Affliction.

Chapter 3:

I rubbed my arms to get rid of the persistent goosebumps forming all over. It wasn't cold, but the anticipation was juggling my insides like a circus clown doing balls. What was I waiting for?

It was dark, and not just the murkiness of night. There was something sinister about how muffled the sounds reflecting through the night were, how consuming. The darkness was sucking up everything within it's perimeter. Like a black hole.

I tried to feel my location since my sense of sight was crippled. The walls felt rugged and tarnished under my hands, dust clinging on to my sweaty palms. Probably a street wall, maybe an alley.

Gathering my wits, I took small steps forward, cautious not to derange the unsettling darkness. A sudden flash of light on the other side of the alley gripped my attention and I ran towards it with the vigilance of an interpol officer. Like a moth chasing around the light.

The alley emerged on to a wider road, the moonlight being the lone source of illumination. They couldn't bother turning on the street lamps?

The brooding darkness and lurking shadows haunted me in to moving back to the alley and I obeyed the alarm bells going off in my head. Turning back, I nearly face planted with the littered road to see a silhouette standing a mere few feet from me. Legs apart, arms folded.

I could trace the muscles bulging through his fit form, the curves eerily prominent against the moonlight. At an unnerving time like this, he seemed to be casually lounging, like the night was his kingdom. But the tension coursing through his strained muscles told me otherwise.

I was frozen midstep, my body uncoordinating and rigid with anticipation. Even though the situation was highly unlikely for the feelings pulsing through my veins, I felt safe. As if the assassin in front of me was the ruler of this gloom, and I, his queen. The thought sent a jolt shuddering through my entire body. My very own assassin prince.

Tentatively, I took a timid step forward in his direction, which proved to be a wrong decision from my side. My minisicule action shattered the magical aura floating in the air and he stiffened visibly. Slowly, glancing at me for the smallest of second, he turned sideways and started to run away.

No.

I ran after him. "Wait!"

I gasped. Clutching my erratic heart under my chest, I willed the pulse to calm down, my body in a highly vulnerable position of breaking down. Pushing away the sweaty locks of hair plastered on to my face, I looked around frantically to find myself sitting in a familiar surrounding.

My room.

I took in my surroundings greedily, trying to find anything that will help locate my memory. The night lamp was turned on along with the air conditioner and I was mildly surprised to see beads of cold sweat clinging over my body. Looking down at my lap, I could see a bandage spiralling along my left elbow and wrist. Angry claw marks covered my once spotless skin, forcing me to think back of the reason of the injuries.

And like a light switch turned on in my head, the recent events came pummeling down at me with an unmatchable momentum.

I'd an accident. A very fatal accident.
I zeroed on the digital clock blinking  nonchalantly at the wall in front of me. 08:30. Approximately seven hours since the accident. Had I really slept for seven hours?

I reached forward gingerly to pick my phone lying forlorn on the side table and gasped as blackness draped over my eyes in protest. Battling against my body's disapproval, I managed to cradle the phone and speed dialled Van Hoef. Two rings later, a voice laced in thick French greeted me.

"Van Hoef speaking."

"Where are you right now?" I skipped the 'hellos' and 'how are yous'.

"Miss Ivory, I'm complying the orders from Master Zach to pick your car from the store. Are you feeling better?"

"Yes- no. Maybe. I wanted to ask you about the details of my accident."

"I'll return in an hour, precisely and-"

"I don't have an hour to wait. Phone's fine too. Just tell me how did I get back? Who saved me? Does Mom and Dad know? And Ariel?" I rocketed all the questions spiralling in my head since I woke up.

"I brought you back, Miss Ivory. And-"

"But how did you know I'd an accident?" Van Hoef may know Zach and me since childhood, and he may be aware of every inch and angle we possessed, but he wasn't deciphering the urgency reeking in my voice at this moment.

"If we could just start from the beginning-"

"Okay, yes. Sorry. No interruptions. So what happened?" I knew I was being obnoxious like a child deprived of his candy but I needed to soothe my head. And aspirin was simply not the cure.

Understanding, Van Hoef hurriedly launched into the version of story I was probing for.
"You were on phone asking me to locate your friend's car from the airport and bring it back. And suddenly, your call of distress-" I almost snorted in the receiver. Call of distress? Wait till Ariel hears about this.

"- so I drove over to the possible place you might be and found you a small distance away from the airport. Miss Ivory?"

"I'm listening. Go on."

"Right. You were lying in a passerby's car and unconscious when I reached you. And then I took you to the hospital, informing Master Zach about the accident. The doctor said you had a minor concussions and a few injuries, nothing alarming. So we took you back home. And the car-"

"I get this, but I remember someone pulling me out of the car. Was he the man whose car I was lying in?"

"He was not. I was informed that a certain man helped you out right after the collision but disappeared immediately afterwards. Was he an aquaintance of yours, may I ask?"

"No, I was driving alone. Why do ask?"

"Because-" He paused, undoubtedly hesitant over something.

"Van Hoef, you do know I don't like thrillers? Last time you chose a suspense movie for me, I couldn't sleep for a month. Enough with the mystery already!" I was over the edge, and if Van Hoef continued his Joker act, I'd definitely cross the 'sweet Ivory' line.

"Yes, of course. Well, I got a call from your number when I was driving over to you. It was the man that helped you out just after the accident."

Wait, what? The rusty gears of my brain that started rotating at full force halted as Van Hoef rushed out an even more troubling news.

"Miss Ivory, he knew your name. I mean your full name. And I'm aware of how only a few people have this knowledge since you hate being called by your middle name. In fact, he seemed to know a lot about you-"

Like we share an ethreal bond. My mind working overdrive almost made me miss his next words.

"-could be a stalker. And I fear that maybe this accident wasn't an accident at all, that it was pre-planned. And that man might be the culprit."

A/N:
The drama has just begun.
Let me know if my current pace is okay with you guys. Thanks!