Dead or Alive

10.

I woke up surrounded in darkness. My fingers flexed against the plush mattress beneath me and stretching my legs out, my bare feet pushed against the sheets. I was home, or at least what I now should consider as home.

Blinking in the darkness, my eyes slowly adjusted to the low light. There was dim, blue light shining through the window that told me it was very early, the moments in the night that sat still as stone before the dawn broke.

Groaning, I rolled on my side as my limbs ached and pleaded with me to never move again. Blinking back into sleep, I noticed a figure stretched out in the corner. It was sitting, legs long outstretched, as it's hands flipped around something in its hands.

The figure moved to stand, and a gasp was caught in my throat as his face crossed the path of only light in the room.

Mateo.

I remembered his lean but strong build, how he towered over me in height in that elevator. His eyes caught mine with a mischievous glint in them, before he knelt down next to me. I couldn't move, couldn't breath.

I should breath, this could be my last breath I ever take.

The deep blue light coats his features, but i can make out the strong angles of his face, the subtle scruff on his chin.

"My love, how you have delighted me these past few weeks..." He murmurs, his words tangling up in the darkness, cutting and slicing through me.

"P-please.." I whimper and he shushes me as he places a blade, my blade, against my throat.

"You'll be mine soon enough, love. And then we will rule the world." He whispers, the words seeming to press the blade in farther until I choke on darkness, choke on all the words I want to say, all the people I want to wish goodbye as an ear piercing scream takes place of all of it.

I'm being shaken awake by strong hands and my arms reflexively punch out, hitting his chest. "Stop, no." I cry out, my throat raw and my cheeks wet from my tears.

"Ad-Adeline." I hear his voice grunt out between blows but he doesn't try to stop me. He lets me punch and punch his chest until I'm exhausted and sobbing.

"It was a dream," he murmurs as I weep into his shirt.

Theo is holding me, and I realize Mateo was all a dream. His words, his voice now seem like a distant memory. But it felt real.

Theo runs his hands stiffly down my back, rubbing small circles at the small of my back as my chest shakes with my uneven breathing. He's holding me, not affectionately but isn't rejecting my touch either. He is stiff, but he touches me with purpose to comfort me.

It was nice.

"W-why are you here?" I murmur against the fabric. I'm in a daze of sleep and confusion, and I allow myself to be comforted by this man who I am suppose to hate. Too exhausted to put up a fight.

The night is weird. It creates a haze around us. We think because it's dark, because we can't fully see one another, we are safe. We feel bold in the dark, like we can say anything. Maybe that's why Theo was holding me. Maybe that's why I was clutching his arms like their support was all I would ever need.

Maybe that's why he whispered,

"I was worried about you."

The silence consumes us, only my labored breathing and his calculated breaths fill the room. His hand has stopped rubbing my back, and now just presses there. His touch is hot, searing through my skin and I find my chin tilting up towards his face.

My nose grazes his chin, and we both still.

"Worried?" I whisper, and he nods one. His fingers trail up my back, and I feel my eyelids flutter closed at the touch.

It's the darkness that makes me lean into him. It's the darkness that makes my stomach flip when his fingertips brush against my neck, wrapping around the back of it.

It's the darkness that pulls out a soft moan from my lips. The darkness is the only reason he pulls me into his lap, so I'm straddling him. The only reason my heart is beating out of my chest and I can't find a single reason to stop.

Its the darkness that has our lips inches from one another.

It's the light that shatters us.

A crash is heard from somewhere in the house, glass breaking, and in an instant Theo is at the door, his body rigid, throwing it open and basking us in deafening white light.

"Stay here." He grumbles, sounding more pissed off than on alert. Like he knows the crashes of glass erupting down the hall aren't a threat.

I hear Italian being screamed and a women who sounds hysterical.

"Sono rimasto solo in questa casa insopportabile. Non lo sopporto, non posso." (I'm left alone in this insufferable house. I can't stand it, I can't)

A women screams and against my better judgement, I rise out of my bed, making my way to the hall.

Glass is shatter everywhere, what was once bowls and cups, lay in pieces on the tiled floor. Red wine that was once held captive flows freely on the floor. It seems as though this is a parallel to my life, but i'm not poetic enough to put it into words.

"Porti la puttana del nostro rivale in casa nostra. Hai intenzione di scopare anche lei?" The women yells and Theo, who is desperately trying to calm her down, stiffens as he turns to me.
(You bring the whore of our rival into our home. Do you intend to fuck her too?)

"Go back to bed, Adeline. For once, do as I ask." His voice sounds like he hasn't had a drip of water in months. His eyes hold nothing but distaste for me.

I swallow hard, backing up to go down the hall. Victoria, I now place the voice to the face, is furious. Her face is red, her makeup sliding down it from her tears.

"Vuoi che ci sposiamo? Voglio che se ne vada! Amore mio, non farmi annullare questo fidanzamento perché intendi prendere in giro la mia famiglia." (You want us to be wed? I want her gone! My love, don't make me call off this engagement because you intend to make a fool of my family.)

He's talking her down, throwing glares at me that make me sink into the darkness and push my door closed with a slam that seems to shake the house.

Walking back to my bed, I crawl under my sheets and let the darkness take ahold of me one more.

My last memory is of the empty chair in the corner.

And the single knife laying on it.

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Short, but i've been feeling uninspired lately.
More to come!

Thoughts?