Chapter 118

Chapter 118
....
WARREN'S POV

My name is Warren Creed, I'm 25.

One year ago, I made a fatal mistake which left lifelong scars on the core of my fuckin soul.

She's Ixora Rhodes, my nemesis.

Her testimony broke my humanity, shattered my sanity, and thorned my heart, so I set out for the cruellest revenge plan.

I planted myself too deep into her unforgettable memories, framed her for murder and sent her to jail.

Unable to take it, she committed suicide.

Eventually, the truth came out that she wasn't in her right senses when she testified against me.

She was actually under a strong hypnosis induced by the woman who raised me like her own son.

But what now? It's too late.

Too fuckin late.

She's dead, and I felt my fucked up life shrinking to nuts in front of me.

As I watched her lifeless body dangle from her suicide rope on the prison room ceiling, I fell on my knees in despair, ready to scream myself to death, but then...

There's a mix up somewhere, cos the body dangling from the rope isn't her.

It isn't Ixora—it's someone else.

So...

Where is she?

Where is Ixora?

.....

\[California, Stonia's Mansion\]

Rafael is in the kitchen, surrounded by maids as he made tea and honey cookies by himself.

The pitiful looks on the eyes of the maids was obvious as they stole glances at him.

It's been a year since Ixora went missing from her prison room, but Rafael looks so different already.

He looks much older than he looked last year, and that's because he left his beards unsaved, and his hair unkept.

He obviously hasn't been feeding well cos he lost pounds of flesh and a lot of weight.

The sadness in his eyes was rotating with the tea as he stirred it, and after he was satisfied that it's enough, he took it upstairs to Stonia's room.

Stonia is worse than him. She fell in coma for two months straight, and when she woke up, she fell sick, and she hasn't been able to get up from her bed since then.

Every prison guard on duty that day were jailed by the government, but that didn't bring Ixora back.

Their hope kept thinning everyday, and Stonia is obviously dying.

Rafael set down the teacup and biscuits beside the bed of the crazy-looking woman, and she looked up, her eyes hot and yellow.

"You should eat and take your drugs. If you don't want honey cookies, then I can make you cream puffs" Rafael said, and she stretched up her hand to hold his arm.

"Where is... she? Where is my daughter? Another school year is resuming in ILC today, she should resume with her mates" she said shakily.

Rafael sat beside her and held her shoulders.

"I'm sorry, sorry I couldn't save our daughter" he muttered, and she began crying as he began feeding her the tea in a spoon.

"Serena has refused to come back from Serbia, I've called her repeatedly, but she wouldn't" he said as he fed her the cookies.

"I don't care about her, I only want my daughter" Stonia sniffled, and Rafael wiped her tears before pushing her hair away from her face, then he continued feeding her.

Stonia received the snack with tears and sorrows, and though Rafael's face looks dry, but he's crying inside.

\--

\[Cali Core Prison\]

Chicago was literally pushed out of the prison gate, and her black bag fell off her shoulder in the process.

"Don't push me, dîck!" She shot at that particular guard, raising her fist at him.

"Punch me and get held back for another year. You were supposed to get released last year remember? But you had to go fight the Ixora girl." The guard sneered, and she lowered her fist before patting the guard on his shoulder.

"Take care of my father, I don't think Hawke is getting out of this place even in twenty years, man has committed too many crimes, and I'll miss torturing him. But I might come back sooner than expected, who knows? Cos if I get my hands on the runaway Ixora, then she's dead" she slanted her palm on her neck and clicked her tongue before grabbing her back from the floor.

She was bouncing on her black sneakers as she walked to the main road, using a face cap on her scissored hair.

She flagged down a cab and got in roughly. "Rehabilitation center" she told the driver, slapping the seat.

\--

\[Peace Rehab Center\]

The environment is serene as expected of a rehabilitation center, and only the sound of the flowing fountain at the back of the center could be heard.

It's soothing and therapeutic, and it's meant to to add calmness to the nerves of the patients which it's perfectly doing.

The sound of the running water filled the closest ward to the fountain, majorly because of the several open windows.

The patient inside the room is standing beside the window, staring out at nature with his hands in pocket.

Warren Creed.

He didn't change except for his hair that's now dyed blonde.

Eyes still cold and half-blind.

Posture still straight and tall.

Chest still desolate and empty.

He has been here since a year ago after the shit went down at the core prison, and since then, he has been reliving that day over and over again.

—A Yr Ago, Core Prison—

Warren had rushed down to the prison after Elder Creed confirmed that Matron's pendulum is a hypnotist's, and as an anomaly that he is, he broke his way into the prison grounds.

The guards went hit on his heels with guns, threatening to shoot him, but he didn't stop running.

Rafael who has been waiting for the guard to bring Ixora used the opportunity to enter the prison grounds too, going after Warren.

They both got chased by the cops, but they kept running like thieves, and as if the other inmates already know who they're here for, they pointed at Ixora's prison room door, and they got there to meet the guard standing in front of it, staring at the body dangling from the ceiling.

The cake fell from Rafael, and he held the door so he won't fall.

"Ixora?" He grunted like his voice is hooked.

Warren fell to his weak knees, ready to shriek, but then he noticed something — her neck.

The dark mark he left there isn't there, so he stood and entered the smelly room very well, then he saw it's a different person.

It's another female inmate, not Ixora.