She Knows

The figure froze for an instant before plummeting downward, arms and legs splayed. Hair whipped wildly as they twisted and turned, helpless to control their fall. Their faces contorted in a silent scream, eyes wide with terror. Time slowed as the ground rushed up, its hard surface promising a devastating impact. A sickening crunch marked the moment of collision, followed by eerie silence. CRASH! Everyone screamed, ran but I only did one thing. I held her in my hands, with my eyes widened, my perfect white shirt had now turned red from the blood she was sputtering up, the bleeding seemed not to stop no matter how hard I pressed my jacket down her stomach. She has crashed onto a table filled with nothing but glasses and now, it looked as though she was glass herself. Every size and shape, piercing her face and body. With my hands, shakily,I tried to pick the pieces out, but that only made it worse. Even with all that blood on her face, they couldn't paint her tears, the tears she shed from the pain. I yearned to absorb some of her pain and see her smile. Her fragile blood stained hands ran through my face as though she was searching for something. Her once silver locks, now matted and dulled, hung lifeless, coated with blood like a blood-soaked veil, veiling the beauty that once shone beneath. “Stay with me….Stay…Someone call an ambulance.” I knew that as she watched me speaking hastily, she would have wished for the same thing. “Alpha one, come in. Close all gates, no one leaves or enters!” “Everyone! Remain calm……” My bodyguards didn't seem to take the situation seriously as I did. I boiled in rage as I watched them doing nothing to help. “Goooo! Spread out! Get me the head of who did this!” I shouted to my men, throwing my shoes at them as my chest going up and down as I breathed uncontrollably "Don't sleep on me please! Dont…. Eyes on me! Who did this?!” I pleaded whilst screaming as I looked at everyone standing from a distance, their faces either had fear or disgust written all over it. Her lips kept moving as I watched, she kept reaching out for my face. I was starting to pay more attention to her body language. There it was! She was trying to whisper something straight to my eyes. I bent down, bringing my ears inches from blood stained lips, the faint warmth of her breath poignant of life's fleeting presence. Her voice barely audible, trembled with each labored word as of every syllable was a battle fought and won. The metallic tang of blood mingled with the sweet scent of her perfume, a jarring contrast that underscored the brutality of fate. I strained to catch the softest whisper, my heart racing with anticipation, as her lips brushed against my ears. “You….y…..you did this…t…to….me.” she finally said, her words laced with pain and struggle but nothing strikes more than her words. Still trying to make out her final words, I saw her eyes slowly dropping and closing. Her hands slowly crawled away from mine as it left a blood trail and then dropped lifelessly to the ground. I cradled her body into my arms, I shouted. "Noooooo! Nooo! No. Oh God! Please, open your eyes!” But no, she didn't heed to my orders. With my hands still shaking her body, I felt a rush of goosebumps all over my body. Something wasn't quite right. Her body lay lifeless and cold, but her hands were moving, and they were moving towards me. In an Instant, her hands shot up, palms pressing against my chest with surprising strength. A sudden push sent me stumbling backwards and I found myself plummeting through a seemingly endless void. Darkness enveloped me, an only darkness that swallowed all light and sound. Time lost meaning as I fell, weightless and disorientated, with no sense of up or down. The silence was deafening, punctuated only by the rush of wind past my ears, I doubted I would ever find solid ground again, or if I'd simply float forever. I know! She wanted me to keep falling for eternity! GASP! The first thing I saw was the peacock, walking majestically around the garden as my eyes flickered open, its iridescent feathers glimmering in the light of the moon. The breeze rushed through the leaves and petals of the flowers, making a rustling sound and yet I felt my skin felt slick with sweat as if I had just ran a marathon race. With my hands on my chest, my breath caught in my throat as I had mistakenly locked eyes with the peacock. It's majestic demeanor changed immediately, she abruptly unfurled her feathers, shaking them with fierce intensity. With a fierce squawk, it charged towards me, it's eyes blazing with a rage I'd seen before from her completely. I did the only one thing everyone should have done Run! “Dumbass.” I cursed under my breath being able to escape the peacock. That peacock was terror itself, it had been amongst the family for years. My Grandfather had bought her as a baby and he made it a taboo for anyone that would dare to harm the peacock. She was the family’s crest. Pride and Prestige! I walked slowly, still blaming myself for falling asleep at all, and in the garden of all places. If I had not fallen asleep, this re-occuring dream wouldn't have occured again. She was the only thing I dreaded seeing in my sleep, and yet I kept seeing her. For over five years, I kept seeing her face in my dreams and it was beginning to eat me from the insides. The anger and resentment I felt each time I thought of the differences it would have made if I paid more attention to her. Thankfully, the music from the party was not too loud but that had no advantage as I couldn't close my eyes again to date sleep. I knew how that would end up. If my brother Pavonne was here, he would playfully throw my pillow to My face and say, “You look like you've been through seven hells with those eye bags” and then he would laugh. He always loved teasing me and he was the only person that would do that without having to stir up my anger and then have him thrown into the Lions pit. The Salvatini Family had a special bond with animals. We saw them as gods wisers than us. I never questioned why my Grandfather choose to name my brother Pavonne, derived from the Italian word for Peacock. I was indeed under a lot of stress but only one thing ever mattered to me and that was my empire. It was the only distraction I could ever find and also the reason I keep seeing her face in my dream. My intrusive thoughts had kicked in. What if someone had seen me running from that peacock? It would have been hilarious and funny to the person. I would have to kill whoever had seen that just like Queen Elizabeth did to the maiden who had seen her without makeup. I was a time bomb! Ticking and finding everything irritating. Stress had become a days normality to me. Having to deal with people everyday and then end up killing someone that talked too much, or didn't talk too much. Or someone that didn't smell nice or someone that wore too much cologne. Pavonne often blamed my lack of sleep for it. If only some fool had not tried to thretean my brother on his special day, I wouldn't have had so much blood in my bathtub right now. I laughed as i remembered how the fool trembled when he saw me. It was always an honor for anyone to meet me. Some even said it was an honor to die by my gun and I was pretty sure he was honored to die by my gun. My skin had started to glow standing under the shower for long, I dressed up in slacks and a dress shirt and went over to the direction of the music. It was indeed a special day for my brother. Everyone was here; friends, family, enemies, the media, employees, the vice president. My brother’s engagement party has been the talk of the town for weeks and it was worth the wait. The event decorator knew I would probably break her arms if the arena wasn't looking lavishly decorated. I took a quick glance around it all as I sipped my whiskey and as I was, i met the eyes of the event decorator and she had an unsure look on her eyes. Oh! She knows. Everything was in place and nearly perfect. The bodyguards at Thier positions, the maids serving everyone, the guests talking and laughing, the parrots flying gracefully over the ceiling adding more color to the event. I couldn't take my eyes off my brother as he mingled with his buisness associates and friends, Pavonne, it wasn't up until now that i realized how much i was going to miss him if he finally gets married. It still remained a mystery to everyone how I had never met my brother's fiancee so I didn't know what she looked like exactly and I couldn't tell if she was the one standing next to Pavonne. “Show me.” I ordered Luca. “12 O’ clock, Boss.” Estella indicated before Luca could make out her out. ... I inhaled deeply from my cigarette and blew out the smoke as my eyes narrowed on the woman Marcel was with. I observed her closely as they exchanged some words before Marcel walked away. "... She's hot." One of the men nearby let out a low whistle at the sight of her. "... Gorgeous." Another one commented. And now I could see why Pavonne went for her. She was a moon! My gaze slid down, drinking in every inch of her body. She had long, brown curly hair flowing down past her shoulders. The dress she was wearing hugged her body deliciously, the generous amount of her cleavage on display left little to the imagination. “Like what you see, Boss?” my second in command, Valenti asked playfully, My gaze went up to her face and our eyes clashed. I almost let out a smirk when I caught her checking me out since she wasn't being discreet about it either. F*ck*ng hell, she had the most striking green eyes I had ever seen, and I found myself becoming lured into them. I tilted my head slightly to the side as I continued to look at her. She looked oddly familiar. What in the seven hells is that woman doing here? Being a master in controlling my emotions and never letting anyone decipher if you were angry when smiling or vice- versa, no one knew how shocked I was too see Francesca De Luca. Michael moved in front of her, obstructing me from looking at her. I looked up at him and he had the “what's wrong” look. Sh*t! Her surprise must have been too overwhelming that Marcel had noticed. To answer him, I ordered my men to fetch Francesca and not my brother's Fiancee. At that moment, I didn't care if she was the future bride, to me she was a lady I saw dead. As my men trudged on to get her, Marcel walked towards me. “Is everything okay?” Marcel asked, standing besides Valenti. I looked at him l, searching his eyes to know if he really didn't recognize who the lady was. I found it absurd that Marcel and Valenti had been meeting the future bride but no one recognized her, then I'm just seeing her for the first time and I already know who she was. "That woman won't wed my brother” I stated firmly, and I received shocked expressions from them. They didn't dare ask me to repeat myself again as they both knew I think before speaking. "That woman you see over there, That's Francesca De Luca, you knucklehead!” I informed them, and they both slid thier hands out of pocket in response to the shocking news they just recieved. “Oh f*ck! Wha…. Francesca is dead. We all attended her funeral!” Valenti exclaimed immediately he recognized her too. I let out a low laugh, rubbing my jaw as my eyes never once left her. “Affirmative. Now, how is it that she's getting engaged to my brother? I asked. But that wasn't the question that tumbled in my mind. How was she still alive?