by Ivy Clyde
After placing my bag in one of the staff lockers, I headed into the vast kitchen.
A flurry of activities greeted me as soon as I entered the vast spacious hall. There were chefs in pristine white uniforms prepping tonight’s meals while several others were busy setting up trays with delicate little hors d'oeuvres and flutes of champagne.
“The guests are starting to arrive,” called a high, clear voice. Looking toward it, I found Mary speaking to her crew gathered around her. Moving forward, I lined up among them.
“Make sure the trays are clean at all times. No spillage. The main crowd will start arriving within the hour and will stay until eleven. No slacking between these hours.”
It was the same old lecture Mary gave us every time. I tuned her out, watching a nearby chef sautéing something in a pan while huge flames engulfed the surface of the utensil. It was oddly mesmerizing.
“Move it, kid,” said one of the men, pushing past me. Everyone was dispersing.
“Are you all right there, Skye?” Mary’s voice made my head turn her way. Tonight she was dressed in a neat black dress. Her mocha skin looked radiant under the bright lights of the kitchen area. Her brown eyes were warm as they met my gaze.
“Everything’s cool,” I said, giving her a nod. She had enough on her shoulders without me adding my burdens on her. Mary was already helping me and my mom by letting me keep this job even though I was just a high school kid and didn’t belong in a place like this mansion.
I walked toward the long table lined with trays of food and drinks and picked one up. The cheeseburger I’d eaten on my way here still sat heavily in my stomach. I wanted a nap but there would be no time to rest until much later tonight. With a suppressed huff, I headed out of the kitchen.
The sound of classical music reached my ears the closer I got to the main area of the mansion. Guests were beginning to gather in one of the vast halls, their tinkling laughter and muted chatter filling up the quiet halls. The mix of expensive perfumes mingled in my nostrils as I entered one of the rooms.
For a moment, I simply stared at the crowd. The women were gorgeous, wearing beautiful gowns that shimmered under the chandeliers hanging overhead. The jewels at their throat and wrists glinted as they moved, catching the light and flashing in my eyes.
“Don’t dawdle,” said one of the waiters in my crew as he walked past me.
Taking a deep breath, I followed after him, reminding myself of my position.
Over the next hour, I walked around groups of people with trays of hors d'oeuvres and champagne. The drinks would end much quicker than the food, forcing me to head back to the kitchen for refills. It was during one of these trips that I landed in trouble.
I was hurrying back from the kitchen with a tray full of drinks when my feet slipped over something slimy. Before I could get my balance, my body shot forward, colliding with a tall, massive man in a dark tux. The heavy tray fell out of my hands, throwing the delicate wine flutes to the floor where they shattered to pieces, spraying my legs with cold champagne.
“I am so sorry!” I blurted out from right where I was. The only saving grace in this situation was that it happened near the doorway of the vast hall. Most of the crowd was gathered further inside, leaving only a few people to stare at me. It lessened some of the fuss that would have otherwise disturbed the whole party.
Getting on my knees, I muttered apologies and began picking up the broken pieces. My gaze stayed locked to the ground, too scared to lift my head and meet the angry gaze of the man I’d pushed into. He still stood perfectly straight, unaffected by a girl who’d hurtled into him. My hands shook as I lifted a shard of broken glass.
“Hey, it’s okay,” said a soft voice.
A woman in a shimmering mauve gown was crouched before me. Before I could say anything, she brought her hands to cover mine, stopping me from touching the glass shards.
“I’m sorry about what happened,” I whispered, looking into her face.
The stranger was beautiful with sparkling emerald-green eyes and chocolate-brown hair. Unlike most of the women here, she was much younger, perhaps a few years older than me. The frantic beating of my heart slowed down but her widening eyes were making me uncomfortable. I couldn’t understand her expression at all which went from being kind to shocked in a matter of a second.
“Maria,” she breathed.
“What?”
“Get up, Paris,” said the man from above us. “Let her clean up the mess.”
The young woman stayed frozen before me. “It’s her,” she whispered, staring at me like she recognized me.
“What are you talking about?” asked her partner, getting down on his knees beside her. His glance fell on me. His silver-gray eyes widened but he was much quicker than his girlfriend to hide his surprise. He was young too and incredibly handsome with strands of dark hair falling into his mesmerizing eyes. It was only a moment before his shock melted away, giving way to cold rage that seemed to radiate off him in waves.
A shudder ran through me. Tearing my eyes from the frightening man, I began collecting the pieces of broken glass. “I am so sorry, sir,” I mumbled, intent on getting out my apologies once again. “I didn’t mean to push into you. Someone spilled something on the floor and I slipped and hurtled into you. Please, I’m sorry.”
His hand shot forward and grabbed my wrist, pulling me forward until he was staring down at me with those beautiful but haunting silver eyes. “Who are you?”
My throat went dry as my heart raced in my chest. I swallowed dryly before urging my tongue to form the words. “My name is Skye. Please, sir, I need this job. Please don’t get me fired.”
Something seemed to click in his mind because next instant, his fingers loosened around my wrist and he finally let go. There was a storm brewing behind those intense gray eyes but his face remained calm and still. “Move along,” he said in a deep, commanding voice.
He didn’t have to tell me twice. Thankfully, one of my colleagues came in at that moment to help clear up the rest of the glass shards.
“Get going. I will wipe the rest of the mess,” said the man whom I knew as Freddy.
“Thanks,” I said, getting back on my feet. My glance fell on the beautiful young woman. She and her partner were still staring at me with the strangest expressions on their faces. She looked sad and lost while the man looked like he was preparing to pounce on me.
Another chill ran up my spine as I hurried out of the room to escape into the kitchen.
I’d barely made it to the kitchen when a stranger stepped before me. He was a tall, muscular man in a black suit. Half his face was covered by tinted dark glasses. He took a moment to glance at the name tag on my shirt before striding towards me.
I stepped back. “What do you want?”
Without a word, he moved closer.
I should have known the incident back in the hall wouldn’t end there. The dangerous man with eyes of silver had a predator lurking inside him. Was he going to punish me for colliding with him? Did he have to be so petty as to punish someone as insignificant as me?
“I told your boss I was sorry,” I said, moving backward as the man came closer. “Please. I don’t want any trouble.”
The stranger stopped in his tracks.
Before I could relax, a heavy hand clamped around my mouth from behind me, forcing a handkerchief over my nose. My fingers scraped over my attacker’s hands but they didn’t loosen their grip. A sweet smell filled my nostrils, followed by a growing lethargy.
My gaze flickered to the man before me. He hadn’t made a move but he was watching me expectantly. My vision swam before me as a heavy, black haze settled over me. Before I knew it, my eyelids had fluttered closed.
3
Skye
My eyes opened up to find myself shrouded in darkness.
A groan escaped my lips as I tried to sit up. A throbbing headache hammered against my forehead.
As consciousness slowly returned to me, I became awar
e of the place I was in. My body had been lying on a comfortable bed. Someone had draped a blanket over me which slipped down just as I sat up fully. A small bedside lamp was lit nearby, illuminating the room dimly.
“What is this place?” I whispered aloud the first thought in my head, followed by, “What am I doing here?”
The memory of a dark-suited man rose up in my mind. He’d watched me struggle against the person who’d come up from behind me to press the drug-soaked cloth to my nose.
But why?
My first instinct was to throw the blanket off me completely. In the dim light of the bedside lamp, I found my clothes to be the same as before. My hands slipped up my thighs to check whether my panties were still on. They were.
Taking deep breaths, I closed my eyes. There were no aches or pains anywhere except for the headache still assaulting me. Slowly, climbing off the bed, I moved my arms and legs, feeling no discomfort anywhere. It was becoming evident the two men who’d kidnapped me here hadn’t assaulted me in any way…yet.
“Hello?” I called out in a hesitating tone.
There was no reply. Everything was still and quiet.
Moving toward the door, I let my fingers curl around the knob. It twisted in my hand, opening the door effortlessly. My confused mind looked down a long, narrow corridor. Not knowing which way to go, I chose to go to my right.
Within a minute, I came across a bend and found myself at the end of the hallway. A sweeping grand staircase lay a few feet away. Rushing forward, I looked downward and recognized one of the halls leading to the rooms where the mayor’s party was taking place.
My heartbeat returned to normal as I realized I was still in the mayor’s mansion. Those men hadn’t kidnapped me and taken me away somewhere. Why they bothered to drug me and bring up here was beyond my reasoning. Part of me wondered if it was on the orders of the devilish man I’d collided with earlier. If it had been, why was he simply letting me go?
The sound of deep, gut-wrenching sobs reached my ears.
I turned around, my gaze locking onto a nearby room with the door partly open. Something pulled me along toward it until my hand was resting on the door.
“Hello?” I called out, not knowing if there was someone else on the other side of the door. There was no reply except for the low sobs. Pushing the door open, I peered in, already poised to sprint away if anyone came at me.
The layout of the room was similar to the one I was sleeping in. It was also dimly lit by the same kind of bedside lamp. In its glow, I noticed a tall, lean body on the bed. From the dark-colored trousers, I could guess it to be a man. My gaze went up his body and noticed his arm thrown to the side. Even in the dark, I could tell it was soaked in dark blood that was gradually seeping into the bedcover underneath him.
“Oh my god,” I whispered, rushing inside the room.
Reaching the body, I hovered over the stranger, noting how young he looked. He barely looked any older than me. A pained expression marred the soft beauty of his face. Thick locks of dark blonde hair fell over his tightly shut eyes as he moaned incoherently.
“What happened to you?” I asked him.
He groaned once more, shifting his body away from me.
“I am not with the men who did this to you,” I said, thinking of the two black suits who’d drugged me earlier. Fear snaked through me as the realization hit me. They could be back to do the same with me. Perhaps, hurting high school kids gave them their sick pleasure.
“I am going to help you get out of here, okay? Let me just take a look at your hand.” I picked up his hand, bringing his wrist closer to me so I could see the extent of his injury. The thick bloody slash on his pale skin looked deep. Blood dribbled out of the wound in gentle drips. “You need to go to a hospital. I don’t think you can survive this much longer.”
With a sudden movement, the hand in my grasp was pulled out, coming to grip my wrist instead in a tight hold. A strong pull had me tumbling over the edge of the bed and falling next to the young man lying there. He jumped over me, straddling my thighs as he pinned both my wrists over my head.
A wild, furious look came over the strange young man as he glared at me, tightening the hold on my wrists painfully.
“Please, I just want to help you,” I whispered, feeling my heart throbbing in my chest.
The anger in his face suddenly vanished, leaving him to gape at me. “Maria?”
The sound of that name was like a cold whisper against my ear. That name…I’d heard it earlier that night. The beautiful woman I’d met earlier had called me the same name.
The tight hold on my wrists loosened. Next moment, I felt drops of warm water falling on my face. Looking up, I found the stranger’s beautiful, soulful eyes brimming with tears. He was crying, the look of extreme sadness making my own heart ache in a strange way.
“I just want to help,” I whispered.
“Don’t ever leave me again, Maria,” the young man whispered. Next moment, he slumped over me, losing consciousness completely.
“Hey.” I slapped at his upper arm gently. “Get off me.” But he remained motionless, crushing me with the weight of his body.
A noise of frustration escaped me as I managed to throw him off me. Lying there, I breathed hard, struggling to calm the frantic beating of my heart.
Sitting straight, I looked back at the stranger. He’d passed out now but the look of extreme pain was still etched onto his features. Moving closer to him, I patted his pockets, hoping he still had his phone on him.
“Thank god,” I muttered, feeling the hard shape of a phone there. Those men hadn’t stolen it yet.
Taking it out, I pressed on the power button, only to find it locked. “For crud’s sake,” I muttered, staring at it. There was no time to play with my tools to break the password on it.
A sudden idea popped in my head. It was the last hope I had to make a call using his phone or waste more time to find a payphone to call 911. There was no way I was going down and calling for anyone. What if the people who’d drugged us came back?
Taking a deep breath, I typed in M-A-R-I-A.
My lips parted slightly as the phone opened up for me. Ignoring the missed calls and texts he’d received, I made a hurried call to 911, quickly giving them the address of the mayor’s mansion and explaining how a young man was in one of the rooms in the upper floors with his wrists slashed dangerously.
“Help will be here soon,” I told the unconscious young man. He didn’t stir. “I need to get out of here myself now. Stay alive, okay?”
Climbing off the bed, I took one last look at him.
He really was handsome. In another life, I would have even let myself have a crush on him. Shaking my head, I walked out of the room. My gaze traveled the length of the corridor outside, making sure there was no one there.
The coast was clear, making me hurry downstairs.
The mansion was quiet now. The party seemed to have gotten over hours ago. A cleaning crew was still needed to clean up some of the mess left behind but I was sure no one would be coming tonight. My shoes clacked against the marble floors loudly. I took them off, padding across the cold stones to reach the staff locker room.
It was empty too but the lights were still on.
I hurried to get my stuff out of the locker and went towards the way I came in from. Security guards belonging to the mansion were standing guard there but no one stopped me as I walked out of there.
A cool night breeze blew past me, playing with the stray locks of hair on my forehead. I shivered. Wrapping my arms around my body, I walked down the dark, deserted road. I wanted to call for a cab but wanted to put as much distance between me and the mansion first.
I’d only walked for a few minutes before the screeching sounds of an ambulance reached my ears. It was steadily coming my way. I barely had time to jump behind a couple of ash trees before the vehicle passed by me. A cop car followed closely behind.
From my hiding spot, I watched two cops and a paramedi
c talk to the guards outside. It was only a moment before they were let inside. I waited, desperately hoping they would find the young man on the upper floor.
Regret washed over me at that moment. If I wasn’t involved with Sergei, I could’ve stayed back until the emergency services arrived. I could have shown them the way to the room where the handsome stranger lay, slowly bleeding to his death. My hands were tied with the tainted chains I’d put around them.
A few shouts roused me from my thoughts. Looking toward the mansion, I found a few more paramedics hurrying inside with a stretcher between them.
“Yes! They’ve found you,” I whispered, feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude wash over me. “Thank God.”
A few minutes later, the paramedics came out of the building with the stranger on the stretcher. The mayor and his wife walked out next. They were huddled together in nightgowns and were talking to the cops.
I turned away from the scene. The young man was going to be okay. They would take him to a hospital and patch him up.
The sky to the east was slowly turning gray, indicating that an early summer dawn was on its way. A wide yawn escaped me as I hurried down the lane to get to the main highway. An Uber was already on its way to pick me up.
The paramedic van rushed past me, its lights flashing blindingly in the dark.
I took a deep breath, finally relaxing. We’re both going to be okay, I thought, looking after the van as it vanished down the road.
4
Skye
I woke up to the loud notes of the new “Chicken noodle soup” song blaring from my phone. Blinking blearily, I felt around the pillow for the phone.
“Hello?” I mumbled through dry lips. The sun rays coming in through the torn curtain almost blinded me.
“Hello?” replied a mocking voice. “Why haven’t you come over to deliver the test papers yet?”