SKETTY24 OMG!!! Me not worthy!!! bows down to you Thank you for that great review O.O! Wow! Heheh...I guess I did let myself loose in that final chapter ;). It's just that it was the turning point in Stryker's life that made him the way he is, and I just wanted to emphasize the pain that he felt at that time. Think about it --- the love of his life killed herself right before his very eyes and he couldn't do anything about it. Damn, an event like that would drive anyone insane x.x!!!

HUGHLOVERX Ah, now you know the pain that he went through x.x! Poor guy! Heck, even I felt so sorry for him when I was writing that. I could practically feel his sorrow coursing through my typing fingers!!! As for Logan and Yuriko, ah, they will soon be back, but I'm not saying anythin' ;) (Don't wanna ruin the plot. Lol)

CAMILLA Thank you so much for the uber review D!!! The last chapter was very gory and very graphic indeed. After all, seeing someone drill their head with a power drill isn't the prettiest sight in the world x.x! Thank you so much for staying on board )! And there is definitely MORE on the way )! Also, thank you for your suggestion about the rating ). I'll change it asap to comply with my story's target audience.

Okay...this is a pretty weird chapter....but I still hope you like it )!!! Thanks for reading!

Chapter 74: Descent to madness

"It couldn't have ended that way!!!" He suddenly shouted out loud, as if someone was going to answer back. He shouted those words as if someone had the answers to his questions. "She cannot be dead!!!" He shouted again. He didn't want to believe what he saw. He denied seeing her dead on the floor. "She cannot be!!! I loved her!!!" He shouted again, though he knew that his words would only fade into thin air.

/"You can't always protect the ones you love."/ Said a voice in his head. It was his own voice, but younger. His younger self was now talking to him. /"Sometimes...you can't protect them no matter how hard you try."/ The voice added.

"But I promised her that I'd protect her." He shouted through gritted teeth. "I promised her that I'd stay by her side until the end." He shouted angrily. He could feel his fists tightening and his jaw clenching as he shouted those words. He didn't want to accept the reality that she was now gone...because she wasn't. He didn't believe that she was.

/"And that's what you did, William."/ The voice in his head gasped, as if it was going to break down and cry. /"You stayed by her side until the last seconds of her life."/

"No!!!" Stryker shouted. "She's not dead!" He shouted again. "That was just a vision!!! It was nothing!!! It cannot be real!!" He protested.

/"Then so be it."/ Whispered his younger self.

Then as soon as the voice faded from his head, Stryker suddenly noticed a ghostly female figure in the end of the hallway. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at it. She seemed to have appeared it of nowhere. And she looked familiar...she looked so disturbingly familiar. Then as the figure slowly started to materialize into a more solid form, his eyes opened wide when he recognized who it was. It was Karen.

A faint smile curled up his lips as he saw her. "Karen." He whispered. So he was right. She wasn't dead. She was there, standing at the end of the hallway, waiting for him. "Karen!" He shouted again. "You're alive!!!" The smile on his lips grew wider as he looked at her. She was there. She was there for him. She wasn't gone. And she was looking at his direction and she was smiling. She was smiling at him as she had done countless of times before. His beautiful wife has come back.

He laughed and ran towards her. But before he could get any closer, she ran down another hallway. And as she ran, she called out his name in a melodious, joyous tone as if she wanted him to follow her.

"Karen, wait for me!" He called out to her. He was never going to let her go this time.

Once he catches her, he was going to stay by her side forever. He had lost her once, and he would never ever lose her again. He would curse the day when he would wake up and not see her beside him. So he ran...he ran after her from one hallway to another, chasing her as if she was the unattainable. He chased her, hoping that each and every step would bring him closer and closer to her. But no matter how fast and hard he ran, he never got close enough to touch her. Then he ran down another hallway and found himself standing in the hallway that led to the bathroom.

"William." Said the voice of Karen in a hollow melodious manner. She was calling out to him like a siren. She wanted him to come to her...to be with her.

Stryker furrowed his eyebrows as he looked around him. He heard her voice. He knew he did, but she was nowhere to be found. He couldn't find her anywhere...not even her shadow. Then his eyes wandered at the door at the far end of the hallway. That was the door to the bathroom. It was the bathroom where he had found Yuriko bare naked that night. But he didn't want to think about Yuriko right now. Yuriko was the last thing that he wanted to think of...because right now, the only woman that he wanted his wife. And he wanted nothing more than to be with her again.

"William." Karen's voice called out again.

Her voice seemed to be coming from inside the bathroom. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the bathroom's door. There was a faint light shining through the frame of the doorway, meaning that the light in the bathroom was on. Was someone there? Was Karen in there? Was she in there waiting for him?

"William." Her voice called out again for the third time now.

"I'll be with you soon, Karen." He whispered. Then he smiled to himself and quickly walked towards the bathroom door. He quickened his pace as he got closer and closer to it. He couldn't wait to see his wife again. He couldn't wait to see her again and feel her for real. And he really hoped that the end of his chase would be beyond that door.

As soon as he reached the door of the bathroom, he immediately opened it and stepped inside. "Karen?" He asked excitedly as he looked around him. He closed the door behind him while he continued to look around the bathroom. Then he suddenly noticed a moving shadow through the translucent plastic curtain that separated the bathtub from the rest of the area. "Karen? Is that you?" He asked again as he looked at the curtain. He couldn't really see who or what it was, due to the opacity of the curtain, but he knew that it was her. After all, who else could it be? She was probably in the bathtub waiting for him. She was there, waiting for her husband.

Then a soft smile curled up his lips as he walked towards the curtain. "I'm here, Karen. I'm here." He said softly. Then he ran his hands on the curtain. He knew that his wife lay beyond it. Finally, he was going to see her again. "I missed you so much." He said as he continued to run his hands on it. He could feel his stomach fluttering as he thought of seeing her again. And he couldn't help but wonder what was to come next. But whatever it was, he knew that it was going to be good.

Without saying another word, he moved his hand to the edge of the curtain and he swiftly pulled it aside. He felt so excited to see what lay behind it. Then the opened curtain revealed the bathtub, and in the bathtub sat Karen. There she was, right before his very eyes and so close to him...closer to him than she'd ever been in the past two days. She was naked in the bathtub. And Stryker found it rather odd that there was no water around her. It was just Karen, sitting there, with her back against the far end of the tub, and her legs extended neatly on the bathtub's length. Her head was bowed down and her wavy brown hair fell down the sides of her face, making it difficult for him to get a clearer view of his wife's beauty. But despite the fact that he couldn't see her face, she still looked so beautiful, sitting there in her nakedness. She was perfect. He felt like he was staring at a statue of a goddess...she was his goddess. If only she would look up to him and give him the smile that he yearned to see on her full crimson lips.

"I'm here, Karen. I'm here...it's your William. I've come back." He said softly as he towered over her on the side of the bathtub. He found it rather odd that she had kept her head bowed down despite the fact that he was already there, standing by her side.

Soon enough, his desire to see her face finally came true. She slowly looked up to him and smiled. "I knew you'd come." She said with a soft smile on her lips.

The smile on Stryker's face grew wider as he gazed upon his wife's face. God, she was more beautiful than ever. Oh how he longed to run his fingers over her skin and hold her closer than he'd ever held her before. But...Was all of this real? It must be...Because he was back here in the mansion, and she was there right before him in the bathtub. All of this was happening for real. And since it was, then that meant that she was really alive. That meant that the nightmare that he had of her dying was nothing but an illusion. She was alive and she was right there, waiting for him to join her. Karen was alive.

But...something was wrong. Her eyes looked empty. Her eyes seemed like they were looking right through him. And her voice...it sounded so ghostly and hallow, and it was echoing in his brain. Her voice was like a wind passing through an empty tunnel. Then he closed his eyes and shook his head from side to side. How could he even doubt her right now? How could he even think of such doubtful thoughts at the moment, when his wife was right there in front of him? She was back in his life and he should enjoy it. He didn't want to waste anymore time doubting her existence.

Her empty, ghostly eyes continued to look at Stryker's towering form. The expressionless smile on her face also lingered on her lips. She looked like a puppet...an empty puppet, but she still looked so beautiful to him. "Make love to me, William." She softly said, in her ghostly, hollow voice. "Make love to me like before."

Stryker was entranced by her and her words. "Yes..." Was the only word that faintly passed through his slightly parted lips. He wanted to make love to her. He longed to feel her naked body against his. That was his wife and he wanted to love her physically.

He stepped into the bathtub and slowly sat on the opposite side of it, so that he was facing her. A part of him was telling him that this was nothing but a dream, but he denied the possibility that it might be, because dreams can't be as real and as vivid as this. Karen's empty eyes followed Stryker as he sat in the bathtub. Her eyes were following him as if she was observing his every move and every gesture.

Stryker looked back into her lifeless eyes and they smiled at each other. He felt entranced and hypnotized by her beauty. He wanted her, and he was going to have her. Then he crawled forward towards her. She was his wife and he was going to make love to her. He loved her and he wanted her to feel that. Then while he was on his hands and knees, he moved his face close to hers, and he kissed her.

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