A light in the darkness

Chapter 8

Maria and Anna were walking behind a man who was showing them the room they were going to stay in that night. He had brought Anna's bag for them as well. Maria had a hard time walking. She was happy that Mason had spared her from talking more that night. She was just drained.

Anna had an arm around her sister, supporting her the best she could. The wound on Maira's temple was bleeding again and looked bad. Anna was worried that she had a concussion. 

Soon they reached a door and the man opened it. The room was small but clean and had no windows. A twin over bunk bed was in a corner with a small bedside table. There was a small door, likely opening to a bathroom.

"I will be outside the door." said the man sternly. "I will bring you food a few minutes later. The door will be locked. Knock only if you are dying."

He then turned on his heel not giving a damn about the women who flinched at hearing the harsh words. They knew they were not welcome there at all.

Maria sighed and limped toward the bottom bed and sat down. "Anna please tell me you have some painkillers in your bag." she said with closed eyes. The pain in her head was unbearable. 

Anna was beside her in a second. She put a hand on Maria's forehead. "Goodness me, Mary." she said worriedly. "You are burning. We should have asked them to check you up."

"You are kidding, right?" scoffed Maria and opened her eyes. "Anna, I tried to kidnap the precious children of the Don of America. It's a miracle I'm still alive. I'm still shocked Mason King accepted my offer and conditions that easily. My body should be somewhere out there rotting now."

"Don't say that." snapped Anna. "You didn't do it willingly."

"Willingly or not, I did." sighed Maria. "Now do you have any painkillers or not?"

Anna nodded and searched in her bag while Maria got up and checked the other door. It was a small bathroom with a shower in it. 

"here." said Anna and Maria thanked her as she grabbed the two painkillers and dry swallowed them quickly.

"Let me clean your wounds." said Anna as she took out a small first aid kit from her bag. "The one on your head looks so bad."

Maria shook her head. "First, let me take a shower. I stink." she said. "Would you please lend me some of your clothes?"

"No need to lend mine." said Anna and smiled. "You can have yours. I packed some clothes for you. I knew you would come."

Maria smiled warmly at her sister despite her pain. She grabbed a small towel Anna offered and walked into the bathroom. She looked up and almost jumped out of her skin at seeing her reflection. 

Her hair was tangled and was stuck together on a side of her face with blood. The wound on her temple was bleeding again, leaving a trail of blood on the side of her face and neck. Her morning makeup that had covered Santi's handprint on her cheek had been washed away and now two bruises were sitting on her delicate cheek proudly. Other than that there were other cuts and bruises on her face.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she took off her shirt. A bruise was on her shoulder from where Mason King had grabbed her and another one was on her arm from where Ben had grabbed her. She quickly turned on the shower as silent sobs shook her aching body and she sank to her knees.

The water around her turned red as the warm water washed away the blood on her face. Never in her life, she had felt that helpless and alone. She let the soothing warm water wipe her tears as well as she cried her heart out.

After some minutes, when her tears dried and she was calm, she stood on her shaky legs and quickly washed her hair and body. She did her best to not look into the mirror as she wrapped the towel around her body and walked out of the bathroom.