Alive

Chapter 3

Raya's POV 

Beep.. beep...beep 

My eyes fluttered open and the first thing I felt was the cold. My lungs burned as I tried to take a breath. Water invaded my throat, sharp and painful. Submerged under a large amount of water, I was sinking. 

No matter how hard I tried to fight, the water kept pulling me under, dragging me deeper into its dark abyss.

My heart raced, and panic seized me as I gasped for air, but there was nothing, only the pressure of the water that trashed my body violently, pushing against my chest, dragging my body.

"Raya, take my hand!" A voice rang in the distance, and I turned, trying to find the source, but the water blurred my sight as I tried desperately to see in front of me despite the burning sensation in my eyes.

"I'm here Raya, take my hands, I'm here," The voice yelled again, and I finally caught sight of him 

I kicked toward him, desperate to reach out, to grab his hand, but the water surged between us, shoving me back.

"Here Raya," the voice called again. I heard the pain in it, but my body was slipping away.

I reached out once more, my fingers brushing his, but just as I felt the warmth of his hand, the current yanked me back. The water slammed over my head, and I was swallowed whole.

"No, no, no!" I yelled, and the slam of my head on a rock was the last thing I felt...

                        *********

I jerked awake and I felt my lungs burn as I gasped for air, the familiarity of my recurring nightmare stung sharply in my chest.

I looked around the room, staring at the sterile white walls too bright, too clean, too real.

 My body was heavy and sore. My head throbbed, and when I looked down on my body to the pale pink hospital scrub.

"What... what happened?" I muttered as I held my hands out to feel them.

I tried to push myself up, but the pain was too much. I could barely move, pain shot through my body making me stumble back to the bed.

The door clicked open and I turned my head slowly, my eyes falling on the figure who had entered. A tall man in a pair of shirts and pants. His face was unreadable as he walked closer but there was something about him that felt... dangerous.

He didn’t speak right away. Just stared at me, his gaze intense.

“Who... Who are you?” I asked, my voice hoarse and shaky.

He stood still for a moment without a word and instead stared at me like he was waiting for something before he finally spoke.

"You don’t remember?" He asked, his eyes glaring as though he wanted to pierce a hole through my heart.

I shook my head, rolling my eyes for anything, panic rose in my chest as I held my breath, too afraid to let it out.

"I—I don't even know how I ended up here...this hospital room, my body feeling broken. The only thing I remembered was...

"Falling... the building..." My voice was trembling now. The memory was hazy, but I remembered the fall, Mark... Kelly, and the sickening feeling of the world dropping beneath me.

The man’s expression shifted, just slightly, but it was enough for me to notice. 

"I didn’t think you’d remember that, you’ve been out for a while." He said and took a seat in front of me.

"A while? How long have I been here?" I asked, shifting away from him.

"A month, you've been in a coma for a month," he answered languidly.

I tried to sit up again, but my body refused to cooperate, pain soared through every inch of my body and I froze, instinctively pulling back when he moved toward me.

"D—don't touch me please," I hissed, my heart pounding as my body tightened with a nerve-wracking pain. I didn’t know him. I didn’t know what had happened.

The man paused, but his gaze remained fixed on me, sharp and calculating before he finally said.

"I’m not here to hurt you, Raya," he added, my heart thumped louder as he called my name

"P—please... who are you?" I asked, barely able to get words out of my tight chest.

The man sat there for a moment, watching me, as though trying to decide what to say next. Then he finally spoke, his voice cool, unbothered.

“Marcello.”

I blinked, trying to make sense of the name, but it meant nothing to me.

“And you’re in my care now.”

"I—I cannot be in your care, I've a boyfriend, and he's going to come..."

"Repeat what you said again Raya and I'll have his minced body brought here to you in a bag," He growled, making my body shiver.

"N—no, my boyfriend is..." My body stilled at the memories that were flooding in my head.

"My—my best friend too," I muttered, my lips stuck as replayed the tragic scene of my death.

Mark...no Kelly, the balcony— and the way my body landed on the windshield of that car. My body trembled as I stared at the man in front of me, his eyes stuck indifferently on me as he pulled his chair closer.

"Seems like you're finally realizing that you've got no one young lady," He said with a mischievous smirk on his face.

"Listen carefully to me young lady, your life was saved by me, and I need you to know that from the moment I made sure you were alive, you belong to me, every breath you take is mine," He said, and I blinked, feeling his hot breath on my face.

"Now breathe Raya," he said, stepping back to his chair and I let out a breath I didn't know I'd been holding in.

"That's more like it," He said, standing back up from the chair to leave the room.

"B—but why did you save me?" I asked, ignoring the throb that banged in my head.

"You'll find out soon enough," He said with a sly smirk before walking out of the room.