Why, hello Ivan!

IVAN
~•~

My eyelids parted slowly, but with much effort.

Darkness enveloped me almost immediately, the stale smell of sweat greeted my nostrils and I sneezed on reflex.

My eyes stung, I needed to scratch them. Groaning in frustration, I fought to bring my hands to my eyes. I could not, my hands were tied behind my back, and the more I struggled, the more the thin rope dug deeper into my flesh.

"Shit!" I cried out. Nothing made any sense, what was I doing here? How did I get here? What was this place?
I struggled to find something, anything to give me a clue. Nothing.
I saw nothing besides absolute darkness.

No windows, that was certain. But I could not tell whether or not there was a door. I looked around once again as if looking over the room time and time again would bring something I had not seen before to sight.

"Hello! Who's there?!" I screamed, my echoes thundered all over the room.

Two things were certain; the room was empty and it was large.

The struggle to free my hands began once again, with every move I made the thin wire cut deeper into my flesh.
"It's not working..." I sighed. I could hear the sound of my anger and feel my frustration.

I stayed quiet after that, counting seconds in my head. Ten...thirty....sixty...one twenty.

Seconds turned to minutes, minutes became an hour. My lips remained sealed and my ears stayed alert.

Suddenly, I heard footsteps. Slow, confident strides approach. Fear gripped my chest with sharp claws and I felt her stomach tighten. I pressed both lips together firmly, my eyes tightly shut.
A lot I did not understand had been happening to me. I was finding myself in situations that didn't make sense ever since…
Damn! It bothered me to even think of the name.

The footsteps drew closer and grew louder, but I had not heard any doors open.

Has the person been here with me all along? Had he or she heard me scream? Heard my struggle?

I felt so many things at once. Confusion turned to fear, fear to anger, anger to desperation, and desperation to confusion again. It was an endless cycle, one in which my emotions continuously threw me in.

The footsteps stopped. Sweat caused my shirt to cling to my body, it was only then I realized that I was at all dressed.

I listened, but there was no sound anymore.
Had I been imagining the previous one? Was fear messing with my brain?

I shook violently in my chair, struggling, just trying to see if I could break the shackles of the rope that held me.

The banging in my head continued, even worse than before. But I ignored it.
I could not be here. I had to get to my children, I had to help Tina and Tommy…and…
Wait a minute.

I sniffed the air. The scent of the cologne that greeted my nose was very familiar.
I had shared my bed with someone of that scent.

Sarah!

God! Did they have to take my wife too? Who could have been after my entire family? I had always made it my point of duty to stay out of trouble.
So what was all this about?

I leaned out of my chair, but a powerful force flung me backward. I hit the back of the chair with force and I heard myself groan.

"Careful now." A very familiar voice came.

My ears stood at attention. My heart continued to pound heavily against my chest.

"Sarah?"

I heard someone turn a switch on, a bright light flooded the room almost immediately. I closed my eyes and looked at the floor, gritting from the pain of the bright light flashing into my eyes.

But I saw her shoes in front of me.

Slowly, my eyes traveled from her black flats to her legs, her knees, her thighs, her slim waist, her stomach, breasts and neck, before they landed on her face.

Sarah Holloway, my wife of eight years, held a gun and she was pointing at me.

"Why, hello Ivan!"


~•~
CAMILLA
~•~

I watched in anticipation as Freddie sighed while he looked down at me.

"Camilla, your savior complex…"

"This is not a savior complex, Freddie! This is life giving me one more shot to save somebody. I can't let it go, because…"

Freddie arched his left brow at me. I could tell he was waiting for me to finish my sentence.
But I couldn't. I had two endings to that statement and I could not tell which made more sense.

"Because?" Freddie finally asked. He must have seen or sensed I was not willing to complete it.

I heaved a sigh as I looked down at the floor.

"I'll never be able to forgive myself."

The next thing I heard was a bitter chuckle escaping my throat.

"Bullshit." Freddie spat out.

"What?" I did not expect him to frown at me. I did not expect the tone he used on me and I did not expect him to turn away from me in the way that he did.

"This isn't about your bloody career anymore, Camilla. And you know it."

The statement hit my eyes like a missile I did not expect.
I found myself staggering backward. I managed to catch myself before I could fall onto my bed.

"No one sits and worries about their patient, no one has recurring dreams and nightmares about their patient, no one finds it hard to sleep or eat because their patient asked them out of their house and their life!" He turned his face to me. There was a confusing mix of anger and relaxation on his face. I did not understand it.

"You are in love with this man, Camilla. For once, for just this once, tell yourself the truth."

I shook my head vehemently.

"No."

He chuckled, it was a bitter one.

"No? So you intend to keep lying to yourself, huh?"

A strange form of anger rose from within me, it started to twirl and heat up in my stomach, before it slowly spread to other parts of my body, including my brain.

I found my stability and was ready to match past him.

"Fuck this! If you're not helping me, I'll go alone." I said aloud.

I was going to brush past him to the door, but he quickly caught my right hand. I paused and turned to him, sending him a deadly glare.
It did not threaten him, he did not leave me alone.

"I'm coming with you, Camilla. I would not be able to forgive myself if anything happened to you too." There was a softness in his eyes now, a form of care I found particularly strange, but I refused to worry about.

"Does that mean you're in love with me?" I fired back, throwing his words back at him.

"It means you are my best friend."

Slowly, the tension died down and we stared at each other with smiles on our faces.

"Let's check out this millionaire boyfriend of yours."

I laughed.

"I'm pretty sure he is a billionaire, and a MARRIED one."

"But you'll crew him if you can." Freddie chipped in with a smirk.

I shook my head and pulled my arm off his grip.

I'm pretty sure I already did.

We rushed down the stairs and got into Freddie's car. I did not say another word, only when I had to direct Freddie to mister Ivan's house.
When we got to house 29, I asked Freddie to park the car. I did not want anyone to know I was coming, or that I had someone with me.

As I stepped out of the car, I heard Freddie call from behind me.

"Do be careful now, Cam. If you run into any problem…"

"You would be the first person I would call. I know, I know. I'll be careful, I promise."

He did not say another word.

He only managed a small smile and I walked away from the car and started to run on my legs toward mister Ivan's house.

When I got to his front door, I found Antonio locking the house. I stood still, confused.
He would never need to lock the front door if there was anyone inside. But I did not trust the man.

He was heading somewhere, he was going somewhere and he was in a hurry. It almost didn't show, but I managed to notice how many times he sucked in air before he turned around.

I was right.
My instincts were absolutely correct.

Something was wrong, mister Ivan was in danger and Antonio knew something.

Before he could turn his back, I sprinted away from the house and rushed back to the car.

Freddie's eyes widened immediately when I opened the door. He had not expected me to come back so quickly.

"Camilla…"

I was panting heavily, even though I had only covered a small distance.

"You see that car two blocks in front?"
I pointed to the black Honda Accord I saw Antonio get in.

Freddie squinted his brows to look, but he eventually saw it.

"Yeah?"

"Follow it, now."

Freddie had a lot of questions, but he turned the key and the engine of the car roared to life.