Love under the shadow of power/ Kylian Mbappé

Chapter 9: trapped in the basement

When I come to myself, my head is immediately pounding. The dull pain pulses through my skull, and before I can orient myself properly, another sensation hits me: loud music..
It's so deafening that the floor beneath me vibrates slightly. It feels as though the music is coming from right above me, as if there's a club where people are partying, dancing, drinking - yet I'm here, trapped below, in this dark, stuffy cellar.

I try to stand, but my legs are heavy, unsteady. The walls around me are damp and cold, and the air is oppressively stagnant.
The music... it makes everything feel surreal, as though I'm trapped in a nightmare, while life continues above me as if nothing is wrong. Panic spreads inside me, my breathing quickens, and I spin around in desperation. Suddenly, I see movement in the corner.

There, in the darkness, someone is huddled. A figure, a shadow. My heart skips a beat. Who is that?
Fear jolts through me, but as I look closer, I recognize the outline. A man. No... this can't be happening. Leon? My thoughts race.

At that very moment, he moves. He slowly opens his eyes, and as he looks around, he seems just as confused as I am. Without thinking, I burst into words, my voice loud to overpower the music: "Leon! Is that you?"

He blinks at me, his eyes filled with confusion and disbelief. "Inaya?" His voice is weak, as if he's struggling to grasp what's happening.

"What are you doing here?" I nearly scream, drowned out by the blaring music that still surrounds us, as though we're in the middle of a dance club, yet we feel only the cold, dirty concrete beneath us.

Leon looks around, as if trying to collect his thoughts. "I don't know...,"
he mumbles, still dazed. "I was with my wife... we were about to leave... when someone suddenly knocked me out from behind." His hand unconsciously reaches for the back of his head, as if he can still feel the pain.

"What?" A shiver runs down my spine. "The same thing happened to me! I was knocked out from behind too..." My voice softens, the words echoing in the oppressive closeness of the cellar.
Why? Why us? What's happening?

Leon looks at me, his eyes full of fear and confusion. "Why are they doing this to us?" he finally asks, his voice trembling. "Who would do something like this? And why?"

The music upstairs seems to grow louder, as if it's trying to drive us further into madness with every pounding bass beat. My heart pounds in my chest, and the walls seem to close in. Someone has locked us down here - while above us, life carries on as if everything is normal.

The music continues to throb from above, so loud that my heart seems to beat in time with it. Everything around me blurs into a chaos of sounds and feelings. My hands tremble as I lean against the cold walls, searching for a way out. Leon is still sitting in the corner, his forehead creased with pain, and then I hear it - the squeak of an old door.

Two figures enter the cellar. A man and a woman. Their faces are barely visible in the dim light, but their presence freezes the air in the room. The woman steps forward, while the man looms menacingly behind her. A click, and suddenly the room is flooded with harsh, unforgiving light.

Leon lifts his head and blinks. "Marie?" he asks in astonishment. His voice cracks, filled with disbelief and hope. "Is that you?"

The woman steps closer, and I realize that Leon must know this woman somehow. Her movements are so firm, so confident. In her hand, she holds a knife that gleams menacingly in the light. Leon, still confused, looks at her. "What happened to your belly? Weren't you pregnant?" His voice trembles with uncertainty.

The woman bursts into sharp, cold laughter that slices through the room. "Pregnant?" she sneers, fixing Leon with a crazed stare. "You really thought I was pregnant? Our whole lovestory was a joke from the start. I'm not Marie." She smiles cruelly. "My name is Leila."