Breaking Midnight (Il Paradosso Series Book One)

Chapter four

I was fifteen again, running through a field of daisies; soaking in the August sun that was burning my shoulder tips, my long chestnut hair floating behind me. The heat was comforting. The daisies grew taller as I went deeper into the field, tracing my hands along the soft petals, plucking a few and letting them blow away.

I laughed softly at the feeling of the wind blowing in my face, offering a sense of nostalgia. It reminded me of the joyful summer days in the countryside, bathing under the golden sun and the late night gatherings where there were no worries about the future or of what was to come.

"Adriana."

I spun around to a distant voice calling my name.

The field ended, leaving me in the middle of a forest surrounded with tall trees. The beautiful sunshine was no longer visible, hiding behind a bundle of dark clouds that were forming in the grey sky. Raising my head, a tiny raindrop landed on my nose and traveled down to my lips.

The wind was picking up, wrapping its cold blanket around my exposed arms, making me shiver. The rain began pouring down and a crack of lightning bolted through, striking the top of a tree and splitting it in half. Floods of water came splashing down from the trunk, covering me up to my ankles.

The water was now a rose color, dragging me in deeper as I struggled to paddle myself to a dry surface, but it was filling at a fast pace and soon I was going under. The red liquid filled my mouth and the pressure grew in my chest as my lungs tightened, ready to combust. I closed my eyes, drifting away in the depths of the black hole, slowly drawing me into nothingness.

"Adriana."

My eyes fluttered open and I squinted, trying to adjust them to the blinding sunlight that was blasting through the large window to my left.

"I was beginning to think that you weren't going to make it."
The woman's voice was mellow but cold and unfamiliar. She paced around the room with her arms crossed, her left hand resting on her chin. She looked to be in her forties with a maintained figure. She had smooth dark hair that went down to her shoulders and was parted in the middle. Her expression remained serious as her large eyes studied me.

I was laying in bed with my arms to my sides, a needle stuck to the left one, connecting it to an infusion. My wrists were still burning. I realized they had been wrapped neatly with gauze and were no longer restrained behind my back. The blindfold was removed as well and I could finally see everything around me.

The room was larger than I had anticipated with light grey walls and cream carpet that matched the color of the drapes. A small white sofa sat at the far right side corner, and a set of drawers adjacent to a walk in closet that was left slightly open.

I noticed two large blue suitcases sitting at the door. The ones I had purchased off of Amazon a year ago before moving out to the city with Emma, my best friend. She had anxiously helped me pick them out while we were planning our big move.

We had found a two room apartment with a kitchen and full bath, at an exceptionally cheap price, and Emma's parents had been ecstatic about us living together. They said they felt Emma was safer around me.

I wondered what they would think; once they found out that I had gone missing.

The woman stopped her pacing and we locked eyes. I was unable to retract my attention from her mesmeric beauty.