Chapter 1:A stranger's sheet

There are mornings when you wake up and everything feels new. The air smells like  hope,the light tastes like peace, and for a moment, it's like the world has forgotten to  be cruel. This isn't one of those mornings.

This one wraps around me like wet wool- heavy,Itchy, suffocating. 

 I    blinked slowly,my  head pounding like a drum echoing through my skull. My  limbs felt sore and heavy,my  body aching as though I  had been working  for days without rest. Everything felt wrong. The first thing my eyes landed on was a pair of worn out slippers on the floor,slightly  crooked. My slippers. That was familiar, but then my  gaze  trailed upward to the lavish Chandelier overhead, the silk bed sheets wrapped  around my  naked body, the quiet  sound of air conditioning. As I turned left and right confused, the next thing I realised was that I  was naked. Lying on a bed I  didn't  recognise. 

Panic crawled through my bloodstream like poison. Where am i? I  tried to sit up but something or someone held me down. An arm. A man's  arm wrapped possessively around her waist. His skin was warm and I  could feel the rise and fall of his breath against her spine. My  pulse quickened.  For a second, I  didn't  move. I  lie perfectly still,hoping and praying that when I turn around the second time, I  will see his face properly .  That Maybe this is a dream I forgot  to wake up from.

But i already know the truth.

The ache between my thighs. 

The metallic taste of shame in my mouth. 

The ripped hem of my blue dress puddled on the carpet like a confession. 

I  lift the man's hand gently, so gently that he will not notice, and slip from the bed with trembling  limbs. My body feels sore and raw. But it's  the kind of pain that carries questions.

Was I willing?

Did I say Yes?

Was i even conscious? I Stared at the man's description.  He was tall, broad and Bare chested. His face was peaceful  in sleep, but his presence beside me screamed of everything I didn't  remember.  My lips parted, but no sound came out. I  knew this wasn't  a dream. Because dreams didn't  feel like shame soaked in skin. Dreams didn't  hurt like  this.

And that is when the memories begin to flood in.

The night before. 

There was the clinking of champagne  glasses. Laughter  echoing from chandeliers.  People dressed in suit and  gowns. I  was just a waitress. One of many,moving between  tables, balancing trays of drinks. Smiling and pretending  as if I belonged. I  had taken  a sip of  wine. Then another. The wine was extremely  sweet. Someone had even told me to go lie down. To rest . I  tried to say no. I remembered that part. My voice . Uncertain . My legs. Heavy. His hands, firm. Everything  after that was a blur- a haze of silk sheets and muffled  words and pain.

God, the pain. I  shut my eyes,my fingers curling into fists beneath the covers. I  hadn't meant for any of this to happen. I had been working. Doing my job. What had he done to me? I  tried to breathe, but the air  felt too thick. I needed to leave. I  reached for my gown, the same blue dress I had worn to the hotel yesterday, tight and short, the only decent thing  I owned. I  pulled it on with trembling  fingers and didn't  dare look at him again.

My name is Rosy Frederick. I'm  twenty one. I am a high  school graduate. An orphan living with my aunt, who barely tolerates my existence.  

She gives me a roof over her head, and in return  I give her silence. She doesn't  know where I work  most  nights. She doesn't care. 

But she'll care that I didn't come home last night. I  gathered my things, pinning up my curls quickly, trying not to cry

As I reached the door, I stared back at the man in bed, his face carved  like  a Greek God's, his lashes long , skin golden against white sheets.

He looked…..  untouched  by  the world.

Unlike  me.

I grab my shoes and tiptoe towards the door. I  didn't look back. Because if I look back, I might fall apart. And I can't  fall apart . Not here. Not now. I  opened  the door slowly. It shut  behind me . The hotel was filled with gold and marble  and expensive decorations. I  don't  know where I'm  going exactly.  All i just know  was that I was leaving that hotel immediately.  I  had to get away from this place before someone asks me questions I don't have an answer to.

Before  he wakes up. What I don't know …is that he already has.

–-------

His POV(Interlude).

The bed is cold when he reaches for her.

She's  gone.

All that's  left is the indentation on the sheets where the body used to be and something  odd.

A red blood.  He stares at  the stain like  it's  a ghost, something soft and  horrifying  all at once. His stomach sinks deeply. His hands shake as he presses them into the  mattress, eyes wide in shock.

“What have I done?” he whispers. 

Because last night wasn't supposed to  happen.

He's  not  even supposed  to  feel.

Twenty nine years of nothing. Of women trying  to  fix him. Of doctors  and  therapists labelling him impotent and emotionally  unavailable.  But last night, for the first time, his body responded to her and only  her.

And now she's gone.

–----------------------------------------

Rosy's Pov.

The doorman nods as I pass, but I don't look him in the eye. I  step outside into the  morning like I'm  trying to outrun what happened inside. 

My phone buzzes in my purse. I already  knew who it was. It was Aunt Regina. I  didn't answer. She will want to know where I have been, and I can't  explain this.I  don't  even know  or  understand  what this is. Neither do I understand  what just happened  to me. Just that my body doesn't feel like  mine, and my heart feels like  it's  breaking over something  I can't  even  name. I  walk , faster as possible. Like if i just keep moving, it will all disappear behind me.

Just as I reach the turn near the staircase, I hear it again, the sound of footsteps  behind  me.

Slow. Deliberate. One after the other.

 

*Click... click... click...*

 

I freeze.

 

That sound—too real to be my imagination. Too heavy to be nothing.

 

A chill crawls up my spine like a spider with a grudge.

 

I swallow hard and slowly turn my head over my shoulder.

 

But...

 

Nothing.

 

No one is there.

 

The hallway is empty.

 

Still.

 

Silent.

 

I blink.

 

Once. Twice.

 

I wait for something to move.

 

Nothing does.

 

I exhale, shaky and unsure. My skin is prickling like it knows something I don’t.

 

Maybe it was just the echo of my own steps.

 

Or maybe... I’m still not fully awake.

 

My heart keeps pounding like it’s trying to warn me of something I haven’t seen yet.

 

I press my back against the wall, whispering to myself, “You’re fine, Rosy. You’re just tired. You’re dreaming.”

 

But I don’t believe it.

 

Because right before I turned around…

 

I felt  it.

 

A presence.

 

Right behind me.

 

Like someone had been standing there.

 

Watching me.

 

And now… they’re gone.