C20 20. Is she really dead?

ENDLESS NIGHTS

Chapter 20

Alessia

5:00AM

Ringing......

"Argh, who on earth is calling me at this unholy hour?" I groaned, my voice barely breaking through the haze of sleep that clung to me like a stubborn fog. The shrill ringing of my phone sliced through the tranquility of my slumber. Groggy and disoriented, I fumbled for my phone, instinctively aware that it was most likely the delivery man at the door. Without bothering to check the screen, I answered, my heart still heavy with the remnants of dreams that dared to weave a different reality.

📱... "Hello?" I mumbled, thick with the remnants of sleep.

"Hello, Ms. Alessia, this is Dr. Martin." The familiar voice pulled me out of my sleepy haze, and instinctively I slipped out from beneath the blankets that cocooned me in a false sense of security. As I walked towards the window, the first light of dawn streamed through the glass, illuminating the room in a golden glow that felt harsh against the tumultuous emotions welling within me. I took a moment to steady my breath, curiosity and dread knotting together in my stomach. I could feel the shadows of anxiety creeping in, tugging at my heartstrings.

📱... "Doctor Martin, is everything okay?" I asked, my voice almost a whisper, a fragile plea hanging in the air between us.

"Actually, I'm really sorry to say this, b-but," he stammered, and the hesitation in his tone made my heart race.

📱... "But what? Please, just tell me! What happened? How is my Aunty?" There was a quaver in my voice that I couldn't disguise, a frantic urgency to grasp whatever truth he was about to reveal.

A sharp silence stretched between us, heavy and oppressive. "By the way, Mrs. Gini couldn't make it. She's dead. We tried our best, but w..." The world around me began to spin as the weight of his words crashed down like a tidal wave, washing away all semblance of reason. I jerked the phone from my ear, my breath hitching in my throat, then I dropped it as if it burned my skin. Dead? How could she be dead? My heart felt like it was shattering into a million pieces, and despite my desperate efforts to hold back my tears, they came spilling forth, hot and relentless down my cheeks.

"Alessia," a voice broke through my despair-Mandy. I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes, desperate to shield her from the pain that was about to unfold. She stood there, her innocent gaze piercing right through me with a mix of concern and fear.

"You are crying? What happened?" she asked, her voice trembling like a leaf caught in the wind. Just as I opened my mouth to explain, a sharp knock echoed from the gate outside, and I immediately thought it must be the delivery driver again. My legs felt like lead, and I couldn't summon the strength to face the world beyond the threshold of our home. "Mandy, can you go get it?" I requested, my voice barely a whisper.

As soon as she stepped out, I clutched my head, a primal scream clawing its way from my chest. "Why Aunt Gini? Out of all the wonderful people in this world, why her? How on earth am I going to break this to Mandy?" My mind raced with unanswered questions, the world swirling around me like a storm threatening to pull me under.

Moments later, Mandy returned, a plastic bag cradled in her tiny arms, along with a colorful gift bag that clearly held something special. When she opened the door and found me crumpled on the floor, tears streaming down my face, her eyes widened in horror.

"Alessia, what's wrong? Is my mother okay?" she asked, her words tumbling out in a rush like a frightened rabbit caught in the open.

I shook my head, a motion that felt heavy and sorrowful. I felt utterly broken, the fabric of my heart unraveling with every passing second.

"Is she dead?" Her voice was small, almost a whisper, as if saying it aloud would make the terrible truth more real.

"Mandy, I'm so sorry. I am truly sorry. She is gone," I said softly, my heart breaking for her.

Surprise washed over her face, mingling with disbelief. "What? H-how can my mother die?"

"This... she has passed away," I said, though it felt like trying to convince myself as much as her. I half-expected her to scream, to rage against the injustice stitched into the fabric of our reality, but she simply stared at me, emotion flickering across her features as if she were trying to process the surreal calamity unfolding.

"What's wrong? She is dead, Mandy. I just received Dr. Martin's call right now," I implored gently, but the gravity of those words began to settle on both of us like a heavy shroud.

Crying, she insisted, "No, no. I think he is lying. My mother is not dead."

I rushed to her side and enveloped her in a tight embrace, trying to lend her my strength as I whispered, "It's okay, Mandy. I am right here with you. Don't cry; you still have me. I am your family. Let's go to the hospital."

"No, Alessia, they are lying. I still want my mom," she protested, her small body trembling against mine.

"Don't worry; she's fine, okay? I can't believe it myself. Let's just go to the hospital and see her," I promised, though uncertainty gnawed at me.

There was no time to check the packages that had arrived; we had only one mission: to discover the truth. We closed the door, driven by panic, and hurried towards the hospital, each step echoing the dread pounding in my chest.

Before we knew it, we arrived, the sterile scent of antiseptic and fear wrapping around us as we reached Aunt Gini's room. My heart raced as I pushed open the door, only to be greeted by a sight that knocked the breath from my lungs-a flurry of police officers and doctors in a chaotic dance, while on the bed lay Aunt Gini, her form obscured under a stark white sheet.

"Mandy!" I cried, but it fell out like a dull thud amid the chaos. She dashed to her mother, desperation and despair flaring in her eyes. "Mom?? No, no, mom, wake up! Please, somebody wake my mom!"

"Please, take her out; we need evidence," one officer barked, his tone cold as his gaze met ours. "We don't want noise. Take that little girl out!"

Mandy was undeterred, her voice rising with an urgency that could split open the heavens. "No, please don't take me out; she is my mother! Can I see her one last time? Alessia, please stop them. I want to be with my mom!"

"It's okay, Mandy. Calm down, please." I pleaded, desperate to shield her from the breaking world around us.

"Mom, hold on! I still need you; come back! I don't want to be left alone in this world!" Her cries shattered something deep inside me, a fragile part that understood the depth of her loss.

"You will never walk alone, Mandy. I am with you," I promised, my voice steady despite the turmoil.

"But you can never replace my mother, Alessia!" she whimpered, the raw truth of her words piercing through the veil of my own despair.

"Please, take her out now," the police officer ordered again, his impatience growing. I locked eyes with him, urgency bubbling in my chest as I fought to keep Mandy at her mother's side.

"Let her stay. Please, she needs this moment more than anything," I begged, my heart racing for the both of us. They exchanged glances, seeming to understand the depth of grief standing before them, and finally, they relented.

Mandy would not be taken from her mother's side-not now, not ever.

**Ringing...**

The shrill sound of my phone slicing through the oppressive silence of the hospital room jolted me from my thoughts. It was David, the last person I wanted to hear from just now. I had half a mind to let it go to voicemail, to keep my focus on what truly mattered. But against my better judgment, curiosity got the best of me, and I swiped to answer.

"Hello?" I said, trying to maintain an even tone, though my heart raced in my chest.

📱 "Where are you? I want you to meet someone very special," he replied, a hint of excitement lacing his voice.

I took a breath, feeling a tidal wave of emotions crash over me.

"Aunt Gini is dead. I'm at the hospital right now. I can't meet that special someone of yours. I need to be here for Mandy; she needs me the most." The weight of those words hung heavy in the air, a stark reminder of my aunt's sudden departure.

📱 "What??? I'll be there in less than 15 minutes," David insisted, and before I could respond, the call disconnected, leaving behind an echo of his urgency that felt starkly out of place.

As I placed the phone down on the sterile surface of the hospital bed, my thoughts were abruptly interrupted by a nurse gesticulating wildly towards me, her face twisted in accusation.

"She is the suspect! She killed her aunt!" she proclaimed, her voice carrying throughout the ward like a thunderclap.

Stunned, I could only blink in disbelief.

"What? Are you all crazy? How could I kill my own aunt?" I shot back, bewildered at the sudden turn of events. The police and several doctors had begun to converge on me, their eyes boring into me like daggers, each demanding an explanation.

"You're a killer? A liar and a shameless woman? She's the one who seduced Mr. Ethan! She wanted to get married to him, but he tossed her aside. Now, she killed her own aunt!" one of the hospital staff shouted, a mix of anger and disgust etched across their features.

At that moment, Mandy emerged from the shadows, her heart-rending gaze latching onto mine.

"Stop everyone! Alessia would never do that. Do you have any proof?" Her voice trembled, though there was strength behind her words.

One of the doctors stepped forward, his face grave as he continued,

"Yes, we have the proof." He took my hand, drawing me closer to the scene of horror laid out before us. Confusion enveloped me, like a fog that refused to lift.

As they uncovered the horrifying details of the situation-my aunt's lifeless body revealed to the world-I felt my stomach twist. Her throat bore the marks of struggle; the deep, mottled red of strangulation and the disturbing scratches from nails. Each detail hammered home the grim reality that overtook the room. It was then that I noticed it-the broken nail beside her; it was unmistakably one of mine, painted a striking purple.

My heart raced as I glanced at my fingers, horrified to find one nail that was entirely intact-the very nail that matched up to the wounds on Aunt Gini's throat.

"Mandy," I began weakly, my voice the barest whisper, but the questions were already forming in her eyes.

"Alessia, you have purple nails? And one of your nails is missing? Your missing nail was found on my mother's throat? And it also showed that she was strangled by someone with nails? A-are you the one who killed her?" she asked, her voice edged with disbelief and betrayal.

"I didn't kill her!" I blurted, desperation clawing at my throat. "Listen, I lost my nail, but I swear I don't know how it happened! Mandy, please-you have to believe me!"

"I wish I could, but this looks terrible. You killed her! You saw that the bills piled up, that's why you killed her!"

"Bills? What bills, Mandy?" I pieced together a looming dread.

"My mother and your unborn baby!" she shouted, her voice like a bell tolling in the quiet chaos. The room turned as one, faces of disbelief morphing into shock contorted by anger and judgment.

"Is she pregnant?" a nurse inquired, her eyes darting back and forth between us as if we were in a morbid play.

"It makes sense now," a forlorn doctor chimed in, "She rushed to marry billionaire Ethan, hoping to conceal what she really was-the mother of a fatherless child!"

"Can you imagine?" murmured some staff, giving voice to the swirling rumors and whispers that began to bleed through the walls of the hospital.

At that moment, I felt as if the world had closed around me. Yes, I was pregnant, but the identity of the baby's father was irrelevant to me at that moment.

"But I didn't kill her! I'd never hurt her!"

"Who is going to believe you now? You ungrateful hussy?" someone spat.

"Officer, arrest her, please!" a demand rang out from the other side of the room.

"Alessia, I loved you; I didn't know you had this darkness within you! Why did you kill her? Out of jealousy? You wanted her to experience what you did-an existence without parents!" she accused, her voice of reaching a fever pitch. My heart surged with a desperate wish to remedy the rift between us, but the chasm felt insurmountable.

I stepped closer to her, hoping she could see the truth in my eyes, but it was like I was invisible, her trust slipping through my fingers like grains of sand. The broken nail that everyone had witnessed was now a noose tightening around my neck, but I couldn't fathom how it ended up there, let alone how it had broken.

And then a flicker of memory-Dr. Martin, the gentle doctor who had cared for my aunt, the one who had called me not long before-came rushing back to me.

"Where is Dr. Martin? He can vouch for me! He was here when I left; he saw Gini alive. Please, just ask him where he is!"

A nurse turned to me, feigning sympathy, "He's not around at the moment, but let me call him."

📱 "Hello, Dr. Martin. The patient you were treating is dead. Do you have any idea who killed her?"

"It's Alessia; she's behind it," was the devastating reply from the other end.

"What? He is lying!" I shouted, shaking my head in disbelief.

"Please, police-arrest her!" someone shrieked, voices overlapping in a chaotic symphony of accusations.

"NO ONE IS TOUCHING HER!" roared a voice from the doorway, silencing the discord as we all swivelled in its direction, breath caught in our throats.

To be continued...