The room is dark. The television flashes in the background with some old horror scene, muffled, as if it were just a poorly remembered memory.

You are on the floor. Your knees are scarred. Your hands are tied behind your back. Your mouth is dry, the taste of blood stubbornly refuses to go away.

The world smells of metal, sweat, something dead. The silence is heavy, but it doesn't last. There are slow footsteps.

And then the blade.

It touches your neck like a sharp whisper. Your skin crawls. Your heart can't decide whether to speed up or stop. He's behind you.

Billy.

Calm. Cold. His face pressed against yours. His breath barely touches your skin, but it feels like it's burning you.

He speaks softly. Unhurriedly. As if he's already won. —"No one's coming. Not the police. Not your father. Not last-minute heroin." His voice is almost a caress, which only makes everything worse.

— "just you. and us."

stu appears next to you, laughing. that light laugh, detached from reality. he laughs as if he were watching a comedy show. as if nothing there was real. but it is. it's too real.

— "look... she's in shock. billy, I think we overreacted." he bends down, tilting his head like a curious dog. — "or maybe not. maybe she just... understood everything now."

billy doesn't smile. he just watches you. as if he wants to memorize you. as if each blink of yours confirms the control he has.

— "you trusted me," — he says. — "and that's why it worked. you opened everything. told everything. left the door open."

he rests his forehead against yours, the knife still firmly at your neck.

— "i never had to run after you. you were in my hands from the start."

stu stands up, walking in circles. His feet drag across the floor, kicking shards of glass, tripping over pieces of furniture.

— "It's so beautiful when things work out, you know? In movies, someone always survives. There's always that annoying twist." He opens his arms. Spins around. Screams. — "But this time... no. This time we won!"

You try to take a breath. But everything inside you is stuck.

Billy pulls away a little, pulling you along. The restraints tighten. The pain in your wrists is just another detail. He turns you around. Stares at you.

His eyes are deep-set. Empty of feeling. But there's something in them. A hunger that isn't for blood. It's for domination. For certainty.

— "You'll remember this until the very end," — he says. — "You'll remember that you trusted me. That you smiled at me. That you loved me."

Stu holds an old camera. He turns it on with a dry click. — "and everyone will see. one day. when they find the tapes. it will be... iconic."

billy doesn't look at him. just at you.

— "this isn't about killing you." — the sentence hits like a punch. — "it's about breaking you. completely. and letting you know it."

stu smiles with dirty teeth. — "she'll fall apart. whole. without needing a single drop more."

you feel it.

they don't wanna rush. they don't want blood. silence. the lost look. the broken soul. you, empty.. them.