A little while later, I heard the door being opened, before it fell back shut.
Jude entered and came to the bed, grabbing the hem of his black turtleneck sweater and pulling it over his head with a pained grunt. His muscles were flexing beautifully; the injured panther was not losing any of its magnificence. He threw the sweater away, before crashing onto his bed, lying on his stomach, his head sideways in my direction.
The abyss spotted my hideout the next instant, dancing brilliantly as if embracing me.
"Come out, come to me." Jude whispered, but I could hear his voice strangely loud, reverberating inside me.
I pushed the chair away and crawled out, unsightly, with the gold treasures still in my hands.
Standing up, I put them on the already-cluttered desk, and turned around to walk to Jude.
The moment I had stood up, the gruesome wounds on his back had already entered my view.