Eternal Darkness

"Do it, David. Don't let your emotions manipulate you." She repeated the same words he had said to her.

His grasp on her face tightened to a painful extent.

"Is your life so worthless that you would throw it away just like that?"

"Would you rather let me leave this room alive if I begged you to let me go?" Jazmine answered his question with another question.

They both knew the answer: he wouldn't. He couldn't. Then it shouldn't matter whatever she said.

Why did he sound angry?

Before he could say anything, she chuckled. "Would you be surprised if I said that..., within my eyes, my life is this worthless now." Her smile disappeared.

Her grandfather was dead.

Within a span of the last few years, he had made her cut ties with her friends and family.

No one would even notice if she disappeared.

There was nothing that was holding her in this world anymore.

Suddenly, the grip on her chin loosened.

David rose and raked a hand through his hair, looking perturbed all of a sudden.

Observing his strange actions, Jazmine wondered to herself. 'I can never figure out this man, can I?'

He glanced back at her; their eyes matched.

For a moment time froze.

She was reminded of the silent boy, she had once seen that evening in that park.

"I..."

Before any of them could utter another word, the door to the peace of the room was shattered. Someone shoved open the door with a loud noise.

.

.

.

"You haven't killed her yet?"

"Get out," David's voice fell a few notes low as he glanced at the intruder. The lower tone only meant it held an undertone of threat.

However, the woman disregarded his warning. Clutching her stomach, she boldly rushed to his side.

"You have to do it, David. Your Uncle won't let you off if you don't. Think about our child if not anything else. As long as this woman is alive, we can't find peace in our lives."

Rosaline glanced at the woman who was on her knees. Undisguised contempt flashed across her face as she found her smiling.

"What are you smiling at cunt? Don't you see your position, huh? Why don't you call for your grandfather to save you now?"

Rosaline hardly controlled her impulse to kick the woman on her knees. She didn't want to leave a vulgar image of her's in David's eyes.

'That whore always had her grandfather back her up. My whole life she had been using her grandfather's wealth and Tang family name to suppress me and make me feel inferior. Now she has finally lost her backing and everything, she got what she actually deserved!'

With tears staining her cheeks, her unkempt hair; and years of harsh circumstances Jazmine's naturally delicate features had hardened. Looking at this, Rosaline felt a surge of satisfaction.

She was not as beautiful as she used to be.

The phoenix that once soared high in the sky... had now lost its wings.

She was nothing but a shell of what she used to be.

"You are this confident because you must be thinking David would let you leave. But let me tell you, if your body is leaving this room today then it's only under the condition it is dead."

However, Jazmine merely laughed.

Rosaline was speechless.

"Little sister," Jazmine whispered in a light tune; almost playful: "What are you trying to do?"

"You..."

"David knows very well that the baby in your stomach is not his. He has been playing with you all along. Just like he had been playing with me. Have you not realized it by now?"

Rosaline's eyes widened in shock."What the fuck Jazmine? You have seen that you can't save yourself now so are you going to use ridiculous lies to drive a wedge between David and me to get back at me?"

"Whether I am lying or not, we both know it very well, little sister."

"You fucking bitch! Just shut the fuck up!" Rosaline felt like she was going mad with anger and fear. Terrified, she glanced at David. Looking at his cold expressions, she calmed down a bit. "Our relationship is not so weak that baseless words from your mouth can drive a wedge between us."

Jazmine quietly clicked her tongue.

Shifting her eyes, she glanced at David.

David's gaze was fixed on Jazmine all the time.

After a long silence, his voice resounded in the room.

"Take her away."

"David?" Rosaline's eyes widened in shock. She couldn't believe it.

Weren't David's expressions very cold just now? Did it not mean he didn't believe Jazmine's words?

Or was it...

That whore was telling the truth...

He had known all along that the baby in my stomach was not his?

Rosaline was horrified.

"David, whatever she had told you, she is lying!" Frantically, Rosaline cried.

However, the man was as cold as ice. He paid no heed to her pathetically desperate explanation.

Rosaline cried as a few men grabbed her and started to drag her away. Her eyes were bloodshot with anger as she glared at Jazmine.

"You fucking Bitch! I'll never forgive you!"

Once her cries died out, silence dominated the room once again. Jazmine silently rose and her calm eyes met the man's eyes in front of her.

"You want to know why I did all that?" David's eyes looked unfathomable. His cold eyes had calmed a bit. It appeared he had finally made a decision. "Your mother..."

A shrill noise rang out from behind. Jazmine felt her body jerking forward. Before she could understand what was happening, two more noises followed.

In front of her eyes, she saw the horrified face of David 

'This is so strange. I have never seen fear on his face.'

Before she could conclude, he rushed towards her. His lips moved but she couldn't hear anything. Enveloped in a strange warmth, Jazmine opened her mouth to say something. But no words came out.

Slowly, the scene in front of her eyes shifted.

'What's happened?'

'Grandfather, why did Mother name me Jessica?' An innocent child had once asked.

'Jazmine means Gift from God. When your mother married your father, she was very sad. But then she had you' Her grandfather laughed and pinched her small nose adoringly.

'Grandpaw don't do it. I don't like it!' She glared at her grandfather.

'You gave her hope and lightened our world. You gave her a reason to live on

Unconsciously, Jazmine's hand reached out to touch those happy memories, but in a moment, they disappeared like they never existed in the first place. And so eternal darkness swallowed her whole.

And so, Jazmine's story came to an end, not with a whimper, but with the echoing sounds of gunshots that had forever silenced the questions that remained unanswered.

David would never get to tell her about her mother. And she would never know if he had truly meant to kill her that day or if there had been something else in his heart.

Some stories are destined to remain unfinished, their endings lost to the eternal darkness that claims us all.