Last month, I noticed that something is off with my boyfriend. He was being too nice recently like cleaning up his dirty dishes and being attentive to my needs. I would have thought this was a good thing if only I haven’t caught him waking up in the middle of the night and leaving the house. I tried waiting for him to come back but I fell asleep after some time and the next thing I knew, he was back in bed with me.
That morning, it clicked on me like I found all the pieces to the puzzle. That’s why he was acting so nice. And recently, I would admit that we haven’t had some sex and I thought he just wasn’t in the mood. Now, I know why. He was having an affair.
I was furious and heartbroken. I told my best friend, Natalie, all about it and she was as heartbroken as me. She kept asking if I was sure about it. I mean, what other explanation it could be? He’ll be gone the whole night and he’ll be back in the morning, what did he do? Buy some milk??
I said to her that I have a plan. I’m gonna wake up before he does and catch him red-handed. My best friend just nodded and said that was a good idea. That night, my husband prepared a nice meal for me, something he hadn’t before, and I was mildly surprised. I pretended not to know anything about his infidelity so our conversation went normally.
However, when we finally settled back in bed, I had fallen asleep almost instantaneously. My sleep was so good that I wasn’t able to wake up at midnight. I was disappointed with myself. How could I have slept on it? What’s weird was in the following nights, that kept happening to me. I couldn’t wake up in the middle of the night. I also tried staying up all night but at some point, I would fall asleep. That is very unusual since I have been a night shift employee before and I didn’t have this kind of trouble of suddenly falling asleep. Sometimes, I couldn’t even remember what happened last night.
My crazy brain thought maybe my bf was drugging me. Putting something to make me sleep through the night. That’s the only possible explanation I could think of. But then, I asked myself, how did he know about my plan? My heart sank as I realized the answer to my question. Natalie, my best friend. I couldn’t believe it. Why would she betray me? Is she my bf’s lover???
At this point, I was intoxicated with anger. I skipped dinner and only drank water from tap. I made sure none of my bf’s drugs would reach me. My boyfriend was even persistent that I should eat or at least drink some milk. To me, that was a confirmation that he was indeed drugging me. I was about to confront him about his infidelity right then and there but I felt a blunt force hit me at the back of my head and I was out.
When I came to, I was tied up in bed and my bf was watching me at the corner of our bedroom. He was biting his lips and was pale as a sheet.
“What is this?” I asked him.
His eyes lit up when he saw me awake. He then run to our living room and called for someone. My heart sank as I saw who it was. It was Natalie! I yelled immediately after seeing her.
“It was you! How fucking dare you!” I shouted at her.
Natalie asked me to calm down. “It’s not what you think,” she kept repeating.
“I’m gonna kill you both when I get out of here!” I kept trying to free myself but to no avail. They used some of the thickest rope I’ve seen.
“Babe, listen to me,” my boyfriend said. “I’m not cheating on you. And certainly, Natalie and I have no romantic relationship. I get out of bed every night because I need to stay safe.”
“Stay safe?” I asked. “Stay safe from what??”
“From you” he answered quickly.
“What?”
“Jace, it’s near 3. We should get out of here,” Natalie whispered.
My boyfriend then took out a paint bucket and painted my hands and legs with red paint. I squirmed and yelled as he did it in a hurry. All the while, I was thinking who is this person? Is this really my boyfriend? How could he do all of this to me?
As if he could hear my thoughts, he kissed my forehead and said “You’ll understand everything tomorrow, I promise,”
Before I could reply, he and Natalie ran away and I was all alone in our bedroom. I kept screaming for help but I knew it was pointless. My mind was racing as fast as my heartbeat. My lungs felt like it was shrinking as I breathe for air. No. No. No. How could they do this to me? Why are they doing this? I kept trying to free myself but I got exhausted at some point and lost consciousness.
When I woke up, I was still in bed. But I noticed that the ropes that bound me last night were now roughly severed and my wrist burn like hell. As I looked around the room, I understood Jace. The floor, the walls, and the ceiling as well, were full of red handprints. My handprints.