Episode 8
Author: Pamela.
Aurora coughed.
Cold horror trickled through her.
Her parents faces flashed through her mind.
They would be so heartbroken.
She was their only child.
She couldn’t die but how could she get out of here when she couldn’t see anything and her body keeps getting weak.
She felt an object in the pocket of her sweater.
She hurriedly sought for it and realized that it was her cellphone. Maybe,her attacker had been in a hurry to notice it.She turned it on and the
light revealed the nature of the smoke,it was black like soot.
Shakily,she dailed Marco’s number.
He picked up almost immediately.
“I knew you would eventually miss me, nena, don’t worry, I’m almost home”He began.
He couldn’t hear anything for a few seconds.
Each time she tried to speak, she’ll only be taking in more smoke and her head felt woozy.
“Ma….Marco”She murmured.
“What is it?Are you sick?”
More tears gushed out from her already aching eyes.
“Help…me….I’m…”
“Nena,talk to me, what’s wrong?”
She felt awfully disoriented and weak,her nose…chest… everything hurts.
The phone fell from her hand and her eyes closed.
“Aurora,what is it?”He asked, concerned, but didn’t get any response,he kept calling her number and sending different text messages but she didn’t reply.
Marco ran into his house.
He headed straight to her bedroom and flung the door open.She wasn’t there.
He hurried downstairs.
“Ximena!”He called.
Ximena walked up to him.
“Have you seen Aurora?Is she back from her mother’s place?”
“Yes, and I think she is in her bedroom”
“She’s not in her bedroom”He said, agitatedly.
He tried calling her again but she still didn’t pick up.
“She called me,she sounded sick…where the f**k is she now?”He yelled startling life out of Ximena.
“Gather up everyone”Marco ordered.
“You can’t seriously tell me that no one saw Aurora!”Marco thundered staring at his workers.
Her murmurs over the phone tormented him.He just wanted to see her and make sure she was okay.
Diego walked in.
“What’s going on,Marco?”He asked, confused.
“It’s Aurora,she called me,she sounded so weak but I can’t find her now” Diego swallowed.’Fuck!She had a cellphone with her?’
“I thought she left the house today”
“Ximena said she came back”
“What if she forgot something and went back?” “Albert,get the CCTV footage for the house”Marco ordered.
Albert took off.
Soon,he was back,he had quickly compiled everything the CCTV had captured that day into a laptop.
He placed the laptop on a table.
Marco watched impatiently, everything seemed normal in the morning.He had personally turned off the cameras in everyone’s room for the sake of privacy.
But he saw her walk out the door that morning.
He moved the cursor so he could look outside the house,she had left that morning and the CCTV also captured her coming back into the house later that same day while he slid into the main house,the CCTV was messed with.
“Cagado(Damn)!”He cursed, turning to face Albert.
“Why can’t I view anything?”He asked, angrily.
Fear crept through Albert,he had no idea who had done that and it must have been done when he took a break.
“I… I don’t know,sir”
“How can you not know? You’re in charge of security!”Marco barked, sending a hard blow across Albert’s face,he fell on the floor holding his face.
“You’re fired!”Marco added.
He ran a hand through his hair, frantically.If someone had messed with the CCTV, then clearly, something had happened.
God!He hoped nothing bad had happened to her.
“She didn’t leave the house again.Search everywhere,the stables…the ranch,all the rooms in this house!”He ordered.
“Yes sir”They chorused and hurried away into different directions in the
house.
Diego stared at Marco,he had never seen him this agitated before,it was as if he would go crazy any moment from now.
“You have to calm down, Marco.You might be overreacting, maybe she took a walk…..”
“I can only calm down when I see her.”
“I’ll join the guards in searching for her”
“Thanks”Marco muttered and followed suit.
He would really go nuts if he just stood there and do nothing.
After few minutes of searching, James and two guards came by the basement.
“I don’t think she’s in here,I mean,no one comes here, right?”Julius said. “We still have to check just in case,Mr Gutierrez ordered us to search every
nook and cranny remember”James replied,they held the doorknob,it was locked. “We don’t have time for this, just break it down!”Davis suggested,
impatiently.
Julius reached for an iron rod nearby and after hitting the knob twice.It gave
way.
James opened the door and the smoke that greeted them made them scurry back, closing their noses.
Light from the hallway,shone into the basement and they saw her lying motionless on the floor.
“Go and inform Sir Marco that we’ve found her!”James ordered.
Davis hurried off.
“What kind of smoke is this?”James asked still closing his nose.
“I think it might be poisonous”
Taking the risk, James rushed into the basement, and carried her out. Julius closed the door and leaned against it to prevent the smoke from
spreading further.
“Is she alive?”He asked James who was placing the lady on the floor. “I don’t know”
“We’ve found her”Davis said to Marco and Diego who were searching the
stables.
Marco quickly darted towards the house.
‘Rip Aurora’Diego thought.
Marco hurried down the hallway, towards the basement.
Pain ripped through his chest on seeing her.
Her face was scarlet,he quickly checked her pulse,it was very weak and unsteady.
He carried her in his arms, how this happened could be resolved later, right now,he had to make sure she would be okay.
“Hurry…get the doctor!”He ordered.
James nodded and ran off.
Marco stared at Aurora as doctor Carlos examined her.
She was on drip now but she was showing no sign of waking up.
Carlos turned to face him.
“She inhaled too much smoke and since there wasn’t any route for the smoke to spread to, it kept filling up her system,if she wakes up, please notify me immediately so I can check her properly to see the damage the smoke had done to her body”
Marco sighed deeply.”She’s definitely going to wake up, right?”
“That doesn’t depend on me”Carlos replied.
Marco bit back the tears already forming in his eyes.
“Mierda!”Marco cursed brushing everything away on his table.
“Who would dare to hurt her?”He asked Diego.
“You’ve tortured most of the guards already, clearly it was done by an outsider.Maybe she has someone who hates her”
Someone who hates her?He couldn’t picture anyone hating her… though she could be very stubborn at times but she was the sweetest and most lovely person he had ever known.
“I think you should let the police handle this”Diego suggested.
“No one is calling the police, I’m gonna figure this out and when I find the culprit, I’ll rip off his balls and shove it down his throat”
Diego cleared his suddenly dry throat seeing Marco’s eyes flash dangerously.
“Call the agency,I need new men”Marco ordered.
Intense guilt consumed Marco watching her still not moving a muscle.
He had forced her into something she didn’t want only for her to end up almost dying….he wanted to believe it was almost,she was going to wake up soon.
He stood up from the bed, pacing to and fro.The fact that her attacker was unknown made him more livid and he punched the wall repeatedly, hurting his knuckles.
He couldn’t sleep a wink,he kept on watching her…. sometimes pacing…
getting onto the bed again and cradling her in his arms.
God!He could give anything… just to see her eyes opened again.
He didn’t realize how time went by because his brain went fuzzy but then, looking outside the window,he realized it was morning.
He sat on the edge of the bed and buried his face into his palms.
Aurora’s eyes opened,an ache made her shut them back.
Was she dead?Was she in the Afterlife?
Weakly,she opened her eyes again,and looked around,this was Marco’s bedroom.When she saw his broad form at the edge of the bed,tears spilled from her eyes.
She was alive!She was going to see her parents again.
Soft sobs coming from her direction brought Marco back from his trance state.He spun and saw her crying, weakly.
“You’re awake”He muttered highly relieved.
Her eyes were reddish and her cheeks were still crimson.
He moved closer, pulling her into his arms, stroking her hair and murmuring soothing words to her.
She cried and trembled against him.
“It’s okay,princesa, you’re gonna be okay”He assured and kissed her forehead.
As her cries filled his ears,his insides were in shreds.
Killing that person wouldn’t be enough,he would wipe out the entire family.
She clung to him… feeling safe….she desperately wanted to feel safe.
“I’m sorry,Nena”He whispered.
Tbc…
AURORA
(Mi Corazon)