XIV 小暑 [1] / [11]
He woke up, hearing a message alert from his phone. It wasn't from Cynthia, but Violet. And there was no text. It was a video.
The video was dark, grainy and difficult to make out, but he heard Violet's voice, screaming, along with a male's voice. The voice of the man in the video laughed as Violet whimpered, saying in response,
"You should thank your boyfriend for this, sweetheart. He got you all ready for me, c'mon!"
"No, stop!"
Violet yelled, and he saw her on video briefly; naked, trying to fight off hands grabbing at her body, and forcing her onto a bed. The man pounced on her, though Alexander couldn't see her face.
"Get off me," she yelled,
"Get off! No! Ed, Ed! Where are you? Somebody, help!"
She screamed again, and Alexander could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end, his anxiety heightened, his fight or flight responses piqued.
The video cut to black.
Amidst his initial distress and heightened emotion and seeing and hearing what had just taken place on this video, a surge of lucidity managed to work it's way through to the surface of his psyche.
Why would she send this to me?
He was legitimately confused. On one hand, he couldn't discount what he saw. She was obviously attacked, on-camera, and he couldn't get what the man said in response to her cries out of his head:
"You should thank your boyfriend for this, sweetheart.”
What the hell was that about? On the other hand, he knew Violet, and the fact that she'd sent him this video made him deeply suspect. Either she was planning something sinister, or she was actually, though in a really messed up way, trying to reach out to him for help? Is that what this was? No matter how much he thought it over in his head, something was wrong here, and he needed to find out exactly what. He picked up his phone, intending to call Violet.
Almost at that same moment, his phone began to ring. He felt as if he were paralyzed. The number was familiar to him, though it came up as unlisted on the caller. It was her. Violet.
He answered the phone reluctantly, and said nothing. He heard sobbing beyond the receiver. He still remained silent. After few seconds, she spoke.
“Help me . . . I'm scared . . . ”
“Violet, is that you? What the hell is that video? Why did you send that to me?”
Alexander answered impatiently.
“Please, Alex. I have nobody. Nobody to ask for help. Please come to me . . . ”