𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑃ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑥 ✔︎ || 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑑

10

~ phoenix ~

This time I wouldn't bother being discreet with my escape. What was the point if the bastards in this place controlled the entire freaking country? That son of a suka, Ilya.

If anyone got in my way, heaven save them because I was absolutely done. With the torture. The lies. This goddamn prison.

The hallways were filled with barely clothed hoes, who entertained black clad men. I skirted past occupied couples to a set of stairs that swirled down below. My eyes watered with angry tears and god, how easy it would be to give up and cry in a corner. But out there were people I loved, worried out of their minds and I would fight. At least for them.

I walked up one floors, I counted. The stairs were mostly empty except for the occasional maid who scuttled past. One seemed to recognise me and attempted to stop me, but after reading the look on my face, she was gone like the others. No doubt to tell the Don what I was up to. Goddamn snitch.

Finally, I was at the bottom. My bare feet hurt stung from the stinging cold emanating from the ground. And since I'd opted to take off the painful dress in the room, I was only clad in the long black shirt and my underwear. Yes, I was aware this was icy Russia but I'd rather die out there of hypothermia than here from god knows what. How was it that cold in summer?

Fighting through the chills, I continued my voyage around this bloody maze until I found a set of large grey double doors. Aha, the exit. Determined, I took large, unfaltering steps towards freedom. If anyone tried to—

THUD.

Ouch, what the— Since when was there a damn wall in the middle of nowhere? I groaned as the impact sent a jolt through my already injured head. I looked up to glare at the culprit. Hulk.

"Oh look what I found," Aleksey taunted with an evil smirk, "a dumb сука."

Gritting my teeth, I stepped back to create some distance between me and the stupid giant. "Look, I just want to-"

"Leave?" he finished for me.

But he didn't let me respond. His large rough hand came to snatch my upper arm in a harsh, painful grip. He dragged me towards the doors and flung them open. Then, I was flung too. Out into the open, into the cold, into freedom.

I looked open-mouthed at him, rubbing my bruised arm. Was this for real?

"Go," he sneered, "let's see how far you get. You can't survive without us here, сука, but I'll give you what you and I both fucking want. Die."

Why was I hurt? This was an arrogant, egotistical dick that I was speaking to. He didn't care if I lived or died, so why did it hurt me that he wished death upon me? Maybe because I didn't realise how low one could stoop. I hated him. I hated everyone here.

"Go then," he barked. "Run, little bitch."

After one last long bitter glance at Aleksey's fiery eyes, I gathered my wits. This was what I wanted: I was free. Pulling the shirt down as far as it relented, I refused to show the motherfucker how the soles of my feet were bleeding from the rough tarmac or how my body was close to convulsing from the plummeting temperatures. Instead, I walked up the long road to nowhere until he was just a speck in the distance.

The sun was falling from the sky in a fiery orange mess. It stole the light as it bid goodbye to the white mountains and evergreen trees on the highway I was shivering on. In its wake, the moon appeared. I wanted to cry and tell him how tempting death seemed at this point. I wanted nothing more than a warm hug from my Mom.

All of a sudden, my knees shattered into nothing. Numbness filled my legs as I collapsed to the ground in a limp heap. I folded myself into an invisible ball and waited. I didn't know for what. But I waited.

For what seemed like hours, nothing happened. Not a crack of a twig in the forest behind me nor the shuffle of leaves dancing in the wind.

The silence and darkness crumbled around me when I heard the muffled engine of a car approach. I was on the brink of a black emptiness. It hurt to keep my eyes open. Painful light flooded my vision. I couldn't look up, I didn't have the energy to.

"папа есть кто-то там," a childlike voice called. [Dad, there's someone there.]

The voices grew closer until two pairs of boots materialised in my line of vision. A warm hand fell onto my shoulder. I almost sobbed at the comforting sensation.

"Прошу прощения? Вы в порядке, мэм?" a deeper voice asked. [Excuse me? Are you okay, ma'am?]

Was he talking to me? I didn't know. I just wanted... sleep.

The voices continued. A small hand badgered at my shoulders. Soon, I felt myself being lifted into a set of arms. It felt so good, the heat.

A loud squeal suddenly interrupted my doze. It sounded oddly similar to the sound of car tyres. But there couldn't be cars in heaven, right?

Then, there was a hand on my forehead. A muttered curse, "Fuck!" and I was ripped into another person's hold.

"она моя подруга," that familiar voice explained. "она потерялась." [She's my girlfriend. She got lost.]

The warmth was irresistible. I mustered any vestige of energy to claw the heat source closer to me. A satisfied hum left my throat when the arms wrapped tighter around my frame. I was no longer trembling.

More voices followed but I couldn't, didn't want to hear it. I was so tired, so so tired. I felt insane with the need to lose myself in the darkness. There was a quiet, subdued yet feral desire to block everything out and focus on the only thing grounding me to this world: him. Flames burned in my head and my lips felt bloodless.

I didn't even want to think about it, but if he hadn't come today, perhaps I'd be long gone. Somewhere deep down I recognised his irresistible heat, his rough hands, his weakening stare. And I hated it.

But now I lost the will to fight to the will to survive.

Maybe tomorrow he'd release me. Now, I'd beg him not to.

𝑥𝑜
𝖗𝖔𝖘𝖆𝖛𝖎