Filed to story: My Husband Regrets Divorcing Me (Audrey & Cornell)
As Audrey entered the dressing room, the cleaning staff raised her gaze, her eyes gleaming with malice, fixating on the door Audrey disappeared through.
Later, the cleaning staff cast a furtive glance around, slipping in quickly when no one was paying attention.
It was a shared dressing room with eight separate dressing booths.
The main door was typically left ajar, relying on individuals to lock their own booths.
Now, with no one else in the other booths, Audrey was the only one inside the whole dressing room.
Suddenly, a distinctive click echoed. It was sound of the main door being locked.
“Who’s there?” Audrey’s perplexed voice came from her booth.
The cleaning staff, who was hunched over, erupted into unsettling laughter. Then, she abruptly straightened up, yanking down her mask to unveil a chilling face.
It was none other than Cecilia, who had been missing for a long time.
“Audrey, guess who I am…” Cecilia asked in a sing-song tone, her voice hoarse and dry. “Guess who I am…”
Holding a sharp dagger in her hand with a look of madness in her eyes, Cecilia strolled into the dressing room.
A hushed stillness prevailed.
Aware of a lunatic as Cecilia lurking outside her booth, Audrey held her breath, maintaining silence.
A loud bang echoed through the dressing room. Cecilia forcefully swung open the door of the first dressing booth, discovering that it was vacant.
Then, Cecilia moved to the second one, finding it also unoccupied.
After trying three booths in a row with no success, Cecilia lost her patience. “Bitch!” she shouted sharply. “Come out!”
When she received nothing but silence in response, Cecilia altered her tone to a more cautious one. “Come out. If you come out now, I’ll go easy on you, okay?”
From the moment she entered the dressing room, Cecilia kept fluctuating between shouting and speaking softly, with wild laughter sprinkled in between. She was a complete lunatic!
“Are you feeling scared? After all, you’re stuck now, right? let me tell you a secret. I put a hallucinogen in the coffee when I bumped into you. Just a sniff of it and you won’t be able to move. Don’t keep dreaming that you’ll be able to escape. No one will come and save you,” Cecilia said confidently.
Before entering the dressing room, Cecilia had placed the “Do Not Use” sign outside the door, eliminating any chances of someone coming in.
As Cecilia walked down the room, she slid the sharp dagger across the wooden boards, creating a terrifying hissing sound.
The more Audrey remained silent, the more excited Cecilia became. She felt like she was playing hide and seek.
With a cackle, Cecilia said, “I’m going to start counting down the seconds now. When I find you, for every second that passes…” Cecilia paused and giggled, as if she could barely contain her glee. “I’ll give you a new cut! If you hurry out now, you’ll suffer less.”
After saying that, Cecilia pushed open the door of the fourth booth, which also turned out to be empty.
She laughed as she counted, “Ten, eleven, twelve…”
By the time Cecilia reached the door of the sixth booth, she had counted to forty.
Once again, a loud bang resounded through the room.
But this time, the door didn’t budge. Unlike the other doors, this one was locked from the inside.
Cecilia instantly crouched down and, through the space below the door, peeked into the booth, where she saw a pair of black shoes inside.
Letting out another maniacal laugh, Cecilia swung the knife in and said, “Found you!”
The owner of the black shoes frantically moved back, startled by the knife.
Cecilia swung the knife again, but this time, she aimed at the door.
Again and again, she stabbed the door with the knife like a mad woman.
“Wait!” Audrey’s trembling voice finally came from within. “What do you want? You’re making a mistake. Do you want to go to jail?”
Once again, Cecilia let out a bone-chilling laugh. Then, she spat, “My face and my body are completely ruined! Do you think I’m afraid of going to jail?”
After a pause, Audrey’s firm voice came from inside the booth. “You had set me up first, remember? Besides, I’m not the one who ruined your face or your body. You should find the person responsible for 5, Cecilia stared at the knife marks at the door with her chin tucked toward her neck and a mad glint in her eyes. “The person responsible for my suffering is Cornell!”
Hearing this, Audrey felt a twinge of surprise. She couldn’t accept that Cornell was capable of such a thing. “Back then, Cornell didn’t completely push you into the fire, right?” she ventured.
“He left me an escape route that was worse than that,” Cecilia spat.
“I only had two choices. Either walk into the fire or go to the police station. What other choice did I have?”
Her eyes were full of resentment. Clenching her teeth, Cecilia continued, “I was an esteemed lady of Ardlens, leading a life envied by all. How could I possibly end up in jail? Even death would have been better!”
Just recalling the scene filled her with newfound fury, causing her to stab the door again. “It’s all because of you, you bitch! If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have ended up like this. Until Cornell met you, he was never so heartless toward me!”
As she spoke, Cecilia crazily stabbed the door over and over again, filling Audrey’s heart with fear.
Audrey managed to convince Cecilia, “Cecilia, didn’t you end up like this because of your own choices? You can’t blame anyone else! Having the waiter doctor my drink won’t hold you behind bars forever. Even if you turn yourself in, you won’t be sentenced for long. You were given a chance, but you chose the wrong path, allowing your face and body to be ruined. Who can you blame but yourself?”
However, Audrey’s words did not sound like consolation to Cecilia.
Rather, they hit Cecilia’s sore spots one by one, driving her further to the verge of insanity.
With hatred in her eyes, Cecilia shouted, “I blame you! It’s all your fault! My life was great before you appeared. Cornell loved and spoiled me. It’s all because of you that I lost everything!”
Cecilia stared at the door with loathing, as if she was staring right at Audrey’s face, and continued, “You have to die. You should have followed your damn grandmother and that infant to their graves!”
From the other side of the door came Audrey’s icy voice. “Cecilia, are you the one behind the deaths of my grandmother and child?”
“Do you remember now, Audrey?” Cecilia’s face contorted with madness, a twisted sneer curling her lips. “Then you ought to know your damn grandmother and your child have no place in this world!”
Cecilia’s hand slammed the door with a resounding force, filling the room with a chilling echo. “They died because of you! If you had just complied and parted ways with Cornell from the start, none of this would have happened!”
From within the dressing booth, Audrey’s voice trembled with despair as she said, “So it was you “
Cecilia’s furious pounding on the door abruptly stopped, her expression morphing into something both eerie and unsettling.
Audrey’s crying was so pleasant to her ears. It deserved to be relished to the fullest.
Audrey wept desperately, struggling to catch her breath as she stuttered, “You vile creature… You are responsible for my grandmother’s death and the loss of my child…”
Cecilia erupted into maniacal laughter. “How delightful it is to hear your cries! Cry louder, for this might be the last time you cry in your wretched existence.”
Audrey suddenly ceased crying, announcing in a trembling, yet determined voice, “I won’t cry! I won’t give you the satisfaction!”
Cecilia’s expression reverted to its sinister state as she hysterically demanded, “Cry! Cry! I want to see you kneeling before me begging for mercy!”
But Audrey remained resolute. “Keep dreaming!”
Cecilia scratched her head and violently tugged at her own hair, yanking out clumps until a bald patch formed. She cackled wildly.
“Have you forgotten how your grandmother died? Guess what? That nursing house was under my uncle’s ownership. Your grandmother’s medical records showed she was in perfect health, with years ahead of her.
I had Tessa spread rumors about you there, wanting to piss your grandmother off. I had intended to wait until your grandmother collapsed in fury before making my move. But much to my surprise, your grandmother was so considerate. She simply passed away without me lifting a finger…”
“You are insane!” Audrey yelled. Grief-stricken, she couldn’t hold back her mournful cries.
Cecilia took pleasure in Audrey’s pained cries, a twisted sense of satisfaction washing over her.
Killing Audrey without making her suffer was never Cecilia’s idea. She intended to have Audrey meet her demise consumed by pain and regret, departing with a heart full of bitterness. The mere thought had a twisted fascination gripping her.
“And your child…” Cecilia began.
“Stop it!” Audrey’s voice cracked, teetering on the edge of collapse.
“I won’t listen! Don’t… Don’t say anything else…”
How could Cecilia stop now? Anything to inflict further suffering upon Audrey, she would pursue with relentless determination.
“Your loss of the child was also my doing. Just as you had surmised, Tessa cooperated with me. She offended you and was coerced into a difficult situation by Cornell. I intervened, provided her with financial assistance for her treatment, and hinted at your presence in the same hospital. Then, I staged an abduction, fooling Cornell into believing I was in danger and rushing to my side. That was how Tessa could play her part and harm you and your damn baby.”
Audrey writhed in anguish, her voice trembling. “You staged your own kidnapping? Do you honestly think you can evade punishment after all the bad things you have done? The truth will come to light eventually. There is justice in Ardlens!”
“Who would dare to punish me?” Cecilia chuckled, disdain evident in her smile.
She grew weary of Audrey’s naive optimism, a smirk playing on her lips. “And do you know what became of the individuals I hired to stage my abduction?”
Before Audrey could respond, Cecilia continued, “They took the bag of cash and planned to flee overseas, but I had meddled with the van’s brake pads. All of them met their demise within this fucking country!”
Cecilia mimicked a throat-slitting motion.
Cecilia’s lips curled into a malevolent smile. “You are going to meet your end tonight. As you descend into the abyss, you might even cross paths with them. You can’t hold a candle to me, moron!”
After saying that, the sound of Cecilia’s departing footsteps echoed.