The Moment Right Before Night

Arrival

"Alda, Alda, Alda" my dad said in his deep kind voice that allows him to be friends with everyone. He embraces me and leads me to where I'll be staying. He gives me a quick tour of the house I know by heart, but he swears he has to show me around again because he did some remodeling. Exquisite rooms made even more luxurious. The Italian coast is usually full of gold touches, but my father has let silver engulf the home. He swears that silver entraps the ocean better than gold can. 

He leads me to my room, equally adorned with silver. A luxurious bed replaced the one I knew. Dreamy blue sheer curtains hang around the bed, like the sky's color before sundown. My dad leaves me be to unpack and sleep. As soon as he leaves I turn off the lights, take my shoes off, and jump onto the bed without changing. I lay in the bed for two hours until 9 pm, fighting the urge to sleep so that I can have a somewhat regular sleep schedule for tomorrow. I was cutting it close with my arrival date, school starts tomorrow, I'll attend the school a dozen blocks from here, private school of course, the most prestigious for the most prestigious man's daughter in the city. 

I turn off my phone and set it on the nightstand. I pull off my jeans and my shirt and throw them onto the floor next to me. I stand up to fix the bed and sheets for me to be able to slide under them. As I am about to get back on my bed a strong gust of cold wind blows my ajar balcony doors open. The wind was warm until just then, so my unclothed body shook from the temperature drop. I quietly run over to the balcony and am about to close and lock the doors when a wave of curiosity flows over me and I reopen them to look outside. I get a view of the coast as well as a small cut out of ocean that is only visible from my bedroom window that is right under me. My favorite place to go as a kid when I skipped class since my parents could never see me from inside the house.

 I trace my eyes along the coast and when my eyes get back to the secluded beach I stare. There a man with pale white blonde hair walks next to the lapping waves with his hands in his black suit pockets. He turns from his expected path and walks towards the hidden path that works as stairs carved by the ocean waves. He walked up them with no difficulty as if he had gone up and down them his whole life. He gets to the top of the rocks and starts onto the grass of our backyard straight to the house. I get nervous wondering what a strange man is doing walking towards my father's house. As he walks in his straight line towards the soft glow of our back porch lights two floors below me he looks up in habit. He stops when his eyes meet mine. He stares, and I stare back. A sudden wave of realization hits me as I become self conscious of the fact I'm wearing nothing but my underwear and bralette. I back away from the porch with his eyes still following me as I close and lock the balcony doors.

 I run to my bed and bury myself in the covers. That was so embarrassing, I cringed at myself for not realizing that I wasn't wearing anything. He could've been one of my dad's men or maybe part of the house staff. I would hate to see him around the house if that's true. But on second thought I doubt its either. When he looked up the light revealed that he was pretty young. He was probably around my age anyway. I rolled in my bed unable to sleep when all of a sudden I jolted back up to sit on my bed. I've seen him before. He was in my dream. Is this a bad omen? Should I go check and make sure he wasn't a dangerous man? Maybe he was breaking into the house? I kick off the covers and run to the bathroom to get one of the hanging black towel bathrobes, get on my ugg slippers and run down the hall. I hear chattering down stairs, my dad's voice talking and laughing with other men. It was probably a friend's son or something. 

But just to make sure I quietly run over to the elevator at the end of the moonlit hall and press the button for the bottom floor. I didn't want my dad seeing me come down, and with all the chatter they won't be able to hear the moving elevator. I stand in the middle of the elevator as I count the floors I pass. Finally I reach the bottom floor and the doors make their way open. As I look up from my phone and I bite my sleeve to stop from letting out a shriek. It was the same guy from outside. He was getting some bottles out of the cellar that was placed next to the elevator. I frantically press the doors shut, but they don't close fast enough. He closes the door and turn to me, his eyes widen slightly and I see his face turn slightly red, but the same unmoving cold expression on his face stays. He stares at me for a few seconds then look away before the doors close. 

"what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck" I whisper to myself as the elevator makes it's way up the house. I hate myself so much, I can't believe I went down. And what even are the chances of that happening. I tremble a little from all the adrenaline and shock as I step out of the elevator and run to my bed, close my eyes, close them shut tight. I pushed away all my thoughts and found a way to sleep.