Ecstasy

Bystander

"What hurts the victim most is not the cruelty of the oppressor, but the silence of the bystander."

- Excerpt by Elie Weisel

LORENZO ANTONOV

For some reason, Papa invited me over to celebrate his birthday.

It's stupid.

I know the full reason why they're interested in bringing me over when half of the time, they don't even bother to contact me and I send cards and a watch for my papa's birthday.

Brielle is there, that's why I'm being invited.

I'm in front of Sergei's huge ass mansion. It is unnecessarily big. Bigger than mine and I have more people, at least five plus people.

Mr. Chernoff opens the door and lets me inside before disappearing somewhere. Frankly, I don't care.

During this trip, I'm going to try and convince Sergei in the best way I can to let her go.

I look around and soon a butler appears in front of me.

"I will bring you to your room now," he says and I shake my head.

"That won't be necessary. I'll do it myself," I say. It's not like it changes. I stay in the same room continuously. I always had. I like the room because it's not dead inside like every place in this house. He bows to me and leaves.

The fuck was that for?

Sergei is really weird for wanting servants to do that. Plus, I never liked the amount of servants he has. It's unsettling and it just shows he's lazy. Why have this big of a house if you can't clean it?

I place my bag down on the couch and begin searching the house for her.

Brielle.

Looking through the glass door, I see a woman outside in the garden. I've always been surprised that Sergei has a garden.

I peer closer to the woman and I see the black hair and pale skin that glistens in the sun.

The woman I love.

She's watering the flowers in the garden and, even though I always know it's more apparent right now, she's beautiful. Really.

The wind is blowing through her hair and it just... Just watching this woman sometimes makes me feel like I'm watching a goddess on Earth.

She's in an orange sweatshirt and light colored jeans with sandals on. I wonder why she's in that when it's hot outside but she's always been a mystery to me.

I walk outside, quietly and... I feel nervous talking to her. Sergei makes sure to keep us away from each other but it's just me and her.

I haven't seen her in two weeks. I really do miss seeing her face. It's not the same at home without her.

"Hey, Angel," I greet and she jumps up, quickly turning around. She has this scared look on her face. When she realizes it's me, she looks even more terrified.

She looks around, quickly and then back to me. I don't like her face. She's really scared to be here, talking to me.

"We shouldn't be talking to each other," she puts down the water canister and moves past me to go inside. I go to grab her wrist but she manages to dodge me and slip past.

What?

I quickly follow her but by the time I go inside, she's gone. I look down each hallway but with nothing. Once again, Sergei has a freakishly big mansion.