[Mafia] Who Breaks a Butterfly?

(18) - A New Place

| The All Knowing |

Elena sat quietly on the hotel floor. Her eyes roamed across the dull atmosphere as she checked the time. It was 10:38am in Italy. Once she was ready, she settled on sitting down, even though she was at a hotel she had already made her bed and fluffed the pillows so she cautiously sat on the floor and lingered in the silence.

She slowly pulled her knees up and rested her chin on them, her hair tickling her neck as she leaned forward slightly.

"What are you going to do Elena?" She spoke to herself quietly, allowing her voice to fill up the silence along with her shaky breaths - she didn't know what she was going to do now she was in Italy, she hadn't bothered to think that far ahead and she really didn't want to think of the consequences of her escape. Instead she battled with herself to think of nothing which was a lot harder than she anticipated but eventually her mind was numb with deliberation and she found herself staring attentively at the small vase on the desk.

Inside of the porcelain vase was an array of faux flowers made from flimsy plastic and decorated in ink, the vase however was far more intriguing as she acknowledged the swirls of baby pink that decorated it and the soft drops of yellow that melted into blue coloured kisses. She slowly raised her head straining to hear the heavy footsteps that echoed outside her hotel room whilst the sound closed in around her, hurdling over the closed wooden doors her room and stark off white cement walls. She heard the footsteps approach, the intensity of each step growing louder but they soon vanished, the person evidently walking straight past her door and heading in the opposite direction.

Elena had a small sliver of fear that maybe the people who were after her had somehow found her location. Almost as if they'd followed her on her spontaneous flight half way across the world. The only person who knew where she was was Jazmyn. Elena knew better than anyone that eventually she'd have to spill to her older brother about her location. But for now, she aimed to keep it a secret for a little while longer. Maybe, it was stupid to run away from the set of Mafia men who could keep her safe but she had faith in the mysterious text sending guardian.

After a while of contemplating her choices she decided to finally leave her hotel room in order to stop tormenting herself into melancholy; she unhurriedly used the palms of her hands to push herself up from the floor, grabbing her bag and making her way towards the locked door. Her heels slumped against the carpet whilst she fumbled with the door lock.

She slowly fumbled with the pristine locks, her fragile fingers brushing against the cool metal and leisurely sliding it open. Her eyes roamed across the vacant halls sorrowfully whilst she acknowledged the looming emptiness. She gently patted the jagged material of her pocket to check for the hotel key card before finally leaving the confines of her room and allowing the door to smoothly slam shut.

She had been walking for a little while through the hallways when heavy footsteps could suddenly be heard in the distance and that was enough for Elena to step out of her hypnotised gaze, she continued to scamper down the hallways whilst absorbing her surroundings, she by no means wanted to get lost in such a large hotel.

"Are you okay?" She heard a soft accented voice ask her once she neared the small lobby, her gaze shifted towards the source of the voice and she took note of the smartly dressed man who appeared to work at the hotel.

"I'm just going to find a café," she spoke quietly and took in the swarm of people who scampered across the hotel floors, the majority of them appearing to be rushing around or smiling in a frantic daze.

"You're not far, there is one just down the street," he stated pointing towards a hallway bathed in sunlight, motioning for her to continue in that direction, he grinned helpfully before turning away.