Nemesis: A Love Story

HUGH/TESSA

He's relieved to see Claire isn't home yet. He doesn't want to have to answer her questions. He goes to her room. Taking her laptop from her desk and heading into his room.
He strips out of the wet clothes leaving them in a pile on the floor. Grabbing the USB from his coat.
He closes the door. Locks it in case she arrives.
His phone has been beeping and ringing the whole way home.
He knows it's Megan.
He ignores her.
He sits on the bed and turns on the laptop.
The screen lights up and he connects the USB.
Waiting as it loads, he thinks back to the moment he slide out from under Megan's sleeping grip. He'd seen the computer earlier and had realized what he had to do. He walked slowly trying not to wake her.
She moved and he stopped.
She turned over facing the back of the couch. Her naked skin covered in goosebumps.
He moved again cautiously. Carefully.
Password protected.
He fumed inwardly.
Then had an idea.
It had been easy to find the password.
Her kids name.
His eyes skimmed over multiple names, even his own. He was tempted so see what she had on him but decided against it.
Sometimes it's better not to know.
He found her name.
He kept one eye on the sleeping form and the other on the computer as the file downloaded.
He'd left as soon as it finished. It wasn't until he was almost home that he realized in his haste that he hadn't shut it down.
He knew the level of damage control he'd have to do would be huge but it was worth it.  
~ tell me who hurt you ~
He hasn't been able to think of anything else. His mind continually flashing back to the moment.
The scar.
Her face. The panic on her face.
The mask she held so tightly onto was gone and he'd seen her.
Soul.
The file is ready and with slight trepidation he clicks on open.

TESSA

She's drunk.
Very drunk.
They'd left the beer and had moved on to scotch.
Her suggestion.
She hadn't spoken much but Claire did.
Mainly about her life. School. Her boyfriend.
She was 18.
It was she and her big brother. Had been just them since she was 14.
Tessa notices the lack of adult mention but she doesn't ask. It's not her place.
Not her business
Should Claire one day want to share she will.
As the scotch hits memories start to flash again.
Of what had transpired between she and Lucifer.
She worries now about what he'll do. How he'll react to her the next time they are forced together.
Does he think her weak?
Pathetic?
She excuses herself to the washroom. Locks the door behind her. She faces the mirror. Sees her own reflection. Her eye makeup is smudged slightly. The eyeliner starting to rub off. Smeared from the rain.
Her eyes.
She used to be told often they were beautiful.
You have your fathers eyes.
The memory hits her like a sucker punch. Knocking the wind out of her.
Hers hands clasps the sides of the sink for balance.
Her head lowers.

HUGH

His eyes scan over the words.
Anxiety
Depression
Panic attacks
Anger
Self harm
PTSD
Vivid nightmares.
Survivors guilt.
Survivors guilt?
A police report.
He clicks on it. He's been holding his breath he realizes and exhales sharply.
In the early hours of March 2/ 2013 police were called to domestic dispute.
Two individuals found on front lawn.
Male,16, stabbing female, 13.
Male subdued.
Female. Severe injures.
Ambulance dispatched.
Inside home two bodies found.
Both deceased.
Male, 38, found in living room. Multiple stab wounds and trauma.
Female, 36, found in kitchen. Multiple stab wounds and trauma.
Homicide detectives dispatched.
Hugh sits back from the screen.
Jesus Christ.
Tessa.

TESSA

She lifts her head. Her eyes falling on the scar. She's spent years hiding it. Like it was some kind of dirty secret.
Her fingers run across it.
She remembers him doing the same. The feel of his fingertips on her skin.
She shakes the thought out of her head.
Her mind goes back.
To that day.
She'd heard a noise downstairs. It had woken her.
A scream?
Her mother must be watching one of her true crime shows again. She reluctantly heads down the stairs. Her eyes drift to her brothers room. Door is closed. The DO NOT ENTER sign dominating the white door. Probably still sleeping. She'll have to jump on his bed later and wake him up. It's a tradition of theirs.
It's Saturday after all.
She looks forward to breakfast and sitting on the couch with him watching mtv later.
As she enters the kitchen she quickly realizes it's not the TV.
The smile fades from her face.
A scream dies on her lips at the scene before her.
Her mother is being attacked.
Stabbed over and over.
In a frenzy.
He doesn't notice her at first.
He's so enraged.
She makes a move and his head bolts up.
Green eyes meet green eyes.
He sneers at her.
Growls like something possessed.
Neither moves at first.
She's in shock.
This isn't a human.
This is a monster.
The monster makes a move to came after her but slips in her mothers blood.
It's then she hears her mothers gasp. She's still alive.
They lock eyes.
Mommy.
"TESSA RUN!!!"
It's blood curdling.
The knife lifts again, hammering down.
Her mother is gone.
Running.
She's barefoot.
Feels the freshly mowed grass under her feet.
She's trying to escape.
Make it to the neighbours.
She doesn't.
He tackles her
They tumble to the ground.
She feels the first stab. It's like nothing she can describe.
A piercing as the knife goes through the skin.
A burning sensation as it slices through muscle and tendons.
The feel of the blade hitting bone.
After that adrenaline comes.
The sweets bliss on adrenaline.
Quickly followed by the strongest desire to survive.
It was that moment the fighter in her was born and the child she had been died.
Died right along with her parents.