The Marionette

Chapter Five - The Puppet

Chapter Five- The Puppet

I don't have a good feeling about this. The pit of my stomach churned in warning. I felt an eerie foreboding sweep over me causing a shiver to creep down my spine. Something was wrong. Something was off. As I listened to Valentin introduce Vladimir, I straightened up and kept my gaze on the stage, waiting for him to come out as Valentin walked off the stage. My eyes sought him out and then the lights went out and cast us all in a blacklight.

This was different... and creepy. Which was why people loved his acts. It was suspenseful, thrilling, mysterious and I couldn't get enough. I found myself zoning out as if in a trance and that's when I heard him.

"Cassandra, you belong to me now. Don't fight it. Don't try to figure out what has happened. Just let go and give it all to me. Come with me."

I tried to find the source of his voice, thinking that he was speaking through a microphone, but as I examined the crowd, I realized, they couldn't hear him. There were no words being spoken through a microphone. I was officially going crazy. That's what's happening. I'm having a mental break down. I would have laughed out loud but the room was eerily silent. You could have heard pin drop. I should just accept the inevitable and listen to the voice in my head who just so happens to be Vladimir. My obsession with him could have something to do with that.

I must have zoned out because when I looked to the right of me (mom was sat on my left side) Vladimir was there. His black top hat made him look so much like a villain and gorgeous, combined with his tux, he definitely looked like trouble. But what really stood out was his skin. It was so pale, almost translucent, so ashen under the blacklight. His veins looked so black. His icy-blue eyes fractured into shards, and for a moment, they looked completely black. But that couldn't be right. It had to be some part of his act. Or so I chose to believe. His abnormally white hair illuminated under the fluorescent lights, his whole look was so malevolent — so evil. He really pulled off creepy, and for some reason I couldn't stop myself from taking his white-gloved hand in mine as he offered it.

I stood and as his cool skin seeped through the white material of his glove and into me, I shivered, a feeling of unease crept up in the back of my mind and I didn't care. I followed Vladimir onto the stage, the crowd was nonexistent to me. It was me and Vladimir on the black polished floor. My eyes were still locked with his and as he took me backstage, and to his dressing room, he leaned close, so close all I could smell was his alluring cologne and his unique scent that reminded me of arctic ice.

His lips met mine, and that was it for me. I let him take control.

I woke in my bed, dampness coating my skin causing my sheets to stick to my skin. I felt so weak. My muscles ached, my bones felt so brittle and most of all, my head throbbed. Trying to sit up in the bed was a task I couldn't complete. I didn't even make it a quarter of the way. It was so hard to breathe and with the window halfway open, the wind blew my white sleek curtains causing a chilly wind to nip at my moist flesh.

I needed to shut the window before I ended up with pneumonia and hospitalized. I sucked in a breath and as I did, a shot of pain penetrated deep in my chest causing me to cry out. I wiped the sweat from my forehead away and turned my head toward the window — and there behind the curtain, a figure in the dark. That got me up and off the bed.

I jumped up and ran to my door, grabbed the door handle and twisted, then let out a gasp as the handle wouldn't budge an inch. Panic welled in my chest, my already heavy breathing turned more into a shallow pant as my veins ran cold with raw timorous. The more I tried to exert the energy I had left, the more tired I became.

Slow and meticulous footsteps sounded behind me. It was coming from my window. Oh, God. This is it. This is how I die. They came closer and closer... closer. The sounds of footsteps paused. I went to sigh out in relief only to pause with baited breath as a cool breath swept across the nape of my neck causing goose bumps to prickle all over my body. The hairs on my neck stood on end, a warning bell rang so very loudly in my head, crashing about in my skull like a Tsunami.