From The Beyond 'Chapter 1'

Chapter 1:

I glimpsed back at the clock to catch a view of its hands. The longer one almost touched the ‘12’ while the shorter loomed close to the ‘3’; it was almost 3 o’clock. That meant it had been approximately half an hour that I was released of my blind fold in this unknown room. The place shone with a flare of extravagancy and pomp; everything starting from the furniture that resided and the interior designing room itself.

The walls were plastered with an exquisite looking wallpaper which held a plastic glisten to it as the shades of light fell. A television that almost spanned from ceiling to floor…or that’s what I induced from the half view that I got from lying on the bed. The screen was practically 5x the one that I had in my room... maybe even bigger. A single couch...bed seat… cushioned-chair with a feet rest, whatever you call it, elegantly laid out at my left in the corner of the room with descending lights that seemed to be coming down entwined with the ends like blooming flowers. In between the TV and the recliner was a glass door that was curtained with a transparent looking drape to what could be the balcony outside. It didn’t take a professional to realize that the draperies could almost be worth everything I owned; the linings, silk, design, everything. At my far right, I could make out a doorway which split into two different directions with a small expanse in between; one of them could be leading to the exit from these fancies, and the other…god knew where! And within all of this luxury was me, lying on the bed that expanded before me, which was literally three times my single bed; a little larger than a double bed. The posts that extended from the four corners held up a canopy above which concealed my view of the ceiling and was enshrouded and entangled with a cream colored cloth. It was impossible to decipher how it was held up in such grace and where the ends met, but it hung there, as if it was floating. The head-board, as I had been able to catch a glimpse when the room was still dark, glistened under the faint lights which came through the curtains; there were two curved silver handles that held out a vased in light from the walls above it on two sides; they matched the ones over the seat perfectly. And there were absolutely no words to describe the lushness of the mattress that lay beneath me or the sheet that encased it. I had no doubt that the pillows that lined above my head and curved into an arc was any less… blissful. There was no way to describe my surroundings except that it was out of the world…or completely out of MY world. I had never seen anything like it, maybe seen pictures of these types of places in magazines of the hottest new places… hotels if I remember correctly. The place reeked the scent of pleasure and comfort. This was like a haven of havens, a place where the hot-shots of the society, the idols and maybe even the president would come by to spend their vacation, honeymoon, date, whatever. But not-surprisingly, I was anything but comfortable in the midst of everything... let’s see, maybe completely miserable would be more like it. I just lay in the middle of bed on my right side, constricted.

Constricted? Yes, constricted. I was bound by ropes...or something that was brownish which wrapped tightly around my feet. I had a hint by the feeling that my hands were in similar condition but was out of sight tied together behind my back. A cloth gagged me and to put the last touch, I had also been blind-folded. That would wrap up my condition, wretched little me, in contradiction to the paradise-like room. Right now, I could somehow relate to how Dorothy must’ve felt when she said ‘There’s no place like home.’ I was a mess in my black chiffon dress, sprawled on the sheets. The perfect-silken folds were now crumpled and in a lot of places ragged-like. Oh boy, there was no way I’d be able to return it now. God knew how I looked, but I bet it was very similar to the way I felt. I ached, from top to bottom. There wasn’t a single place where it didn’t hurt and being all tied up just made it worse. I was definitely going to feel the soreness and fatigue for days on end. And this was how I had woken up and found myself to be, waking to hell.

It had felt like centuries that I lay on the bed after coming back to conscious. I was knocked out before, and that was how I had come to this place…or to be more precise brought here. I’m pretty sure that it was completely impossible for me to sleep walk here all by myself. I panicked when I awoke and realized I could neither see or talk and feeling that I was tied up didn’t make it any better. The moments dragged by as I panicked, then tried to calm down, and then panicked again, and continued to cycle through that process for a while. I tried to pull myself together and recall back but my mind just wouldn’t work. Every time I tried to use my head, a streak of pain crossed through it and would force me to go blank, on the brink of losing consciousness again. There was a thumping sort of resonance in my head that banged at the back, a kind of head-ache that was just too painful to actually be a simple headache. And there was a feeling of lingering grogginess which still holds onto me. I couldn’t make out a thing because of the hazy feeling, like something was blocking my senses from working. Was I drugged? Darn it... and to think that my condition couldn’t get any worse. I had asked the question to myself; there was a possibility, but every time I tried to recall, I was thrown into a painful mayhem in my head. In short, I ached externally as well internally, and because of my handicaps, it was impossible to try to make anything out of the situation. Usually, the saying goes as ‘it’s too good to be true,’ but right now, it felt more like ‘it’s too bad to be reality.”

While I was going through these sensations, transitions and whatever else that could be happening to me, it was then that I heard it; the first change from the empty darkness that enshrouded me. The distant sound of a door opening and voices enter. I couldn’t see because of my blindfold and I couldn’t call out because of my gag; but I guess that was a good thing, since I wasn’t really sure what would be the correct reaction at this moment. And with my head in a terrible condition, I would’ve called out without second thought and the impatience that had grown in the last few hours... or it felt like hours. It was better to take it slow, figure out what was going on rather than charging in, I had enough worries in my mind right now. The footsteps walked from the other room to the one I was in, their voices started to get from muffled to murmurs. They seemed to have come and stopped right across me, maybe a few feet away from where I lay. I was still blindfolded at that point, so I had no idea. By the sound of the voices, there were only two, even though the footsteps echoed making it sound like there double that...maybe triple.

Both of them had walked in talking very quietly, hushed as if making sure not to wake me up. As they stood in front of me, I caught onto what they were talking about, as they muttered almost silently; the conversation shifted from ‘the girl’s’ abduction to ‘the girl’s’ placement. I could’ve already guessed that this ‘girl’ they were talking about was me, unless there were more. So, for starters, it sounded like I was abducted, just great, the first information was the one that wanted me to freak out. The thrumming in my head kept me from catching everything they said, but there were tidbits I was able to take in. The words: picked’er up, bound, hotel, 26th floor, & chief. I wasn’t sure if I should call out to signal that I was awake, which would’ve come out nothing but a muffled whimper. But I still had no idea what environment I was lying in, were these guys friends or foes, ‘friends’ was highly unlikely. And even though my head was all jammed up with emptiness threatening to break if I did any ‘thinking,’ I was grateful to be able to make small ‘yes’ & ‘no’ decisions. I’d let everything play as it was going, I’m here still unconscious while they talked it out, maybe I’d get more information on what was going on here and maybe, they’d free me... or was that too good to ask for? I prayed that it wouldn’t be the wrong choice. But I didn’t get to test it since my concrete resolution shattered with my first mistake…or if I was able to recall about my past, my second for getting myself caught into this mess. I tried to strain my ear to catch their voices which were rising and then falling back down to whispers and then it hit me. My head rammed me with a shock that caused me to cry out, and like I had comprehended, it came out nothing but a muffled sound, but was more than enough. I immediately stiffened up, as the whole atmosphere seemed to freeze; without a doubt their attention had turned to me, and my question of whether I should’ve stayed quiet or tried to get their attention was going to be answered. The silence didn’t last long as the female voice whispered something, completely inaudible by me, maybe making sure that I heard nothing of it. Damn it, so they knew I was awake now.

The other voice, obviously a male broke my trauma as he directed the next few words to me.
“Sweetheart, you awake?”

I was caught off guard; completely blank with his soft tone as if he was talking to a child, and so close to my ear, it gave me the shivers. My thoughts seemed to float in front of my eyes in the darkness; I was abducted, tied up, most likely in a hotel, and surrounded by two people who were in on my kidnapping. If they were the ones, they definitely weren’t the good guys, at least not to me. So was it really alright to tell them I was awake? Were they waiting for me to waken to get on with whatever they were planning? In a situation that you can never really be prepared for, so what l do I do right now? And I started to panic all over again, but to my relief, I did it silently. I stayed mute, and didn’t react so as not to let out anything else. Okay, so they weren’t really sure if I was awake or not, a point for me...I think. Let’s see if i van keep it that way.
“Maybe it was just a sleeping sound, you know like the ones they make in the middle of a nightmare?”

It was his voice again. I prayed, oh please, oh please, that was exactly what it was. I didn’t squeak because of pain, I didn’t do it because I was awake. It wasn’t because of anything, just a dream, a bad dream…
“Hell, I know what a sound in the middle of sleeping is. And let’s hope it stays that way. Cuz, we’ve got enough things on our backs right now.”
    And I thought I was the one with worries in mind.
“You sure it was the right thing? I mean, this is against the rules? Going and…”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. But the rules are for situations not exceptions.”
“And in what way was she an exception? It’s the same as…”
“Woman, it was a damn exception. She happened to be at the wrong place and the wrong time. It wasn’t her fault. A night-party with her friends on a Friday night. She just seemed to get caught up in this mess and…”

I blinked…or that’s what I felt I would’ve done if my eyes weren’t already shut.
“Exactly, that’s a normal situation, not an exception. It’s the same at the rest of them and it should’ve been dealt like…”
“You seriously telling me you could’ve done it?”

His voice seemed to come booming in, and I flinched with the sudden outburst, luckily they didn’t seem to notice. The room was suddenly silent. She made no reply. Okay… the atmosphere changed from quiet to menacing, I didn’t like the change, not the best place to be in when you’re all tied up and vulnerable. He was angry alright.
“You really telling me that you could’ve done it after seeing… after seeing…all that shit?”

Did ‘it?’ What was ‘it’? Even though I had no clue what was going on, I had a feeling I wouldn’t really like ‘it,’ whatever ‘it’ was. And then, something seemed to click.
‘A night party with friends on Friday night.’

His words came back echoing and a picture of the packs and packs of people flashed through my head. The loud cheering and screaming, the booming music from the stage, a hand pulling me further and further into the crowd, and the feeling of all those people surrounding me, in a claustrophobic place. My head started to process what could’ve been the event that led me here. It was a Friday night, I had gone out to party with friends and then… I didn’t get a chance to continue as the head-splitting pain came crashing down on me. I couldn’t hold it in as I cried out under my gag. The throbbing didn’t stop as it felt like someone was hammering the back of my head. I couldn’t help it; I instinctively pulled myself together, knees coming closer to my chest and head getting lower and lower to meet with my knees. The charade was over, and my living existence or rather conscious existence had been exposed. The affliction continued for a while, in which I writhed in agony, or squirmed would be a better word in my constricted condition. There was no sound around me as I suffered within those silent moments, it was pin-drop quiet as I bit the cloth around my mouth and pressed my eyes shut tight, please just make it stop.

Gradually, it started to seep away. The hammering started to get lighter and the screaming sound in my head was getting dimmer and dimmer. I was slowly starting to go numb. The tears had stopped dried on the blindfold but I didn’t ease my lips from biting onto the cloth. As it started to go down, my tense muscles and body started to loosen. It felt like I was slowly unwinding myself. My shoulders relaxed, hands started to open from a fist, and my head and knees started to spread farther on the sheets. In the middle of this, the question suddenly popped into my head. Where were the two guys?
Did they leave? Oh boy, I had messed up...and this time, it really wasn’t going to pass by as a simple coincidence. There was no door sound or footsteps of their exit. So did that mean they were still here? I tried hard not to higher my tension which was going down. I couldn’t hear anything, not even their breathing. So, it couldn’t be that everything was just a hallucination? That I was just imagining this or maybe recalling it back from something that happened before? I mean, they wouldn’t just stand around silently... would they? I got my answer immediately.
“So you were awake.”

It was a whisper, and right beside my ear. His breath came rushing past my skin giving me the chills, again. I flinched. Darn it. I lay still, no sound, not a single tweak. So this wasn’t all just my imagination, though I really wished that it was. Holy...
“Hold on, what do you think you’re doing? You can’t mean to…”

The girl’s voice came in, an edge of panic in it. And then I felt it. I felt as his hands pushed my head off the bed, and untied the blindfold. He was gentle with it, so was his voice when he had whispered. It was hard to think that he could be someone that kidnapped me. But hey, bad guys aren’t really bad buys if they couldn’t wear varieties of different masks, right?

As soon as the cloth came off, I squinted. The room was not lit too brightly; actually, it wasn’t lit at all, with only the nightlight that came from above that emerged from both sides of the bed headboard. But after being in complete darkness, it was still light and I had to squint with the sudden contrast. My vision slowly cleared up, and the two shadows that stood in front of me slowly started to clear up.
“Morning shine, hun, ‘bout time you woke up too.”

I stared at both of them, letting my eyes work its way. Both of them were about same height from the shadows I could see; standing side to side with the silken drapes right behind them. I couldn’t tell exactly where that was in the scale of ‘feet’ since I was lying down here and they were standing up there, but it was almost completely understood that they were both much taller than me. And with my eye handicap off, they were what held 100% of my attention. I didn’t dare blink to think that I might be thrust back into black again and with me out of the darkness, there was no way I would go in there again, figuratively said.

My eyes cleared up, little by little, and they seemed to come out with more details. The blonde haired girl stood staring at me with her black eye-lined eyes. She had a look on her face that showed worry and maybe a hint of irritation. But one thing for sure was that she was drop down gorgeous. The only make-up was on her eyes, but the rest of her looked natural. But then again, I was never a makeup master in reading or putting, so who was I to critique or judge. The guy beside her looked a lot similar to her, a blonde too and surprisingly with eye-lined eyes also. Okay, so these kidnappers had a thing for eye-liner? Does that get me anywhere? The only difference between them other than gender was their expression. He was the complete opposite of her ‘worried-face’. A wide grin which reached from one end of the face to the other, and had an air of ‘enjoying himself’ while he watched me surrounded him.

In the dark, I couldn’t tell, they were wearing black, turtlenecked shirts that went all the way , full-sleeved with a short sleeveless jacket on top. The clothes didn’t seem your everyday casual wear, maybe gangsterish? Or not even that... Something more like a codified uniform. Okay, these guys had nice stylish uniforms, another piece of info that was not going to do me any good. But, I was attentive on each and everything, who knew if they could be of help. And if I was going to escape from here, I really wanted some inside info about these people, maybe for the police...

I was very uncomfortable under their stare, to start with, I wasn’t the ideal person with strangers, And look what I’d gotten myself into. If having a normal conversation or face-to-face with someone I didn’t know was bad... where did this put me? Tied up infront of my new found friends...more like enemies. I was tongue twisted, or rather speechless; not that I’d know what to say or speak up without getting myself deeper into this mess. So these guys abducted me? Now what?
“I can’t believe you did that!”

The girl turned to him with a ‘Humph’ look on her face as she put a hand on her hip.
“Why the hell? I mean its enough problems that she’s lying here already, and now you had to…”
“Wow, you really do look much better without the blindfold.”

He said it as if he was complimenting a lady at a party, without any worries or abnormalities. As if it was completely normal to be talking while I was where I was, and in the situation I was in. The other girl’s words also didn’t seem to have any impact on his action of un-blindfolding me as she had made it sound like it was not supposed to be done.
“Iven, are you listening to me? You have any idea…”
“Yeah, I’m listening, but I needed to confirm whether she was awake or not, I mean we were on a roll here a minute ago.”

He stepped back and then fell down on the recliner at the left, giving her a nod of his head, very carefree. His size went down rapidly and now only a portion of his shoulders was visible and above. His words seem to have a heavy impact on her as she whirled herself to my direction and stared with big eyes, obviously, frightened.
“How long have you been awake?”

The question may have been intended to sound menacing, but without doubt you could sense the lines of fear along the words  and tone. Okay, someone must be pulling the strings behind this, and by the looks of it, they had just broken a rule... another one, if I was following on the right path. And she showed that he or she would not be too happy to hear about all of this.
“Yeah, like she can reply. How about I undo the gag, so I can really get a look at that cute face of hers while you get your question answered?

His voice came jolly, and both of us turned to him.
“How about no! I think you’ve done enough rule breaking for one night. Not to mention that you’ve dragged me into this too. And to think that the night’s violation was as bad as it could get.”
    She turned around and paced from one side of the room to the other. Her face looked irritated and very worried. Wow, that’s great, now that makes two of us.
“I can’t believe I actually followed your stupid idea. We were just supposed to come up and get changed, then head back down. But no! You just had to bring up the thought of coming and checking it out!”

Okay, so I was right, someone was behind all of this. Iven, the name of the guy who sat on the couch leaning back as if he had nothing to worry about, with an airy look. It looked as if both of them were not on the same page. And she walked back and forth going on and on with whatever she could bombard on him of blames. Iven sighed and then turned to her still out of the picture that she was seeing.
“Okay, okay, I think we get the idea.”
    She stopped and turned to him, a dark look of hatred channeled through, from him, to me, and then back to him.
“Right now Madam, no point in hanging over what happened. Would you like to enlighten me on what to do?”

The question made her eyes glisten, it changed from and angry look, to irritation, to regret and something like dread. I waited, come on. I was dying of suspense… what was going on? Why had I been abducted? I didn’t belong to an oh-so rich family in which they can get a million dollar compensation. Neither did I have a big brother who’d have pulled me into some gangster-politics either.
“You’re the one who got us into this mess! I didn’t plan on doing anything from the beginning. Just go with the normal way of extermination…”

My eyes went big with her words and went deaf to whatever she completed her statement with. ‘Extermination?’ Did she mean extermination the way I think she meant it? I mean, she can’t be serious, that would be murder… but then again these guys just kidnapped someone, me, to be precise, I don’t think that, that was their limit… they could just be involved in something much more bigger and worse.
“But nooooo, you just had to make a big deal about it, about her. And now look where it got us into. We’ve been caught, got to do a full report, and on top of that, she might not even...”

She pointed to me; My eyes were wide... And she stuttered as she looked down at me. She couldn’t be pitying me, I didn’t think a kidnapper would have the heart to, but I guess she had that much to understand what might be going in my head as I processed everything she said.
“You went and unblind her! Any idea what that means!? You unblinded the damn girl! How the hell are we supposed to even tell them we came here? Forget about unblinding her!”

He just sat back and watched me, again, he didn’t seem like the words that she said meant anything in the world to him, completely out of his concern. His jaunty eyes gave me the creeps. Yeah, maybe because I was being talked about in a conversation as if I wasn’t in the room at all. And on top of that, they sounded like they were talking about serious business, like ‘My Life’ business, and how serious could it get than that. I was uptight and anxious, so was the chick. It felt completely wrong to think that right now, he could be sitting back in ‘kick back and relax’ mode.
“Well, you were on a roll there how it was all my fault. So, since you didn’t like my ideas, I just gave you the chance to speak out yours. See what you got in mind, and as you can see, both of are pretty much dumped.”

He gave her what looked like an angelic and innocent smile. She did nothing but stare at him infuriated... the look of clear disbelief, not too happy to be dragged into whatever was going on. Alot of it, I was making up in my head with its proceedings. She opened her mouth but nothing. Then turned to me, assessing something in her head as she watched. Oh boy, right now, I wanted to be out of the spotlight, to stay in the shadows while they go on. It was enough that they were talking about me like I was some marionette. Something passed over her eyes... something that I didn’t think I would like. And then she turned back to him again, with clenched fists and a dark stare.
“If you wanted to save that damn girl then you just made the chances of it all so much narrower by letting her in on this. Like hell she’ll survive through it now.”

She whispered this, making it sound venomous and spite-filled. And that was what seemed to freeze the entire situation. He sat back staring at her, his jolly look dissolved to something more serious, and her regret-filled eyes staring back, and it definitely wasn’t for me. I bit my lip, so... the part in the made-up scenarios that I wished wasn’t going to be true and come to pass. I gulped. Okay, new information to process: They were really talking about my life, as in life and death. And it also included from the tidbits of the beginning to what could be my supposed ending.

Now I was just supposed to have…hold on, did she just say ‘saved the damn girl?!’ I turned my head to Iven. He turned his gaze towards me, when he noticed me staring, his face was now solemn and uncertain. Okay, so this guy saved me, that was a good news from all the negatives that I was hearing. So, why didn’t it lift up my spirits? Maybe if I had heard it a little earlier, I would’ve felt a bit relieved. But with the proceedings, it looked like whether I was saved or lived by escaping didn’t matter, I was going to die, or so they said. Oh God, I needed to get the hell out of here; and fast. I bit my lip, I’d had more than enough info than I wanted, and right now, I wanted nothing more than to be free from my ties and anywhere but here.

I did a quick scan of the whole room, if they weren’t going to free me, as just the point of unblinding me was a big no-no, I’d just have to try to do it myself. And right now, I needed something to get my hands freed with something sharp. It was a great help to be freed of my blinds, the rest, it seemed I needed to take in my own hands. I highly doubted they’d have a knife lied around conveniently for me, but anything that would cut or even graze would do. There was the night table with nothing but a stylish lamp, not exactly what I was looking for. And except for that, there didn’t  seem to be anything in close range which I could go for. I could hear their voices talking in the background, quietly but enough for me to hear. But right now my mind only had one thing it was concentrating on, how to get myself out of here, I think I’d gotten enough info for now. Or rather, I was afraid to hear the rest. I clenched my hands again, I was getting nervous and jittery. The atmosphere had got me uptight and I could feel the lacy velvet outfit stuck to my back in perspiration. I was breathing harder and on the verge to panic, I wasn’t going to throw a hysterical attack, but right now, it was vital for me to think. it didn’t matter if I had a serious headache again, that could be cured, my impending death couldn’t. I needed to calm down and try to find something, anything... but nothing was going my way, not my day, my surroundings, not even myself. Calm down, just calm down. If you want to get out of here alive, I couldn’t get so nervous. I won’t be able to think straight, I needed to level my head. And it was then that I noticed it. A shadow at the doorway of the room, but on the other side of the wall not inside; so that neither of the two could see it from their view. It was tall and slender, and if I saw it from any less vaguer angle, it could’ve been taken as a tall lamp or coat hanger. But without doubt, it was someone standing there. I caught a quick look at Iven and her, both of them were in their own worlds conversing, not a care of what or who was around. I lifted my head further to get a better glimpse and then saw the face of a man. He stood leaning against the wall on the other side of the doorway, and because of my positioning on the bed closer to a side of the room and them in the middle, I could see him, while he was completely on a blind spot for them. He seemed to be at ease, as if he was there for quite a while. A spy?

He was in complete black. Hair, clothes, maybe even eyes, except for his skin which seemed to shine white. It wasn’t exactly pale but with all the black it sure looked it. He had long hair that came down beyond his shoulders tied to a very low ponytail which kept it back. Even though I could see him, it wasn’t a clear view, only one side. He seemed to be watching something further out of the room, infront of him but it didn’t take a psychiatrist to tell that his mind and ears were in here. And as most spies or people along that line, he didn’t have any look of stalking or stealth other than the fact that he was hiding without anyones notice for God knew how long. He had a completely serene face, no disturbance of anger, irritation, or even amusement; just blank. The wall that separated them and him was completely face-to-face with me, and thus I could see his right side perfectly; leaned against the wall, hands crossed and a empty look. Okay, just great, another guy to deal with…like 2 wasn’t enough for handicap me. But could the fact that he wasn’t showing himself be… that he could, by chance be on my side? But a few seconds ago I had just heard that the guy who was sitting on the recliner was trying to keep me alive, if I actually bought what they had said. Then, does it mean this guy want me dead? But why the hell was he concealing himself? Was he an enemy of theirs? Should I make any indication that he was there? But I still hadn’t the faintest idea who was who…as in who was really on my side… if there were any at all. Or could it be that he was with the main boss and that would make these two here in trouble with their supposed rule-breaking...so where do I come in? Oh boy...so many choices and I can’t think of anyone that could be the right one or the suitable one for me...too many ifs.

The questions, decision, options and all disappeared as he seemed to catch me watching him. You couldn’t possibly have seen me from the angle he was watching but he saw me... or it was sheer luck and perfect timing. He turned to me, I gasped and since that wasn’t possible for me, the only change that was visible was the widening of my eyes. I stared right into the silver glistening pupils of his eyes, it took me by shock. There wasn’t a single person that I had met in my 19 years of life who had such eyes, except for one... me. I gulped. He just seemed to watch me, with no change whatsoever, neither his demeanor or look; still the blank expression over his face. And then an exasperated sigh from Iven snapped everything into motion, for me that is. The black suited guy tilted his head at me and smiled; the kind of smile that someone would usually give to a baby; sweet, kind and tender. Even though I was gagged, half my face covered, my shock and surprise was too much to have not shown, it was without doubt reflected from my eyes. He lifted his hand, and gave a wave that looked too graceful, to be true. Okay... he looked like a really nice gentleman...so friend or foe? And then, he made his entrance. Not in a sneaky way that I thought he might have or anyone who was listening in should have walked in, but just entered the room normally, head held up high watching the two. He was tall, damn tall, even lying on the bed, I could tell; for all I knew he could be over 6 feet. He walked in and stood there eyes quiet and smiling…weird. Iven saw the guy immediately since he was facing the doorway, but the girl who was facing him was completely ignorant of his presence. She stood, hands on hips with a very, very annoyed face. Guess the time I was out of their conversation, it hadn’t gone the way she wanted it to. The room fell in silence as Iven’s eyes seemed to stop in time staring at the new comer, hers on Iven, Mr.handsome watching the two of them, and my own taking everyone in. it took a while for her to realize that Iven wasn’t just staring out merely because of being laid back.
“Iven! I don’t think we have time for daydreaming.”

Iven was silent, his eyes showed that the guy who had walked in wasn’t supposed to be here. And he didn’t want him to be here either. She stopped and then turned her head sideways to glance behind, annoyed at his silence and frozen figure.
“What on...”
    She seemed to lose her words midway of her sentence...or question. Her face went pale and she whirled around facing him, as if her eyes were lying and in disbelief. He smiled at her and just watched, not a single word. Her eyes seemed to tremble, she was frightened out of her wits. Whether it was unconscious or not, she took a step back, first step to slink back and cower.
“Holy…” another word that looked to come out without intention and she immediately bit her lip, another step backward.
“Well well, what do we have here. Good evening, Iven,” he turned to Iven as he addressed him and then to her.
“And Anya. It’s been quite a long time, how’ve you two been?”

Both of them were silent. Anya, the name of the girl that finally comes out gulped. The look of fear and shock was on both their faces. Okay...so this guy be the boss, the one both of them were dreading? The hotshot who was behind all of this? I wasn’t really too concerned were all of this put them, my mind was too busy processing what was going to happen to me. If he had finally made his presence, did that make my already troubled-situation even worse? And with his question being left unanswered, he turned his face from them to me. I didn’t move or blink, just watched as he observed me. Oh my God! I could feel my palms getting moist from the nervousness. What now... he just watched me, observed me, blankly without anything directed towards me. I guess I could live pretty well off without being questioned. Again, I was thrown into a very queasy and uncomfortable state as if everything that has happened wasn’t enough.

And it was Iven who seemed to break off of ‘realization and dread’ first and take his attention from me back to them.
“Yo Fayien, what’s up?”

Fayien, the new guy who had come in turned to Iven, who didn’t seem too comfortable to be the next person to be under the spotlight, under his stare.
“Me, nothing at all. Though I see that you’ve gotten yourself into something here. Not authorized it seems.”

His eyes drifted towards me once again, smile still on his face. I couldn’t guess why they  two of them were so afraid. His presence was calm and seemed to quiet the whole atmosphere, except for the shadow that both of them were seeping out of fear and nervousness. He didn’t seem to give off any negativeness, no danger, caution, or whatsoever. But hey, weren’t all of them like that? Iven was pretty quiet and sweet-going until he got pissed off, yeah, he could just be the same. Never knowing whether there smile was to be taken on the safe or danger section, he could be that type of guy. Iven seemed to manage out a laugh, forced out and seemed to do some kind of hand sign, a shrug or some sort which I couldn’t make out, since my eyes were on the new guy. Iven was trying his best to keep himself together, maybe try to keep hold of the situation as much as he could grapple with.
“Fayien, it’s not what it seems. This isn’t what it looks like. It’s not what you may be thinking,” Anya finally seemed to get her spunk back, except this time, she seemed to be on the verge to break in tears. She was desperately trying to hold herself out, both of them were. Except that he was doing a far better job than her. She was literally shaking now, stumbling on her words and obviously on the brink to breakdown. Iven seemed to stiffen up as he stared at her, nor sure what to say...or do, or whether they were in the position to be defending.
    Fayien turned to her, full attention on the next victim? She seemed to freeze and bit her lip, this wasn’t a positive change, not when she was already nervous and shaking.
“Oh? It isn’t? Even though I’ve heard quite enough to be able to decipher what’s going on here. Well, that’s fine, so what could this be then?”
    His eyes were enough to send a bear cowering back. There were no menace or poison, but just his presence seemed to hold a power, an authority that reigned over everything in the surroundings. Anya stumbled on her response, opened her mouth, then closed it, then repeated this twice. No sound coming out and nothing to support her statement. Her futile attempt seemed to go down the drains in a blink of an eye. And now, it left her cold and clammy, you could see it in her shuddering eyes.
“S-so, this means we were... under surveillance?”
    Iven’s voice steadied as he asked. Whether it was an attempt to take the gigantic burden from Anya’s shoulder or just on the spur of the moment, Anya seemed to sigh in and turn to him in relief, a look of dread channeling from her eyes to him. He avoided both of their faces.
“Not that I know of.”
    Fayien’s answer was straightforward and to the point. Both Iven and Anya turned around with such enthusiasm that you’d think that he had just said they were free from all charges. They stared at him, Anya’s face especially surprised and taken aback. Iven, without a doubt was the first to snap back to reality, that they were still in front of him.
“But then, why are you... what are you doing...here?”
    If he had tried to make it sound formal and as respectful, it was a failed attempt, but Mr.Fayien didn’t seem to mind. Rather, he smiled, amused at the question as if he had asked why the grass was green or sky blue. Both of them seemed to squirm in uncomfort, fear seeping away slowly.
“Well, I don’t see why I would be restricted to walk around my estate? Is there something wrong with that?”
    Both of them laughed, nervous. No answer at all. And then I caught onto what he had just said. So he was the owner of this place. Okay, so we’re talking about the boss, not that I didn’t already figure that out.
“Rather neither of you guys were expecting to find me here...”
    It didn’t sound like a question, but neither a statement. He turned to me, nothing said, but just watched me. There was no look of animosity, nothing to make me feel uneasy, just a plain comfortable look you might get from someone passing by. But getting fidgety and flustered is to be expected, who could blame me, I was lying down tied up in this situation.
“I just happened to be passing by, and stumbled onto something very interesting here.”

His eyes were still on me; okay, now how was I to take that? Interesting was a broad word, and right now, it could be understood in a variety of context. Now which was the appropriate one? I swallowed hard, the pressure was getting more and more. If I was going to hear a verdict right now, God knew how I would be able to process it.
“Umm, so we’re not being tailed?”

Anya seemed to perk up the courage she managed to gather up. You could see her hands balling and then loosening and then balling again.
“Not that I know of.”

Fayien watched her with an interested look. Both of them seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Okay, so guess that meant both of these guys were off the hook…I think? So where does that put me? The more I listened and was drawn into my surrounding, the more confused and bewildered I became.
“Whoa, had a heart failure right there, I was sure Snow had, had us that second there.”

Snow? Who was Snow? And why is it sounding that Fayien here wasn’t the boss anymore?

Snow...  It didn’t take a genius to know that it must’ve been a pen name or something. I guess it was too good to wish for something that would actually benefit me. An actual name…maybe someone I knew; a person who may by chance has a grudge on me to bring me to the condition I am in. But even though, it was still a name and one that I might wanna keep at the back of my head in any cases.
“Well, I wouldn’t be telling you to relax right now.If...”
    Fayien turned to me, as if analyzing what should be said and what shouldn’t be.
“Snow found out, I can’t say that you guys are good to go yet.”
    Both gulped and looked at each other, telepathic communication taking place.
“So, you’re not here under orders, umm, do does that mean you’re not gonna tell...Snow?”
    Not one of them said ‘he’ or ‘she’ referring to Snow, way to go, I’m already in the dark and quite under mental stress, what’s the point in heightening that? Fayien turned looking inquisitive with the questioning.
“Orders? Who could be giving out orders...here?”
    Iven seemed to bite his tongue and Anya turned giving him a glowering look. Wrong question? So they messed up something there? ‘Who could be’... now it sounded like Fayien was the boss while his conversation before indicated that as a negative, so this guy was some higher-up? Oh God, please say that I just did not get myself involved in some huge organization of some sort of criminals.
“An well, about this particular situation here, I wonder what should be made up of this.”
    Both of them straightened up and seemed to hold onto their breaths.
“You were saying Anya...”
    A moments pause and Iven came to her rescue as she looked at him from the corner of her eye, for help?
“Ah, well about that. You see we’re in a bit of a mess,” he looked at Anya who nodded in agreement.
“Long story, thing is... we’d be in real trouble if you know Snow found out. I mean she’s already pretty...upset as it is. And we were just wondering if you were going to report; that’d really tick her off for real, and you know how that’s gonna be.”
    He shrugged and tried to give out a laugh, came out half choked, back to nervousness. Anya, turned from him to Fayien and nodded vigorously, still silent, guess she had already tried to bluff her way through an failed. Learned her lesson?
“Oh, so I shouldn’t report this?”

The suspense seemed to fill Fayien in amusement as wide the two wide eyes looked from each other, pale. I wouldn’t be surprised if either of them had a heart attack. Anya most likely.Fayien gave out a ringing laughter, very soft but you could feel it going in deep, making your bones vibrate. I shivered, he seemed to have power over more than just facial expressions.
“There’s really no need for me to report this in, as you guys will soon be having a hearing from Snow, and a full report afterward. A small incident like this wouldn’t have any major changes, would it?”
    Both of them shook their heads, exactly as little children would do when reprimanded and asked if they were ever going to commit the act again.
“Anyways, I suggest you go downstairs before someone really does come up to see the cause of your absence.”

And then, back to me. All three of their eyes descended on me, starting from Fayien and the two other followed suit.
“It’s been quite an entertaining night.”
    There was much more meaning to that then just the outside. Oh boy. More things for me to unravel.
“And it doesn’t seem lie it’ll be ending anytime soon either.”
    I widened my eyes, why is it that the first thing that came to my head was the talk about my life and death few minutes ago. I mean, Fayien seemed decent, he wouldn’t take pleasure in watching me die...get murdered. A cold shiver went down my spine... not good, not good at all. He turned around with such graceful and smooth movements, you’d think it was a ballet in a series of movements and then turned to walk out the door. He stopped in front of it and raised his hands towards the door as if chaperoning the two of them out. Both of them jumped and immediately complied.
“We’ve got a long night ahead, and I suggest you go downstairs immediately, after you’ve changed that is.”
    The both of them marched out with the look of timid children being ushered back inside from break time. And then he turned his attention to me after their exit. I gulped, my turn? He tilted his head and another smile... I stopped my breathing, whatever was going to happen was going to happen now. An elegant wave of his hand and then he turned to...leave? That’s it? I tried to push myself off the bed, but that wasn’t possible, not when my hands and feet were bound.

I pushed with my hand and then tried to speak out, “wait” maybe something along that line, but behind the gag, it was nothing close. There was no way I’d just lie back down after what just happened. I had no idea what was going to happen to me, whether all my predictions from the hints and others were really going to pass. He turned back, my condition was pathetic and all the drama that had taken place was all that I could take. I wanted…needed to find out what was happening here. There was no way that I’d just let them walk out while I would be trapped here to suffer in the darkness as my mind played games with the new info that I had been bestowed with. What was going to happen to me? And why I was here in the first place? If I was fated to die then just get the hell on with it…not!
“You, my Sleeping beauty have to stay there and continue to dream for a bit longer. No worries, I have no intention to let them know about the discoveries that you have made from those two.”

Iven’s head popped out from the doorway.
“So, that means we’re really off the hook?”

Fayien turned to him and looked past, maybe at Anya, I couldn’t see beyond the frame of the doorway.
“We’ll found out about that very shortly.”
“Damn it.” Iven muttered, audible enough for both of us to hear but gave an angelic, young child’s smile to show that it was nothing against him or so it was made to sound like.
“Though I’m very intrigued to know how you managed to wake up. I’m pretty sure that it was supposed to be perfectly done...” Fayien leaned his hand against the side of the doorway.

Those words earned me with an inquisitive look from Iven.
“Perfectly done?” Iven questioned.
“Her sleeping.”

That was all the answer he received and I was rewarded with an interesting look fro him, maybe concerning the ‘sleeping’ he was talking about.
“Damn, you really are one hell of a girl,” Iven looked at me surprised.

I had no idea what I was being praised for. What did he mean by that? What did I do? And why is it that they know what I did and I myself don’t.
“Okay, time to get moving. Sweet dreams, Amaryllis.”

Those were his last words and Mr. Mysterious walked out with that gorgeous hair of his. It looked silky, beautiful, anything that a girl would wish for. If it had been any other time, I might’ve sat back and had daydreams about it; I wasn’t in a perfect situation for that right now. I had bigger things to worry about, and hair definitely was not one of them. Iven followed his suit and left. And this was how I had been left till now. Hold on...did he just say my name?

(The rest of this chapter soon to be posted)