IVAN ~•~ After my depressing manic episodes, always came the headache that threatened to split my head into two. I did not know how I had fallen asleep, I only knew that the cold air from my air-conditioner caused me to draw my duvet up to my chest in reflex. I was tired, so tired that I could sleep in bed for only God knows how long. I did not want my mind to wander back to the events that had resulted in my…tantrum, that was the word I liked to use. My eyelids had barely parted, I knew it would be painful to open my eyes. I stretched my hand to the side of my bed, just to inform whoever was by my side that I was awake. Antonio was always seated by my side. Immediately I woke up, he would place a damp towel on my head, check my temperature and administer my medication. I had not expected to see him this time, because the person I wanted close to me was Camilla. My right hand touched the right end of my bed, but nobody squeezed it gently. I fought hard to part my eyelids, despite
IVAN~•~I did not know when I opened my arms and pulled Tina into my body. I carried her and placed her against my chest, I noticed how firm her small hands wrapped themselves around my neck. She pressed her head into my right shoulder and I felt my shirt dampen with her tears. I could not stop mine from falling, no matter how hard I tried.My tears welled up in my eyes and ran down my face freely. I was holding the one person I had dreamt of holding all my life. She was here now, with me. "I missed you so much daddy." Her voice was muffled against my neck. I sniffed back my tears, but it did not stop them from stubbornly running down my cheeks. I missed her too, I missed her so much, too much, she had absolutely no idea. "I always asked mummy when you would come see us. She always said you would come one day, but you never did. I was sad, I thought you didn't love me and mummy anymore. I thought that…" She sniffed and pulled her head up from my shoulder. She was looking at me now,
CAMILLA~•~I lay on my bed, Lana Del Rey blasted from the speakers of my mp3 player. I wanted to just lie down and close my eyes, drift off to another world entirely, but I knew I was here on a job. So, I had to focus, pick up my laptop and reach out to my community of psychotherapists. I did not give them the identity of my client, of course, but I did let them know the current situation. The man had been taking antidepressants for only God knows how long, I wanted to see how I could correct and flush his system of the effect. It would not be an easy thing to do, I knew that. Most of the people who replied to my comment let me know that I now had a lot of work on my hands. They let me know the importance of informing his family and changing the course of his medication immediately. But, there was a problem. Mister Ivan did not have a family besides Antonio and Ian. I did not think I could trust either the first or second man with my discovery. One of them might be responsible for
IVAN~•~ "You're going to stay here Camilla, because I need you. And you promised you would not leave." It was hard to hear myself speak, to believe that I had admitted to wanting…no, needing someone. I did not know what was slowly becoming of me, and I could not tell if I liked it. Her lazy brown eyes flickered up at me, I caught the smile within them, even though she would not let me see her lips thin into a smile. For a moment, when I had seen her rush back to pack her clothes, my heart skipped several beats. The thought that she was going to leave, that no one was going to hold me during my manic episodes, that no one was going to comfort me or want to listen to the things I had to say, everything terrified me. She gazed up at me, I was several inches taller than her, and I did not think anything was wrong with the way I enjoyed looking down at her, she was so small compared to me, I wanted to pull her into my arms and squeeze her, just the same way I would squeeze Tina. Finall
CAMILLA~•~ To say that I was the least surprised by Sarah Holloway's reaction would be a gruesome lie. From the moment I saw her two kids at my door, I knew our meeting was going to be an awkward one. She would either be necessarily cold, or unnecessarily friendly. I had low-key wished she would choose the former, I could cope with that. Sarah Holloway was, by every beauty standard, an astonishing woman. She stood on lean and tall legs, not less than five feet and ten inches tall, almost the height of her darling husband. Sunny blonde hair and blue eyes that completed her icy look. Her teeth were a sparkling shade of white, I could sue her dentist for such a perfection. She had daring, yet, quiet eyes. It was a dangerous mix, one that I did not understand how she had managed to pull off. When she walked into the room, she commanded my attention. I immediately saw why a man like mister Ivan had gone for a woman like her. She walked, talked, and even smiled powerfully. Her hands
CAMILLA~•~ I cannot say I woke up with my head in the right place, but I did wake up with a clearer mind than I slept with. My saliva was all over the open pages of my book, and my glasses lay hopelessly beside the book. I raised my head up and scrubbed my eyes with the back of my palm. My sleepy eyes found my phone underneath my pillow, I stretched my right hand to it and pressed my home button. My wallpaper, a black furred cat, came into display, and the time along with it. 8:00am. Shit. I had just an hour to catch up with Tehilah and Aaron. Yes, Aaron. There was no way in hell I was ever going to address that man as my father, never again. I rose up from the bed and headed to the bathroom. I took a quick shower and dressed myself in a moss green gown. Straight with no complex cuts, it rested above my knee. It clung to my flesh and helped accentuate the small curves I had. It was short sleeved, so I knew I would not have to worry about the heat. I packed my brown hair int
CAMILLA~•~My question was met with a questioning stare from Tehilah. My father did not look surprised. He had no right to, no right at all. Tehilah forced a chuckle as she stared at me. "Why, of course dad's coming! Francis and I have already invited him. He is going to walk me down the aisle." Flashes of red enveloped my sight. I tried to sit still, believe me when I say that I tried. But, I just could not, especially when she was about to betray our mother in the worst way possible. I sat up, straightened my posture, before I stared blankly at her. I did not know when a bitter and hysterical laughter escaped my throat, causing me to throw my head back and hold on to my stomach. It was all very funny, too funny to ignore. People were beginning to stare at us, I knew because Tehilah started to kick my leg from underneath the table. My laughter died down, and I looked down at the both of them, bits of tears staining my cheeks. "You mean, this man is going to walk you down the
CAMILLA~•~"Cam! Camilla!" She continued to call after me, while I stomped out of the restaurant. But, I could not hear her, the only sounds I could hear were the sounds of my forced chuckles, and the sound of my heart breaking. I wiped my eyes with the back of my palm, but the tears would not stop flowing. I lost my mother because of him, and now, he has taken my sister away from me. Whenever I saw him, some kind of loss always seemed to follow.I was tired, so tired of everything that had to do with him.Freddie's house was a ten minutes walk from the restaurant, but I was not sure I could walk without falling to the ground. I boarded a taxi and stuck my eyes outside the window, so I would not drive past his house. His car was in his driveway when I alighted from the taxi. I had never been more happy to see that car in my life. I took wobbly steps towards his door and knocked on it once. I waited for three minutes, but there was no reply. I sniffed back my tears and knocked a
AUTHOR ~•~ Voices. He could hear them all around him, echoing from a distance. It surprised him how he could hear people speak despite the ringing in his ears. He did not know where he was, but the smell of bleach that stole its way into his nostrils told him he was in a hospital room. No other place in the world could reek of such a harsh disinfectant. "Is he going to be okay?" The female voice asked. Something in Ivan sparked up. He stretched his hand slowly, as though reaching out to grab the voice. "He suffered a major heart attack, which is very strange for someone as young as he is. But with his medical history and the situation he was in, there is nothing we can completely rule out now, is there?" The female doctor spoke. Camilla heaved a heavy sigh, adjusted her glasses on her face and slipped her hands into the pockets of her jean trousers."What about the baby? The two-year-old boy, would he be alright?" "Both of the kids are still…shaken. It's not everyday a child
AUTHOR~•~ Freddie pointed the gun at the back of the man's head. He turned to Camilla again, his eyes asked her if she was sure he was the one. Camilla frowned and nodded affirmatively. Her heart was already beginning to pound so loud, it was a miracle the man in the warehouse had not heard it. Immediately - and without hesitation - Freddie pulled the trigger and fired the gun. ~•~ 15 MINUTES EARLIER ~•~ Camilla and Freddie had followed the sound of the shooting, past the bushes, down to an old warehouse. They found two cars parked in front of it and Camilla recognized one of the cars as the one Antonio had driven. Freddie continued to watch his best friend lead the way to the side of the building. As they hid at the back of an old Honda truck, they peeked around the warehouse, just to make sure that there were no guards or anything of that sort around. "I really do not know why we have to do this, Camilla. How do we know he is in there?" Freddie spoke and Camilla did not hav
IVAN~•~ Sarah fell to the ground beside her father. I watched as blood oozed out from the back of her hair and formed a small puddle around her. Ian smiled and kissed his teeth as he looked down at me. "Two down, one to go." His voice echoed in my ears as he stepped forward. He trampled upon the dead bodies to get to me. When he stood in front of me, he lowered himself to stare me straight in the eyes. I did not know what I felt at that moment, I did not even know if I felt anything at all.All I wanted to do at that moment was to reach out to my daughter and hold her. The revelation that she was not really mine, to know that nobody had ever been on my side, all of that made me want to die here. Life was no longer worth it. How was I supposed to walk around knowing that everyone I had trusted the most turned out to be traitors in the end? Would I ever come out of this trauma with a clear mind and heart? How was I supposed to ever trust anyone again? Out of everything, what hurt
CAMILLA~•~ "What the fuck?!" Freddie screamed. In one swift move, he pulled me closer to himself as if he was going to shield me from something. I couldn't lie, the sound of the gun shot in the air was so loud that it had sent shivers up my spine. We had just gotten out of the car. We had followed Antonio behind, all the way to this very creepy and lonely road. Freddie did not want to keep going, but I had to continuously beg him. Freddie released me from his grip and rushed back to the car. I turned to him with a frown on my face. "Where are you going?" My heart was starting to beat faster. This was no longer a psychological rescue mission, it was a physical one. Freddie opened the door of his driver's seat before he looked up at me. "I do not know if you haven't noticed, Camilla. But we might just be walking straight into a gunfight." He replied, before putting his head into his car. My frown deepened, I could feel the creases on my forehead. "So you're just gonna leave?"
IVAN ~•~ "Why, hello Ivan!" Sarah called out as she stood in front of me with a small smile on her face. My eyes drifted to the pistol in her right hand before it traveled to her face. To say I was confused and shaken would be a grave understatement.I needed to understand what was happening. I looked around the dimly lit room. There were two huge wooden doors at the front, the room was filled with iron barrels that reeked of petrol, sweat and dust. I found a lighter on top of one of the huge barrels and my eyes widened. Shock came before fear, fear was followed by confusion, and the confusion was accompanied by grave anger. I turned sharply to her, my eyes held a lot of questions, I knew I did not have to voice them out. Sarah shook her head and pulled her gun back into the right pocket of her black leather jacket. My wife had her blonde hair in a messy ponytail, her eyes held an expression I did not quite understand. "Sarah," I managed to speak. She turned her back towards me a
IVAN ~•~ My eyelids parted slowly, but with much effort. Darkness enveloped me almost immediately, the stale smell of sweat greeted my nostrils and I sneezed on reflex. My eyes stung, I needed to scratch them. Groaning in frustration, I fought to bring my hands to my eyes. I could not, my hands were tied behind my back, and the more I struggled, the more the thin rope dug deeper into my flesh. "Shit!" I cried out. Nothing made any sense, what was I doing here? How did I get here? What was this place? I struggled to find something, anything to give me a clue. Nothing.I saw nothing besides absolute darkness. No windows, that was certain. But I could not tell whether or not there was a door. I looked around once again as if looking over the room time and time again would bring something I had not seen before to sight. "Hello! Who's there?!" I screamed, my echoes thundered all over the room. Two things were certain; the room was empty and it was large. The struggle to free m
AUTHOR ~•~Elina Washington looked at her phone again for the umpteenth time. She had been expecting a call from a certain stranger, but nothing was coming forth. It had been impossible to get any sleep last night, not without thinking of the hundred possibilities, hundred different things that could have happened; one of them being that he had been caught! Elina shook her head as she rose from the stool in front of her grand piano. She covered her chest with the silk robe of her night dress and paced about the piano room.She had told the man not to call on one condition; that he had failed. But she knew his type of man. Whether he was successful or not, he would have asked for something, even if it was half of the original price. Yet, here she was, confused and scared because she had not heard a word from him.Ding dong. The sound of her doorbell echoed around her house. She turned in the direction of the metal door of her piano room. She had not been expecting anyone. The man
IVAN~•~ I opened my eyes to the sound of sirens blaring all around me. The first thing my gaze met was the sight of the roof of my car. I could feel my legs dangling from the edge of my car seat. I tilted my neck to look to my left, blood was splattered all over the leather of my car seat. I struggled to sit up, but the back of my head stung like hell. I could barely remember anything. I held on to the driver's seat while I fought hard to sit up, it was only then I took note of the situation.There were police cars all around me. I saw Sarah weeping terribly, a female officer continued to tap her shoulder. Sarah was clad in a black blanket, her hair and makeup were both in a mess. She was saying something, everyone around me had their mouths moving for one reason or the other. His face flashed through my mind.Johnny! I looked around for any signs of him. The only thing I saw was a body on a stretcher being lifted into an ambulance. Panic seized my chest immediately. What had ha
AUTHOR~•~She had watched from the terrace as the woman got into her husband's car and the driver drove her out of their driveway. She had seen the lady carry along with her a big suitcase. She had seen the look on the woman's face. The pain in her eyes made it evident that she wasn't returning. Sarah smiled to herself as she watched the car run off into a distance, away from her home, away from her family. She did not know what had happened while the woman and Ivan were away, but whatever it was, it had caused Ivan to return to his senses. Sarah turned around and found her father standing at the foot of the door. He had a tray of coffee and fresh toast in his hands. Sarah swallowed hard. She knew how her father could be when he caught her slacking. "What are you trying to do? Waste our time?" He growled. Sarah maintained her remorseful expression and bowed her head. "No, Papa. It's just…" "Parlami quando ho risolto i problemi, non sprecare il mio tempo mentre li risolvo. Don'