Surprisingly, the staircase didn't spiral down into an abyss of darkness, the small passageway was actually well-lit. The walls were lined with kiddish doodles, some with captions like "I love you' Daddy" or "To: Momma, From: Me". Each step creaked loudly, and stepping over some if the gaps was very awkward.
"Just a little while longer," said Mr. Harvey.
Soon enough, the two of us arrived in a little room with shelves of cider stacked to the ceiling. In a few of the gapped areas, there were stray drawings with the name Cyan Drop on each of them. Each drawing seemed hastily done. I looked to Mr. Harvey, who returned my unsure look with a polite smile.
"I apologize, but I need to go. It wa---"
"NO. You're staying."
I stared at him, a look of pure fear in my eyes, countering a look of eagerness in his. He spread his wings and trotted towards me. "Please...no.... You're going to kill me, aren't you..."
My plea did nothing. Harvey pounced, giggling like a Pinkie Pie. I unfolded my wings, and in an attempt to escape, turned around. Just as four hooves were off the ground. My body was slammed into the floor, Mr. Harvey on top. He grabbed one wing with his forelegs, and the other with his teeth, and twisted hard. I cried out in pain, tears streaming down my face. It was horrible. Harvey turned me over so I would look at him.
He leaned in close and covered my mouth with his hoof. "Answer the question, my little lilac tree," Harvey demanded with a crazed look in his eyes.
Oh Celestia , please let me leave I thought.
"You know, you look like your mother. Same beautiful flanks, same style of mane."
He leaned in, and kissed me hard, blubbery lips squashing mine. Harvey was going to kill me. How could I be so stupid?! I thought well on my hooves, got outstanding grades, and his weird behavior OBVIOUSLY meant bad news! Why did this happen? Now he was going to kill me. Harvey probably killed Cyan too. I hadn't heard from her in weeks, and he had her drawings everywhere. My eyes shifted to the side, and a saw a picture of the poor filly, smiling innocently.
His lips moved to my chin, and then he took my childhood. I could almost hear my dad calling out in his thick southern accent.
"LAAAHLAC! Come on! We're meeting Rarity soon!"
The pain was unbearable. I silently cried, feeling pathetic, and like a target for which Harvey shot at with the arrows and bullets of abuse.
"LAHLAC? LAH?"
I screamed as loud as I could, tears streaming down my face like a waterfall. Harvey moved up and clobbered me square on the snout, drawing a bit of blood from my nostril. I screamed again, forgetting my pain and safety, only hoping that some pony would hear me.
"LAAAHLAAAC!"
Harvey punched me again. And again. He continued flying hooves at me until I stopped crying. And then my vision faded to black.
*************
"Rarity.... I don't think I can meet you tonight with my family. I...." My mother began sobbing into the phone.
"Fluttershy, dear," came the voice of Rarity Suaveston on the other line. "What in Equestrian happened? Did Macintosh cheat on you? THAT ASS! I'LL DESTROY HIM!"
"No, Rarity..." My mother said through tears. "We can't find Lilac.... Mac can't find him, I can't find him! We've looked everywhere! We even went to the police! They did NOTHING!"
"Fluttershy, that's HORRIBLE! I'll arrange a search party at once with the rest of the girls!"
"Rarity, Applejack and Twilight are the only ponies in town. Pinkie and Rainbow left long ago. Neither of us has any way to find them!"
Silence.
"Then I will arrange a search party with other Ponyvillians. 'Til then, you should stay searching, okay?"
************
I woke up an hour later. Harvey lay next to me, now with a knife. "Good. Now you're awake." His voice was soft. He loomed over me once more.
"Please don't.... Not again"
Harvey chuckled. "Don't worry, Lilac, I'm done with that. But I can't risk you telling anypony. Shame, such a beautiful body has to go."
He moved the knife over my stomach, and jabbed it into my flesh. I cried out in pain, weak. Mr. Harvey made a small slut across my belly as he glided the knife up to my shoulder. I tried to look down at myself, seeing blood stained on my coat making an ugly orange-brown color. The terrifying pegasus stabbed me again, and stabbed hard. This time, I screamed louder than I had the entire horrific day. Harvey reached the tip of his hoof into the cut, and dug around, squirting blood all over the floor. Finally, Harvey went back to the knife, and moved it above my skull.
"Tell me you love me."
Gently, I did. My eyes began to close as I felt myself slowly dying. This was it. I'd never imagined that I would die young, much less be murdered. Harvey looked into my eyes and kissed me on the forehead one final time. The end came. The knife made its way into my skull and pierced my brain with immense force. The last thing I saw was Harvey pulling the bloody knife out my skull.
I had actually died.