In The Eyes of Alessandra

Chapter Two | Reality

Alessandra

There was a way in which the world was meant to be. It wasn't like this. Clutching my ribs as each blow had enveloped me with pain. I wanted to scream for help at one point but my voice stayed caught in my throat. Taking in the pain like all the other times. It made me feel numb. Reminding me of the life I was currently living in and the one I didn't have.

I could see in blurs as I looked around the warehouse. I was limp. My body immobile. Cemented to the ground as the beginning of the sunlight streamed in through the high windows.
The creaking of a door was heard seconds later it slammed close, the sound echoed through the empty space and footsteps made their way in my direction. A pair of boots appeared in my eye view but I couldn't bother to look up. The figure crouched down on a knee.

The joker's face. His eyes looked over my face. Observing the fresh bruises that made an appearance on my skin. He didn't speak. At least he didn't have to. His eyes were casted with a vibrance that could say so much. But he hid behind them like a shield. As I lay on the cold concrete I knew I would be used for something more. Reprisal. Money. I knew there must have been a list. Everyone always had a list.

Myself included.

My vision began to steady as I stared at the man's face. The long gash that went upward left there permanently on the side of lips was one made so that he would never forget. He might have been handsome before but the gash now made his smile look ghastly. His young face was tired as his eyes traveled up and down my figure. His eyes made their way down towards my torn up dress that was hanging off my body. My hair fell in waves around my shoulders. Grimy and coated in ashes. I could feel the dry blood and the ash that settled into the expensive piece of clothing that now hung in rags. I curled up. Looking weak. Feeble. Take it off. Take it away. Burn it.

"Can you move?"

I didn't bother looking at him. I couldn't even blink, let alone move a finger. The man moved closer as I flinched and looked anywhere but at his face. I had hoped for death. But it was too good to be true. I understood this life. I was capable of living through it. I had done so for years. I knew of the wounds. The scars. The blood that would be spilled. My eyes blurred at the thought of it.

My body began to fall in and out of an abyss. Without realizing, a material was thrown over my figure as I was lifted from the cold ground. I grunted in pain as my ribs burned like fire. His figure gave off warmth and I huddled into it from the cold that seeped in through the floors. We walked only a few steps away from where I had been. A door was heard being opened as I was set onto a cushioned surface. Immediately it was warmer in this space. A desk stood a little farther away, file cabinets shoved against another wall. I realized it was an office as pens and paper were scattered on the desk.

"Do you know who I am?"

I had no idea who he was. There were too many enemies to put a face to a name. Too many faces that dealt at the hand of my fiancé and worse. So much worse. Moises had enemies in every corner. The man's face was not something I recognized yet the scar was a visual, something that you couldn't forget and his eyes were like the sun. Familiar, yet unrecognizable. I moved my head slightly in his direction. Taking in his face again. The scar was deep. I kept my gaze on it, making him feel uncomfortable and unable to croak a single word. He sighed as he pulled out a chair and dragged it in my direction sitting right in my view. I shut my eyes and turned my head away from him. I was in pain. Agonizing pain.