The Strange

Every step Emanuele took down the huge hallway on the fourth floor of the apartment was painful, tiring, and absolutely hellish.

The pouring rain outside didn't help either. The heavy suitcase she was dragging was soaked, as was Emanuele herself, and it was past eleven o'clock at night. She had rented a room in that building, and the landlady must have been asleep. The girl tried to call Alexandra's cell phone, but apparently it was turned off.

The girl's red dyed hair was stuck to her face, mixed not only with raindrops but also with sweat. Almost growling in frustration, dying of shame, cold and irritation, the tan-skinned, the girl rang the doorbell. A clap of thunder rang out. Would the landlady be annoyed that she had arrived at that hour?

A few seconds passed. Well, it wouldn't be surprising at all if she was asleep. Emanuele's hands were trembling from exhaustion, hunger and apprehension. The last few hours had been extremely difficult. But at least she was far away from the monster she once called her mother.

A long minute later, the doorbell rang again. Alexandra would surely be angry. But when they had last spoken, the girl had seemed very understanding and sweet. Emanuele was sure that she would understand the situation, all she had to do was explain it properly.

Just as she was about to ring the doorbell a third time, with tears almost streaming down her face, the door finally opened.

A dark-skinned man with a well-groomed beard, short hair, and onyx-colored eyes was standing there looking at her, quite confused. And angry.

Emanuele wanted to die.

"Yes?" His voice was low and deep. Although he was obviously sleepy, this in no way affected his stunning beauty, as well as his strong complexion. 

"I... I'm sorry, I... I must have knocked on the wrong door. A thousand apologies."

 

She motioned to pick up her suitcase again, feeling like the stupidest person on earth. Had she gotten the apartment number wrong? Emanuele turned away from the stranger as she put her hand in her pocket, where her cell phone was. 

"Wait, miss." The man called out to her and leaned a little closer toward the light in the hallway. The young woman noticed that he was much older than her, probably in his forties. 

 "Who are you looking for?"

"Oh, well... I've come to live with a girl named Alexandra.... She supposedly lives at number forty-four, but... I must have made a mistake. I'm sorry."

"Oh, no, you didn't make a mistake. You're Emanuele Parker, right?"

Emanuele doesn't answer at first, she just frowns and stares at him.

"She had to travel in a hurry. But she thought you would arrive tomorrow morning, not today."

The girl murmurs, still with one hand in her pockets:

"I... I don't understand."

"My name is Joshua. I'm Alexandra's older brother. I got here two days ago or so, and I'm taking care of her apartment while she's not back."

"But..." Emanuele is trying to absorb all that, but fails. "But how...? I told her I would come, I tried calling her cell phone..."

"Alexandra traveled to a place where the coverage is lousy, for the most part. Anyway, I apologize in advance. Neither she nor I knew you would be getting ahead of yourself."

"I... I needed to come right away."

"Oh."

For a few moments, all there was is the sound of rain.

Joshua promptly offers to help her with her bag, but Emanuele takes a step back.

"What are you doing?" she asks, startled.

"You're soaked from the rain, probably tired and confused. I'll help you with your bag and we'll go inside."

"No. I'm not going in."

Joshua looks at her, but Emanuele can't face him as he shoots off his mouth.

"I don't trust you. Alexandra never told me she had a brother. And... She could have told me that before."

"I told you, it was an emergency..."

"No. No, no, no," Emanuele didn't seem to be able to process the information. "I don't know who you are, or what you're up to, but..." She stops, coughs, and continues, "But it won't work, okay? I'm sorry to wake you up at a time like this. But I'm really desperate, and I really need to find Alexandra and... And sleep."

"Emanuele..." Joshua tries to speak, but is interrupted.

"No!"

The girl runs and huffs her way to the elevator, without looking back. The doors open.

As Emanuele goes down to the second floor, she begins to cry and looks up the ad for the rental on the Internet. Yes, Alexandra had written that the apartment number was forty-four. They had talked about it, they had worked out all the details. And it was true that the expected arrival time was the next morning, but the girl had no choice; she literally had to run for her life. Had she been the victim of a scam?

She tried not to despair, but the day was becoming unbearable. Having to cross almost five hundred kilometers in a clumsy trip, in the rain, meeting a total stranger who claimed to be the brother of a woman who would not even answer the phone... Was she doomed to get screwed every time? Was her mother really right, and was she good for nothing?

When she got to the second floor, Emanuele decided that she would sleep in a motel. She still had enough money for two or three days, and then she would see what she could do. Accessing a virtual map, she saw that the next hotel was two blocks away.

The rain was still mercilessly lashing the entire perimeter of the city. Despite the thick drops that dripped on her skin and hair, the poor girl continued to fight the gale as she insisted on walking as fast as possible. Although Emanuele had money, at no time did it cross her mind to buy an umbrella.

Amidst the noise of the storm, the girl heard footsteps to his left, but ignored them. Then she saw shadows approaching.

Unable to formulate a plan, the redhead took off running as fast as she could. The footsteps of others also rushed by.

As Emanuele turned a corner, she gasped. A huge brick wall greeted her at the end of the alley. No way out.

A sharp blade brushed against her neck.

"Okay, kitten, now stand still."