Bound by Darkness

Chapter 1 The Hunter in the Shadows

Vincent was able to navigate the night with such ease because of his long time experience, always in the dark, and the city caused his clothing to flawlessly blend into the shadows. The street noise of cars and the distant sirens made a symphony that made the city false to the sense of being safe. His mind was a maze of schemes and strict cold thoughts. This particular night, he was going hunting.

His eyes, like the ones of an angel, found Lily, a noble and kind-hearted worker of God who looked like she was personally glowing. For everyone named Vicki, Vincent had long since lost compassion, optimism, and fineness. He had looked at her for a while, watching her daily activities and behavior. He knew when she was leaving for work, where she liked to shop for groceries, and how she used to relax with a book at the park. She was the best match, the final piece in his crazy puzzle.

From the beginning of his career, Vincent has always been scrupulous in his work. Each of his victims had been cherry-picked, and hence, they could seamlessly integrate into the story he had built in his head. Every single one was somebody who reminded him of a past memory of someone who had hurt him or made him feel hurt. He thought that by killing them, he was taking charge of his life and altering the suffering story of his life.

Lily was different from the others. The only motivation for Vincent was that she was a kind and pure soul, unlike the others he had targeted because she was torchbearer in the darkness that Vincent was carrying. Her existence was a constant obsession with the things he could never want and those he already lost.

Vincent was a real example of a life that was a patchwork of trauma and negligence. His early life was spotty because it transitioned between foster homes and brutal guardians. He had lost the will to live, and by the time he was a teenager, he had already been drawn into cruelty and crime. His experience of a traumatic event was so severe that it left him mentally and emotionally incapacitated and thus led to him spiraling down into darkness.

He had acquired the skill to hide his true nature, fronting a mask of normalcy outside. For the most part, he was a lowly office worker, the invisible witness of the city. By night, he transformed into the predator, lurking the streets, his eyes trained on the next person he would attack. The being of two legs contributed stimuli to his inner self that gave him a chance to put out his raging emotion and made him think and feel his own inner power.

Deep-seated feelings stirred within Vincent as he watched Lily. He had been repressing those feelings for so long that their sudden appearance shocked him. It was an instinctive reaction that couldn’t be named exactly, a curious bonding of interest and emotion. He pushed aside the feelings and concentrated on the task at hand. Tonight, he would make his move.

Lily’s day was unaltered by the events, as it always was before. She spent most of her morning at the community center where her help was wanted and where her smile turned on people's day. There was no pretense with her; compassion and kindness came from the deepest part of her and it was as if she possessed an ever-renewing eternal energy for patience and empathy. Vincent saw all of it from the sidelines and the mysterious marvel that she was became even greater every moment that passed by.

Lily also went to the park in the evening as it was her place to unwind. She was seated on a bench, reading, a color effect of the sun cast on her by the sunset. Vincent looked at her from the dark place, and inside him, there was a tornado of opposing emotions. Although Vincent was certain he had to do something, he hesitated.

Vincent moved quickly and quietly towards Lily through the fresh and chilling night air. She walked home from the library, and her small silhouette was surrounded by the arms that were holding the books. Abruptly, he held her, a handkerchief, and chloroform blocking her mouth as she started shouting. Giving in to his power, her whole frame hung next to him, and he took her to his parked van.

On waking from sleep, Lily discovered herself in a small, windowless room. As she tried to break her bonds, the sensations of fear and confusion in her wild mind raced, she felt panic overwhelm her. The door screeched open, and Vincent walked in. His eyes were empty yet there was still a glimmer of something else – something like a human life in them.

Lily’s survival instinct came into action. She understood that she had to keep calm and try to communicate with her captor. “Why are you doing this?” she questioned, her voice trembling with fear.

Vincent was not in a condition to speak, and he would not have done so anyway. For the first time, he felt a doubt in his mind. This wasn’t part of the plan. He was the predator and she the prey. However, by looking into her eyes, he sensed a wavering in his resolution.

Vincent sat in the room, watching Lily. The longer the night lasted, she stopped moving and went on sitting quietly. “What’s your name?” she asked it in a whispered voice.

Vincent slowed down before speaking. He never shared any of his personal information with the victims that he had been with before. It was something he made as a rule, a way to feel superior. But Lily had for some reason let him break that rule. “I am Vincent, then,” he told reluctantly.

“Vincent,” Lily spoke in a mild voice. “Why are you doing this, Vincent?”

He didn’t answer at once. What could he say about the sorrow and the pain that forced him to perform these things? “You would never be able to understand,” he said at last.

“I am a different case,” Lily shot back. There was no fear in her voice, only curiosity and a strange sense of empathy.

He wanted to tell her that he liked her, but he couldn’t speak as fast as his mind was. He desired nothing more than to describe the pain of loneliness he bore every single day, and though he had the urge to do so, he knew that all release would be irreversible. There was no loud crash or anything, just him snapping back to his feet and marching out of the room. He also ensured that the door was properly lo cked.

Vincent was now calmer in his temporarily living area, and sitting on his bed, he clasped his head in his hands. What was going on in his life and mind? What made him so different between him and Lily? He thought she was just one of the many he was about to witness then she would become a tool in his hand; nowadays, she appears to have been elevated into a new category.

Vincent was so full of excitement that he was unyielding to the idea of sleeping. He would always cease to remember that at that time he imagined Lily so comfortable and interesting while going through his thought. He figured that he could not keep her away like this indefinitely. The weights were beginning to gather on his shoulders.

This morning he went to the kitchen to get some food for Lily. She kissed him, with her sight never leaving his face and ending with a whispered ‘thank you’. “You are different from what I have in my new mindset (about you),” she plans after a while.

He gave a suspicious look. “Thought I could be what?”

“I don’t know, I thought you might be different from how I saw you,” Lily acknowledged. “You are a good-hearted person, Vincent. It is so amazing to see that.”

Her words struck him sideways, like a jab to the stomach. Could it be? Could there still be a part of him that is not completely submerged in darkness? He couldn’t answer that. All he knew was that Lily was changing his vision of who he was. She made him question even his existence.

The more time progressed, the more he found himself inexplicably attracted to Lily. A young lady who was not merely a prey; somebody who broke the dead silence of a person he didn’t realize he was. He started giving her some lines of his former life, the sufferness and the posts he made of himself.

She had the ability to absorb as much information through her eyes and heart that she could and listened to him without judgment. She made an effort to get Vincent to understand that he should not be trapped in the past that he had the power to rewrite his history. There were her words were imprinted in his mind the moment a little glint of optimism asking could it be that he changes came into his mind.

Still, there was a strong dark force in him, and he felt it would be a real battle that could cost him a lot to get rid of it. It is all he has known for as long as he can remember. To let go of that, he had to bear the consequences of the demons that led him to his current state.

Once, when the night was dark, the spirits were quiet, and Vincent was sitting next to Lily, she went forward and took his hand into hers. “You don’t have to do this,” she said in a low voice. “You can choose a different path.”

He saw the sincerity and sympathy in her and for the first time in a very long time, he was happy. It is true; he could change. He could be saved, too.

He was not willing to be helped, however. He knew that the way of redemption was with great challenges. The first step would be that he accepted the fact there was a darkness residing in him, and then, he could get the energy to battle against it. Having Lily with him, he was able to see a faint ray of hope despite realizing that the journey in the future might be long and tough.