Chapter 63:
Julie’s Point of View
Suddenly, a short man stood over , his white apron bulging in front of his stomach and a chef’s hat crowning his head.
He shouted in my face with a rage that made startle:
"What are you doing here? Get up and start distributing the plates!"
I said with difficulty, my breath not yet stilled:
"Mr... Mr. Robert told to stay here and not go out."
With a flushed face, he threw his dirty cloth at my face, hitting with a nauseating scent of sweat and spices, and barked sarcastically:
"What did you do, you idiot, to make him this angry?"
Fire ignited in my veins, and my fingers reached out to grip the handle of a heavy iron pot beside ;
I felt its coldness and solidity, and I prepared to lift it and smash his head with it,
but he turned and walked away before I lost control.
I slowly loosened my grip, settling in my place while staring into the void,
realizing with bitterness the disaster I had gotten myself into; I had stained my hands for a survival that might never co.
The hours passed heavy as if they were aeons,
and my head felt as if it were about to explode from the noise of crowded thoughts beneath my skull.
I was sitting on that cold floor, listening to the noise outside gradually fade until the last notes of music vanished,
replaced by a silence that sent shivers through the body.
Suddenly, a massive shadow stretched across the tiles before ;
I didn’t need to raise my head to know who it was the cold scent of his perfu and the steady thud of his footsteps were enough to identify him.
I stood up with a body whose limbs had stiffened from the long sitting, and found him standing before ,
staring, clutching his mobile phone as if he held my entire fate between his fingers.
He said in a low tone that shook the silence of the place:
"Now... the call will co that will determine if you have succeeded, or if the night will end with a different conclusion."
As soon as he finished his sentence, the sharp ringing of the phone pierced the kitchen’s silence;
I flinched in my place, feeling my heart take a violent leap until I could almost hear its sound in my ears.
Robert raised the phone very slowly, pressed the answer button, and placed it to his ear without uttering a single word.
His eyes were fixed on , watching the terror of my features with a chilling coldness.
Seconds of lethal silence passed, and suddenly, the corners of his mouth began to rise slowly,
a devious smile forming on his face, deep in its malice.
He looked at with a gaze that made the blood freeze in my veins; he had gotten what he wanted.
The kitchen was emptied of its noise, and nothing remained but the faint hum of the machines and the echo of my agitated breath.
I stared at that malicious smile that split Robert’s face before he spoke words that fell upon like a thunderbolt:
"You succeeded, Julie."
At that mont, I felt a sharp contraction in my chest,
as if an invisible hand were squeezing my heart with a force that pained .
I felt a coldness invading my limbs; the deed was done, and I had now beco a silent partner,
a criminal who had toppled the life of a stranger to save her own head.
Robert continued as if his words were whips lashing what remained of my conscience:
"Despite your hesitation, Julie... you saved yourself."
I turned my face away from him, feeling a weight pulling my eyelids down, and said in a faint, wavering voice:
"I want to rest."
"Yes, you must be tired... co, let’s go to your room."
We began to walk, but as soon as we crossed the threshold of the kitchen,
I veered from his path.
I didn’t follow him toward the corridors leading to my room; instead, my body pulled toward the restaurant hall.
The place was empty and desolate, its tables bare and its chairs lined up in orphan-like solitude;
my mind could not believe that this stifling vacuum was, minutes ago, teeming with bodies and loud scents.
I moved toward the massive glass facade and stood there;
my forehead almost touching the coldness of the glass as I watched the distant street lights with an eerie calmness.
I felt his shadow extending behind , and I saw the reflection of his stern face on the glass overlapping with my pale features.
I said without turning to him:
"The human being is a very dangerous creature... he will do anything, absolutely anything, for himself."
His reply ca in a husky voice, erging from the depths of his throat like the hiss of snakes:
"Yes, Julie... and you did this for yourself."
I closed my eyes for a mont, then pressed my trembling palm against the coldness of the glass and shifted my gaze outside,
where the guards stood at the door like deaf statues, watching the void.
I felt a nausea sweeping through my gut and whispered words that ca out like scorched breaths:
"I need to forget."
I turned suddenly, and my legs pulled toward the bar counter with unsteady steps.
My hand reached out to pick up a dark, heavy bottle, slling of a mystery my senses had never known before.
I had never tasted the flavor of alcohol, and I never imagined this forbidden liquid would touch my lips;
my fingers even failed to undo its seal; my hands were shaking with a shaful weakness.
I slumped onto the high stool, leaning my back which had bent under the weight of the night.
I watched Robert as he approached with his confident, rhythmic steps, and when he was before ,
I extended the bottle to him with a shaking palm, and said in a dry tone devoid of any soul:
"Open the bottle."
He fixed his gaze on my tired eyes, and I felt the tension in the air between us as his fingers approached to take the bottle from my hand,
as if he were opening a new door to the abyss for .
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