Once, my paranoid love

“Why are you telling lies, Elena?” Paul’s voice cut through the tension in the room as he approached me, his steps deliberate and cautious. His proximity made my heart race, and I instinctively took a small step back until the edge of the bed’s cupboard stopped me.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

I stammered, my voice trembling, “I-I am not.” The words felt like a feeble defense, and I couldn’t meet his unwavering gaze.

Paul’s grip on my wrist tightened, sending a jolt of fear through me. His voice remained surprisingly calm, a stark contrast to the turmoil in my own emotions. “Tell me, Elena,” he urged, his eyes searching mine.

The room seemed to close in around us, the walls closing in as if to bear witness to the unraveling of our tangled secrets. I felt cornered and exposed, and I couldn’t escape the truth any longer.

My breaths came in shallow, uneven gasps as I struggled to find the words. “Ahh. Leave me alone; I’m hurt,” I finally managed to say, using physical pain as a diversion. My wrist throbbed where his fingers had dug into my skin, but the real agony was the turmoil inside me.

“Isn’t it painful? When I found out you slept with him, it hurt me as well,” Paul’s words cut through the air like a knife, his voice rising in anger and frustration. The room seemed to quiver with the intensity of his emotions, and I felt a deep sense of dread wash over me.

I couldn’t help but feel both terrified and worried as his eyes bore into mine. This terror was unlike anything I had experienced that night, when things had taken an unexpected turn.

“Paul, we didn’t sleep. Now get out of here or I’ll call my father!” My voice trembled as I tried to regain some semblance of control over the situation. Panic welled up within me, and the only thought that crossed my mind was to protect what remained of our fragile world.

Paul’s response was far from what I had expected. Instead of retreating, he came closer, his hand shooting out to tightly cup my jaw. His grip was forceful, his fingers pressing into my skin with an aggressive urgency that left me breathless.

“You want to scream?” Paul’s voice was laced with a dangerous edge, his eyes burning with a mixture of anger and despair. His proximity was suffocating, and I could feel the erratic rhythm of his own racing heartbeat.

I tried to pull away, but his grip remained unyielding. My mind raced, and fear coursed through my veins. The room felt like a prison, its walls closing in around us as the confrontation spiraled out of control.

As Paul’s vice-like grip tightened around me, panic surged through my veins like a bolt of lightning. I struggled to breathe, let alone utter a coherent word. His fingers dug into my arms, leaving angry red marks as painful reminders of my vulnerability. I desperately wished for a superhero’s strength, but reality was far from comic books.

“Ummmm,” I managed to mumble, my voice barely audible. Each futile attempt to free myself only seemed to amuse Paul further. He was enjoying this, reveling in the power he had over me.

I summoned every ounce of strength I had left and pushed against him with all my might. My muscles screamed in protest, but I refused to give up. If I couldn’t use words to escape this nightmare, I would use my body.

“Let’s see how loudly you can yell!” Paul taunted, his eyes dancing with sadistic delight. He released one hand from my arm and covered my mouth, stifling any potential scream. My heart raced, pounding in my chest like a drum of desperation.

Paul’s rage erupted like a volcano, and the searing pain of his slap sent me crashing onto the bed. My cheek throbbed with agony, and I instinctively placed a trembling hand over the stinging, red imprint left by his violent outburst. Tears welled up in my eyes, a mixture of pain and fear coursing through my veins.

Before I could gather my thoughts or summon the strength to respond, Paul seized my hair with an iron grip. He yanked me towards him, and my heart pounded in my chest as a sense of helplessness washed over me. Panic and anger warred within me, but I couldn’t break free from his relentless hold.

“What are you doing, Paul?” I yelled, desperation and confusion coloring my voice. I tried to pull my hand away from his grasp, but he moved swiftly, binding it with a piece of rough cord. My pulse quickened, and dread intensified with each passing second.

But Paul wasn’t finished. With a swift and unsettling calmness, he produced a handkerchief seemingly out of thin air. I watched in horror as he placed it over my mouth, muffling my cries for help. Panic welled up as my vision blurred, the world turning into a nightmarish haze.

My mind raced, trying to make sense of the terrifying situation. How had we reached this point? The Paul I had known had displayed violence, but it was too much. What had changed him into this monster?

As the fabric tightened around my mouth, my breath grew shallow and labored. Fear and desperation surged within me, propelling me into a frantic struggle. I writhed and squirmed, but Paul’s grip on my hair and my bound hand rendered my efforts futile.

I caught a glimpse of darkness in his eyes, an emptiness that sent a shiver down my spine. It was as if I were facing a stranger, a malevolent force that had taken over the man I thought I knew.

With wide eyes filled with a mixture of fear, I glanced at Paul, who seemed strangely unfazed by my frantic attempts to free myself. My kicks, despite being fueled by desperation, had no impact on him. It was as if he had become impervious to my struggle.

His grip on my hair tightened, and he leaned in close, his face contorting with an unsettling blend of bitterness and sadness. “You don’t deserve my love, you know,” he whispered, his voice dripping with venom. “You don’t want me to change, even if I’m trying to do so.”

I couldn’t comprehend the words coming out of his mouth. The man I had once loved had become a stranger, and his accusations were like a knife twisting in my heart; he had become a total monster.

With misty eyes, I gazed at Paul, my heart heavy with a sense of despair. It was as if the man I had once known had completely vanished, leaving behind a monster in his place. His words hung in the air, a chilling reminder of the darkness that had consumed him.

As soon as he spoke, he tore my dress to shreds, the fabric falling around me like tattered remnants of a life I once knew. My vulnerability was exposed, and I shivered, not just from the chill in the air, but from the sheer terror of what might come next.

Desperation surged within me, and I began kicking in the air, trying to create some distance between us. “Ummmm,” I managed to mumble through the fear and confusion, but my voice was barely a whisper, lost in the shadows of the room.

Paul, however, seemed eerily calm amidst the chaos he had created. He grabbed both of my legs and expertly tied them together, rendering me completely immobilized. Panic coursed through me, my chest heaving as I fought to catch my breath.

He leaned in very close, and my heart hammered in my chest as his fingers gently wiped away my tears. It was a jarring juxtaposition-the tenderness of his touch against the backdrop of the horrors he had unleashed.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Paul said, his voice laced with a haunting mix of remorse and anger. “But you always make me want to hurt you.”

His words sent a shiver down my spine, a chilling reminder of the madness that had taken hold of him. I couldn’t comprehend the depths of his darkness or the torment that had led him to this point.

“Mmm… mmmm,” I began sobbing, my voice muffled by the handkerchief that Paul had used to gag me. He flipped me over in bed and unbuckled my bra.

Tears streamed down my face as I struggled to call out his name. “Pa-” I managed to croak, but my voice faltered, choked by the overwhelming fear and despair that had engulfed me.

Paul, seemingly indifferent to my cries, leaned in and kissed me on the back of my neck before he started to unfasten his belt. The room was filled with a heavy, suffocating silence, broken only by the sound of my ragged breath and the ominous rustling of the belt.