Foretold

#14

I get up, fix my hair, change into a casual jeans and a t-shirt. I put on my leather jacket, grab the keys to my bike and rush out. I felt like riding the bike today, I don't know why. Maybe because it was calming. And lately, I needed to be calm. It took every ounce of my self control to stay calm when Caroline was in the cell with Brian, with every possibility of him hurting her. And Everytime he hurt her, I just wanted to break through the bars and strangle him. But I knew that it was my irrational self.

But it seriously didn't make sense, why Caroline let him hurt her so much. But again, that's how love works. I'd take a hundred knives on my back if that meant keeping Caroline safe. I wish I could keep her safe somehow. I reach her house and find her waiting outside. It was 3.25am, she looked sleep deprived. I go ahead to park my bike but she stops me.

"Don't. Let's ride today." She said.
"You'll catch a cold, Carly." I said.
"I won't. Just drive, Mark." She said, in an ordering voice I always surrendered to. I start my bike as she hops on.
"So I assume Madison called?" I said while driving.
"Yes. It sounds bad." She said.
"Caroline... He might hurt you again." I express my concern.

"I don't care, Mark." She said. That was it. I lost it. It was so unlike me, I was known for my temper. It was probably my worry for her acting. I stop my bike and say in a stern voice, "Get off the bike."
"What? Mark, is everything okay?" She said, a bit shocked.
"Just get off." I said and she gets off.

I park the bike on the side stand and get down. The road was quiet, not a single soul out. She was wearing a black jacket and white jeans. She looked beautiful. I calmed down a bit. I hold her hand lightly and she looks up at me.
"Caroline... Listen to me, okay? I understand everything. I understand that you just want Brian to be fine. But you need to care for yourself too. You can't let yourself get hurt, okay? I care too much for you. If something happens to you... God knows how I'll live." I said.

"Mark... I'll be okay. Don't worry." She said.
"I know it doesn't matter to you much. It doesn't matter if you're hurt. But it matters to me, okay?" I said.
"Why? Why does it matter? I'll be fine. It's not like he's killing me. Helping him makes me happy." She kept arguing.
"Caroline! No. I can't see you getting hurt day after day. You're my best friend."
"You don't know how love works, Mark. If you'd been in love, you'd know."
"I know!" I blurted out.

"What?" She asked, confused.
"I know how love feels, okay? I love someone, crazily. I'll do anything I can to keep her safe." I say, looking in her eyes.
"You never told me about this girl?" She smiles.
She didn't know it was her. She had no clue.
"I'll tell you someday. Right now, we need to handle Brian." I said, looking away.

I got on my bike and she hopped on. We drove in silence till we reached the asylum. Just as she got down, she said, "It's late at night. I'll check his book. Maybe I'll find something." I nodded. We rushed in to find Madison dressed in her casual clothes. I'd never seen her in casuals. She was always dressed in her blue doctor robes. She was pretty. Black suited her.

Caroline rushed to cell 20. Brian was worse than the other days. He was hitting his head against the wall, it was bleeding bad. His forehead was bruised. Occasionally he took a break from his head and just banged his fists to the wall. "Oh my God" Caroline said   and rushed inside the cell. I wanted to stop her. Brian was more violent than any of the other days. But I couldn't. 

I stood outside the cell and watched her approach Brian. She went closer calling his name and the second she touched his arm, everything went on in a haze. He punched her nose, she screamed in pain as it started bleeding, I tried to break the bars and get in screaming her name. She held her nose in one hand and tried to shush me with one. Her nose was deformed and bleeding a lot.

She was hiding her pain, it was clear. Tears were rolling out of her eyes yet she tried to be sensible. He'd stopped hitting the wall. The creepy grin was back, he tilted his head and look at Caroline's blood, smiling. I couldn't think of anything but any way to protect her from this insane man.

"Brian, come here and sit with me. Please." Caroline said. He didn't seem to understand. And she was still willing to take the risk. She held his hand softly and took him to his bed to sit. He looked calmer.
"You need to stop doing this at night, Brian..." She said and looked around. Making sure that no one except me was around, she held his hand and said, "I don't know how you predict the murders. Anybody would think you're the murderer. But I know you aren't. And because of you, we'll catch the culprit soon. Even in this state of mind, you're helping the law. Just get well soon." She said, smiling at him.

Her nose didn't look good. I wanted her to get out of there so that I could get her nose some help. She looked at me once and smiled at me. That relaxed me a bit. She took out his drawing book from under the bed and turned to the last page. Her smile faded. She walked to me and showed it to me.

It was a girl with blue eyes, dark skin, black hair. She was pretty, but dead. There wasn't a cut on her body, but her face looked blue. It looked like she'd be poisoned, unlike Mikayla.
We couldn't figure out who she was from the drawing. But we could figure out the place. It was the woods on the other side of the city. That's where it was going to happen. I took a picture of the drawing with my mobile and Caroline took the drawing book and kept it under the bed.

"Brian... You'll be okay. Go to sleep." She said, and unexpectedly, his eyelids seemed to droop and he fell asleep. Without sedatives. I opened the door with the keys and she came out, holding her nose in pain. She looked at me. She smiled at me and fainted in my arms before she could pretend that she was okay.