A/N: *in AO3 voice* Please see the end of the chapter for important announcement.
Everything went down hill ever since Jane died. The people who work here treated me as their personal punching bag. They bullied me constantly. Not only verbal, but also physical. They wouldn't hesitate to do it when they are bored, in a bad mood, depressed, or just because they feel like it. And I wasn't able to fight, not only because of the repercussions I received many times worse afterwards, I was also too tired of fighting back. I can only accept all those beatings and hope that one day their violence will go too far and have a direct impact on my life. At least I can get out of here, if that is the only way.
Unfortunately, that will never happen, much to my disappointment. Every time they finished doing whatever would make them feel better, that's when Gianna came to treat my injuries they inflicted. Unfortunately for me, they know very well to what extent they have to hurt me. Both physically and mentally. Actually, it was useless to treat my wounds. Because before the wounds were completely healed, they would beat me up again. It is as if Gianna is treating me only to prepare me to be abused again.
As for Stef? That man defended his employees rather than his own niece. He believed whatever bullpoops his employees said to justify what they were doing. I believed he actually let this all happen on purpose. And I'm not allowed to defend myself before him with words, moreover with my physic. He had made sure that I would never intervene with him again and he succeeded. I no longer can raise my hands against him, or open my mouth to speak up. Only he can.
This further emphasizes that the concept of consanguine 'family' is nothing but some fucking cat shit. All forms of kinship that I have, never come from people of the same blood, but from non blood-related ones. The last time I trusted someone with whom I shared the same blood with, my life was shattered to pieces. I don't know if it ever can be united again, impossible it seems.
In this place I don't have anyone. Everyone I have already left, died, or I left them. No one defends me here. I was meant to be alone, so people here treat me arbitrarily. Usually, people who is related to the boss must have special privileges. It gave said person respect from the employees who work for him. But unfortunately, that doesn't apply to me.
Nobody cares who Alessandra is. All they know is Alessandra, the walking punch bag, a target to relieve stress. At the very least, no one brought up that I was his family member anymore. Jane was the first and last person to bring that up. Maybe people just didn't care. Whatever the reason is I dont give a shit, as long as no one brought it up. What a prize, at the cost of my entire welfare.
Everyone looked at me with disdain and disgust. They always had a chance to torture me. They keep doing it incessantly, never getting bored of it. They can do it to their heart's content because Gianna is here. They don't have to worry that my life could end at any moment for what they did. After all, Gianna can definitely heal me.
Until now.
I don't know how long I've been here, time seemed to stop. Shivering on the cold cemented floor, occupying this dark room. In this room there was nothing but ventilation hole in the walls, letting the night breeze in and lowering the entire room's temperature.
It all started when I sneaked into the kitchen to find crumbs that I could still eat. Food is a primary human necessity, but for me it is such a luxury here. Our meal times are set in schedule. But unfortunately, the other employees always threw away the plates I took when I dared to show up my face before their nose.
So I just waited in my room until they all done eating. This should take about thirty minutes to an hour. I usually spend my time by drawing. But lately I have been spending time with activity that has long disappeared, which involved a sharp object and my upper arm's skin. I have been doing it since Jane di— who knows how long it has been since she was gone. I lost track of time here. I have promised him to stop and never do this anymore. I have promised him to love myself. But it seems, I'm lousy at this. I'm sorry Cal, but I can't help it at all. I hope you understand.
I saw the result of my 'artwork'. A total of seven fresh strokes. Plus other dry scratches that line up to the forearm. This is why I always wear long sleeves. I have a history of utilizing long things that could help me to cover evidence which made me grow to love them.
These scratches won't kill me. It differed from the one on Jane's neck that took her life. Compared to what she suffered from, this was nothing. If only that evening I didn't dare to report to the police we met on duty, maybe she—
Well. It's 8 strokes now.
If Calvin were here, he would be totally disappointed to see me. But the truth is, I am indeed, a disappointment. Mama and Jane are too good to be my victims. I really shouldn't have existed, I can't have family, friends or dreams. Talking about dream, what dream? Become an illustrator? Mangaka? Artist? PFFFT. I have to dispose of it. Because the fact is, I ended up here. As a professional narcotics courier.
Because of the latest incident, Stef took back his words about teaching me to drive and announced other ultimatum: anyone who helps me escape in any way (including teaching me to drive) will end up like Jane. My chance to flee from here is absolute zero.
Ten strokes in total, it's time to stop and begin my expedition for food. I tiptoed from the corridor to the dining room, hoping for any crumbs left. There's none. Shit. Everything has been gobbled up. My gaze moved everywhere and stopped right at the cupboard. Maybe there is something edible stored there. I cracked a smile faintly at the thougt of a possibility that I don't have to starve tonight. Immediately, I opened its door and found a packet of wafers. My eyes sparkled as if they had discovered a treasure. Without waiting any longer, I put it in my jacket pocket.
I walked on tiptoe as fast as I could to reach my room without anyone noticing. Everything went smoothly, I already arrived in front of my room door. My hand moved to grab the door handle to open it. Then, a sudden pat on my shoulder made my heart jumped out of my chest.
"Hi there, rodents!" she said with a smile. "I saw you sneaking around earlier. Give me back whatever you stole. Besides, It's passed your meal time, hasn't it?" she put both of her hands on her waist.
Panic started to surges through me. "Elena, please. I haven't had anything since yesterday. Please let me off the hook this time, Please." I pleaded with teary eyes.
Her expression changed to pity. She lowered her hands. Her left hand then stroked my upper right arm. "I'm sorry, I didn't notice. You must be starving, right?" I nodded twice. Her finger wiped the my teardrop that fell without me noticing. "You may take it. Forgive my exaggerated attitude earlier. Enjoy your meal," she said softly.
"Really?"
Her smile showed me some compassion, "Of course, enjoy your meal."
I hugged her. "Thank you El, thank you very much," I said with great joy. She hugged me back. "Good night, El. Have a sweet dream."
"Good night to you too, don't let the bedbugs bite you," she replied.
I entered my room and sat on the edge of the bed. I take out a packet of wafers. Mission Impossible: Succeeded. No need to starve tonight. Thanks to Elena too. I didn't think that Elena would be nice towards me. Considering she's Stef's girlfriend and our first meeting that left a bad impression. Maybe I should stop judging people by my first impressions.
After I finished the luxury I managed to get tonight, I was again startled by a scream right at the door. I came out right away and saw Elena still stood there.
"Please stop, Alessa!" she pleaded, her voice can be heard in this entire corridor. "You don't have to do this to me! I was just asking!" she screamed out of the blue. What's wrong with her? is she possessed?
"Elena? What happened to you?" I asked in an astonished tone. She also did the most shocking thing: she slapped her own cheek . "Hey stop! why the hell did you do that?!" I said as I grabbed both of her hands that kept hurting herself.
"Please stop. It hurts! Please stop! I'm sorry!" she shouted. She was getting worse and kept hitting her cheeks alternately until they were rosy.
"You're the one that should stop!" my hands grabbed her hands and held them on both sides. She was sobbing loudly. "What the hell have you done?!" I cried.
"Don't touch me!" she walked backward until her back touched the wall. Her breath roared, her chest was heaving. Tears were falling down her red cheeks and she sobbed loudly. She looked so frightened. I tried to approach her, but suddenly I felt a very hard blow to my left cheek. My body was pushed as the result and landed on the floor a few meters apart from the point where they stood.
"What have you done to my girlfriend?" he snapped. Elena who was standing right next to him immediately hugged him and cried uncontrollably in his embrace.
"I-I didn't do anything, I swear!"
He pointed at my face, "Do not fucking lie to me, Alessandra!"
Elena let go of the hug. Stef wiped her tears off her cheeks. "What did she do this time?" he asked full of concern.
"I just asked her why she was sneaking around, then she answered- she said it was none of my business." My eyes widened upon hearing that. Why was she lying?
"S-Stef! I beg you do not believe her. That's not true at all," I argued, holding my throbbing cheek. He also gave me a sharp glare and put hos index finger on his lips, causing me to shut my mouth tightly.
"Continue, my dear." He said softly to her as he calmed his girlfriend.
"It turned out that he stole food from the cupboard. Then she slapped me and beat me for no reason," she explained with a sob. I can not understand why she accused me of that. If only I knew she was going to be batshit crazy, I would give that wafer back to her.
Stef's attention is now focused on me. The sudden dread soared high up within me, my heart was pounding rapidly. My eyes welled tears. "S-Stef I didn't do anything, I swear. I-"
"Was the last time not enough?" he cut me off. His tone was threatening. He walked closer slowly.
I glanced at the woman beside her, she was smirking with her crocodile tears. Her reaction was the exact opposite of a person being completely beaten up.
"But I didn't touch her, I didn't raise my hand like you ordered, I swear. Please—"
And that's how I ended up here.
All night long I was freezing with pain all over my body and a throbbing headache. It's certainly a miracle I'm still alive. Why am I not dead yet?
This room is the place where those bullies used to continue their deeds to me, if they are not satisfied doing it outside and also Stef's personal favorite place to punish me. The sunlight had now passed through the ventilation holes and revealed itself on the wall. I counted from one to one hundred, and on the count of ninety one, the door opened.
"Wake up. You have to get ready for the job tonight," said Gianna from the doorway.
-
"And the winner is The Hammerjack!"
The audience cheered but there are also some of them who are silent in disappointment, after seeing a man who has the nickname Boogerman or whatever is now lying on the ring.
"You see that, Terrio? The Boogeyman, whom people always cheered at, is now lying helpless in front of his opponent. What a waste of money," said someone who sat beside Terrio. He put out his cigarette and continued, "But this happens a lot. when people are at the top of their heyday, they often forget themselves and only come to their sense when they already hit rock bottom."
He took out a brand new still-wrapped carton of cigarattes. "Only with that, he would finally learn," he said as he unwrapped the box and took one out. "That's the most effective way to teach someone lessons." He lit it and began poisoning himself. "If you're not strong enough to keep your position, others would gladly take it from you." A group of people had arrived and we all watched them as they carried him on a stretcher out of the ring. "People easily got swept away from where they're standing because they're just too weak," he commented before he sucked more poisons in and exhaled them, "that's just how the world works."
Terrio is the person assigned to replace my previous co-workers. He was also one of those who bullied me at home. He never start to make it happen but he always joined in when others did that. Now, I'm standing next to the sofas they are sitting on, ignoring their chatter and just watching the ring down there from up here.
"You want a drink?" I heard that person asked, definitely to Terrio. "Hey, I spoke to you brat!" I turned to the him. Doesn't he know that I'm underage? I was about to open my mouth to refuse the person's offer politely, but Terrio beat me to it. "There's no need for you to waste your precious water on her. She can still function without it," he said in a belittling tone. I put my hand in my jacket pocket and clenched my fist in it. Trying to ignore his words.
"The next one is what all of you have been waiting for. He is a newcomer to the world of fighting club. And yet, he never lost in any single match!" The whole place is now filled with screams and shouts. "Will he score a new victory? or end up crying and beg for mercy? We'll see. Make some noise for Iron Fist!" the crowds yelled even louder. People who came and gathered around the ring to watch the next match was far greater than the previous one.
"Now this is what I've been waiting for," he patted Terrio's shoulder with the back of his hand, "I bet a lot of money on this one!" he said enthusiastically, he leaned forward to take a closer and clearer look.
And then someone stepped into the ring. He's a late teen and I have to blink a few times seeing his face to make sure my eyes were not deceiving me. His hair was black, and his tall and sturdy posture is perfect for this kind of match. If his eyes weren't blue I would think he was the same person we met back then.
"Hey! where are you going?" Terrio shouted from behind me who walked towards the ring to see the match closer. His opponent who looked much older had arrived, meaning that the match would start in a moment. This match suddenly became very interesting to me despite my zero knowledge of boxing and I didn't care about it at all before. I really wish that Iron Fist wins and I want him to know that I support him.
"Let her. There's no way she could hide or runaway, I know this place by heart," the person next to him said, defending me.
Terrio relented and shouted, "Don't even think about it, brat!"
People were already crowded around the ring making it difficult for me to get closer. Due to my small size, I managed to slip and pass through the sea of people until I arrived right in front of the ring.
This Iron Fist is really good at fighting. The match barely started yet he already knocked his opponent down twice. I cried out in joy when he managed to knock his opponent down for the third time and held him back so he couldn't get back up. I didn't know how I could do that.
His opponent continued to struggle against him and tried to get up, but Iron Fist was still able to push him back. I was looking forward excitedly to the victory that he will achieve soon. The referee started counting. But alas, all of this had to end because before he could finish counting a hand touched my shoulder that had not yet fully recovered from last night's beating as the owner said "Hey" from behind. I jerk suddenly as the memory from the other night replayed. His hand that rested on my shoulder increased the pain which had been slightly lessened earlier. I pulled away from his clutch, and turned to look at the culprit sharply.
"This isn't a place for lil girl—you?!" His words abruply stopped the instant our eyes met. His eyes widened in shock as he see the person in front of him and vice versa. Never have I ever thought to even meet him here. His face is still exactly the same as the one stored in my memory. And totally resembled Iron Fist.
"Lessa? is that you?" to which I didn't answer. What is he doing here? my heart thumped so rapidly the other person could hear its loud pounding.
I watched his tensed face as he grabbed my hoodie and pushed it back, revealing my hair and exposing my face for the world to see. "This is really you, this is really you," his hands squeezed my face. His face flashed ambivalent emotions which consist of sadness and also happiness. I saw he was smiling as well as his tears that was about to spill. "I found you...I finally found you," he murmured under his breath that blow my face, he looked like he was about to break down.
He was about to hug me and without command, I run off toward the exit that bring me to a small alley, pumping my adrenaline to work as effectively as possible. How come that Damien is here? Why did he look so much like Iron Fist aside from their iris? are they siblings?
I stopped to take a breath for a moment, my heart was racing. My head started throbbing again, the pain was getting worse with each passing second. I'm already outside, I hope he can't catch up with me considering his body is quite large it must be difficult to pass through the sea of people in there. Now, how do I get back to Terrio?
Fuck. Terrio had warned me about this. If he saw me running and found me here, he would definitely report that shit to Stef and I would have to spend the night in that room again. Or worse, Stef would think I was trying to run away and Melisha would—
I have to go back to Terrio.
I massaged my temples which kept throbbing painfully while leaning against the wall to support me. No time to rest, I have to find Terrio now. I strengthened myself to walk and—
"Why are you running?"
That man again. How did he know I'm here? Didn't he fall far behind? Shit. Another Morelli gave me a hard time. I turned and glared at him, trying to look fierce.
"What do you want from me? Go away!" I shooed him.
He was shocked for a split second by my reaction. He walked over, and I got ready to run again. "Lessa, please stop running," he pleaded. I didn't heed his words, and moved my legs but unfortunately there's no road behind me. It is a dead end. Shit, again. This trigger my flight or fight response. And I chose to fight, even though his too well built body is three times bigger than mine.
The closer he got, the more visible the sadness plastered on his face in the darkness of this night. "I'm not your enemy, Less." His hands hold my two wrists which were raised in the air. "So, please lower your hand, okay?" he asked softly.
My head throbbed and even more painful, my vision began to blur. I shook my head to stay focused, but to no avail. "We've been looking for you everywhere, yet what we found so far only lead us to dead ends. Do you know how desperate and broken we are?" His voice sounded so desperate, his eyes filled with tears. Is this the same Damien I met at the restaurant with Lio?
He pulled me to his embrace and gave me no space or opportunity to flee. He's so scared as if I could disappear any moment. "I was afraid. I was so afraid that I'll never be able to see you again," He said as he tried so hard to suppress his tears, "I almost fall into despair because—"
I didn't get to hear the rest of his sentence because everything went dark before he finished his words.
End
Holaaaa everyone! How have you been? I hope yall are always healthy!
I am very sorry for the late update. But do not worry! No need to wait anymore because this is the last chapter. As stated in last paragraph of the blurb, 'So, she has to survive. Until fate brought her to meet them again.' Fufufufu~
Is this the end? it should be.
Of course not. Her journey is not finished yet. There's still a long way to go. What ended is only her suffering before she was reunited with her brothers.
Perhaps you could say, Chapters 1 to 15 are preliminary stories before moving on to the next one. Or can we just call it Season 1? or perhaps Part 1? her life will change after this, so this part is kind of an 'appetizer' of the whole story. Do you think I need to make a new story for the next chapter or just continue here? what do you think?
I am very grateful for each of you who read up to this chapter. Thank you very much for taking your time and energy to continue to follow this story and give comments and votes. That really motivated me to keep going!
Anyway, I'm going on hiatus to take a break from the world of writing, as well as looking for inspiration and new ideas that I can add to spice up the later plots.
See you and stay safe everyone!