The Clock of Miss Fortune ✔

Chapter - 21

A slap on his face woke him up. He smelled foul like a cockroach crawled out of a gutter. Another slap rang his ears. His eyes tried to adjust to the darkness. He coughed and sat straight. He rubbed his eyes and then his cheek. "Fuck sake, Gabriella." Baron spoke.

What? Hannah couldn't speak.

"How long are you going to sleep like a dog? Go clean yourself." Gabriella said. "We have a great night coming upon us."

"How do you know that?" Baron rubbed his red cheeks.

"I just know. There is a memory inside my head, or rather a voice following it." Gabriella said, confused. "I don't know. It sounds pleasant."

My voice? Hannah still couldn't speak.

"Yes." Baron nodded.

Later that night Baron stole a few beautiful dresses and makeup materials from some house he stumbled upon. He chose empty houses and sneaked in. He found many things, many exorbitant things. In one of the houses he even found couples having sex. Another one had a fight in it and another one was solely empty. There was a portrait of a family. Hand painted of course and they looked really wealthy. The door opened and their daughter entered. She saw him but didn't scream. Instead she lost her virginity to Baron. That was the first time Baron tasted royalty and asked her to have his way with her for many more nights. She nodded and blushed. That night alone he had sex twice. One with the wealthy daughter and another one with a woman whose husband stormed off in the middle of the night to have a sex with another woman. She knew of course and let Baron inside. It was the first time for Baron to lay his hands on a grown woman. He simply forgot about the daughter of a wealthy family. She even gave her her clothes which he later took to Gabriella. It was late at night.

At first the very idea seemed stupid but eventually he wanted to see for himself what she was capable of. She cleaned herself in the nearby river, wore one of the dresses which she liked the most and put on some makeup as if it was natural for her to know everything.

"I saw some women doing it before." She looked at Baron who was just surprised.

I actually have a memory, Gabriella thought. I just don't want Baron to thing that I'm stupid. This memory. Where is it from? She pushed this thought aside and asked Baron how she looked.

"Not smelly." Baron said.

That night she slept with seven men. And the night after that was the same. And the night after that followed by many more nights where she almost fucked every single man in that town. Mostly everyone. Those remaining few didn't seem to have any interest in her or simply weren't man enough to submit to her beauty.

"Don't you feel stupid doing something so..." Baron paused and thought of some pretty words which would sound intelligent but he couldn't come up with anything. "Stupid." He eventually said it.

"Why?" Gabriella asked while washing the makeup. "You do it. You fuck that little rich whore and that old cunt from the second house. You don't feel stupid?"

"I only fuck two." Baron spat in the water. "You fucked the entire town."

"Same thing." She was hiding her clothes.

"No, it's not."

"Then I'm a whore too." She smiled and it was the most genuine smile Baron had seen on her face.

He blushed a little, "No, you're not. You are just... different." He softly whispered.

"I think," She turned to him, "This is it. I don't want to continue. I want to leave this town."

Baron simply nodded not knowing the consequences awaiting Gabriella. It was something which couldn't be altered. Even knowing wouldn't change the outcome.

There was a sudden change in Gabriella's nature. A Deja vu which played like a film inside her head. She was caught and beaten half dead. But that merely felt like a distant nightmare. No. The voice, Hannah's voice would say inside her head. You can't stay. Her voice bloomed like a flower and continued to disrupt her mind from within.

And, the next night they caught Gabriella. She started to believe it. The voice was right. The feelings bursting yesterday were not worthless. It felt so real when the voice came back to her. You'll live. Hannah's voice said. Run away with Baron. Her voice spoke again and felt quiet after that as if she lost the ability to speak. Her voice was long gone and all she could do was see Gabriella walk down the same path of bloody night. She was beaten without mercy. She never once thought that she deserved that.

At some point, unconsciously she whispered to Baron. The reason was not Hannah's words but her own feelings to run away from this hell. Everything felt red and blurry and painful. Even her voice barely left her mouth when she was being stomped by other women.

From the corner of her eyes she saw Baron running towards her with a metal rod. He beat half of them with it and pulled Gabriella out of their grasp. He didn't feel anything in particular but just thought, 'She didn't deserve this. But, she did?' He didn't know any better. Because it was not his voice. It was Michael's voice which created a shift in thoughts.

Few days later Baron slept with her. It was on impulse. It was a moment where they both wanted the same thing. Or rather it was what Hannah and Michael wanted at that moment which slowly manifested inside Baron and Gabriella's mind. They even got married even if that was not on official papers. But they did and a year later Gabriella gave birth to a beautiful girl. And, maybe, it was a manifestation of Hannah and Michael's memories and words as well. It was something they unconsciously altered in this time and led to a future which they now know.