Twisted #Wattys2019

Chapter VII. Take Care

He was going to take care of me. Meant in a good or a bad way? Meant in a way of caring or aggression? Meant out of love or hatred? Out of caring or simply concern that I'd turn him in with the police. I wouldn't do that. I care about him even if that doesn't always show. I really did care about him. He just didn't see. He just didn't care. I was going to be taken care of and I thought it'd be in a good way.

But damn I couldn't have been more wrong. I ended up with my hands taped together, on the couch, unable to move or attempt to escape, watching him pace back and forth with his bloodied knife. "I'd hate to do this to you-but I have no choice-I can't have you knowing and turning me in~" "Why'd I turn someone in whom I care about...?"My voice echoed lightly in the silent living room, but so did Raphael's footsteps.

Every. Single. Step.
Every. Single. Echo.
Closer.
And closer.
Until he stood right in front of me.
"You're not always like this...you were so nice to me before..you do have a nice-oowoo-side to you..."he crouched down, the coldness of the knife getting through my jeans as he rested it on my thigh. "That's a very unexpected reaction-but weren't all serial killers the same?~"he said coldly, with an icy tone. "N-no w-where did you get that from? I never said anything like that-oowoo-I j-.."I cut myself off, his knife nearing my throat. The cold metal of the knife slowly dragging past the tender skin of my neck, lightly tearing it open into a tiny wound which fortunately barely bled at all.

He suddenly got up, walking away, knife dropped next to my lap. I attempted to grab it and cut through the tape. Once out of the tape handcuffs I got up, knife in my back pocket for protection as I slowly got closer to Raphael who by now was sitting on his knees, face buried in his hands and rested my hand on his shoulder. "Raphael-you sure everything's alright...?" "why does a nice girl like you even care about a murderer...? Aren't I just some psychopath that stays at your home anyway?~" something kept driving him to delirium. Maybe that drove him to murder? He was an entirely different person. He went berserk as the madness and anger got shown in his eyes as his hands shot out as an attempt of tightly gripping onto my throat and strangling me before landing on the floor as I ducked away just in time. "Raphael what the actual-fuck" nice timing of that tic. He grabbed onto his hair and simply collapsed. Once fallen down to his knees he kept murmuring 'let it stop' as if something was tantalising him. I just backed up in case he was again planning on killing me then and there. I was screwed. Or fucked. However you wanna say it.

After a few minutes of silence, TV playing in the background, he finally spoke up"am I really such a horrible person...?~" "You're not a horrible person just because of what you've done-I know how you are when you don't seem to be driven to delirium..." "Delirium...?~"he looked up, the crazed, angry and insane look from before gone again.

Once everything became calm again, Raphael, as he said he'd do before, went to take a shower as I kept myself busy with looking up all kinds of things.

Delirium seemed to be the most logical thing since it came in periods. So maybe something drove him to delirium each time a murder happened.

From delirium to murder, to then return without a single malicious intention.

The bathroom door eventually opened as Raphael exited the small room, passing through the narrow hallway that led to the front door.

"Sorry for before...~"he said, pulling me out of my thoughts and away from my laptop. "Delirious..." "what?~"he quizzically looked at me, waiting for an explanation for the sudden 'delirious' "have you ever gotten checked on delirium?" "no-why would I have done that...?~" "it could be why...well...never mind..."

A few more hours passed by as Raphael and I soundlessly, well Raphael was quiet, I wasn't because of vocal tics, but we watched television until the awkward tension got broken by him speaking up. "Alex..?~" "yeah?"I turned to face him, noticing his rather worried expression"if I'm crazy-..~" "delirium doesn't make someone crazy or insane Raphael-just...well-delirious" "I just don't know what's wrong with me...~"he said quietly as he averted his gaze to the clock. He slowly got up and crouched down in front of me. "There's something you have to know Alex...you might not like it...but it's necessary...~"he took a deep breath and faced me, about to start to speak as some rooster outside signalled it was already 6AM.