Before the Sun

Chapter Sixteen- Obsessed

Nikolai

Adriano has a solid set face. It has lines of age and creases of prolonged stress. His hair is out of its standard neatened look, now sitting in a dishevelled, shaggy mop, strands of aged silver hair catching the fluorescence from above. His eyes move from my sorrowful expression, to his daughters lifeless frame tucked beneath the hospital blanket. A repetitive, mechanical beep is the only thing telling him his daughter has a fraction of life left within her.

"I can't be her bodyguard anymore."

I say. In my head, the words were stronger, more pulled together. However, when I actually say them aloud and the words hit my own ears, they're disintegrating. They're mellow and full of regret. Adriano sends his bloodshot eyes in my direction, a circle of darkness surrounding each eye.

"What?"

He grits, huffing out a chuckle in disbelief. His hand clutches Sofia's tighter, heating her bitter fingers. My legs are full of stiff blood and I don't know what to do with my body. Looking at Sofia only freezes me further.

"I can't be around her, Adriano."

I utter. I will in a breath of thick air, diverting my sight from Sofia's face. The scratches, the bruises, the smudged makeup, she's broken because of me.

"It was my drink that contained the poison, and she drank from it. I almost killed her, Adriano."

My voice begs to break as I say that last sentence. There's a voice in my head, nagging and droning. It asks me why I care, why I've let my emotions intwine with my job. And I don't know what to say to it. I don't know when Sofia became more to me than just my job, but she is. She's not just a girl I'm meant to protect.

When Kota and I pushed through the doors of this hospital more than twelve hours ago, I suspect people were already buying flowers for Sofias funeral. She was limp in my arms, her face was blue and I'm sure I was carrying a corpse. The doctors looked at her and then looked to each other. They shared an expression of early defeat. However, through the small cluster of doctors, there was one woman- middle aged with coiling black hair pulled behind her ears. She dragged me through the halls by the sleeve of my jacket. My sight was blurry, so disorientated that everything blended into one. She told me to lay Sofia on the empty bed, shoving me to step back. I caught her expression as Kota took a stand beside me, Kenny fell with his hands in his face into a wooden chair in the corner, sobs racking through his body, and three men in black tuxedos stood in the doorway. I'm not sure who she thought we were, but she knew that whoever the lifeless girl was, must be special.

I had told her Sofia had been spiked, and she shook her head.

"No, no she hasn't."

She said, jabbing a needle into the curve of Sofia's arm.

"This is poisoning."

The nurse had said before calling for her coworkers. The room became flooded with men and women in clinically white cloaks and stethoscopes slung around their necks. We were pushed out of the room, ushered into the waiting area whilst they pulled Sofia back from the brink of death. We sat in the small lobby for two hours, six men in suits with a pair distraught parents on their way. Kota wouldn't sit down, pacing the length of the hallway over and over until the floor was branded with the soles of his shoes. Kenny couldn't suffice his tears, and I? I couldn't think, I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe. I couldn't function knowing Sofia could be dead.

The same lady that took Sofia out of my hands entered the waiting area. She was red in the face, pieces of wispy hair floating around her head. We stood up.