Take Me Away

M City didn't see a whole lot of showers during the summer, but now the autumn rains had been endless. The torrential rain went on and poured heavily until the next morning, its sound muting everything else's.

Fiona woke up to the storm. She stifled a groan as she tried to move her stiff and sore body from under the thin quilt. Before she could, she felt a heavy arm wrap around her. Spencer was unceremoniously awakened by the ruckus, and as he opened his eyes sharply, he quickly scanned the whole room and immediately happened upon Fiona.

In a futile attempt to get out of bed quietly, she grabbed her clothes to cover herself up and tiptoed away as her legs trembled. Waking up from last night did not elicit shyness, only hatred and humiliation. "Where do you think you're going?" Spencer sat up on the bed slowly and lifted his eyes inadvertently to take in her features. Instead, he became slack-jawed as he saw the two scars running along her otherwise smooth back.

As she heard his deep, booming voice, Fiona stopped for a moment, only to remain quiet. Instead, she continued walking.

"Where did you get those scars?" he blurted out before he could restrain himself.

Fiona stopped on her tracks and reflexively turned around, trying to cover her back. She met his doubtful eyes with a sad smile. "Don't you remember asking me why I was still alive the first time we met? I almost died once. The scars, of course, were left on the day of the car accident. There you go. Satisfied?"

His eyes darkened as he stared at Fiona. Ten years ago, when he rushed to the hospital and witnessed his mother die, there had been a little girl in the next room, fighting for her life.

"Are you satisfied now, with what happened last night? Are you happy you finally took you revenge on me?" she asked him without a hint of emotion.

Spencer finally came to his senses a moment after and looked back at her mocking expression. As he stood up and lifted the quilt, he saw the bloodstain on the sheet. His heart clenched, but he wore a cold smile. "No. I need to teach you how to satisfy me more."

She took notice of the blood on the messy bed and her eyes started to sting. She turned away and clenched her fists.

In the midst of what felt like a never-ending standstill, Spencer's phone rang over the tense silence. "Hello. Grandpa, what's up?"

On the other end of the line, Wayne could hear that Spencer spoke differently from his usual harsh tone. In shock, he asked, "Did you just get up?"

"Yes."

"Where are you?"

"I'm at home." He quickly added, "In the Four Seasons Scenery."

"Where is Fiona?" Wayne couldn't help but sound surprised.

"She's beside me." He cast a glance at her.

'Beside her?' "Last night you two...?" Wayne probed.

"Yes." Having understood immediately, Wayne said happily, "Take Fiona here this noon. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Grandpa."

"Put her on the phone!"

Fiona's hand paused on the doorknob as she heard the deep voice on the other end of the line. She could feel Spencer's presence slowly creep up from behind her.

"Grandpa wants to talk to you." He handed her the phone, and as his eyes raked her whole image from top to bottom, he felt a tinge of nervousness. And so, seemingly annoyed, he excused himself and went to the bathroom.

Fiona pursed her lips as she held the phone to her ear. "Grandpa..."

"Hey, Fiona." Wayne was overjoyed but stopped himself from overreacting. "Today's the weekend. Come home and see me, all right? Take Spencer with you. I'll ask the cook to prepare a delicious meal for you both to enjoy!"

"Of course," she replied.

"Okay. By the way, remind Spencer to drive carefully. It's raining quite hard today. I'm looking forward to having lunch with you together!"

"Okay, Grandpa." After hanging up the phone, she walked back to her bedroom

As she soaked herself with warm water in the bathtub, she gingerly put her fingers over where Spencer had touched her last night.

As cold water trickled down her head, she shut her eyes, from which tears started streaming down.

Meanwhile, after Spencer finished his bath, he found himself unable to find Fiona. He went to her bedroom and was about to knock when felt his feet getting soaked. His eyebrows furrowed, and as he looked down in confusion he saw a stream slowly spilling out of the gap underneath the door.

"Fiona!" His eyes opened wide and he started to knock at the door with clenched fists. "Open the door! Fiona, can you hear me?" He was worried something might have happened to her in the bathtub.

He kept knocking on the door but heard no response. He pursed his lips and was about to kick the door open, but then he heard the lock click.

Covered with a bath towel and drenched from head to toe, Fiona stood at the door and looked up at Spencer. "What are you doing?" "What am I doing?" He pointed at the water on the floor. "Why don't you check the floor? What did you think you were doing?"

"I'll clean that up." As she was about to close the door, Spencer hurriedly shouted,

"Faster! We need to set off in time for lunch!"

"Okay." He grabbed her hand as she swiveled around.

She was hyper-aware of how much taller and bigger he was as he looked down at her. "I'm warning you, don't you dare kill yourself." "Don't worry. I'll keep myself alive until you pay for what you've done to me," Fiona replied coldly, raising her head and glaring back at him.

"That's great, then!" Spencer let go and made his way to the living room. "Either you get dressed in ten minutes, or I'll do it myself."

Bang! Fiona did not wait for him to finish talking before she shut the door.

"Damn it!" Spencer kicked the chair beside him. After it crashed, the room felt a little too quiet. He breathed in slowly and took in the sight of water, spreading on the floor. There was no sign of sunlight peeking through even in the early morning.

After ten minutes passed, the pair managed to pack up their stuff and go to the garage, driving straight ahead to the Cheng family residence.

The air inside the car felt stuffy and sticky. Fiona couldn't help but frown.

Spencer stepped on the gas and drove the car to an empty road, away from the direction of their supposed destination.

Aside from a tiny squeak,

they continued on looking down the road wordlessly until they finally stopped at a high-speed intersection. Spencer stepped hard on the brake as puddles splashed on the roadside and the tires screeched violently against the cement.

Fiona sucked in a deep breath but managed to pull herself together quickly. She propped up against the door and looked out the window.

"Do you remember where we are, Fiona?" Spencer said, looking blankly ahead.

Fiona's heart beat faster.

The rain obstructed her view, but of all people, she could recognize that road sign from miles away-River Road.

Like a virus, the decade-old nightmare started to invade her body, spreading quickly into her cold limbs and heavy chest. And yet, her mind was most affected. Her breathing became even more labored as she started to touch the temples on her head, which suddenly hurt like hell.

Bang! Bang!

"Help! A car accident!"

"Please, help! Help!"

"Hello, is this the police? There's been a car accident in River Road."