*Lucia*
My body felt sore all over. The last thing I remember was that I was hit on the head with a gun. Where the hell am I right now? I was laying on something hard and rough. I turned slowly; my body felt trapped in the white gown that I was wearing. I wanted to get rid of the gown.
I opened my eyes slowly.
It was dark. Wherever this place was, there was no single light. It was pitch black-that dick. I’ll skin him alive. I cursed through gritted teeth as I tried to sit up. And the gown was making all my movements uncomfortable. I may not know where I was, but one thing was clear: it wasn’t somewhere I’d like.
And the smell.
It smelled so much like rotten meat in condemned kitchen water. I almost threw up but held myself. I’ll kill this idiot. He should wait and be patient. I won’t end up here. I refused to give up. I believe that Bruno would come for me. I am confident.
Bruno.
I sigh at the thought of him. I sat, holding my legs to my chest and laying my head on it. I can’t begin to imagine how Bruno must be feeling right now. My head throbbed. I wonder if Bruno was alright. He was shot twice before I left. I wanted to be there with him and ease his pain, but I’m all locked here.
Well, I don’t know if it’s locked; it has to be.
I’m locked here. I don’t know how I got here now, nor do I have the slightest idea of how I’d be going back from what I have studied from Steve; he’ll probably not want me to go back, but that doesn’t mean I won’t, though. I wished I was sitting next to Bruno with his hands entwined in mine as the bullet was removed. I know very well that he won’t visit the hospital. I have lived long enough to know how bullet wounds are treated.
I held my gown closer to myself when it started to get colder. I wrapped myself with the excess. If I was here and still alive and breathing, then Steve would be here somewhere and would be in front of me in a while. All I had to do was keep still and patiently wait for him as I tried to keep my sanity intact.
I don’t know exactly how many hours it took, but it took a while before I finally heard footsteps. Slow steady ounces. My eyes hung open immediately. I knew Steve was here. Soon a dim bulb was turned on. And I got to get a faint look of how where I had been seated looked.
“Hello, princess,” he said.
I gritted my teeth as I stared at him through the rods that created a barrier between us. “Missed me?” He asked. How did I not know that this idiot was a psychopath? Maybe it wasn’t my fault. He was too good at hiding it. “How do you like this place? I didn’t plan on bringing you here so forgive me if I wasn’t able to keep it to your liking,” he said.
I didn’t want to look around but didn’t want to look at his face either. “You bastard, I never knew you were such a coward. So much that you thought the best idea is for you to lock me up here in only where God knows?” I asked him, trying to hide my fear with boldness. I didn’t want to look around for fear of seeing a half-dead body rotting to the side.
“Well, I never said I wasn’t a coward. I have always been a coward and will always be a coward.” He moved from where he was standing to the end of the cell I was currently in. “But, the good thing about cowards is that they get to see where the bold ones are buried.” He said.
I was pissed and tired. I was in pain all over my body, and that wasn’t helping at all. I wanted to settle this and go. I knew he would not want to, but I’ll give it a try. “What do you want? Why are you doing this? Can’t this just end?” I asked. I wanted to stand, but my legs were too weak to stand.
“Which should I answer first?” He asked. He walked to the door and held the rods that were separating us. My heart skipped a beat when I saw him. Did he want to pull it off? He looked into my eyes from where he stood. Though he sounded like he didn’t mean what he said, his eyes were different, they were filled with pain and hate. Like he could run a dagger into my gut and not feel one single pity for me.
“What do I want? It isn’t important as I can guess you already know.” He paused scanning the place I was with his eyes. He then continues, “I want you gone. But not just you,” he smiles. ‘not just me?’ I thought within. This must be the reason he is keeping me alive to end someone else along with me.
“I am doing this for my sister. I’m sure you know what you did to her,” he said.
“You are just trying to blame someone for her death when you knew fully well that I had no hand in it,” I said. At this moment, I felt no guilt or remorse. I began to wonder why I felt guilty before. Even if I had killed her, it was because she attacked me first. It was all self-defense. If I had not killed her, she would have killed me. So, there is no problem with what I did.
“And I never said I am not. Someone needs to take the fall. Someone needs to be hated for what happened to her. And I could think of no other person than you.”
“Why me? She didn’t die from the stab, so why me?” I asked in anger but did well to stay far away from him.
“Because you took everything away from her. And you took her away from me. Do you think this is only about the stab? Only about her death?” He asked. His eyes were red.
“Don’t tell me this is also about Jason?” I didn’t want to believe this. I was done with Jason. I am getting married to someone other than Jason and still, I am to suffer for Jason. “I am getting married to someone else. You don’t think I had any interest in Jason left. And how is it my fault that she couldn’t win his heart? I mean, she was with him way longer than I was.” I scoffed.
He was about to open his mouth and resort to me, but I beat him. I may be scared, but I wasn’t done with him yet, “just like you, your sister was a coward. She didn’t have the mind to tell him how she felt; who knows, if she had, I’d not have been in the picture. And she was coward enough to tell me to come to that building without any weapons. She wanted to have a civil conversation with me, but then she went to be ashamed to bring tons of weapons?”
I paused to catch my breath.
“And if I had not stabbed her that night, she would have stabbed me. I did what I had to do to survive, and let me tell you, I don’t feel the slightest regret. If I am given another opportunity, I’d probably do the same thing.” I said, and that was the truth. If I stabbed her again and again, if she was to come for me. And this time, I’ll kill her.
“I see you are finally showing your true colors, evil and heartless. You stole Jason away from her. If only you didn’t come into the picture.” He inhaled a sharp scent of breath. “But I’ll let that go. Not entirely, though, because you’d still get to pay for what you did either way. ” He said.
“Scaredy bastard,” I yelled at him. I wanted to rile him up. Whatever he was going to do, I wanted to make the process faster.
He walked to the middle, where there was a big padlock, and opened it. The chains that were used to hold the door fell to the side, making a loud noise. And the smell. If anything, I wanted the smell to stop. It was too strong. I finally looked around, but there was no sign of anything here. “You seem to be very bold. Let’s see how long you can put up that attitude,” he said as he stepped in.
“What are you doing?” I asked, stepping back. I was told a while ago but seeing him step in sent fear through my spine.
He didn’t reply. He pulled my hands roughly. I pulled it back, but I was no match for him. He dragged me out, “you fucking bastard, let me go.” I yelled, but he was deaf to my pleas and ignored them as if he couldn’t hear them.
He took me out and pulled me forward and forward. It seems this place was underground. He took me through a door. My wedding dress made it hard for me to walk with him but he didn’t seem to care and I kept tangling and untangling the dress.
We walked through a passageway. It was dark. No bulb, not even something like the dimly lit one in the underground dungeon. But Steve didn’t care. He walked inside like he had another eye that enabled him to see in the dark. I could finally see alight at the end. It wasn’t so bright. It seemed we were close to the end of the hallway.
My feet ached. They were bare; my shoes must have been long flung to the side.
“Where are you taking me to?” I asked again, though I knew it was fruitless. Where is this place?” I wondered.
We finally walked through the door.
Unlike the dark dungeons I have spent my time in, this place was bright. It was like a sitting room, but it lacked the appliances a sitting room should have. There were used things inside, which made it look more like a warehouse.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Just watch you talk too much. One more word from you, and I’ll sew your lips. I didn’t need him to try to persuade me that he was serious. I stopped talking and watched as he pulled a chair from the side. My throat went dry when I saw the thick ropes he picked from the side along with the chair.
There was no way I’d run away. I didn’t even know the entrance. Was there any need to be tired? I didn’t say a word. The last thing I wanted was for a needle and thread to go through my mouth. He placed the chair in the middle of the room and pushed me on it.
He tilled my hand, placing it on both handles of the chair.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked him.
“You know I can’t run away; at least let me be free,” I said. “You think this is a joke?” He asked. I didn’t say another word. “I want to speak to your boyfriend; I heard he is awake. I knew the gunshot wasn’t enough to kill him,” he says.
Hearing about Bruno made my chest rise and fall.
I was glad he was fine. I knew he must be trying to find me. I wanted to tell him that I was fine.
“I will call him now. But before then, don’t you think something needs to be done?” He walked around me. He wanted to make sure that the ropes were tied and that I couldn’t escape.
“Well, let’s keep the fun for now.” He picked up his phone. “I’ll call Bruno. Let’s hope he loves you enough to meet my terms. It’s not as if he’d be able to save your life either way,” Steve said with a smirk. He dialed Bruno’s number and placed it on the loudspeaker.
I didn’t know when I heard my breath as I wondered what Steve would ask from him.