~The lost one~

Chapter 36

3rd poV:
Simi woke up groggy, her head pounding like a drum. The unfamiliar room around her was warm and welcoming, but still strange, an odd mixture of comfort and unfamiliarity. The soft fabric of the sheets pressed against her skin, and for a moment, she allowed herself to sink into them, trying to forget the heaviness in her chest. But then her mind turned to her one refuge, the only constant that had traveled with her through all the madness—her diary.

"I need to write in it," she thought, the urge to pour her thoughts out onto paper strong. Pushing herself up, she scanned the room. It had to be her new room—Vittorio's house, her family's home—but it felt alien. The furniture was elegant, far more luxurious than what she was used to, and though the warmth of the room wrapped around her like a blanket, it was tinged with a sense of oddness. A beautiful cage, perhaps. A place meant to feel safe, but which only reminded her of how lost she was.

Simi rummaged through her duffle bag, the last remnant of the life she had before everything changed. Her fingers brushed against the familiar worn leather of her diary, rough against her skin. She pulled it out slowly, as though it held a power she wasn't quite ready to face.

The diary's **black leather cover** was scuffed and frayed, evidence of the years it had spent collecting her secrets. Its **pages were thick, yellowed**, and slightly crumpled at the edges from being clenched in her fists during the worst of times. **Ink smudges** decorated the pages, testament to the hurried, frantic scribbling of her emotions. Here and there, **faint coffee stains** and the odd water mark—tears, she thought—stood as reminders of how many times this book had carried the weight of her soul.

She flipped open to a fresh page, the familiar **musty scent** of the old paper wafting up toward her. It felt like home. Cold, yet comforting, like the diary had absorbed all her sadness, anger, and confusion over the years.

Pen in hand, she wrote:

**1. Parents dead 
2. Found REAL FATHER AND 6 BROTHERS 
3. Got kidnapped 
4. My life is insane**

Her handwriting started neat, controlled, but quickly became shaky as she wrote the words down. Each point felt heavier than the last, and by the time she finished, her head throbbed. The pain, the exhaustion, the sheer insanity of the past two days weighed down on her. She dropped the pen, the words on the page blurring as her vision began to swim.

With a heavy sigh, Simi leaned back, sinking into the pillows. Everything was too much—too fast, too chaotic. She had been pulled in so many directions, her life unraveling before her eyes. Closing her diary, she placed it on the side table and shut her eyes, attempting to block out the overwhelming thoughts racing through her mind.

Just as she began to drift off into the chaotic mess of her thoughts, she heard a soft creak. The door opened slowly. She tensed, her muscles stiffening as she instinctively braced herself for whatever was to come next...