LOVE & REVENGE

Chapter 8: Mark's death

It was in the middle of the night when the door knob of Mark's room slowly turned and the door opened. Under the dim light, a snake's shadow appeared on the wall. The shadow approached Mark's bed slowly, crawled under his blanket, and stood in front of him.

Mark, who was completely drunk, sensed that someone was in his bed. He thought that Sophia had sneaked into his room to spend the night with him, and away from Charles and Albert's prying eyes. So, with closed eyes and a smile, he said, "Darling, it's late now and I'm tired." He heard no response though, and at the same moment felt a cold and damp animal under the blanket next to him.

Mark opened his eyes to see a snake in front of him. He shouted deafeningly as he tried to flee, but the snake did not give him a chance. It bit his neck and then quickly left the room through the open window to the garden.

All the guests on that floor awoke to the screaming and rushed to the hallway. Charles and Albert heard the scream and immediately left their room to find out who it was. Mark wasn't in the corridor when they looked around, but they did notice that his room was open. They hurriedly entered their friend's room where, to their terrible surprise, they found his dead body on the bed with a snake bite on his neck. They alerted the hotel manager, who immediately rushed to Mark's room with his staff. They were also horrified to see Mark's lifeless body.

The police arrived with the same doctor and a detective and rushed to Mark's room. After examining the body, the doctor concluded that Mark had been bitten by a particularly dangerous snake-like John's.

Given that the two deceased were foreigners who were fellow travelers, the detective, who was searching the room for anything suspicious, thought that the other members of the group might be in danger and should take extra precautions. Nevertheless, he was baffled as to why the Americans were the only guests who had been bitten by a snake when there were other foreign nationalities.

The hotel guests spent that night in the lobby till dawn before checking out of the hotel because they were so scared that there might again be another dead body.

The news of a snake found in a five-star hotel and the deaths of two guests had been on the newspaper front pages for several days.

Charles and Albert were furious and couldn't believe that they had lost two of their best friends and old comrades on that damned trip. They decided to take the first flight back home.

Sophia, who was saddened by Mark's death, came to Charles and tried to comfort him. Charles was crying and not feeling well. She inquired about the time to transport Mark's body to the airport.

Sophia went to her room without saying anything and did not come out that day. Charles went to her room at night and repeatedly knocked. Sofia opened the door and invited him in. Charles walked in and noticed that her room was chilly and dimly lit. The bulb was a pale blue color. Sophia took a bottle of wine from the refrigerator and poured some wine into two glasses for them. She positioned her glass next to Charles's and raised a glass to him. Charles told her that he would return to his country tomorrow morning and would drop by to say goodbye to her.

Sofia put her wine glass on the table after hearing this, walked to Charles, embraced him, and asked him to spend her final night with her. Charles stayed with Sofia as they conversed and drank wine.

Sophia was not there when Charles awoke in the morning. A note on the table caught his attention as he prepared to leave the room. It was from Sophia informing him that her mother was extremely ill and that she needed to see her. She wished Charles a happy trip and told him farewell in the letter, adding that she will be returning to the United States soon.

When Sophia said that she would soon be visiting New York, Charles, who had become fond of her during that brief trip, was delighted.

Charles felt as though he had seen Sophia's look before and that it was familiar to him when she was gazing into his eyes while they were in bed at night, but he could not remember where or when.

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