The Nemesis Syndrome

26. Leo

Leo flicked through the addresses, he seriously hoped his father wouldn't kill him for using this.

'I promise with everything I have that I will not let you die in here. You're going to have that boring life. You're going to have everything you want.'

He had promised Eliza. He never thought it would happen, that he would be able to carry it through. When he had first said it, he had meant it. Of course he did, but some part of him also knew that he was saying it just to comfort her.

He could leave her. Let her live the life she wanted. She deserved that. She deserved a life away from him, he was toxic, a disease that destroyed everything he touched.

First, he had destroyed the family. His parents had never wanted him. An accident, he heard his father mutter angrily, we tried to prevent it from happening, but we still end up with a kid.

Then, he destroyed his father's ability to move up in ranks. His father had a good job, it would have took him time to get a better wage, but with a new child, he had to move to building. Become a builder. It paid more as it was a government job, and god knows with a child on the way, he needed all the extra money he could get.

Then his mother got sick with Leo still inside her. She had caught a virus, and it had been brewing inside of her for months, only showing its presence near the end of the pregnancy. The emergency operation to get him out had nearly killed her. It had made her weak. So weak.

After a while, though, she started getting better, the treatment for the virus was working, and she was becoming the person she had been before. Only, she couldn't return to work, not full-time at least. So she stayed at home, being the one thing she vowed she would never be: a housewife.

When his sister had been born, he made sure that she never felt like a mistake, only he supposed she wasn't. His mother had wanted another kid after a long time.

But then he found himself fighting Eliza, trying to kill his soulmate. He was meant to be with her, protect her and fall in love with her. She deserved better than him. He glanced at the addresses, eyes landing on her name and then the address.

He could just leave her alone. Try to find his parents.

Her parents. Had they gone too? Been taken?

He clicked the device to power it off, barely registering the date.

They had been there for over a month. But it felt like years. Leo felt much older coming out than he had been going in. Torture and experimentation would do that to you.

He got up, donning his own coat and shoving the picture into his pocket. He felt for her presence, but there was nothing. Leo sighed. He hoped she was alright. He had gotten used to her hum, to her soft and calming presence.

He guess he had to at least see if she was okay before he left, most likely to his death. It was odd how he was no longer scared of dying. After everything, it would be a release.

_______________________

Leo paused outside the fence. Eliza's home was close to his. But it was the fact that the fence was covered in police tape, the door wrapped closed that scared him. Paired with the fact that Eliza's presence hadn't gotten any stronger, Leo was starting to get worried.

There was no car parked outside and the house was still. He opened the gate, wincing as it creaked open before he stepped over the tape, walking to the door.

It was a weekday which meant her parents were most likely at work; he only hoped he was right.

He glanced at the door, pushed on the handle. Closed.