The Midnight Mafioso [#2]

55|her weary Condition

The moment a chiming sound pierced my ears, a lazy groan made its way up my throat. I pressed my hands over my ears to drown the noises out, but it was loud enough to wake the dead.

That ringing that plugged in the air resembled a church bell or the chime of a city clock. It felt almost the same as the bell in the Cinderella movie. When the enchantment fades at the stroke of midnight in the fairy tale. 

The relentless sound continued, entering through my body like an aching nerve. Gritting my teeth, I forced my eyes open, only to be assaulted by a bright light that blurred my vision. A sharp pain shot through my head, as if my eyes had been denied the light in an eternity.

As the sound finally stopped, I silently breathed a prayer of appreciation. Slowly, I allowed my eyes to adjust to the light, struggling to familiarize myself with the ceiling I was facing.

Above me was a triangular wooden ceiling that disappeared into darkness. The room was suffused in a brown color. The only furnitures were the bed on which I lay and a table near the door. The air felt heavy with the scent of dust, while cobwebs clung to the corners. If this was the afterlife, it felt more like hell.

A worn-out purple carpet lay on the wooden floor. The same color of blanket that covered me. My fingers grazed the fabric, pushing it off my numb body, only to get a shock as I realized I was naked.

Panic surged as memories flooded my mind like a violent hurricane. It had to be a dream, a nightmare, but the more I let the memories sabotage me the more the reality sank in.

Suppressing my rising fear, I surveyed the room. my eyes fell back to a table near a wooden door. There was a black cloth on it.  My gaze then shifted to the window, through which I caught a glimpse of the city below, towers rising from the earth.

This was neither hell nor heaven.

I needed to dress up. The memory of unwanted hands tracing my skin sent shivers down my spine. Each touch felt like a  blade against my flesh.

He touched me, He only touched me: I convinced myself but the thought that I was unconscious brought fear in me. 

The floor creaked and I halted my movements. Clutching the blanket tighter, I tried to hear any sign of anyone present in the place, my senses on high alert. The thought of being naked pushed me to snatch the gown laid on the table. It resembled a hospital gown but was fashioned like a church garment. Judging from a biblical verse adored at the collar part.

On grabbing the gown a white folded paper fell below my feet, causing my body to freeze. After a second, I bent over and picked it up. Unfolding the note, a ring tumbled out, rolling away from me. I immediately checked my finger and noticed I did not have the ring.

The absence of my engagement ring intensified my fear. Trembling, I retrieved the ring from the floor and slipped it back though the sense of it being removed from me horrified me.