The Beautiful Monster

Alyssa finally found the motivation that she needed to go back to her old place and go through the aftermath.

Elias was at work, and she didn\'t feel like lingering around the penthouse by herself. If she wasn\'t going to go to work, she needed to make herself useful in some way.

If she just stayed at the penthouse, she would keep thinking about Stella and how her life kept going downhill.

Once she reached her apartment, she unlocked the door, which she didn\'t even know why she locked it in the first place.

Obviously, if someone wanted to get into her apartment, they would be able to find a way in, whether the door was locked or not.

She shut her door behind her and locked it before facing the mess that was once her apartment.

It looked like a bear ripped everything apart. A lot of things weren\'t even worth saving, so she would have to toss a lot of her stuff, which she wasn\'t happy about.

This was a lot of money wasted, but at least her apartment was torn apart instead of her. She supposed that things could\'ve been worse.

She ventured into the living room, staring down at the ripped-up sofa with a sigh.

She knew that all of this was supposed to send her a message, but she didn\'t even understand the message that they left for her.

She felt lost, like she was wandering through a minefield. At any second, her life could blow up.

She sank down to the floor, looking around at all of the destruction. She didn\'t even know where to start.

Everything was ruined. She didn\'t know how her neighbors didn\'t hear all of this happening. She wished that they would\'ve called someone to come check her apartment out, but the attacker got away with what they did.

They would keep getting away with things until Alyssa could figure out who they were.

She needed to get a handle on her life because she was tired of letting it spiral out of control.

She knew that she only had so much control over her life because life was chaotic, but she could figure out a way to have control over this issue.

She needed to do something risky if she wanted to draw the attacker out again.

Alyssa knew that dangling herself like bait was stupid and reckless, but what other choice did she have?

Steadily, her life was being torn to pieces, and she didn\'t have much left to her name. Her apartment was in shambles. She had to temporarily step away from her job. What was next?

She didn\'t want to find out, which meant that she had to do something before something else happened that side-swiped her.

She couldn\'t afford it right now. Plus, she had Elias by her side, so she needed to make use of him.

She knew that he would help her with whatever she needed, even if it was a little crazy. Maybe they needed to fight crazy with crazy.

Alyssa pulled her phone out of her back pocket of her jeans and called Elias, listening to the phone ring a few times until he picked up.

"When are you going to be home tonight?" she asked him, skipping right past the greeting. She didn\'t mean to be rude, but she needed to get to the point.

They were running out of time. She could feel it in her bones, and she refused to not listen to her gut feeling. It would be foolish of her to ignore it.

"Oh, hello. Probably around six. Why?" Elias asked her, sounding surprised and confused at the same time. She rarely called him when he was at work.

"We need to sit down and talk," Alyssa told him. She sounded as serious as she felt about this. She wasn\'t talking about chatting while they ate dinner.

She needed to have a business-like conversation with him about their next move because they needed to figure out something fast.

"Is everything okay? Did something happen?" Elias asked her, starting to sound worried by her words.

"Not yet, but I just have this bad feeling," Alyssa sighed. She hadn\'t mentioned it to him yet, but she figured that now was a good time.

A dark feeling lingered in all throughout her body, whether it was in the pit of her stomach or in the back of her head.

Her attacker was probably going to make a move soon, so she needed to beat them to the punch somehow.

"What do you mean?" Elias questioned her.

"Don\'t you ever have bad feelings that you can\'t explain?" Alyssa asked him. Everyone had good and bad feelings.

"Yeah. It just makes me nervous when you say that considering our situation," Elias sighed over the phone.

Alyssa didn\'t feel all that much at ease either. She would be paranoid just leaving her apartment to go back to his place, and she knew that her fear would eventually come true. She would be stopped by her attacker.

"That\'s why we need to talk. We have to figure out what to do next because just waiting around is killing me," she said as her eyes swept around her apartment.

She didn\'t even care about her apartment anymore or about any of the things in it. The important things were ruined, and she got her important papers and clothes.

The rest could be replaced, and she didn\'t want any reminders of this horrid time in her life.

"Yeah, okay. I\'ll see about getting off early today. Are you at the loft?" Elias asked her.

"I\'m actually at my place," she told him, already knowing how he was going to react to that.

"By yourself? You should\'ve waited for me, Alyssa. You don\'t need to be out and about by yourself," Elias told her.

It was nice that he cared, but she couldn\'t always revolve her life around him. If she had to take some risks to get things done, then she was going to do that.

She couldn\'t completely put her life on hold. That just didn\'t work.

"I know. I\'m about to head back to your place," she sighed, not wanting to linger around here any longer. There was nothing here for her.

"Alright. Text me when you leave and when you arrive," Elias told her.

Alyssa smirked slightly as she shook her head. She already did that whenever she left his loft, even if it was to just walk to a coffee shop down the street from his place.

"Okay, mother hen," she replied. He was just as paranoid as she was, but she supposed that was for the best. If they looked out for each other so closely, then nothing could sneak up on them.

"Be careful," Elias told her sternly.

Alyssa promised him that she would before bidding him goodbye and hanging up the phone.

She sighed as she pushed herself to her feet, standing in the middle of what used to be a place that she felt comfortable and safe at.

Now, it was a reminder of the horrors going on in her life.. She was ready to get past this chapter, and that called for a sacrifice.