And no matter how many conversations I have with him, it would never change what he did. And if you hurt my family, you hurt me. So there is no way we could even be friends.
I storm up to the bedroom door and grab the handle to push it open. But in my momentum and anger and rage, I end up walking face-first into it at full force. The door doesn’t budge.
“Ow,” I groan, touching my head where I bumped it.
“Why is it locked?” I shout at Artur.
“I didn’t lock it. I was standing right there with you the entire time. When the hell would I have had a chance to lock it!”
“But it’s locked!” I shout, trying the door again.
I bang my fist against the wood. “Hello?” I shout through it. Where is everyone? Why would they lock us in here?
“Maria, just calm down,” Benedikt says from the other side of the door.
“Benedikt? Unlock it. I don’t want to be in here with him,” I plead.
“Kaz and I think it’s a good idea for you two to face whatever it is that is going on between you and sort it out once and for all,” Benedikt says.
I press my hands against my face and groan loudly, fighting tears and panic.
“Let me out,” I whimper.
“Just talk to him,” Kaz says, speaking through the door.
“Absolutely not!” I shout, my anger peaking again. “Let me out right now! Joseph! Joseph, let me out of here, please!” If he’s there, he will let me out. He’d never let them lock me in here with Artur. He hates the guy as much as I do.
Benedikt replies again, “Maria, just calm down, take a deep breath and…”
“Joseph!” I scream over whatever he was going to say. I’m not interested. I want out, and I want outnow. “Joseph, please help me…please unlock the door!”
There is a long moment of silence. I wait, my heart beating heavily in my chest.
“Joe?” I call out, desperate.
“Maria, I think it’s better if you spend some time in there and talk to Artur.” When I hear Joseph agreeing with the other guys, my entire body goes rigid. He hates Artur as much as I do. I thought he did. Why would he be okay with leaving me in here with the man?
“Joe, please…” I beg.
“Maria, take your time. You aren’t in any danger. Just talk to him, okay. I’m going to let our guests out,” Joseph says. My heart sinks. There really is no getting out of this.
I turn my back on the door and lean against it.
Artur is staring at me, his eyes cold and dark.
“I have nothing to say to you,” I snap at him.
He sneers. Pushing away from the door, I walk to the far corner of his bedroom near the window. There I sit in the single armchair, scooting it around so I don’t have to look at him.
An art nouveau clock on his bedroom wall ticks loudly. I want to throw something at it, even though the clock did nothing wrong. I should be grateful that it’s making that monotonous tick tick tick sound to ease the heavy silence in the room.
With the silence comes an unbearable tension.
It’s sitting, weighted, on my shoulders. I glance around the back of the armchair to see where he is.
Artur is standing near the bed with his back to me. He hasn’t moved. His arms are folded over his chest, and his breathing is heavy. He’s holding on to so much anger.
It’s been thirty minutes now, and neither of us has said a damn word. Not a single thing. My brain is exploding with the audacity of all of this.
