Twelve

"What's that you're drinking?" -he asks the question, looking at the medicine box above the bed.

"Damn, you didn't throw it away?"

— No big deal, it's just a migraine medicine! - I go to the mattress, shaking to get the damn box.

- Let me see! - she asked stretching her arm.

"Fuck!"

— It's…it's…better leave it for tomorrow… -I start to stutter.

"Give it to me soon, Mila!" -Ordered her not falling for my little chat.

I start to get even more nervous, not controlling my fear.

I clutch the box to my chest, eyes quivering with terror, and take five steps back, watching him pin a baleful glare on me.

"Do you think I'm stupid?" he asked like a demon.

The minute he senses my terror, his body lunges toward me, where his rough fist grips my wrist with a force that could snap me in half.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, THOMAS?" - scream in pain.

- YOU IDIOT! -my veins burn crushed by your fingers. -IT IS YOUR OBLIGATION WITH ME AND WITH THIS COUNTRY, TO GENERATE AN HEIR OF MINE! -he shakes me like a helpless child and presses me to the porch railing.

"LET ME GO, ARE YOU CRAZY?" -I swing my arm in an attempt to free myself, but the lack of blood circulation hampers my effort.

"I shouldn't have done that!" -he gives a devilish smile.

- For! - I look around looking for help, dizzy to see how high that balcony was up close.

- STAY STILL! - he shouted bothered by my bumps.

"You're hurting me!" - I fill my eyes with tears, terrified of her intentions.

“Why Mila, why did you do that? she asked, drowning in his selfishness. -How am I going to trust you now? -he said looking in me for some kind of loyalty.

— We don't even know each other well to have a child! -shooting. -You just want a goddamn Queen to fuck around and rule!

"IT'S YOUR OBLIGATION!" - she snapped.

- NO, IT'S NOT! - I retort in the same tone.

"You knew about the laws before you agreed to marry me!"

- Yes! -I say. -But I also knew that if I refused the marriage, you would probably do everything to make my life hell.

- You are right! -he agreed holding on to my arm. -I would never let any other man touch you. Just thinking about someone close to you, I already feel an urge ... -Anger invades his imagination, making him take a deep breath.

"W-what would you do?" - I ask the question wanting to hear a different answer than what I'm sure he's capable of.

"The same as I'm going to do now!"

Consequently, my eyes lock with his, searching for any point or hint of mercy.

— Thomas…what are you going to do — -before he even finishes speaking, he blocks me with a kiss being quick with the adjustment of his hands.

"Be happy in hell!" -his strong arms take my legs from behind and he lifts me easily throwing me over the irons.

— THOMAS! -one last scream manages to come out when I am thrown meters high.

TEXT MESSAGE RECEIVED

"ALARM TRIGGERED"

"What?"

I hold the cell phone under the table, with the aim of not disturbing the meeting. This notification intrigues me because I was sure I had solved the problem with the alarm.

- Sirs! I call everyone's attention, standing up. -I need to see what's going on with my car. I'll be back in a few minutes. - warning, leaving near the table.

— If you want Piter, you can look!

I don't understand why he insists so much that I attend these meetings, when he always manages to escape and then comes back trying to play the know-it-all role.

- It will not be necessary! - I answer and resume my steps.

"If you are, you'll miss the main topic!" - she countered.

I stop on the ground and irritated answering him from the back.

“If you were here half an hour ago, you would know that we've already negotiated and signed off on the main project. - I say and walk through the door.

I leave the palace with my mind full of laughter, not understanding how someone can be as hypocritical as the King. When I pass through the front door, I continue walking to my BMW, taking in the garden and surroundings.

"I don't see anything strange..."

The more modern the machine is, the more tiring it is. Amazing how the years brought beauty and power, leaving many important things behind.

"I'd give anything to own an 1884 De Dion Runabout again!" - I'm ironic.

I bend over to look through the windows, searching for why only he fired. There are six cars parked and five are silent. Only mine decided to be irritated by the sound of crickets.

TEXT MESSAGE RECEIVED

My cell phone buzzes in my pocket and I pick it up with a spark of anticipation that it's something about the Queen.

"Greta: Good night!"

"Damn it!"- huff leaning against the car, disappointed.

"Me: Hello, Mrs. Lunner!"

"Greta: Were you able to check the location code?"

"Me: Unfortunately I didn't have time to test it."

"Greta: 6667DNLL"

"Me: Right. Does she know we installed a tracker on her cell phone?"

"Greta: I doubt it! She doesn't have our customs. I don't see her glued to her cell phone and I haven't noticed the benefit of her current wealth either."

"Me: Indeed it is very strange!"

"Greta: If we can convince her to wear the watch, it will be easier to find her, since it notifies her of her steps and even her heart rate."

Restless, I leave the chat and type the numbers into the app even though I know she's upstairs. As I watch the loading circle go by, a brief image plays in my head, showing that I will have problems with this program, because she doesn't pay as much attention to her phone.

"Greta: So?"

The notification bar pops up and I remember leaving Greta talking to herself.

"Me: It's loading. Weird it took so long, but it could be the signal interfering."

"Greta: The sign upstairs is really tricky..."

"I need -

NOTIFICATION: MAP FOUND

I delete the message I was just finishing typing as soon as I get the location map.

Troy River- BENJAMIN! - he called from the main door.

- HEY! - I shout and wave at him, at the same time I scroll through the screen of my cell phone trying to expand the images.

Troy- LET'S PLAY A POKER, YOU COMING?

"I'M ON THE WAY, I JUST NEED TO MAKE A CALL!" - I shout in response.

He goes inside and I finally find what I want, but for some reason, the dot marks the garden, and I remember seeing her go up the stairs to the bedroom.

"Why doesn't this drug work?"

I restart the program and enter the numbers again.

The circle turns, turns, turns and turns some more.

MAP FOUND

I look at the screen with the utmost attention and zoom in little by little just to make sure if what I saw was right or not. The marker was still placed above the lawn, but it could also be divided between the porch and the garden.

"Should I call?"

Refusing to accept that Greta and I have wasted our time, I make one last attempt at stretching the image to the extreme.

- Hell! I irritated myself, rubbing my face with my hand. -Screw this! - I ignore my questioning and click on the Queen's number, waiting for her to answer.

CALL LATER

Calls and calls, but she doesn't answer. So I call again.

CALL LATER

"Damn, it looks like everything is going wrong today!" - I squeeze the device between my fingers, angry for not getting answers.

At this hour, Thomas certainly won't let me go upstairs to talk to her, but if I shout to her from the garden, maybe she'll hear even if the height makes it a little difficult.

Decided, I walk closer to the window, at the same time watching the guards at the gate. If I happen to be seen, or my attitude is suspicious, at least everyone here knows me. So I type on the screen and put the device to my ear listening for the call again. The closer I get, the more my senses begin to blur with the roar of the call and the smell of fresh blood.

"What the fuck?"

It's very confusing to determine, or arrive at the result we are looking for, when there are more than three things happening together, shuffling your thoughts and reasoning. It's like trying to listen to music, but to your left is a television on and to your right are two screaming babies.

So, I stop on the lawn near a tree bothered by the mess I was inside. As my senses adjusted, it also picked up different sounds, including insects. When I reached full control of what I was looking for, I noticed that the sound that echoed in the call was accompanied by another ring, in perfect synchronization. That's when that same voice, the voice causing despair, warns me to return later ending the song that also played in the middle of darkness.

"Oo what?"

My inner self is bursting with laughter at finding this all a terrifyingly funny coincidence, while my physical self can't move to predict what might lie ahead.

"Intriguing..."

Unexpectedly, all the cars that were parked set off their alarms, causing panic and distress. I was in the middle of the garden away from the vehicles, one step away from discovering what was behind the wall of vines.

The security guards would be here soon looking for the culprit for causing that huge noise.

CALL LATER

I resume my search still with the phone in hand, only this time on speakerphone. The same music that I had heard before, returns to accompany my cell phone as it waited to be answered. When I pass the last wall of living, very green vines, a person lying in the leaves, alone, makes my footprints hesitate in the same second, combining with the external lights, which begin to weaken their clarity.

"..."

"At any point in your life have you been able to experience mental silence?"

"Just emptiness, without scenes, traumas, expectations, birds, dreams. A clean mind, that for a single minute managed not to think about exactly anything?"

This is the first time in my vast existence that my brain has gone blank as if the "off" button had been pressed. Except I don't mean fainting, memory loss, or anything like that, I mean getting so, so nervous, that the whole universe disappears where my eyes see only a single access point.

♡♡♡♡