La Regina: Nicola |18+|

7. Manipulation

Nicola

For the first time in years, I felt terror in my sleep.

I had a nightmare.

The object was so vividly clear.

Elena Arcuri.

It was images from distant memories. We were having a family lunch at our beach house in Malibu where we always went for summer vacation up until her death.

She was wearing her maxi white dress, sitting across from me. Her hair was mahogany and wavy, cascading over her shoulders. Her face angelic and beautiful with minimal sign of aging. Her eyes were chocolate, softened with innocence and serene.

If only people knew what she was truly capable of.

From the outside, we looked like a perfect family. But frankly, we were every bit of dysfunctional one.

The main monster in the household was the one holding my gaze with a lil sly smirk only for me to see. Everything around us was a blur.

She took a deep drag of her cigarette she pinched between her thumb and index finger, casually blowing out smokes to my face.

I tensed.

She was reminding me of the things she did with those cancer sticks.

The burns.

The disgusting marks I would carry for the rest of my life.

"Did you miss me, Cola?"

Her voice was soft, a total opposite of the wicked witch lurking behind the motherly persona she was portraying.

A narcissistic figure whom people were blind to see.

I hated when she called me that.

I hated that she was clinically insane and hating me passionately.

"You were dead." I gritted my teeth, not convinced at the figure before me. The illusion that happened to be real. The vision I probably met soon in reality.

"You couldn't get rid off me that easily, darling." She laughed. It might sound genuine on anyone's ears, but to me it was sinister.

Her presence irked me to the point I grabbed a fork and intended to stab her with it.

All of a sudden there were hands gripping my upper arms. Before I knew what was happening, I was forced to stand and dragged away from the table.

Her evil laughs got louder.

Maybe it was the panic in my eyes. Maybe it was the fact that my father and Cesco were the ones holding me on each side.

I kicked, screaming for them to release me.

"You have no one."

Her mean smile was the last thing I saw before I jolted awake.

Sweating, cocooned in the comfort of bed and duvet over my body. I touched my temple and found a patch covering the wound from the night before.

Images of last night were replaying in my brain. Especially the part when I crashed his car against a tree because I was driven by rage and impulsivity.

I pushed the duvet aside, glancing at the untouched side of the bed while looking for the owner of the room.

The curtains were closed right now, so the room was almost in complete darkness. The lights on each corner are too dim, but after a while, I could make out a figure sleeping on the large couch.