my bag and laid all my guns on the floor, looking at them like treasures. "So, who is it going to be next?" I played in my head. Khm... I took one of the guns in my hand, pretending to shoot.

"How about that blonde bitch?!" Jealousy made me so ugly. 

I knew it, but I couldn't help myself. It took over me completely. Seeing him kiss that model made me keep my distance until he threw her out of the car.

Not because of me, but because if I did show myself, people would drop dead like flies. I barely kept it together. I was so angry I wanted him to actually crash with his car.

"That bastard is a good driver. Good at fucking everything he does. I hate him so much."

Everywhere he appears, all my plans go to waste.

Ok,... I knew he would be there, so I did everything to ensure he never knew I was there too. For his own safety, apparently. But seeing him tonight ripped open my chest. All those emotions vomited out of me as if I hadn't digested them ever. Loneliness, pain - I wanted to let it all aside and disappear from this world. No one has done that to me just by simply existing.

I have to do something about this insane, unreasonable addiction that pulls me to him, which is getting worse every day. What do I need from him? What is it that makes me torture myself and him, just to be around?

"Please, make it stop!" I pulled my hair crying on the ground. "I hate this! I hate this! I hate this!"