A Mafia’s Obsession

Pain is crushing, agonising and it is merciless. It is capable of breaking even the strongest minds, shattering them to smithereens and pulling them into a pithole of agonising torture.

Once it’s makes its ugly head known, it sweeps every thing good away like a vicious storm and twist them against you.

It makes you beg. It makes you crumble. It makes you numb and void.

Her eyes slowly opened to a golden glow spread across the dark room, illuminating it fairly. Although her eyesight was weak, her ears could hear distant crackling of fire.

The fireglow danced by the side of her vision. This clearly wasn’t her room.

She didn’t have her fireplace built in her room.

It then dawned her that she was in Leonardo’s room.

Her head spinned as she tried to decipher what had happened to her.

Like a comet, the memories hit her.

She was shot.

Crystal had been falling in and out of consciousness. First time, her weak eyelids fluttered open in a car.

She was laid at the backseat, cradled up in a warm, strong embrace.

Then she awoke in a blinding white room with white ceilings. There were a mixture of voices, voices she could not decipher.

She faintly remembered being rushed somewhere on a stretcher whilst a man on medical masks peered down at her.

The memory was more hazy than the first.

Now being her third consciousness, she was met with a dark room.

No sign of panic or distress, just absolute tranquility and quietness. The only sound heard was the sound of the fire crackling, blazing across the room.

Her mouth felt acidic, her throat felt dry and her body felt so stiff and immovable.

“What happened? Who is here?” A dry whisper pushed past her flaky, cracked lips. Crystal wasn’t sure anyone was around in the room or if anyone heard her.

Her eyelids were too weak to strain themselves and search the darkness for any slight presence of another person in the room.

At once, her ears caught shuffling of feets from the other side of the room followed by hasty footsteps.

Stunned and curious, she followed the sound of the footsteps.

An elderly woman approached the bed. Her movements were categorised by fear and dread.Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.

“Crystal” her voice was soft and calming, her petite figure falling into Crystal’s sight. Her brown tender eyes stared down at Crystal’s feeble form.

It was Maya.

“How are you doing my child?”Maya asked, leaning down and caressing her forehead.

Crystal perused her glazed eyes.

They had no sign of liveliness in them. They looked reddened and her eyebags were clearly puffed out.

She had been crying.

Lines drew over her forehead and Crystal could make out tears forming again in Maya’s eyes.

“W-water please”Crystal requested.

Maya immedately reached for the jug of water that was on the bedstand and poured it to her in a glass.

Crystal painstakingly sat up a little and collected the glass of water from Maya. Her movements were shaky and her breathing was rapid.

“Careful child” Maya advised as she sat on the bed, next to Crystal’s weak frame.

A faint smile drew on Crystal’s face and she sculled down the glass of water to quench her thirst and wet her desert throat.

“How long have I been unconscious Maya?”Crystal inquired of her state.

Maya took the cup and placed it back on the bedstand. “Two days my dear”

Crystal gave a dip of head. Her eyes whipped to opened windows, the curtains carelessly swaying above them in the rhythm of the wind.

The night was dark and starry, the luminous moon barely visible in the midst of hazy clouds.

Maya followed her eyes to the thrown apart windows. “Do you feel cold? Should I close the windows?” She asked with concern written over her face.

“No no. It’s fine Maya”Crystal stopped her just before she attempted to stand.

“Where is Leonardo?”Crystal asked as her gaze locked back with Maya’s.

A brief silence settled itself between them.

“He isn’t here”Maya slowly let out the words from her mouth.

Crystal had a pained stare on her face. “Then where is he? Where could he be?”She persisted further.

“He hasn’t been around”

“For how long?”Crystal queried Maya, her voice raspy in speech.

“Since you had been unconscious”Maya confessed with a slight exhale.

Crystal gasped, her eyes becoming stung with tears.

The man who claimed he loved her hadn’t even been around with her throughout her days of unconsciousness. What the hell.

She expected to see Leonardo by her side, cradling her in his warm embrace or at least holding on to her her pale fingers while she was unconscious just like he had always did when she fell ill.

Or was he acting like this because this time it wasn’t his fault that she got shot? Was he being absent because he didn’t feel guilty unlike the last time where his attitude towards her and chase pushed her to sleep in the shower in a bid to drown her tears.

“No please don’t get sad my child” Maya cut into her depressing thoughts.

“Why?”her shaky voice responded.

“Leonardo cares for you my child” Maya interceeded on his behalf.

“If he did care he should have been with me through out the days of my unconsciousness”Crystal refuted.

“And he should have been the one I should have seen now instead of you Maya”Crystal added under her breath.

Maya reached over for her cheeks, softly caressing them. “He knows I can look after you. He left you under my care. He is probably busy”

Crystal shook her head. If reverse was the case, she knew very well she wouldn’t have left Leonardo’s side for a second.

Now she is finally fully conscious only to be told that the man who she loves and who said he loved her wasn’t even around through out her unconscious state.

“Busy with what? Something more important than me?” Crystal asked with a false chuckle.

Maya had a sorry look on her face as she listened to Crystal.

No doubt the young woman was hurt.

“Leonardo why are you trying to distance yourself from Crystal? She looks so broken” Maya thought within herself.

“Who brought me back to the house?”Crystal quizzically asked.

“The ambulance child. Leonardo must have instructed them to bring you back home”Maya answered, flashing Crystal a tender smile.

Crystal exhaled and attempted to move her upper body but a sharp pain shot through her body like electricity jolts.

“Careful child. You are injured you know”Maya reminded her to which she nodded.

“I’ll go bring you dinner ok. You must be starving”Maya offered before pecking her sweetly on her forehead and exiting the room.

Crystal watched Maya go. She pulled her lips in tightly in order to stop herself from sobbing.

Why would Leonardo abandon her when he knew fully well she needed him the most now?

Not even decency to show up in between the days she was unconscious even if it was just for an hour.

What could he be busy with?

What could be more important than checking up on her?