CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE:
A GLIMPSE OF THE PAST
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Althea just realizes how stupid she was after arriving on the floor where the venue of that party was on.
She should have taken the elevator instead of the stairs since she was trying to escape. She was so
stupid to take a path that will take her more time to get into the basement- the parking lot- and drive
home immediately.
She always does this whenever her mind is in chaos. Meeting familiar people and remembering
unpleasant memories from the past because of it has never been good for anyone, especially if those
memories are bad enough to engrave deep traumas on them.
In her case, it was not them who gave it to her.
‘But,’ the corner of her mouth twitched. ‘If I ever did decide to take the elevator, it would be more
embarrassing since it is in front of them. If I suddenly turned my back on them then stopped just to wait
forever for the elevator to open while them staring at me from the back- isn’t that more embarrassing?’
Yup, that would be more embarrassing. It would be nice if there was a door and she will dramatically
open it, dramatically drop off her last phrase, then dramatically turn her back- and dramatically shut the
door, then storm off the room.
A dramatic exit.
‘Ugh,’ she groaned in her head. She cannot even laugh about how stupid she sounds. She shrugged.
‘Whatever, better to take the elevator in this floor instead. But- ‘
She stopped and looked around the hallways and rows of doors. One of her brows raised. ‘Where am I
supposed to find the elevator?’
She looked around and she cannot see a map hanging on the wall. Weren’t they supposed to be
hanging on the hallways? Since she cannot she them on where she was, she decided to turn on the
next hallway.
She strides on the hallway with her rather long legs. The crispy sounds of her heels that keeps on
hitting the tiled floor was the only noise that makes the floor looks not haunted by the lack of other
sound and human beings wondering around.
The floor was quite and still. It feels like the floor was… Deserted.
That was then Althea noticed the oddity of the situation. The quick pace of her steps slowed down by a
lot and her smooth forehead slowly crinkled as her brows met. Her steps slowed even more until they
completely halted, the noise also disappearing on the air.
Without the single noise, the floor feels like it was dumped in a muddy water. The lights even dimmed a
little and it the paints of the walls looks old and faded on Althea’s eyes. The feeling was like she was
suddenly transported into another dimension that is the same but different. The atmosphere also feels
like it was straight out from a horror movie.
Althea pursed her lips and clasped the purse she has tightly. Truth to be told, she was not a big fan of
horror movie.
Horror movies are horrible. She knew it is not real, but she will still jump out of fear or scream, or just
plainly shiver and tremble on her seat- not even uttering a single word. Completely frozen like a stone
statue.
“There’s no one here,”
“Damn, they sure move fast.”
‘Good,’ Althea sighed in relief. ‘There are still people here.’
Even though the two of them were men, as long as she knows that she’s not the only one who’s here
on this floor. Her relief only lasted for a while after her brain understood his words and the words that
came after them.
“If we can’t take anyone as a hostage, let’s just steal their belongings.”
His companion laughed. “Might as well before those police knows that we were faking about the bomb.”
Then, there were more laughter and snickers coming from the two of them. Their voices and footsteps
were getting louder as they approach where Althea was.
Their words were like a bomb exploding on her ears. It exploded loudly, making Althea stun and unable
to move a single muscle.
Bombs?
Stealing?
Police?
What are these criminals doing here? How did they enter?
Althea was thrown into the spiral of confusion and panic, unable to create the exact conclusion.
Was it an insider who helped them get inside the building? Did they pretended to be guests or
pretended to be one of the tenants of the rooms in this hotel that is why they got in so easily? How
about the guard in every floors? On the door?
A terrible conclusion entered Althea’s mind that made her body shudder in fear and lost its warmth.
She can even feel her blood rushing down her head, and she can hear her beating heart to the point
that she fears the other two might hear them thump against her chest.
About the guards… Did they kill them?
Their incoming footsteps made Althea pull herself out from the chaos she has in her head. She bit her
lip and looked at her left. It was a room. She tried reaching out for the knob and turn it to open the door,
but the door was locked.
She bit down her lower lips more, making them almost bleed out, but she cannot feel the pain. The
adrenaline that was rushing through her veins made her move fast and swiftly, not even creating a
sound. She went doors after doors, trying to open them, but they were locked. The sounds of their
incoming footsteps were also getting nearer, it almost threw herself into insanity.
She reached for another knob and turned it, then, she heard a click.
But no, it is not the click of the opening door, since, like the other doors she tried to open, was locked.
A cold, heavy metallic object was pressed on Althea’s back. It was deathly cold, the shape of circle that
was pressing against her skin was spreading the coldness to her whole body. She shivered and the
grip of her hand on the knob even tighten as she tried to surpass her trembling body.
Even without looking at the object that was pointing at her, that was pressed on her back, Althea knew,
instinctively, that it was ‘that’.
It was a gun.
Althea can feel the hair on her nape rising after remembering a scene like this. A scene that she
wished to forget after 6 years.
It was a scene where she was running with tears streaming down her face with dried blood on her lips
and nose. She was whimpering silently as she tries to endure the numbing pain on her feet as she tried
to run barefoot.
Like magic, she can feel the emotions she had back then, like she returned in time.
Constantly, every single second as long as she can, she looks back, her eyes look at the dimly lighted
corridors with the lights flickering because of its age. It was old, and so was the building they were in. It
was an abandoned factory- or so what she can say inside. She has not stepped outside since she was
dragged here.
Seeing that no one was after her, her tense body still did not relax.
“What are we gonna do with them?” Althea halted and hid on the corner after hearing a man’s voice.
“I do not know; we have to wait for the boss’s order.” Another man said.
A man sneakered. “It’s okay to have them here as for long you know. It’s enough that one of them
warms our bed.”
Althea held her breath shakily and she can feel her body tremble again. The corners of her eyes were
burning with hot tears and her teeth are in the verge of breaking from her grinding. Her heart spasm so
hard that she wants to scream and create a mess, then- kill them.
Kill them. Kill them, kill them, kill them, KILL THEM!
Althea bit her tongue, it bleeds- it stung- the small pain made her hang on her sanity.
She can’t do that. She can’t afford to do that.
She inhaled and shakily let it out from her mouth, then she listened, she listened to their conversation
until their voice slowly fades away. After confirming that it was silent and no one else was around, she
started moving again.
She tries opening the door and cautiously peeks inside, hoping to see what she wants to find.
‘Just once phone,’ she chanted in her mind. ‘Just one phone-‘
She almost broke down in tears after opening a door and saw a phone laying quietly on top of a table,
next to a mug of coffee. Althea bit her lips and went inside without thought, picked up the phone,
unlocked it, and dialed the first number that came inside her mind.
She pressed the phone against her ears as she listened to the rings, anxiously biting on her lips. She
kept on chanting for someone to pick up, and for the grace of god, someone did.
“Hell-“
Althea heard a click, and suddenly, a cold metallic like texture was pressed on her temple, the muzzle
of the gun was touching her skin that was breaking on cold sweats.
“Oh, look what I found,” Althea was already back in reality, but coincidentally, the words but the voice of
that guy and this guy was the same. “A mouse trying to sneak around.”
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