~Chapter 47~

How long has it been?

Days?

Months?

Years?

Decades?

Centuries?

Day or night?

Is he dead or alive?

Did he get kidnapped?

Ah yes, he did, he was sleeping when he woke up to the sound of knock at the door, upon enquiry he was informed that it was a complementary cleaning service of the motel. Drowsy and groggy due to sleep, he did not think much and opened the door. After that he does not remember anything.

Did anyone come to retrieve him?

Did everyone forget about him?

Emilia, Luke, Seon-Hul…..nah she won't be worried about him, they never talked much in the first place. Why didn't they talk? He does not know.

Both his hands and legs fell asleep a long time ago, they mean nothing to him now, just some pounds of flesh. His eyes too are droopy; he does not know when they too would betray him and close themselves forever and ever, pulling away the last shred of consciousness into the deep dark abyss of unconsciousness where there is no worry for time, place, and hunger.

Speaking of hunger, he is hungry. In fact, he has been hungry for quite some time. His stomach had grumbled non-stop but there was nothing to eat. There is nothing but pitch-black void. He does not even know where he is, all he could assume with the remaining sensation of his shoulders and butt is that he's really in a very cramped place. He does not know when the remaining oxygen in this place will run out. Judging by the several banging sounds that he made earlier, it was clear that he was inside some metal space in a remote area. He has no energy to do anything at all.

Suddenly there was a movement in the space and a tiny speck of light disturbed his train of thoughts, he tried to move away his head from the speck of light that is might be another of his delusion; he expected the same clacking of ruddy red heels and slithery snaky voice that'd call out his name; "Rio~" just like he heard previously when a speck of light invaded the dark space raising his hopes to be his savior so he emitted the name from his mouth; "Emilia!"

The movements stopped, the speck of light neither increased nor decreased, it remained oddly stagnant. The cramped space remained as it is but the gush of chilly air slapped Rio into his consciousness and he was able to open his eyes fully against the sudden sunlight. However, he was unable to decipher the person's face who was holding something in their hand because the person was walking opposite of the sunlight.

Looking at the silhouette it was a woman and what she is holding in her hand is a metal—to be more specific she is holding the cover of the trunk of the car he is in.

Ah.

So he was in a car, eh?

Then he must have been taken somewhere far…far away this time.

And of course, his kidnapper is none other than his worst nightmare in flesh because of whom he had gone through so much suffering all these years—his family abandoned him out of shame and disgust, he suffered sleep paralysis and was kept awake all night because he was afraid to go to sleep as the moment he'd close his eyes he'd be taken back to that hellish basement once again and the warmth of his grandmother's house would seem like nothing but just a pathetic dream.

"You….!" He croaked hoarsely.

Yes, this is Neena. His current and past kidnapper, his rapist, a pedophile, and a sorry excuse of a human being. Oh, and he forgot to mention, she was also his former nanny. Weird, isn't it? A nanny is supposed to be an alternative mother figure in the absence of the real mother taking care of the little child that the birth mother leaves behind temporarily due to her commitments. However, no one could have ever predicted that this substitute of the mother figure would turn out to be such a monster.

"Yes, young master~ It's me, Neena~" the trunk was opened fully and Rio was finally able to take a good look at his nightmare. Her face is covered in bandages a bit loosely making her red flesh stick out from underneath hideously, her snakelike eyes peering at him like he is some kind of delicious meal to devour. Rio scoffed in his mind. When he was a kid and his mother would leave him in the hands of Neena unbothered, he'd consider those snakelike eyes to be full of affection only meant for him. How wrong he was!

Rio moved his eyes away from her in utter disgust. She was about to hold his arm to help him out of the truck but he shrunk back, sat up by himself and scrambled off from the trunk of the car with his trembling legs that are protesting due to sudden movement which caused them to wake up from their slumber. He ignored the pain with all his might and tried his best to pretend to be calm and cool.

"You might be thinking that you have been cured out of your hapephobia or your fear of being touched by others now that you can tolerate people around you, you don't feel nauseaous especially around women. You think that it's all because of your girlfriend Emilia. Fine. If you are cured then as a doctor I am happy for you. But remember the actual perpetrator is still outside lurking around somewhere, so you gotta be careful."

At Rio's downcast gaze, Mrs. Roberts spoke in a smooth voice; "Hey, I really am glad that you think that you are cured. Hapephobia isn't something that anyone else can cure you from the outside, it depends on the patient a lot if they want to be cured." She paused. "Rio, there might be a time that'd come, I pray that it won't, but if it comes by great misfortune, god protects!....please do not panic if you have to face her again, be brave, at least pretend to be brave. Play right into her own games so that history shall not repeat twice. Psychopaths love it when you give them the desired expression and response that they are seeking for but are bound to falter and take two steps back if remain or put on a brave mask."

Rio felt his throat getting clogged, his eyes stinging due to his determination not to show his tears to Neena anymore, his heart trying to burst out of his ribcage, he's having a bit of difficulty in breathing just at the sight of her. Bile rose to his throat as she approached him further despite him recoiling back. So, he just did what his instincts told him to do just as he did in the past.

He barfed.