Rita

Chapter 51 - Rita

It was three in the morning when Torin finally woke, the dull pressure in his bladder having become impossible to ignore. For several seconds, he remained still beneath the blanket, hoping the discomfort would somehow disappear if he ignored it. Instead, it only grew worse, accompanied by an uncomfortable tightness in his lower body that made sleep impossible.

With a quiet sigh, he pushed the blanket aside and sat up. The room was dark except for the pale moonlight slipping through the curtains, which cast faint silver patterns across the floor and the bed. Beside him, Kelly remained asleep, her breathing slow and steady. Torin glanced at her before getting up, careful not to disturb her.

The floor felt cold beneath his bare feet as he hurried toward the bathroom. He lifted the commode lid and finally allowed himself to relax. The relief came almost instantly, and a satisfied groan escaped him before he could stop it. He remained there for a moment, enjoying the simple comfort of having relieved himself after holding it for so long.

When he returned to the bedroom, Kelly had not moved. Her cheek rose gently with each breath and sank again against the pillow, her face peaceful in the dim light. Torin stood near the doorway and watched her for a while, his eyes slowly traveling over her sleeping form. The blanket had slipped down during the night, leaving parts of her bare skin exposed to the moonlight, which made her seem almost unreal in the stillness of the room.

His thoughts, however, were far from peaceful.

The money was gone.

Again.

Torin's expression tightened. The first time, he had thought it was a simple theft. But now it had happened again, and that changed everything. If someone had stolen the money a second time, then there might be someone else behind it.

He needed to be careful. There had to be a trail somewhere—a transaction, a message, a name, anything that could lead him to whoever was behind it.

His gaze returned to Kelly.

What would she do now that the money was gone?

He didn't know. Whatever plans she had made, whatever security she had felt from having that money, all of it could disappear with it. Torin wondered how she would react when she fully understood what had happened. He remained there for another moment before deciding that thinking about it in the middle of the night would accomplish nothing.

He quietly left the bedroom and walked into the kitchen.

The apartment felt strangely different at that hour. During the day, there were always sounds in the background—traffic outside, voices, footsteps, appliances humming—but at three in the morning, every small noise seemed to stand on its own. Even his footsteps against the floor seemed louder than they should have been.

Torin opened the refrigerator and took out a bottle of water. He twisted the cap open and drank deeply, swallowing several mouthfuls in quick succession. The cold water eased the dryness in his throat, and he lowered the bottle with a slow breath.

Then a faint sound reached his ears.

It was a strange hissing noise, so quiet that he almost dismissed it as the sound of the wind moving through the house. Torin's head turned toward the front of the house, and he stood still, listening.

For several seconds, there was nothing.

Then he heard it again.

A faint hiss, followed by the subtle sound of something moving quickly through the quiet air.

His grip tightened around the water bottle.

Torin slowly stepped out of the kitchen and looked toward the front entrance. The hallway was dark, and the weak moonlight coming through the windows barely illuminated the floor ahead of him. He took another step, his attention fixed on the door.

That was when he noticed it.

The front door was slightly open.

Torin stopped.

He stared at the narrow gap between the door and its frame, trying to remember whether he had left it that way. He was almost certain he had closed it. The thought made the hairs on the back of his neck rise.

He moved forward cautiously, still holding the open bottle in his hand. His eyes remained fixed on the door as he crossed the remaining distance. He had taken only two steps when something suddenly struck the back of his head.

A sharp burst of pain tore through his skull.

Torin staggered forward, nearly dropping the bottle as his hand immediately flew to the back of his head. His fingers touched something wet and warm. He pulled them away and stared at his palm, unable to understand what he was seeing for a moment.

Then the red color registered.

Blood.

His blood.

His breathing became uneven as he tried to turn around and see who had attacked him, but the room spun before he could do so. The walls seemed to tilt, and his legs suddenly lost their strength. He reached toward the wall for support, but his hand found nothing.

His knees gave out.

Torin crashed onto the floor, and the bottle slipped from his hand. It struck the tiles and rolled away, spilling water across the floor. He lay there, struggling to remain conscious as the cold water slowly spread beneath his fingers.

His ears were ringing.

His vision had begun to blur.

He tried to push himself up, but his arm trembled beneath him and collapsed. He could hear movement somewhere nearby, but the sounds seemed distant, as though he were hearing them from underwater.

Then a pair of feet entered his field of vision.

A woman was standing near the entrance, wearing pajamas.

Torin tried to lift his head, but the movement sent another wave of pain through his skull. He blinked repeatedly, attempting to bring her face into focus, but everything remained hazy.

The woman looked toward the entrance and called out urgently, "Hurry, hurry."

Another pair of feet appeared behind her.

Torin's eyes shifted toward them, and what he saw made the remaining fog in his mind disappear for a moment.

Kelly.

She was being carried toward the door, covered with a bedsheet. Her mouth had been gagged, and she struggled desperately against the person holding her. A pair of hands restrained her tightly, preventing her from making more than muffled sounds.

Her eyes suddenly found Torin.

They widened.

Torin's heart lurched.

"Kelly..."

The word barely escaped his throat.

She struggled harder when she saw him, shaking her head as though trying to tell him something. The man holding her tightened his arms around her waist and lifted her completely off the floor. Her feet kicked helplessly in the air as he carried her past Torin.

Torin tried to move.

He tried to force his arms beneath him, but his body felt impossibly heavy. His fingers scraped against the wet floor while he watched Kelly being carried farther away. He wanted to shout, wanted to grab the man, wanted to do anything that might stop them, but his strength was disappearing with every passing second.

Kelly continued struggling as the man carried her toward the entrance.

Her eyes never left Torin.

Then she disappeared through the doorway.

The woman in pajamas hurried after them, but before she could reach the door, her foot landed on the water that had spilled from Torin's bottle. Her leg slipped out from under her, and she fell hard onto the floor directly in front of him.

Torin stared at her.

He tried to see her face, but his vision was fading rapidly. Her features seemed to shift in and out of focus, and the darkness around the edges of his vision was closing in.

Yet something about her was familiar.

Torin fought to keep his eyes open.

The woman's face became clearer for a brief moment, and something inside his fading mind suddenly clicked.

He knew her.

His lips moved, but no sound came out.

He tried again.

"R-R..."

The woman began pushing herself off the floor, but Torin could no longer follow her movements properly. His head felt unbearably heavy, and his vision had narrowed to a small patch of light.

He forced the name out with the last strength he had.

"Rita."

Then his eyes closed, and everything disappeared into darkness.

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