14. The attic

14. The attic

CELESTE

Angelo tried to open the door again, he forced it, he pushed it and when he realized that there was really no way out and that we were locked in, he let out a frustrated growl.

"Great, just great." Angelo said without hiding the grimace of annoyance on his face, he clenched his jaw and the vein on his forehead stood out.

I bit my bottom lip, pulled my phone out of my pocket to see if I could call someone, but realized I had no signal.

"Do you have a phone?" I asked, "I have no signal."

He turned to me, his gray eyes almost piercing me, his face icy.

"I left it in the office with my things." He blurted out angrily, "I don't even know why you closed the door, Celeste."

I blinked a couple of times, we were on a mission, looking for a murderer, he didn't have to treat me in this crude way, as if I were stupid, I was really sick of him treating me like a slut.

"I didn't think we were going to stay locked up," I replied annoyed, "damn, stop being a pain!"

He looked at me with a frown but he didn't answer me, thank goodness he didn't because he really already had me on the edge. I started looking for a signal around the room, I raised my phone a little and it began to pick up coverage, I looked at a wooden chair and climbed on it, I quickly wrote a message and sent a message to Freddy telling him that we were locked in one of the rooms and that we should came to help, I sent him when suddenly I felt the chair tremble under my weight and in the blink of an eye it broke, I couldn't hold on at all I just fell to the floor with the pieces of plastic digging into my forearms.

"Damn," said Angelo, approaching me quickly, "why don't you look carefully where you're standing?"

I rolled my eyes and got up, he helped me by holding my waist, his touch against my skin made me stand up and shudder until he lifted me up, I looked up observing that he was looking at me, he was very close to me, I looked at his mouth and then I entered in reason.

He was only had beauty; one that always managed to dazzle me, but beyond that he was stubborn and he was a complete idiot.

I quickly pulled away and looked away from him to my arms, brushing away the bits of plastic on my skin.

"Sorry for not seeing an almost broken chair," I replied sarcastically, grimacing when I saw that I was bleeding a little from a slight scratch, I took the hem of my shirt and hurried to clean it.

He took a deep breath, however he didn't move away from me seeming to have his guard down.

"It hurts?" He asked.

"Not much," I admitted, "just tiny scratches."

"I have some alcohol, let me see," Angelo said and without waiting for an answer, he took my arm, his touch shook the rest of my body, he took a tiny bit of alcohol out of his pocket and poured it on me, I gasped when it burned. and he blew; his cold breath, he fixed his darkened gaze on mine, suddenly the tension began to be unbearable and I separated from him saying:

"Thank you."

He nodded.

"One question," I murmured, "can you still go out with your wife or stuff?"

I don't know why I asked him, but I did, after all my curiosity was greater than my discomfort and I knew that the worst that could happen was that he didn't answer me, however, to my complete surprise he said:

"No, it's as if... she was dead in life."

I looked at him, I could see that this was really affecting him, taking care of a sick person for many years could destabilize you mentally.

"Stop looking at me like that." he replied, frowning.

"Look at you like?" I asked for.

"With pity," he said, "I don't want your pity."

I took a deep breath, I didn't even realize I had that expression on my face.

"It was true?" I asked to change the subject.

"The fact that?"

I looked at him and dared to say:

"Do you still like me?"

He blinked a few times and looked away.

"It's better not to talk about that."

I narrowed my eyes.

"Why are you closing yourself?" I asked.

He ran a hand over his eyebrow, scratching it with his pinky, and shook his head.

"Celeste," he sighed, "is complicated."

"Your life is complicated," I replied, "but you're not really living."

He looked at me, and I continued saying:

"You yourself said that it is as if she had died while alive."

His brow furrowed.

"But that doesn't mean she has the right to be happy." He said.

"Why?" I replied, feeling that his argument was absurd, "We all have the right to be happy, who has inhibited you so much? Why do you punish yourself for your decisions? She has an illness, there is nothing you can do other than take care of her and that is what you have done."

I took a step towards him, looking for his gaze, I could see someone broken, someone who had suffered too much from this relationship that he carried like a cross.

"You don't deserve..." I said, "to suffer for her."

He suddenly frowned and clenched his jaw, seeming annoyed again, he knew a lot of things bothered him.

"What are you going to know? "He replied, "mind your own business."

I stared into his eyes and took a step towards him saying:

"Don't attack me, you're not angry with me, but with you."

His face turned red, tired of her facing him.

"I know you're still going to go with Freddy to unload," he said angrily, "that's what you want, right?"

"No," I said, raising my chin, "the only thing I really want is for you to stop being a bore and if I'm with Freddy it's because he's sweet and gentlemanly, not like you who treats me like shit every time"

"Because you provoke my anger."

"Why?"

"For exist."

"And you only provoke my contempt."

He grabbed me by the neck, pushed me against the wall and kissed me, then there was a knock on the door.

"Eh, Celeste? Do you hear me? We're already looking for the key," said Freddy.

"Yes, thanks!" I replied.

"I'm sorry." Angelo murmured with heavy breathing, "I have to stop seeing you as if you were my enemy."

"You can apologize," I said, "but I want a change in attitude, not your bipolar attitude."

They opened the door and we left.

"Are you okey?" Freddy said, "What happened to your arm?"

"I just fell." I limited myself to saying.

"You should rest," he hugged me, I looked at Angelo, he looked at me, clenched his jaw and disappeared down the hallway.