365 NIGHTS WITH THE MAFIA KING

ELEANOR’S POV “Are you new here?” I flashed a stiffed smile as I heard those words for the hundredth time today then quickly fastened my pace. Crikey, was my unfamiliarity of the environment that obvious? California wasn’t my home and I had no intention of making it that. All I had to do was survive the one week I intended on spending there before moving off to Los Angeles again.  I scoffed at the thought. I was more of fleeing than moving. But who could I blame? It was all my fault. After all, I was the one stupid enough to steal from a mafia lord. In my defence, I had no idea what I was getting into. Doing anything and everything I could to survive had always been how I lived my life and that night, I was simply doing the same. Little did I know that the rich group of men who seemed to enjoy wealth and enjoy flaunting it even more were all members of a mafia group. I had obviously ran out of my luck a long time ago but my misfortune must have heightened that night. There were about a dozen men in the club that night and a dozen more I could steal from and out of all of them, I just had to choose the mafia lord, Marcus Raid. I felt shivers down my spine as I recalled the night’s event. It happened months ago but I could swear it still felt like yesterday. The voices that screamed my name still echoed in my ears and I could still feel the cold grip of one of his men around my neck as he threatened to kill me at that instant. I could still feel his cold breath against my skin as he spoke harsh words to me. As he insulted me and called me an i***t for having the guts to steal from his master, the mafia lord. As he reminded me of how worthless I was and even worse as I managed to get on the wrong side of the mafia lord. However, I had always been on the move my whole life so it was easy for me to wiggle myself out of his grip and take to my heels. I ran faster than my legs could carry me, ignoring their yells and sounds of disapproval as they chased me. Luckily for me, I was in a familiar environment so after a couple of twists and turns, I was able to outsmart them and successfully get into hiding. It didn’t last long though as the following day, all I was doing was casually taking a stroll down the streets when I felt myself get tailed. Before I could turn to reconfirm my suspicion, hefty men burst out of corners of the street, all immediately chasing me. And that was when I realized how big of a puddle I had gotten myself into. I had unintentionally gotten myself involved with the mafia king. Months went by and I was still on the run. Every single day felt like a trial and surviving it felt like a miracle. I never had a normal life and it just seemed like having one was going to be impossible. At least, not until I managed to free myself of the tangles of being a target of the mafia king. “Excuse me,” I felt a tap on my shoulder, stopping me from walking and at the same time, pulling me out of my thoughts. “You look familiar. Are you-” “No, I’m not,” I replied, flipping the hood of my shirt over my head without hesitation. “You’ve got the wrong person.” “But-” I didn’t wait to hear whatever the woman had to say next before taking to my heels. I quickened my steps then ran, not stopping until I got to a totally secluded area. Call me paranoid but I had no choice but to live that way ever since I committed my crime. I lived in fear and couldn’t trust a single person. My life was literally on the line and if there was one thing I’d learnt from months of running, it was how dangerous the mafia king was. I’d never actually met him but the amount of tales I’d heard about him was more than enough for me to have a clear picture of what he was like. The classic cold, heartless and ruthless mafia king who had almost no human emotion. For people like him, getting rid of people like me was piece of cake. It was something he was going to get done in the bat of an eyelash and if that wasn’t enough reason for me to treasure my every second of living and desperately hope for more, I had no idea what was. Giving my surrounding a quick look, I approached my apartment. With a sigh, I ransacked my bag of enough grocery to last me for a week and pulled out my bunch of keys. Another sigh escaped my lips as I fondled the keys, realizing all I had left from my car was the key as it had mysteriously caught fire weeks ago. For the passerby and random people, it was a mysterious incident to have a car suddenly get engulfed in flames but for me, I knew it wasn’t a mystery or a coincidence. It was a subtle example courtesy of the mafia king’s men of what could happen to me if I kept on running from them. Brushing the thoughts away, I stepped into my apartment and emptied the contents of my plastic bag on the counter. Mentally deciding on how to spend the rest of my day as it was late already, I nodded and grabbed a bowl to quickly fill it with cereal. I was simply going to have dinner and then get myself tucked in bed. On second thoughts, I dropped the bowl on the counter. My dinner could wait. I needed to take a shower first. Acting on those thoughts, I walked into my room and took off my clothes, getting into the bathroom to take a shower. Broke from constantly moving and running, I couldn’t afford to pay the water bills leaving me with the freezing cold water that came out of the shower. After an unusual cold long bath, I stepped out of the bathroom and quickly pulled my clothes on. Conflicted on putting on a hoodie or changing into my pajamas, I eventually changed into my hoodie and sweatpants then headed back to the kitchen to pick up from where I left off. I took a step into the kitchen and almost immediately, felt a surge of cold wind. Literally shivering, I mentally thanked myself for going with my hoodie then grabbed my bowl. Almost immediately, I felt the surge of wind again and this time I knew it was unusual. To be fair, the weather was cold but such surges only came in through the door when it was open. Fuck. I froze at the thought, my grip tightening around my bowl. My breathing became quicker as I shut my eyes, thinking of the worst possible occurrence. I was quickly pulled out of my trance as I heard the sound of an object crashing to the ground. My eyes immediately flew open and right in front of me, appearing out of nowhere were a couple of masks men quickly walking into the kitchen to surround me. My heart stopped for a second, my bowl of cereal slipping out of my hands to create a loud noise and mess on the ground. It didn’t stop them though as the sight of me being in obvious fear only motivated them to move closer towards me.  “f**k,” I cursed again as realization hit me. I could hear chuckles escape their lips as they moved closer towards me. They were on a mission. Most likely to kill me and then cleanly wipe my existence from the surface of the earth. And I didn’t need to think twice to know who was behind them.