Fifteen
— Rain — - the second the nurse turns her attention back to Mila, her lines disappear together with an unexpected manifestation of her body that becomes hard and trembling when she collides with the color of the patient's eyes.
"They found me, you said they found me!" -his voice shows strength, a tone that reveals a lot of power.
"Yes, Benjamin found her!" - confirmed with fear.
She travels for a few seconds through her mind, leaving her face with an expression of someone solving riddle by riddle. Thus, believing she has a chance to get away, Judith tries to pull her arm back to her body, but she is surprised by the vampire's strength, which, in the face of her brutal attempt, makes every part of her brain focus on that impulsive action.
"Are you afraid of something, nurse?" she asked like an assassin, her eyes fixed on the woman.
"N-no!" she lied.
Like the tip of lightning touching the waves of the sea, a confused energy runs through the Queen's body, driving all her ingenious sense straight into the heart rate of the one she touched.
"What is that?"- he thought letting a surprised sigh leave his lips.
“W-what are you doing? - he said sweating.
- Can you hear? -she brutally pulls the nurse closer to her body, almost touching chest to chest. -It's fast...very, very fast!
"The drugs you've taken can cause serious hallucinogenic effects...
"I'm not hallucinating!" - she assured. -For the first time in my life, I'm completely sure of what I'm feeling.
"And...and what are you feeling right now?" -her teeth chatter against each other when she asks.
- Hunger!
“To…to…
- Madam!
A strange hand touches me as I yell at the Queen in front of me.
"Please...no...no..." I growl.
— Mila!
I'm at the hospital, in the same room I saw myself in when I woke up next to Benjamin. I don't understand why I can't move, in fact, I don't even understand how I'm able to see myself. If it was a reflex I would know and if that standing in front of the nurse wasn't me, I would recognize it too. I really want to go home, I want to hug Piter and ask my husband for forgiveness.
"Why can't I move?"
I had never seen myself like this, as a person of flesh and blood face to face. Our image is usually so common in mirrors that when we come across someone "identical", it becomes a mental challenge.
"W-wait..."
- I agree!
"What is happening?"
"I grabbed that lady's wrist. Why am I doing this?"
That feeling of having someone looking at us grows by the minute as if we weren't alone in the room. And I'm not. There are two of me, for some reason there are two Queens, two Milas. I can see the whole room from above while the other me presents a violent figure. Voices are chasing me from within the darkness, but unlike the people I see, this other presence was new to me.
"- HELP!"
- Drop! -shout. -Let her go!
"You need to wake up!"
"What the hell is that?"
"Why does it have a fourth voice?"
"— Don't do that, please...please..."
“To…to…
"What am I doing?"
"— I'm sorry, but I'm starving!"
“Oo what?”
"— For God's sake, please... I have family - "
"NO!"
- NO! -shout.
— LADY CLIFFORD! He yelled, shaking me.
— SOLT — — I startle awake, bumping into a white leather couch. -What the... what the fuck is this?
"Was it all a dream?"
I was in doubt if what had just happened was real, or if the place I was in was total fantasy.
Syringes and a hospital bed have been replaced by a meter-high wall of books. A huge library with stairs connecting the high shelves, blocking my view making me believe that I really had taken hallucinogens.
If the accident with Thomas had been true or not, I wouldn't know until I got back to the part where I'm in the room with the nurse.
"Hi, can you hear me?" -the monster that was inside the shadows touches me again, generating a jump that makes me sit down at the same time.
"CUM!"
- WHO ARE YOU? - I scream pulling my legs over the upholstery.
- Calm calm! - she asked with fright, throwing her hands up like who is innocent. -I'm Vincent, Vincent Miller!
"Who is Vincent Miller?"
- I do not know you! - I'm thick.
- I understand! -He tries to calm me down. -I'm Mr. Benn's butler-
“Benjamin!” - I say without letting him finish. -Where is he?
“Due to the circumstances, he thought it best to bring you here while he sorted out the little accident at the hospital.
"Accident, what accident?" -question. -And where am I?
The tall, thin man with blue eyes and slightly gray hair points his finger towards my clothes, which I accordingly take my eyes off without a second thought.
- What...
It wasn't a dream, it wasn't a hunch much less a nightmare. The hospital and everything that happened was real.
I was inside a library, dressed in the same nightgown that I saw myself in while sleeping, the rose-colored cloth was impregnated with bloodstains forming a perfect combo with my bloodied arms and hands. As I analyzed and rediscovered myself, my chest was crushing inside me, making me restless and breathless.
That was the perfect trigger for my anxiety to reach its maximum level.
I take my hands to my cheeks and when I see it, the color comes back even more vividly making me lose my breath and all control of the situation.
— I... I killed her... - I admit in shock.
— I'll take you to the — —he looks as if he doesn't care, as he takes two steps closer to me as if he's going to touch me.
- DO NOT TOUCH ME! - I scream running behind the couch.
"What happened, why are you acting like this?"
"YOU, YOU'RE JUST LIKE HIM!" -I say.
"I don't understand..." He shakes his head. -Come on, let me show you where the bathroom is -
— STAY THERE! -rebuke your footprints again. - If you try to touch me, I swear I'll scream.
"Shout?"
"It is serious?"
- What place is this? I ask again, behind my foam shield.
"We're at Mr. Benjamin's house!"
"Does he live inside a bookstore?"
“You're like him, right?
To act so naturally in the face of what happened, he undoubtedly must be like Benjamin, or even an accomplice in his exploits.
"No, I'm human-"
- LIE! - I won't let him talk.
“I'm not lying, I'm human. And if you want to have proof of that, just concentrate right here...-she said tapping her index finger twice on top of her chest. -It's easier when you touch the other person, but since you don't let me get close, just use your hearing and try to focus as much as you can on my heartbeat.
"I don't s-"
"Concentrate, Mila!" she insisted. -Let everything around you disappear and aim only at the sounds.
When we want to hear anything with more intensity and vibrancy, it is normal that we automatically close our eyes to enhance the timbre. For many, this brings a sense of peace, warmth and even small shivers depending on how much you connect with the melody.
In the meantime, concentrated and with my eyes closed, without much effort I manage to reach exactly two pulses, in different positions and frequencies. The problem is that when I realize that Vincent really told the truth, I also face the second knock, which strangely comes from outside and not exactly from the place I expected. My body.
"Two lives and I..."
If there was a monster here, it certainly wasn't this man, or the one out there.
- And then?
“What am I?” - I hesitate to ask.
"I'm sure you already know the answer!"
He was right, I knew it.
"Now can I show you where the bathroom is?"
- Thanks! -reject. -But I want to go back to my house.
I won't be able to take it in, or think about my life while I'm in this strange place. It's almost impossible to remember the details when this guy doesn't give me any space to evaluate the cards on the table.
"Do you want to come back dirty like that?" - he debated in surprise.
“That shouldn't be a problem when Thomas is already aware of what happened to me.
- You are crazy? - he said nervously. -Nobody knows about you, nobody knows anything about it!
"Who do you think you are to call me crazy?" - I get irritated. -I'm not the type to demand that people call me by my title, but regardless of that, you should have good manners and treat me with more respect.
"Here you are not a Queen, much less a damsel in distress!" -it's rude. -You have to understand what your responsibilities are now and above all accept that you are no longer a human.
"Is this a madhouse?"
If he really is Benjamin's butler, he would never be so rude.
"I'm going home and you're not going to stop me!" -I assure you with a menacing tone.
"I was ordered not to let you out of the mansion." So, Your Majesty... -he mocks me. -If you try to go through that door, I'll be forced to contain you!
We stared at each other, identical to those clashes in the wild west. I prepare to run towards the exit and he towards me. When I move a few inches just to see his next move, Vincent believes that this is my escape attempt heading my way. I am taken aback by his quick attitude and run to the seven-foot-tall door, pulling its vintage wooden handle.
— MILA! he shouted after me.
Then, unexpectedly, my entire body slams into a wall of muscle, making me dizzy from the cross collision and the panic I was feeling.
— Mila? -As soon as we collide, he automatically hugs my body with his strong arms, not understanding what was happening.
— Benjamin... - I raise my eyes to his and when I see him, I don't make any effort to get out of that snuggle.
Vincent, who understands that he has abused the limits, is stuck on the ground, waiting for his master's sermons.
"Lord, I-"
- Shut up! -he raises his left arm, showing his rigid palm that indicates the severity of his order.
♡♡♡♡
