Page 45 of Obsession (Dark Revenge)
She focused on me again, clearly expecting a response, but I still couldn’t muster a single sentence. My mind remained blank, and so she spoke again, “That other girl was just a slip-up at another party I didn’t attend. I overheard her in the bathroom, telling her friends they had slept together and how she wanted to steal Kyle for herself because of the great sex they could have. She even claimed that I didn’t deserve the way he pleased me. It filled me with rage because his touch was never welcome with me. I loathed every moment of it, but I had to put on a façade, accepting that this was how it was. He never forced me again, but I don’t think I ever truly desired any of the other encounters to happen either. I just... endured it. It’s incredible how you can deceive even yourself into believing that things are perfect, as long as you repeat it enough. I shouldn’t have hit her, but it felt… it felt like no one heard me. They didn’t hear my screams, so maybe they would hear me if I lost control. Perhaps they would finally notice something was wrong if I let the mask slip for just a moment. Instead, it all got twisted around. Suddenly, I was the one perceived as protecting Kyle from a horrific act. Maybe… Maybe in a way I was, but it was me he hurt. It was me he took from.”
The more she continued to speak, the more my perception of Alison shattered. I believed I had a firm grasp on who she was, but her confession had caught me completely off guard. I never anticipated that she would reveal such a deep secret voluntarily. I had always assumed it would require coercion. Yet, I was wholly unprepared for the revelation.
Finally, I witnessed genuine anguish in her tears. It was the shattered version of Alison I had secretly desired, but the satisfaction I expected never materialized. I had hoped to see her cry as a consequence of her crimes, to witness the same tears she had once forced from me. However, what accompanied those tears was not what I had anticipated.
"Say something," she implored in a hushed tone.
But what words could I possibly summon? This was not the Alison I had known. Where was the demon queen, the monster that had once filled me with fear? Before me stood a broken girl, screaming as loudly as I had in our youth, yet it seemed as though no one could hear us.
"Please, say something," she pleaded, mimicking my earlier gesture, throwing the cue aside, and drawing closer. "Anything! Just say something!"
She approached me, appearing ready to engage in a battle to escape the evident pain she was enduring. This abrupt shift jolted me out of my daze. Stepping forward, I met her gaze head-on before gently placing my hands on her cheeks, causing her to gasp in surprise.
"Why?" I whispered, my voice filled with confusion and curiosity.
“Why what?”
“Why would you tell me this?” I asked, my voice trembling slightly.
“What would you do with it? It’s useless to you,” she taunted, her cheeks streaked with tears and a smile tainted with pain on her lips. “You can’t use it!”
“You don’t understand,” I groaned.
“What?”
“You shouldn’t look like me,” I whispered.
“What?” she repeated.
“You’re not me, Alison. You’re not supposed to remind me of myself. You’re not supposed to have flaws. You’re a dangerous beauty, but you have it all. There are no cracks, so why are you so broken? There shouldn’t be any connections drawn between us because we are not born into the same world. You had it all. You were always perfect, far above me, and yet you’re so shattered.”
“Why do you think it’s called a mask?” she asked. “It’s not because I have nothing to hide that I wear it. I am shattered. I don’t even know any longer why I keep trying to glue it all together. It’s not going to mend anything. It’s quick fixes that don’t last, but it doesn’t take away the pain. I just don’t want anyone to see it.”
“I see it,” I whispered.
She gave me a small smile. “I see yours too. But I wanted to see it, because I didn’t want to drown by myself.”
“Alison…”
“I can’t change what I did. So do your worst,” she urged. “It won’t make up for anything, but at least it might give you some peace of mind. Just know that when I go home, it doesn’t stop. The show continues and so does the pain. So it seems like you might have won after all. You just didn’t know that you never needed a contract for it.”
“Stop…” I pleaded, not wanting to listen any longer. This wasn’t where I thought our game would take us. It wasn’t meant to bring forth such deep-seated secrets, binding us to each other in ways we were never meant to be bound. That contract was supposed to be the sole tie between us, along with the cuffs in the bedroom. Never this. Never secrets so profound they were never meant to surface, for they would change everything.
“What? I thought you wanted me to admit defeat.”
“You don’t admit defeat,” I snarled, sliding my hand into her hair and pulling, watching her smile grow.
“Only you would know, right?”
“Exactly. Our games aren’t over, Alison. This changes nothing.”
“Good,” she replied, tears still running down her cheeks, yet she refused to let her smile falter, and that was what I admired about her. Even now when I was telling her I did not care for her pain, that no matter what she had been through, it wouldn’terase the torment she put me through. I would still make her crumble before me, so every little piece of her was so shattered that she wouldn’t know how to glue anything back together again.
“I will not feel sorry for you, and this won’t make me go any easier on you.”
“Is that what you think I want?” she whispered.
“You’re the best manipulator there is. I’m not afraid to admit that I almost admire your abilities. They always kept you safe from harm.”
