The Tale Of Hearts

Chapter 105

Hazel's POV

Recap

He was smiling, but it wasn't a smile. It was like the grin of a man on the edge of sanity. He chuckled to himself, the sound hollow and manic, before licking his dry lips like he was savouring the fear in the air. "Where do you think you're escaping, Haze?" he repeated, his grip tightening so much that it made me wince, in pain. I could feel my heart hammering in my chest, each beat like a countdown. My whole body was shaking, my mind screaming at me to run, to get out, but my legs wouldn't move. I was frozen. The panic was suffocating, my thoughts clouded by confusion and terror. He tilted his head slightly but the smile on his face only grew wider, darker. "You don't get to go anywhere, Haze." His voice was cold, almost mocking. "You don't get to run away from this... from me."

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I could feel the air thickening around us, like the walls were closing in. The person standing before me was a stranger. This was no longer my friend. This was someone dangerous, someone who had hidden a side of himself I couldn't even begin to understand. 

"You wanted answers, right?" he murmured, his face now inches from mine. "Well, here it is, Haze. You want to know what's going on? What you've been too blind to see?" His words were low, almost a growl. My breath was coming in short gasps, my heart racing even faster. I couldn't think. I couldn't process it all. With every word, his grip on my shoulders became more painful, his fingers digging into my skin as if he was trying to hold me in place, trying to prevent me from slipping away. His eyes glistened with a terrifying intensity, and the sick, twisted smile on his face sent chills down my spine. I was suffocating.

"I thought you knew me, Haze," he said, his voice low, almost a growl. "But you don't, do you? You've never seen this side of me. You've only seen the version I wanted you to see."

"Bryan, please," I whispered, my voice shaking as I struggled to suppress the panic rising in my chest. "Let me go.you are hurting me!! We can talk about this. Whatever's going on—". He interrupted me with a sharp laugh, his head tilting to the side as he examined me like I was some kind of puzzle he was determined to solve. "Talk? You think we can just talk about this? Haze, you don't understand. You can't understand." I flinched as his voice rose, the manic edge in his tone cutting through the air like a blade. He released one of my shoulders only to slam his hand against the door beside my head, the sound echoing in the room. i clenched my eyes as hot set of tears rolling down.

"You're not leaving," he declared, his face inches from mine now. I could feel the heat of his breath on my skin, and it made me want to shrink into myself, to disappear. "Not until you listen. Not until you hear my side."

"I don't want to hear anything!" I cried, my voice cracking under the weight of my fear. "You lied to me, Bryan! You hid this from me! And now—"

"And now you're judging me?" he snapped, his voice full of venom. His jaw clenched as his eyes bore into mine, wild and unrelenting. "You don't even know why I did what I did. You have no idea the lengths I went to for you."

"For me?" My voice was barely a whisper, the words tasting bitter on my tongue. 

"Yes Haze," he said, his tone softening for a fleeting moment before that same manic grin returned. "You don have any slightest idea what i have done, and now I'm going to show you all of it, I'm going to show you who I really am." 

I shook my head, tears streaming down my face. "This isn't you, Bryan. It can't be. I don't know this person. I don't want to know this person." Something in his expression shifted at my words, his smile faltering for a split second. But it was gone as quickly as it came, replaced by a dark resolve. He leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a whisper that made my skin crawl.