Kimber sat in the bathtub and held the blade only a few millimetres away from her veins. She didn't know how long she'd been lying there already like that staring at the blade, but she noticed that the water became terribly cold. This was the moment that is described in literature as the moment when shortly before death people see their whole life being played down in front of their eyes like a movie. There wasn't much in Kimber's life worthy of remembering, but it attained a completely new meaning with the appearance of Christian in it. Even if he'd dismissed her at first and was behaving in the meanest ways towards her-Kimber had never stopped loving him. And with his proposal of marriage a few month ago, a dream came true for her. And Quentin had spoiled everything.
Kimber remembered how Christian sat next to her bed after her operation and held her hand, "please don't let this monster take away everything from us that we once had!" He begged her. And she had let it happen by turning him down. The realisation that it was really her fault that Christian was kidnapped and Alicia was murdered hit her hard. She started to tremble and it wasn't only because of the cooled down bathwater temperature.
What if Christian was still alive, it suddenly occurred to her. How would he react to the fact that she had committed suicide? Would that not make her even more guilty on top of it all? Her biggest and only wish was to be able to tell him once that she had made a huge mistake leaving him. She wanted to tell him she still loved him. But if she would take her own life, he would never find that out-supposing he was still alive at all. Her inner grapple took all her remaining energy away from her. Exhaustion made her close her eyes and she let her head lean onto the headrest of the bathtub. The blade slipped out of her finger and fell to the bottom of the bath.
Strong arms grabbed her suddenly and pushed her under the water. Kimber was too surprised to start with and she only started to notice what was happening when she realised she was out of oxygen. She tried to free herself from the iron grip and come to the surface in panic. But it was futile. Her attacker was too strong.
She opened her eyes and saw a hand directly in front of her face. She sank her teeth into it without much hesitation. She ignored the water going into her mouth and bit so long till the bathwater turned red. She heard a shriek and felt being lifted up. She stared at the masked face of the Carver, her eyes opening wide with horror. She didn't have much chance to think much whether it was really Quentin or not hiding behind the mask. Her attacker pushed some imbued cloth onto her mouth and nose and Kimber felt her senses fade away...
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When Julia woke up, it took her a while till she managed to orientate. Her head hurt and her mouth felt dry. She concluded surprised that she was laying on the sofa. She sat up slowly and looked around. The last thing she could remember was standing in the kitchen and stirring a pot of vegetable soup. She also remembered feeling a prickling pain in her neck suddenly. Everything else escaped her. Julia searched the other rooms with a queasy feeling in her stomach, "Sean, where are you?" She called out loud.
She suddenly remembered he had said he wanted to make another call. Julia opened the room of the study and ran cold with horror. Sean's motionless body lay across the writing desk. The telephone lay on the floor. Apparently somebody had surprised him during his call and anaesthetised him.
"Oh my God Sean!" Julia stepped over to her husband and checked for injuries, "can you hear me?" She asked despairingly. She was relieved not to find any open wounds on him. Julia jogged his shoulder lightly, "Sean, please wake up!" She implored, "we were attacked!"
Sean slowly came to. He moaned quietly as he straightened up from his uncomfortable position, "Julia?" He asked then dazed when he saw the concerned expression on her face.
"Thank God you're okay!" She said relieved.
"What happened?" Sean asked scrunching his forehead while rubbing his sore neck. He couldn't remember at all what had happened.
"We've been mugged!" Julia said.
"You think Quentin was here?" Sean asked bewildered. A terrible idea occurred to him, "where's Kimber?"
"I don't know. I haven't seen her for hours. She wanted to go to her room and rest a little."
Sean traversed the hall with hurrying steps and pushed the door of the guest room open, "she's not here," he said after determining the room was empty.
"Maybe in the bathroom?" Julia suggested.
Sean nodded. He went to the bathroom and opened the door, "at least the door is not shut," he said relieved.
They both remained frozen shocked the next moment staring at the blood red coloured bathwater utterly terrified, "oh, no..." Sean muttered. He heard Julia screaming and turned around, "what is it?"
She pointed to the mirror cabinet with a trembling hand. "I can't stop!", stood there written with lipstick.
"Quentin!" Sean said.
Julia muffled a sob, "and he has Kimber," she muttered.
Sean stared at the blood tainted bathwater, "she didn't give in without a fight," he said quietly.
"Is this Kimber's blood?" Julia asked with a shaking voice.
"I don't know," Sean shook his head.
"Oh please, let her be alive!" Julia put her hands in front of her face, "first Christian, then Alicia and now Kimber as well...who's next?" She started crying quietly.
"Calm down," Sean took Julia into his arms to comfort her, "he could've killed us too. But he didn't," he stroked Julia's back softly, "I think he'd found what he wanted."
Julia freed herself of Sean's arms suddenly and went to the door.
"Where are you going?" He asked confused.
"To call detective Myers!" Julia said determined, "we should've listened to him from the start. Kimber wouldn't be in danger now."
Sean hung his head shamefaced, "I'll do everything that's necessary to help the police," he took a last glance at Quentin's message on the mirror and followed Julia out the bathroom.