Chapter Three

"....Your heart was proud because of your beauty, you corrupted your beauty for the sake of your splendor..."

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Groaning, William sat up. It was Friday, the last workday of the week. It wasn't like he had anything to do or had anyone to spend it with but he enjoyed it nonetheless.

He saw the Bible on the bed. It'd been a present from her. The only thing he had of her that proved she'd existed.

He at least knew she'd been God-fearing.

Rubbing his face, he got out of bed.

Even without his glasses, he could see better than he had last night.

He got his clothes out of his closet and massaged his temple.

The pain there was steadily increasing.

He sighed.

He would have to visit the hospital soon.

He didn't know why it started, all he knew was that it had and with it, the flashes of a woman he could barely remember.

His family knew nothing about her.

So, for the past four years, he's been chasing after a ghost or the ghost had been chasing after him if he was being honest.

He remembered nothing.

All his family had told him was that a day came when the headaches started suddenly.

It was so bad that they had to admit him to the hospital where he was told he had a tumor growing in his brain.

And it'd been growing near his brain stem all this time.

It was successfully operated but with it came some unforeseen side effects like memory loss and persistent migraines.

He laid his work clothes on the bed and got into the bathroom. He stripped off his pajamas and entered the shower. He let the cold shower run down his body.

Will stared at the reflection of himself in the glass wall.

His startling blue eyes stared back at him, framed by thick dark curls.

He could only remember the basics; his family, where he grew up, university, his first job.

The four months preceding his employment in Monosoft was a complete blank.

Will exhaled.

It was frustrating knowing nothing. The only choice he had was to take the word of those he knew best for it.

He had to rely on others for information he was supposed to know.

He closed his eyes.

Suddenly a loud ringing started in his head. He groaned at the suddenness, holding his hands to his ears.

He gritted his teeth. The pain was grating.

Something moved in the corner of his eyes in the shower—

In fright he jumped, sticking to one end of the shower.

Will looked around him—nobody was there.

'What the heck?'

What was going on?

Goosebumps rose his arms. He tried regulating his breathing.

Suddenly, he felt a warm breath blow on his cheek.

Will froze, blue eyes wide.

It was beside him.

He knew that someone or something was in the shower with him but he could see no one.

'I'm I going crazy?'

He could have sworn he heard a giggle before the ominous feeling left completely.

In frustration, he punched the glass in front of him.

He was losing his mind.

'William...' His eyes widened some more.

It was her again, the woman he couldn't remember.

It was different from the patronizing giggle he'd heard prior.

"Why won't you tell me your name?"

He breathed harshly, looking at the fragments of himself from the broken mirror.

"Why won't you tell me what happened to you?"

He was afraid. Did he do something to this woman?

Had he done something so inhumane that his mind had decided to make him forget, to preserve his sanity?

The droplets falling down his body cascaded around his feet and with it the colour of blood.

{¶{¶{¶{¶}

Will tapped his feet nervously against the tiled floor.

He was deep in thought.

'She had brown hair and the most beautiful smile.'

"What happened to you?" He whispered.

"Huh?" A female voice replied next to him.

Will broke out of his train of thought and sat up.

He'd said that out loud. He'd completely zoned out.

Will looked up and his heart skipped a beat.

He gulped. It was Hope and she was very close.

"Um, nothing. It was nothing." he stuttered.

Hope's curious eyes stared back at his and Will didn't know what to feel.

But out of nowhere, a sudden burst of confidence came over him and he boldly met her honey brown eyes.

Then she blushed, she blushed!

Hope cleared her throat sheepishly and was about leaving the office when his voice stopped her.

"Wait..." he said; both of their eyes were wide as if neither had been expecting him to speak.

"Hope," Will whispered.

Hope could feel her heart beating wildly in her chest.

Even as she stared at him looking so nervous and yet so determined, she couldn't help but admit that he looked incredibly handsome.

He pulled off the ruggedly-handsome-but-cute look so well.

She doubted he knew how handsome he was, that he was turning heads and it wasn't just hers.

The way he said her name made her heart stutter—it sounded so sweet like honey coming from his mouth and her heart couldn't just find a consistent tempo.

Will's eyes were doing inexplainable things to her.

She gulped.

He got nervous again and shoved his hands into his pockets barely making eye contact.

"Do you want to eat lunch together?" Will asked finally meeting her eye for the second time.

He smiled holding her gaze.

William became afraid she'd say no because she froze up and didn't say anything.

Hope opened her mouth to answer but she was cut off—

"Miss Roosevelt." Will saw her eyes widen as Mr. Bennett came into the office.

Hope closed her eyes as if she'd been caught doing what she shouldn't.

Mr. Bennett walked over to where they were.

"I thought I asked you to get my files, Miss Roosevelt, where are they?" The CEO asked quietly.

Will watched Hope tense up as Mr. Bennett placed a hand on her shoulder.

"You kept me waiting." the CEO added.

"I'm sorry sir." Hope eeped, quickly grabbing the file from Will's desk and turning around.

Even as she left, Mr. Bennett locked eyes with Will and just stared at him.

It hadn't sat well with Will that he'd touched her like that or the tenseness that overtook her when he had.

Will also didn't like the feeling of jealousy that bubbled up inside of him. It felt foreign.

There was also a strange feeling of protectiveness.

Mr. Bennett's hair was done in a perfect quiff and Will thought he saw something in his eyes but whatever it was it was gone before he could figure it out.

Will gave up and looked away.

'This man...'

Knowing he'd won, Mr. Bennett went back to his office without a word, leaving Will to wonder how it had been possible to see his pupil darken so much before it returned to normal.

He was intimidating without a doubt.

The air suddenly felt choking and his headaches increased tenfold.

Will slumped back into his chair.

He glanced up at the door they'd just gone in.

Something was definitely fishy.

Soon work was over. Thank God it was the weekend. He needed the rest.

Will gathered his worksheets and started packing.

He kissed his mother's picture like he always did and grabbed his shoulder bag.

He tucked his hands in his pocket and headed out.

He got on the elevator and sighed. It'd been a long day.

'William...'

He tensed up again, eyes wide.

Why won't you leave me alone?

With beads of sweat on his temple, his eyes darted around just as the elevator door came to a close.

Will started tapping his feet against the floor as his nerves took over.

'Will...'

"Stop." he groaned closing his eyes.

'William...'

"I said, stop!" he yelled as the elevator dinged open again. His eyes widened in time to see the first passenger on the elevator other than himself, saunter into the compartment.

Three other people entered with him and Will let out a breath.

The voice disappeared for the meantime and in its place came the overwhelming headaches.

This time it was relentless.

Will came out of the elevator holding his head. He checked himself out at the lobby and began making his way towards the exit.

"Will." Will stopped, eyes wide.

The voice was real.

'Was it her? Here? She was alive?'

Will heard the footsteps drawing closer behind him. He turned around.

"Hope." he breathed.

Her eyes were filled with concern. He must be out of it to have mistaken her for someone else.

Her mouth was moving but he couldn't hear a thing.

Her nose was small but just right for her face. He loved everything about her.

And her lips...

Will gulped. He quickly looked back up into his eyes.

"William, William, can you hear me?"

Will felt her hand on his forehead and at the contact, his heart nearly had an attack.

"Oh my God, you're burning up."

He felt her move to his side to support him. He was already hunching over from the pain.

They both crossed the threshold out of the building and walked towards the traffic.

Hope quickly hailed a taxi.

The yellow contraption stopped in front of them and Will hesitated.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm taking you home." She said in a 'duh' tone.

Without any more questions, he got into the cab.

"Thank you for calling the cab Hope but you don't have to go through the trouble," Will said quietly.

Hope rolled her eyes, "I want to go through the trouble. Now, will you sit back and shut up?"

"Yes ma'am," he replied.

Hope frowned slightly seeing him groan again.

"Please could you take us to the hospital instead?" she asked the taxi driver sweetly. The driver tipped his hat and turned on the ignition.

"How long have you been getting your headaches?" Hope asked but he didn't seem to have heard her.

Will's eyes were barely opened now.

"What are you doing?" he mumbled.

He vaguely felt a hand on his shoulder.

Hope face came into his blurry line of vision and he tried reaching out for her.

Her mouth was moving but he could hear nothing.

His hand came in contact with her cheek—it was wet.

'Why was she crying?'

He was hearing two voices, one of Hope and one of the women he'd forgotten.

'Will...'

"William, can you hear me?"

'William, no!'

"Come on. Stay with me, wake up!"

He was floating, suspended in the air, nothing for miles. He was in limbo, or at least he thought he was. Soon he passed out and everything went dark.

"William." he opened his eyes and found himself on his feet in a wide expanse of land with a cloudless sky.

A man was in front of him, but there was something odd about him, he didn't speak just stared.

He had no distinct features, he wasn't even human; his eyes were too big for his skull, his arms were stringly like that of a spider, and his smile—if it could be called that— was taunting, demeaning, like it knew something he didn't.

And oddly, Will felt like he'd seen the creature before, almost like he knew it.

"What are you?" the words left his lips before he could stop them.

The creature didn't speak just stared at him curiously.

Then the creature suddenly stopped paying attention to him and turned to its left, pointed to the horizon.

'He's coming for what's his.'

The words were communicated to his subconsciousness and he nearly lost it. It was a quiet shriek.

His voice sounded exactly like how he'd imagined it to be—scratchy and prickly.

He whispered.

Will turned his head to see what the creature was pointing at, but before he could see what it was, everything went dark.

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