Afterlight ✔️

chapter four

— Chloe Romano

I opened my eyes to finally see the sunlight of Stratford, Ontario, beaming through the blinds of the house. I glared down to find myself wrapped with a large Canadian flag blanket, giving me warmth. How did this blanket end up on me? I assumed it was the owner of the house, the guy I had gotten in a heated argument with, the guy who saved me in the alley. Well, sorta. I held my head in agony, letting out a sigh of stress, I felt like I had just gotten hit by a truck. As I recalled, the past two days had been quite– different. It wasn't particularly a nice feeling to know what had happened to me, I just thought that I should've followed my brother's orders and stayed out of Stratford, but the past couldn't be changed.

Whatever happened... It just happened.

The past two days, I had been kidnapped, I was threatened, starved and held captive– I felt violated. Venom wanted to terrorize me until the point that I wanted to die, myself.

Death was what I feared the most.

I couldn't believe this was how I was being treated just because of my Brad's history with one of the gangs leader. I never meant for this to happen, I never meant to be kidnapped, just for sharing my name with someone, just this once. There was a story to how Venom found me, and it was a violation of my privacy. The leader of Venom sent every hotel and motel in Stratford a memo to call if anyone named Chloe or Brad Romano stopped by or not. The receptionists had absolutely no clue that those were gang members who called in, they thought that they were innocent citizens, looking for people who have gone missing. So, the old man at the front desk of Swan Motel called Venom and told them that I had checked in, thus leading the gang to capture me.

As I recalled, the air conditioning in the house would never be turned on. The heat rained down on me like a breath of hell, and I thought I'd burn to death, eventually. I truly wanted someone to save me, put me out of misery, but it was obvious that nothing similar was going to happen, causing me later to jump out of the tiny window to victory. There was no hero that I could count on, no knight, no charming prince waiting on his white horse to save me. No, I had to become a survivor and save myself. After exiting the window, I had never ran so fast in my entire life.

The fact that I was getting chased by them just entirely made the situation worse than it already was. And then, I was found in an alley, but it wasn't by someone any less violent than the gang– It was none other than the Venom's leader's little brother. My back was still slightly sore from being pressed into the walls of the alley, memories of him breathing down my neck started playing in my mind. He completely got me in his car, after I begged and pleaded him to take me somewhere else.

Coming in contact with Justin has led me to cover up my identity completely, as I will now be known as Julia Gallo.

I peered around the room to see if Justin was around, but he was nowhere to be found. The only thing I could hear is the clock ticking, hanging on the white wall. I wrinkled her nose at the unwashed clothes lying on the floor combined with Justin's filthy boots. Other than some papers flying around, clothes scattered across the floor and the dishes not being in the dishwasher, the house looks pretty decent, considering he pretty much lived here alone. Where was his brother, the infamous boss and leader of Venom? Where were his parents?

Pain seared through my back and legs better than a branding iron and for a second, I stilled, waiting for the waves of pain to pass. Sleeping on the couch didn't help me feel any better, but at least I got some kind of rest which reminded me that I went to sleep with no blanket wrapped on my body, but I woke up one on. I wasn't sure why Justin would actually care enough to bring me a blanket, but it was nice of him since he wasn't going to let me lay here in the cold. Who knew a ruthless criminal, who tried to act all tough on me, would lay a blanket on me? Seemed a little odd. But after all, I barely knew anything about him.