Nemesis: A Love Story

HUGH/TESSA

He can feel his breath hitch as he sees another file. With a warning. Graphic content.
Evidence photos.
He's seen many things in his life. All kinds of wounds.
He's even helped clean his mothers and a few of his own. The odd time his father came home and had obviously been in a brawl.
He knows the damage that one person can inflict on another.
He's even inflicted some of his own.
His finger trembles as it moves to click on the link.
The first pictures that he's slammed with are of the crime scene.
It's a house. One that's looks strangely familiar though it could be any suburban house in any city, really. Part of the yard is portioned off with the bright yellow crime scene tape.
The spot where she had obviously fought for her life against the bastard. He can see the dried blood even in the photo.
The next set are the two actual victims. He can only assume it's her parents. Lots is blacked out from view.
The bodies are left where they took their last breaths.
The male on his stomach.
The female laying on her side.
A hand stretched out.
There's so much blood. He's never seen so much.
It's everywhere.
He leans closer towards the computer and can see clear footprints.
Bare feet.
Small.
A trail leading out of the kitchen archway and down the hall to outside. She's running.
Another pair follows them.
Larger.
Boots.
He feels his stomach constrict.
The fucker had been in the house.
She'd walked in on him.
She must've been so scared.
He flashes back to the fear in her green eyes, glassy with unshed tears, earlier.
He can almost see the teen version of her.
Those same eyes.
That same fear.
And never before has he wanted to kill someone, as badly as he does this motherfucker.
He's determined to figure out who he is. His name. He knows people.
People on the inside.
He makes a mental note to ask around.
There's another file
Victim Photos.
He knows what he's about to see.
He hesitates.
His fingers shaking so badly he has to open and closes them.
He clicks them open before he can stop himself.
It's her.
He knows it.
Even though her face isn't showing.
There's pictures of her bare back.
He feels his eyes getting watery as he sees the stab wounds littering her back.
He counts them.
13
She's been stabbed repeatedly all over her right shower blade and the middle of her back.
Each wound stitched up. Red and angry.
So many stitches.
Her pale skin black and blue.
It's the next picture that is his undoing and the tears fall. He doesn't wipe them away.
It's a close up pic of the damage to her throat and neck.
The bastard had slit her throat.
The wound was long and jagged.
Red and purple.
Uneven.
Raised above the rest of her skin.
How had she survived this?
How does a 13 year old survive an attack like that and the death of her parents as well.
~ Stop following me!!!~
He runs a hand threw his hair. Standing up and walking away from the laptop. Pacing.
Back and forth.
He's so angry. So fucking angry. He wants to hit something. Hit it until he bleeds.
Heart racing.
Mind turning.
He stops suddenly in his tracks.
His mind registering on an old memory. Something he had blocked out.
He comes back to the laptop and does a google search.
He remembers.
He remembers the attack.
He'd been 16 when it happened. That's all everyone had talked about for years. The house. The death house had remained empty for years. Like a haunted moratorium.
A local family.
Murdered.
In their own home.
He finds the article.
Beloved locals, Mark and Jordan Riggs, murdered in their home in the early hours of Mar 2/13
Daughter, Tessa Riggs, 13, in critical condition after surviving attack.
Suspected killer...

Hugh feels the laptop slip from his hands. He walks backwards until his back hits the wall and he sinks down to the floor.
He remembers her.

TESSA

She's still in the bathroom. Doesn't know how long she has been there. She hears knocking but it's far away.
She's on the floor.
Doesn't remember how she got there.
She's lost in that day now.
Back there.
Reliving it like it's happening all over again.
He's on her back.
Holding her down.
She's being stabbed but she doesn't feel it anymore.
She can hear sirens in the distance.
Growing louder.
He's distracted and she somehow finds the strength to push him up and off her.
She starts to frantically crawl away.
She doesn't get far.
He's there again
Roughly flipping her over.
They are face to face now.
Where are you????
She thinks.
Chris where are you???
She wants her protector.
Her big brother.
Wants him to come save her from this monster that growls down at her.
"You little cunt!" The monster roars in her face.
She slashes it's face with her nails.
Drawing blood.
She fights him.
Gets in a good punch.
He pins her arms over her head.
She sees the knife but is helpless to protect herself.
She screams for her brother!
"CHRIS!!!"
The knife comes down slashing across her throat.
All she tastes is blood.
Her vision starts to blur.
The sirens are close now.
She sees someone running towards them. Lunging forward.
A body tackling the monster.
A smashing of bodies rolling on the grass beside her.
She looks sideways.
She can't talk.
Chris.....
Everything goes black.

Suspected killer, Christopher Riggs, 16, in police custody awaiting psyche evaluation and trial date.