Serendipity

Chapter 8

Elodie

My heart, the treacherous idiot, skips a beat when I hear his familiar steps draw closer. I'll blame it on my boredom of being stuck here though. There's nothing for me to do down here other than work out, sleep and play with Raffaele. So since my burning muscles need a break, it's understandable I look forward to our interactions.

He doesn't get to know that though so I ignore him even when he's right on the other side of the bars, not bothering to look up from my phone until he speaks.

Luckily, I've managed to annoy my guard into giving me a power bank every now and again so even though I don't have any reception, at least I have some old games to keep me sane.

"I wish you'd just done what I asked," Raffaele surprises me by saying, his voice more somber than I'm used to. Then something flutters to the ground next to me, successfully taking my attention away from my screen.

I furrow my eyebrows, looking at the white sheet of paper with a sense of foreboding before turning my questioning gaze to the man outside my cell. Another picture? What's this?

He simply stares back, his expression blank and void of the cocky satisfaction I was getting used to. I mentally prepare myself for whatever he might be throwing at me right now before reaching for the paper with clammy hands.

I turn it around and stare at it for all of two seconds before the air inside my lungs leaves me with a single gasp. The picture is grotesque, a million different horrors caught in one shot that seems to unleash the pain of the victim it features onto me with every millisecond my eyes stay on it.

Yet I can't move to look away. No, I'm forced to take in every little cut and bruise on my little sister's dead body.

A broken scream is logged in my throat, too painful to even release so all I can do is shake my head as the true weight of what I'm seeing washes over me.

My sister is dead. Because of me. Because I came here. Tony will grow up without his twin because I didn't give up a piece of information that doesn't even affect my life.

My hands start shaking, my skin going numb as my insides are being set aflame. And still, my eyes stay locked on the unseeing ones of my sister.

How could anyone do something like this? This wasn't just murder. It's mutilation of an innocent child!

I tremble harder, my throat aching with unshed tears and I finally force myself to look up, my gaze locking with Raffaele in a beat. His expression is still unreadable.

And I snap.

Shooting to my feet, I find myself face to face with him in the blink of an eye. Every thought of keeping up an act long since forgotten. My hands find the collar of his shirt through the bars and I yank him against the cold steel before he can react, shouting incoherent things about how he's a monster at the top of my lungs.

But my own words barely register to me over the rushing in my ears. And all I can see is her, surrounded by her own blood.

"How could you," I mutter, my voice growing faint as a wave of nausea rolls over me. I let go of the man, stumble a few steps back and only barely make it to the toilet in the corner of my room before spilling the contents of my stomach.

My throat burns, the cool floor digs into my knees and my eyes blur as I keep retching. Even after my body has nothing else to expel, I keep dry heaving until I damn-near collapse onto the floor, breathing heavily and crying as I curl up helplessly.

"I wish things hadn't had to go so far. I'll be back later when you'll hopefully be ready to cooperate. And you will be ready to cooperate unless you want the same fate to come to her twin." His words only barely register to me, too focused on trying to breathe through the pain wracking my body.

How did this happen? Oh god, please tell me this isn't true.

Waves of despair rush over me, pulling me under and making me feel like I'm drowning. There's no coming back from this, is there? No way I can ever breathe easily again.

-

I don't know how long I stay on the floor, completely unmoving and feeling so much it started fading to a weird numbness. At some point, a strangled gasp catches my attention though, forcing me to raise my eyes from the gray floor in front of my face.

And the last thing I expected was to see my guard being choked from behind. From a guy inside the cell opposite mine.

My dead heart gives a jolt, adrenaline momentarily chasing away the ice in my veins and giving me enough strength to sit up. The stranger keeps his eyes on me, a crazes expression on his face as the guard finally goes limp.

I watch the massive body crumble on the floor like a bag of rocks with faint interest, barely react when the stranger I wasn't aware existed takes the master key from him to unlock his cell and stay rooted in my place on the floor even as he steps out.

That's when the peaceful trance breaks and my heart starts racing. Because the lunatic is still staring at me like I'm his next meal while I'm a sitting duck.

How long has he been in that cell? How is it possible I didn't know? I mean, yeah, all the cells but mine are drowned completely in darkness from my point of view but I should've seen someone bringing him food, right? Or heard him make a noise.

I don't get a lot of time to wonder before he's standing at my door slowly inserting the key as I scramble away uselessly.

Fuck! I frantically look for any weapon around me as he steps inside, carefully positioning himself in my way to the cell's door but my head is too scrambled.

Then he's on top of me, pinning my legs down with his own and holding my arms above my head. I distantly note the rough, dirty feel of his hands as he looks down at me. And I feel sick all over again.

Long and uneven splotches of beard are strewn all over the lower half of his face, his teeth are the nastiest things I've ever seen and his warm, foul breath seems to burn my skin as he leans closer to my face.

"Pretty thing. You cry so nicely," he rasps and it's that scratchy voice that sounds like it hasn't been used in way too long that finally makes my instincts kick in.

I buck my hips, twist my wrists in his sloppy grip and free one leg enough to bring it up in between his legs. The stranger howls out in pain, doubling over and I waste no time throwing him off me and getting to my feet. I head to the door but only make it a few steps past the bars when a hand in my hair pulls me back.

I scream out at the burn on my scalp, feeling several strands being ripped off as he smashes my face into the cool, smooth steel that outlines each cell. My forehead whips back and the world momentarily goes black.

Faintly, I realize I'm back on the floor and my limbs are being moved but the pain searing my forehead is too blinding.

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Hope it's not too soon for the drama... either way, here u goo

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