When he opened the door, he fell silent. She was gone. But where. He grabbed his jacket and ran to find her. He didn't know what he was doing.
"Damn, I won't forgive myself if something happens to her". He passed many houses but saw no sign of Carol's presence. Suddenly a patrol car drove up. It stopped next to Thomas. A man in his 50s with a mustache looked at him through the lowered window. Thomas was wet from the rain.
"What are you doing out here at this time of the day, boy? Its 03:39" Thomas looked at him.
"I was just at a party" lied Thomas "at a friend's house".
"A party" the man raised his eyebrows "you know there are a lot of dangerous people out here at night".
"Yes, sir".
"I could give you a ride".
"No thanks, I'm almost home".
The patrol car turned the corner, obviously they believed what Thomas had told them, although he didn't sound very convincing, but he didn't care, he didn't want to tell the police or even his mother anything right now, he just wanted to find Carol, to bring her home and apologize if she wanted to for being rude to her for throwing her out the door. "I shouldn't have done it he blamed himself "and what if something happened to her"... Thomas walked on and on, he didn't know where he was exactly, but it was already four in the morning and he still couldn't find her.Suddenly a wave of hopelessness washed over him and he sat down on a bench in an abandoned park and listened to the sound of the rain. The rain was getting heavier and now all of Thomas's clothes were soaked with moisture, but he didn't care, he didn't think about it. It was dark outside, still dark...Thomas stood up but suddenly felt as if someone was standing behind him.
He looked around, but no one was there.
"Who's here? " he asked, and then felt someone grab him by the throat and throw him to the ground.
But then he felt the grip loosen and Thomas slowly stood up.
A man in his forties was standing in front of him, holding a knife in his hand.
"What do you want? "
"I thought you were the police. What the hell are you doing here? "
"Carol, where is she?" Thomas asked hoarsely.
"Who the hell is Carol I don't... "
In a moment, Thomas had him on the floor and the man didn't even realize it as he dropped the knife.
"What have you done with her, you bastard" Thomas shouted and punched the man in the face.
He punched him until he was exhausted and the man seemed to be unable to resist.
Then he stood up and wiped the blood on his lip, which had been cut.
"You're crazy" the man said "What do you want from me?"
The man was drunk. Thomas could smell the alcohol on his breath.
"Where is she? "
"I don't know who Carol is, you seem to be out of your mind"
Thomas looked at the man.
"I know you want to hurt her, you all want to hurt her" he repeated quietly.
The man approached Thomas, but he hastily said:
"Don't come near me or I will kill you".
Thomas walked away. His clothes were soiled and wet. He felt empty inside. "Where is she? " Thomas knew that the man hadn't done anything to Carol, he hoped so at least, but he thought something bad had happened to her.
Some car almost hit Thomas at speed, and he suddenly looked after it and shouted
"Damn it, learn to drive first".
He didn't know what he was doing, where he was going, he felt so bad that he didn't know where to go, and then he suddenly looked around.
"Help me" he heard. At first he thought he was delusional and that it was just in his head but then he heard that weak and hoarse help again. He followed the request for help and it came from an alleyway littered with different garbage and between the garbage Thomas could see her. But what he saw shocked him so much that he could hardly move his legs. But he forced himself to go over.
It was Carol, lying motionless between the piles of garbage on the wet floor, barely breathing.
Thomas ran over to her. She was lying face down. The moonlight shone on her. Thomas noticed a phone next to her but paid no attention to it.
Carol fainted, but when Thomas touched her, she opened her eyes.
Thomas couldn't say a word he seemed to be paralyzed, but he managed to calm himself and managed to get this out.
"Who did this to you, Carol, who dared?"
He cried as he noticed the traces of fresh blood all around Carol, she was dripping with it, she still had her skirt and white blouse on, though it was no longer white. Her clothes were completely wet and stained with blood and when Thomas gently turned her onto her back she grunted and he noticed three knife cuts on her stomach. Thomas knew that it was already too late that she would die in his arms, and all this because of him. He looked at her lips, which barely moved.
"Thomas... "Carol said, breathing out "I'm in a lot of pain".
"I'm sorry, it's all my fault, I'll never forgive myself for this"
Thomas was crying, his tears rolling down his face and falling on Carol's blouse. "Who did it for you?"
"It's not your fault...It was that ma..." After those words Carol was silent for who knows how long, she just lay there bleeding. He thought that it was the same man who had attacked her that day, the man who had targeted her, the maniac Willie had talked about, the man whose diary he had found in that abandoned building and who had not yet been punished by the police. But now he felt so powerless, so weak. He was still crying holding Carol's dead body in his arms, which was slowly turning stiff and deadly blue.This body, which had been so alive and inviting a couple of hours ago, had now just turned into something inexplicably heavy with no signs of life and it was so wet from the rain.Thomas pulled off his jacket, leaving him in the sweater his mother had given him, and wrapped it around Carol.
"This is all because of me, what an idiot I was to kick Carol out of the house knowing that there was a maniac waiting for her, but damn it, he was there, how could he have gotten here or had he been following us all along."
Thomas picked up the body and carried it all the way home before it was light outside.Thomas knelt by her body which he placed on the grass. The rain was still falling but Thomas could see the bloody trail stretching across the pavement where he had carried Carol. "
I don't have to tell anyone about this, I just have to deal with this myself, I have to find him and kill him."
Her hair was disheveled and covered her chest.Thomas pulled back her hair it was wet too and her head was just bobbing from side to side and now Carol looked like some kind of toy doll even though she was dead her face was still so beautiful.Thomas cried again he touched her wrist there was no pulse, of course there was no pulse.
She was lying motionless, Thomas still couldn't believe it, he didn't want to, he wiped the blood from Carol's face and touched her eyelids, cold cheek, then lips.They had turned blue long ago.Thomas wiped the tears from his face and wiped his hands on a sweater. His jacket was covered in blood he left it there.