Danger

CAMILLA
~•~
I struggled with the lock of my door, before I finally managed to pull the door open. I stood at the entrance of my room, my eyes peered into his room.
Antonio stood at the foot of his door. I could not see the look of horror on his face because he had his back turned to me, but I could see the beads of sweat roll down his neck, and form a pool at his collar, soaking the white shirt.
I took one step forward, but came to an abrupt halt when I heard the sound of glass shattering again. Mister Ivan was breaking something, but I could not quite tell what it was.
I pushed my fear to the back of my mind and stepped forward, urging Antonio to make way for me.
He held my hand and pulled me backwards, I threw him a stony glare.
"Are you blind?! Can you not see that he is out of his goddamn mind?!" Antonio yelled at me, while dramatizing every word that came out of his mouth.
But, I did not reply him.
I tried to break away from his hold, but he pulled me back once more.
"You need to stop this rubbish and listen to me! I am the one who's been with mister Ivan!"
He stopped when mister Ivan screamed and pushed his bedside drawer to the ground. He was charging towards his aquarium with a badminton racket in his hands.
I could not let him harm the aquarium, he would only regret it later.
I turned back to Antonio, my blood boiled with lack of patience. This man was stalling me and I did not know why.
I seized hold of his hands on my wrist and tore his arm off from mine. He lost his balance, my push sent him reeling backwards.
I turned sharply towards mister Ivan, my heart pounding furiously against the walls of my chest. He was halfway across the room, matching towards his aquarium, blazing fury in his eyes. He was so engulfed by his emotions, that his hands shook violently.
"How dare she?! How dare she appear in my life again? After all these years?!" He screamed at the top of his voice. He had made his way to attack the aquarium, but he missed my only few centimeters, his racket bashed the wall instead. The head of the racket broke off, and he screamed in anger.
"Nothing fucking works anymore! And it's all her fault!"
I stood there, staring at the floor. There were pieces of broken glass shattered everywhere. I feared he would step on one and hurt himself. My eyes danced up to look at him, my heart broke in my chest. I felt sorry for him, so sorry.
No one deserved to go through what he was passing through, no matter what.
I swallowed hard, in order to dampen my dry throat, before I spoke.
"Mister Ivan." I tried to call out softly, but he could not hear me.
I frowned, my fury began to spring up from the bottom of my stomach.
"Mister Ivan! If you can hear me, I need you to listen to me!"
Oh! He heard me, alright? And his head turned, his gaze locked with mine. By God, I wanted to fall to my knees and cry. My lips quivered, my tears threatened to soak my eyelids and overflow. I held on to the fabric of my skirt. I had never seen anyone so broken, so hurt, so destroyed. Men were often known for masking these things, but his had gotten to a level where he could not hide it anymore. Especially not when it controlled him.
"Listen to you?!" His breathing was irregular, frantic. His chest rose and feel heavily, with force.
"You want me to listen to you when all you women ever do is lie?! Huh?!" He began to walk towards me as he spoke. His voice was loud, so loud it echoed repeatedly in my ears. The pain, the anger, the bruises which had been torn open again, everything was evident in his voice, visible in his eyes and strides.
"Ivan. I know that you're hurt…"
"Do you? Because I seem to be the only one around here who feels my pain! She disappeared for three years! Three good years with my baby girl, Tina. She did not let me see her. I searched for them everywhere, in the entire world. Pulled every single resource I could, sent men to the ends of the earth but she wasn't anywhere! I asked myself with every passing day if she had died. If my baby was still alive. Guess what? They have been alive all this time! And she….and she…"
He stopped in front of me.
I froze with fear. I expected him to hit me with the end of the racket, but he did not. When I opened my eyes, his shoulders were slouched.
His face had fallen and so did his shoulders and stance.
"I don't know what to do Camilla."
Tears welled up in his eyes.
Seeing a grown man cry, a man as powerful as he was who no one believed could shed a tear, it did something to me. It softened my heart in the worst of ways.
I knew what it felt like to be abandoned. I knew what it felt to have someone disappear from your life without a trace, cause you pain and sorrow, only to reappear like nothing every happened.
I knew what it felt like because that was how I felt right now.
I was angered my father still had the guts to return, after so many years.
And he wanted to see me? For what?
I did not know why I did it, but I spread my arms wide, to welcome him into a hug. He blinked twice, looking down at my open arms, and back to my face.
I flashed him a warm smile.
"Come on, I'm here and I understand. I would always be here mister Ivan, I would always be here."
I saw his eyes soften at my statement, just like I knew they would.
"You would never get up and leave?"
God! He was so cute and sad, I wanted to fall to the ground and cry my eyes out. I sniffed my tears back in, and shook my head as a sign for no.
"No. I'll never just get up and leave."
That was all he needed to hear, because he was in my arms, with his hands locked around my waist and his head on my shoulder while his nose nuzzled my neck.
"Thank you so much, for everything." He muttered. I could feel him grow weak against my hold. I had to lead him to his bed now or his weight would land the both of us on the ground.
"You're welcome. Come, let's get you to bed so you can get some rest."
I led him to his bed, trying to keep all pieces of broken glass away from him.
I lay him down and covered his body with his duvet.
I could tell he had drifted off to sleep once he closed his eyes.
Manic episodes often made one weak and…
Wait a minute.
My eyes landed on the floor. When he threw his bedside drawer to the ground, the content on top of it fell to the ground as well.
I was staring at a half finished bottle of medicine, labeled "fluoxetine (prozac)".
Goosebumps crept to the surface of my skin. The cold breeze that swept past me sent shivers running down my spine. My jaw dropped as I stared at the bottle.
Antonio had been giving mister Ivan anti-depressants?! Those could make his disorder worse, and trigger more destructive manic episodes.
No wonder he could not get positive results from all the other doctors! How could he? When he was being given the wrong dosage of the worst medicine for his condition!
Was Antonio really that careless? Or was it…
My eyes widened in realization.
The day I asked to see mister Ivan's medication, and he blatantly refused.
Could it be that…?
No! Antonio did not have any reason to poison mister Ivan, no reason at all.
Antonio stepped into the room in that second. My eyes rose up to meet his.
When he caught sight of the medicine bottle on the floor, he dropped the brush in his hands and dived towards the bottle.
My heart sunk in my chest at the sight.
This man was either careless, or he had a hidden agenda no one else knew about. Those were the only two explanations that made sense to me.
Either way, whether Antonio had been the mastermind of whatever plan against mister Ivan or not, one thing was certain, clear as crystal to me now.
MISTER IVAN WAS IN DANGER.