Trigger warning: Death
It was nearly midnight, and the night sky was picturesque. A black to navy gradient had formed a backdrop for the full moon which glowed yellowish white, loomed large and surrounded by an ethereal glow. Millions of stars were sprinkled behind it, a few large ones but mostly a multitude of little white pin pricks. The night sky so clear you could almost see every crater. It looked great and if it was any other normal day they might have admitted that it looked beautiful.
But it wasn't any other normal day, the cold breeze that blew from the dark, foreboding forest they were headed to just about proved so. As they entered the forest the scenic view changed, and the temperature dropped. They stopped to scan the scary forest. The forest was filled with tall shadowy trees dancing to the wind, dead fallen leaves which had fallen victim to the cold breeze. They looked at each other and then proceeded to enter the forest.
As they made their way through the dark, they could hear what the forest had to offer at night, the crows cried up in the night sky, the leaves rustling against the wind, and branches creaking at their presence. And the deeper into the forest they went, the colder and chilling it got. But that did not bother them at all.
Well, you see they were on a mission, a rather disturbing one. A man with a gun, another tied up and a woman in the woods in the peak of the night. Obviously, they were up to no good.
They finally stopped in the deepest part of the forest which opened up to the river side and took a long look at the spot before agreeing it was the perfect spot.
"We shall do it here. No one will find us here. So, we can take our time." Sebastian said as they scanned the open field that led to the river.
"You guys don't have to do this, please, I'm sorry! I won't do it again, I promise. Can't you just let me go just this once. Please!", the man they had tied up pleaded as his eyes filled up with tears. They watched as his salty tears wash down the blood that settled all over his face with little to no remorse.
They knelt him down and poured gasoline all over his bruised bloody body preparing him for an unnatural burial.
"I want to watch him burn to ashes. I want to hear his screams pierce my ears. I want you to pay for what you did to me, you bastard! What you put me through! What you put us through." the woman cursed.
Sebastian lit the match and threw it at him. They watched as the lit-up fire make contact with his skin. The fire slowly spread throughout the rest of his body. He let out a cry so loud, it filled the whole forest, the trees shook, and the birds flew away.
He got up and started running around hopelessly like headless poultry. The flame burning through his skin letting out the smell of burned flesh.
"Should I shoot him?" asked Sebastian. Looking at the woman who stood beside him.
"Not yet. I want him to feel a fraction of the pain he's caused me." she responded. The woman took a look at Sebastian and could see the man's flame filled body through his eyes. She leaned over and kissed him. As the flame grew so did their lustful kiss. It felt as though it was just the two of them in the world, and of course the burning man.
They noticed the flame was starting to die out, so they broke off the kiss and Sebastian put a bulletthrough the man's burned out to a crisp skull.
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2 Years Earlier.
She heard him come down the stairs and rushed to talk to him. "Thomas, wait up." Samantha called out to her husband. He stopped and glanced at her.
"I wanted to remind you that I will be spending the weekend at my brother's place, so I won't be home when you get here." she informed. He gave a nod of acknowledgement and proceeded to make his way out.
Samantha then made her way up to her bedroom, as she entered the room, she got the same feeling she always got every time she entered that space, the feeling of loneliness, emptiness. Having a separate bedroom made had made her realise she has not been married to her husband in years.
The man was hardly home, they hardly ever talked, and they have not shared a bed since the incident. She let out a sigh a the thought and went into the walk-in closet to start packing for her weekend.
Once she was done, Samantha made her way to the large living room which was furnished with a large flat screen tv, white leather couch and sofas, and the softest fur floor rug, and oak wood coffee table. She stopped and took a look around and bid the noticeably house farewell for the time being. The woman then went to the huge garage which was home to at least ten unnecessary cars. She grabbed the key to the Merc and backed out of the garage door to the driveway then on to the road.
Thirty minutes later Samantha was pulling up to the glass covered skyscraper. She stopped by the entrance where a valet was waiting to take the car keys from her. She took out her luggage and then handed the valet the keys and walked towards the entrance.
Samantha then walked through the lobby to the lift. She entered the lift and pressed the button for the 20th floor and proceeded towards the last door on the right from the lift, room 103 and entered without knocking. Once inside she took a look around and noticed that the apartment was a mess, nothing new. Samantha set her luggage down and started tidying up the living room."Brian! Brian, you home? I saw the door was open, so I let myself in." She called out as she tidied up.
"Hey." A voice sounded out coming from behind her. Startled she did a fast turn to see who it was, because it definitely did not sound like Brian. However, only to find a shirtless man with only a towel wrapped around his waist. Her eyes traced his body from the bottom of the towel all the way up to his waist. Samantha took in a breath and then proceeded to scan his lean abs to his bare chest. Her eyes tracing from his chest up his neck to his chiselled jaw. By the time her eyes scanned past his lips to his tinted ocean eyes her face was flushed.
"You must be Bri's sister, Samantha, right?" He asked with a smug grin on his face.
She gave a slow nod as she remembered that her brother said he was looking for a new roommate because his last roommate left without notice. "And you must be his new roommate." she spoke regaining herself.
"Yeah, Sebastian Mount." He introduced himself. "What you're doing?", he asked in confusion.
Samantha looked at the thining mess then back the still half naked man before her and managed to answere well, much to her surprise. "Well Sebastian, I'm cleaning; this place is a mess and I am very much OCD."
"Ah. Okay, then I'm going to leave you to do your thing." He said as he turned to make his way back to his room.
"Hey um wait, where's Brian?" she inquired
"Off to get takeaway."
"Couldn't he just order?"
"You know how your brother is, he refuses to pay for delivery." he answered walking away.
She sighed because she knew that was as true as the fact that he was too lazy to cook. Samantha took a look at the mess that still awaited her to clean. Brian was too lazy clean too. It took her a while before she was done cleaning, by then Brian had just arrived, walking through the door to the living room, where he placed the takeaway on the coffee table. He then called out for her, "Samantha, I know you're here, my place is clean. Where you at?"
"She's in the kitchen." Sebastian said as he sat on the couch and he proceeded to help himself to the food. Brian made his way to the kitchen to find his sister.
"Hey, you're finally back.", she greeted, "I'm finishing the last of these dishes." She spoke hung over the sink with her hands deep into the soapy water and an apron clinging to her form.
The was something about the sight that the brother could not stand, so he voiced, "You know you don't have to. You can actually relax. Isn't that why you came here, to take a break from your life?"
Samantha eyed him with a dry chuckle. "I just got tired being locked up in that house."
"Then why don't you get a job." he suggested leaning against the counter.
His younger sister looked at him as though he had just suggested that she rob a bank. Turning back to the dishes before her as she answered, "Because he doesn't want me to, apparently me getting a job means that I feel he's incapable of taking care of me like he promised my family he would."
"Well, okay that seems to make sense. So make new friends, go party, after all you are still in your 20's." he said, but she eyed him yet again as thought he suggested murder this time. "What? Isn't that what people in their twenties do?" he asked smirking.
"Yes, it is, but only people in their twenties who aren't wives." She remarked.
The sibling both shared a laugh on that note. But unbeknownst to the brother, one of those sound a little broken. "Hey, we better go eat before Sebastian finishes the food."
"Can he finish all that food." Samantha asked drying her hands.
"You have no idea."
They walked back to the living area, one behind the other. "How is it possible that he can eat that much and still look so...good."
He looked at his sister, "Don't even think about it, you're married." he stated.
Samantha let out a chuckled at her brother's insinuation, "What? I'm married not blind."
"And I'm reminding you of your relationship status because for a second it seemed like you forgot."
She let out a resigned sigh. "How could I forget I'm married when there's this meaningless rock weighing on my hand to remind me every time of my status.", she replied then sat herself on the couch and began to eat, Brian too followed.
Just as they were finished eating, Brian's phone rang, "Hey, Candy what's up?" He got up and walked towards his room.
"Candice? Are they back together?" Samantha murmured. Sebastian gave a glance at Brian's retreating back then at her and gave me a nod. "Since when? I thought they had a hard falling out." she probed
"It was his fault; he tried getting her to forgive him, apparently she did a few weeks back. But though he's still treading on thin ice. If he fucks this one up, she's gone for good."
The woman chuckled, her eyes on him, "You a gossip." she teased.
He leaned back on the couch and responded, "Not necessarily. I just happen to know what went down between them and well, relayed that information to you because you asked."
"Well, that's fair but how do you know so much about Brian's love life?" she ventured.
"Because..." Sebstian seemed to think about it then continued, "I'm his friend and like women, men talk to each other about their problems too." He said the words like they were an obvious fact. From his perspective they probably were. "I thought you were supposed to be the wise one in your family."
She looked at him offended then remarked, "And I thought you weren't such an ass."
"My words hurt you?" he sounded pleased.
"Yes, they did."
"Didn't mean to, just that I heard lots of great things about you, so I had great expectations and I kind of thought-"
She raised a hand to cut him off, "You disappointed I didn't let you see me through my brother's eyes?" she asked as she started tidying up.
"No. I'm disappointed that you don't want me to see the greatness for myself."
She paused in her traces, looked at him then smiled, "This is going to be an interesting weekend. I am curious to see if you can bring such a side out of me." she teased making her way to the kitchen with the dishes they had just used.
"Hey guys I'm heading out. I'll be back tomorrow morning." Brian spoke as he moved for the door, pausing just before opening it. Then turned to face us, "And remember Sebastian, she's off limits. Samantha, you're married."
"Relax we are not teenagers." She clarified.
"I'd like to think so." Brian said and then left.
she gave Sebastian a knowing look, "I had a feeling he told you off on my behalf."
"He's just being an older brother; you know how they are; overprotective and stuff." The words, though she knew he went well saying made her scoff a little.
"Funny how he never acted that way with Thomas."
"The husband?"
She stared at him, "No the wife... of course the husband."
He rolled his eyes, "You think you are funny."
Laughing at him she replied, "Yes, yes I am. it's one of my greatest traits. See, I'm showing you my greatness."
"I don't think so, how can you think you're funny, but your husband's name is Thomas."
"Hey, what's wrong with that." She sounded offended on his behalf, even though to her that seemed somewhat off.
"Well, any Thomas I've ever known was either a dork or/and prick."
"Like you are being right now"
"Hey, don't hate on me just because your husband's a dork."
"Okay that's it, get out of my kitchen."
"Technically it's mine." He said with a smirk.She gave him a glare taht gave threat, which caused him to raise his hands in surrender as he backed out of the kitchen.
She stood there back to washing the dishes and though about. If she was honest with herself, she would know that she wasn't really mad about what he said because she really did think her husband was a prick. But it was the fact that he was right that irked her.
After she finished the dishes, she went to put her bag in Brian's room. Samantha then took a warm shower. After letting the small drops of warm water trickle down her body, she put her pajama shorts and t-shirt and then made it to the living room to sat down on the couch next to him. Not to watch TV per say, but because she come her seeking human interaction. The one person she could get it from had ran off to his girlfriend leaving her alone with...him.
He looked at her smiling, clearly not remorseful, "You still mad at me for calling your husband a dork."
Returning his smile, she shook her head. "I'm really not..." I leaned forward to see him properly, "...See I'm really sure that he's never defended my honour, so why should I defend his? And besides he is a dork but even a bigger prick." she continued then leaning back on the couch.
He turned to her, "Want to talk about it?", he asked.
"What? You want me to bore you with my boring life?"
He turned his eyes back to the TV and spoke, "If your life's so boring you don't want to talk about it then do something about it." He then turned to her again only for bit and continued, "No one will make that change for you but you."
She stared at him without any words, not because she was a little offended, she was, but because he was right. Finally collected herself well enough to speak, "Okay. What's the most exciting thing you ever done?"
"I got shot." He answered firmly and simply as though it was a normal occurrence, his eyes still glued to the tv.
"Shot? Like shot, shot?", he nodded. "Why?", she found herself asking.
"I have many reasons, but I'll just stick with, it's just business."
"What kind of business gets you sho-" Samantha stopped herself as she realised that she already knew the answer to her question. So, she decided to keep her mouth shut about the subject.
He looked at her with that smirk of his, smug in his handsome features. "You never done anything exciting, have you? Bet you've never even been to a club." he joked.
"Oh, come on, I'm not that boring, of course I've been to a club." she spoke with a confidence he was sure had him convince she had her wires crossed.
So, he clarified with a chuckle to make sure they were on the same page, "I meant a night club, you know, the one with the loud music."
She let out a sigh, "I know what a night club is, I just never been to one. Plus I thought you meant country club."
He froze for a second but then quickly composed himself, turing fully to her with a ragic lookon his face. "Was going to make fun of you but that's just tragic. No, I only want to..." he stopped himself then got up from the couch and told her to put on her sexiest shimmering dress and meet him in the living room in an hour. Well, to be specific the hour was for her to get ready.