Eye opener

Chapter 52 - Eye opener

Torin opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. For several seconds, he simply stared at it, unable to understand where he was. The room smelled strongly of antiseptic, and a faint mechanical beeping came from somewhere nearby. His head felt heavy, and a dull, constant pain pulsed from the back of his skull whenever he tried to move.

A sharp voice suddenly cut through the silence from his left. “TORIN! TORIN!”

Before he could turn toward the voice, a sudden weight fell across his chest. The impact made him wince, but the familiar warmth quickly told him who it was. Lenna had thrown her arms around him and was holding him tightly, as though she had been afraid she would never see him awake again.

She stayed like that for several seconds, holding him tightly, until Torin finally raised a weak hand and rested it against her back. The small movement seemed to remind her that he was awake. Lenna slowly pulled away and wiped at the corner of her eye before looking him over from head to toe, as if checking for herself that he was really alive.

Her gaze eventually settled on the bandage wrapped around the back of his head. Her expression tightened, and she reached out carefully, stopping just before her fingers touched it.

“You scared the hell out of me,” she whispered.

Torin frowned, still trying to make sense of where he was.

Lenna took a shaky breath before continuing. “I found you two days ago. You were lying on the floor in Kelly’s apartment, completely unconscious.” She paused, her eyes dropping for a moment. “You were naked, Torin. There was blood everywhere, and Kelly was nowhere to be found.”

She looked back at him, and the worry in her eyes returned.

“I thought I had lost you.” she said, her voice still trembling slightly.

Torin stared at her in confusion.

“Two days?”

Lenna nodded slowly. “Kelly is missing, Torin. And so is Tina.”

The words immediately cleared some of the fog from Torin's mind. Until then, everything had felt distant, as though he were trying to remember a dream that had happened to someone else. But the moment Lenna mentioned Kelly, the memories began forcing their way back into his mind.

Torin swallowed as the dull ache at the back of his head intensified. He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to put the memories in order. He remembered waking in the middle of the night, annoyed by the pressure in his bladder, and getting out of bed while Kelly continued sleeping beside him. He could still picture her lying there beneath the moonlight, completely unaware of what was about to happen.

“I woke up around three,” he said quietly.

Lenna pulled a chair closer to the bed and sat down. She leaned forward with her hands resting together, listening carefully.

Torin told her about going to the bathroom and returning to the bedroom. He described how he had looked at Kelly for a while before leaving the room and going into the kitchen for some water. He remembered standing there, thinking about the money and wondering how it had disappeared again. He remembered drinking from the bottle and trying to figure out where the missing money had gone when he heard something near the entrance.

“I heard a sound,” he said.

Lenna's eyes narrowed slightly. “What kind of sound?”

“I don't know. It was faint, almost like a hiss. I thought maybe I was imagining it, but then I heard it again.”

He told her how he had walked toward the front entrance with the bottle still in his hand and noticed that the door was slightly open. He remembered stopping in front of it and wondering why it had been left that way. He had taken only two steps toward it when something struck the back of his head.

Torin's fingers slowly tightened around the blanket as the memory returned.

“I felt the blood before I even understood what happened,” he said. “I touched the back of my head, looked at my hand, and it was covered in blood. Then my legs gave out.”

Lenna glanced at the bandage around his head, but she said nothing.

Torin continued. He told her about falling to the floor, the bottle slipping from his hand, and the water spreading across the tiles. He described the ringing in his ears and the way his vision had begun to fade. Then he told her about the first pair of feet he had seen.

“There was a woman,” he said. “She was wearing pajamas. She was standing near the door and calling for someone to hurry.”

Lenna listened without moving.

“Then another person came in.”

Torin paused.

His eyes shifted toward the floor.

“It was Kelly.”

Lenna's expression tightened.

“She was covered with a bedsheet, and her mouth was gagged. Someone was holding her from behind. She was struggling, trying to get away, but the man lifted her up and carried her toward the door.”

Torin's voice became quieter as he continued.

“She saw me.”

Lenna looked at him.

“She looked straight at me. She was trying to make a sound, but she couldn't. I tried to get up. I tried to reach her, but I couldn't move properly. I could barely keep my eyes open.”

He swallowed again.

“I just watched them take her.”

For several seconds, Lenna remained silent.

Torin could still see Kelly's eyes in his mind. That frightened look had stayed with him even after everything else had become a blur.

“The woman was, Rita,” he said after a moment. “She followed them.”

“Rita?”

Torin nodded. “I didn't know it was her at first. She slipped on the water from the bottle and fell right in front of me. I tried to see her face, but my vision was already going.”

He paused, searching through the memory.

“Then I recognized her.”

“Rita.”

Lenna leaned back slightly, her expression becoming more serious.

Torin opened his eyes fully and looked at her. “Where is she? And what was her husband's name?”

“Ron,” Lenna said after a moment. “Ron... yes.”

Torin waited for her to continue.

“They moved the day after the incident.”

Torin's brows drew together. “Moved where?”

“I don't know.”

“I checked on them,” Lenna explained. “They were already gone. They didn't even take their security deposit. They just left without saying anything.”

Torin stared at her.

Lenna nodded. “That's what I found strange too. They could have taken the deposit, but they didn't. They simply packed whatever they wanted and disappeared.”

“When?”

“The day after.”

Torin's expression hardened.

The timing was too convenient.

He looked toward the window for a moment, thinking about everything that had happened. Rita had been there that night. Kelly had been taken. Torin had been attacked. Then, before anyone could question her, Rita and Ron had vanished.

“Did you see anything unusual at their place?”

“No,” Lenna said. “Nothing that immediately stood out.”

“Nothing at all?”

Lenna shook her head. “No. Everything looked normal.”

Torin frowned.

“Did anyone see them leave?”

“I don't know. I didn't get a chance to ask everyone.”

“Then ask.”

Lenna looked at him. “Torin, what are you thinking?”

“I don't know yet.”

He carefully shifted against the pillow, but the movement caused another pulse of pain through his head. He waited for it to settle before continuing.

“I just know that Rita was there that night, and now she's gone. I don't think that's a coincidence.”

Lenna studied his face for a moment.

“And you think she was involved in Kelly's disappearance?”

Torin didn't answer immediately. He looked down at his hands, remembering Kelly's frightened eyes as she had been carried away.

“I think we need to find out.”

Lenna nodded slowly.

"And Mo.."

Before Torin could say anything more, the hospital room door opened.

Both of them turned toward it.

A woman stepped inside carrying a bouquet of flowers. The moment she saw Torin sitting awake in the bed, her face brightened with visible relief. She hurried toward him, clutching the bouquet tightly in her hands as though she had been carrying it there solely for the moment he opened his eyes.

“Oh, Torin, my boy.”

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