ARTEMIS
Pain is what jolts me awake.
I don't remember falling into this slumber, at least not the one that came with a sharp pain stabbing behind my head, radiating through my arms and into my shoulders. I blink rapidly as my blurry vision begins to clear and then the realisation hits me like a sledgehammer.
I'm tied to a chair in a room I don't remember entering. The ropes are burning, they sliced into my wrist pulled so tight they almost cut off blood circulation. My legs are tied as well, this place reeked of urine and sweat, it was stale with only a single white bulb dangling above, flickering causing this place to be more eerie still I've seen scarier things.
Seated right in front of me is a bald man with a wrinkled face staring back at me, he looked old, buffy, and dangerous.
His eyes are small yet dark and I could tell whatever he reasoned he had been tied down here wasn't for good.
His hands rest on his knees, thick fingers twitching like they're itching to grab something.
"You are awake! I figured you were a rope so I decided to sprinkle some wolfsbane on it, I can't take my chances." He griped, his voice thick and familiar oh! I know this voice, he was the one who called my name before I collapsed and found myself here. "Where is my right hundred dollars?"
Sh*t! I cussed, closing my eyes tight, but I managed to rasp. "I know you won't believe me but I am not who you think I am, you've got the wrong guy."
I heard him call me Mason, that wasn't my name, it was… well my brothers.
He burst into laughter. His face twists into something dangerous. "Don't play silly games with me, Mason! Nothing can save you from my wrath, I promise you that you can run but can't hide from me."
I roll my eyes backward, " I'm not Mason. I've been looking for him too. We look so much alike because…" I pause, hesitating whether I should tell him this or not, "We're identical twins!"
He went quiet for a second before his laughter rang out in the empty room making me feel stupid for even saying a word.
"Twins," he repeats. "That's a good lie but not enough, try harder."
Before I could say a word his fist slams into my already battered face. It causes my head to whip to the side, the pain I felt was unexplainable. My nose crunches as blood trickles down from it, this man has successfully broken my nose for nothing. Thank you, Mason.
"I'll give you another chance," he says leaning in, I could smell the alcohol in his breath. " Where is my money?" He yelled in my face.
I looked down trying to cut the rope with my claws secretly but it was too strong and painful. " I am not who you think I am." I spat blood onto the floor.
"I see," he mutters, before slamming another blow onto my face, this one rattling straight through my skull. My ear rang, a high-pitched noise that almost made me forget I was alive, I gasped trying to endure the pain. But I can only hold on for so long before the darkness eventually takes over.
Then he brings out a gun, pressing the barrel against my forehead, like he meant serious business.
Well, I guess this was the end of the road for me, at least I died trying to save the one I care about. I shut my eyes so tight like I had accepted my fate, nothing was going to change his mind anyway.
"Young man, I don't have time to play silly games with you, I only want one thing," he growled. "My freaking eight hundred dollars or I'll blow your head out and paint these walls with your blood, and that's not a threat, they don't call me the Godfather for nothing."
Damn, Mason swindled a mafia lord who doesn't play about his money. Now I had to suffer for this.
I try not to say a word because what good will it do? He would either end my life or keep beating me to death. My head races as I try to think of a way out of this mess, what do I do? How do I stop him from ending my life? How do I make him believe he got the wrong twin,
But before I could say a word, I heard a loud bang!
It was a gunshot, and it echoed like thunder. For a second I thought it was over. He finally pulled the trigger and I was too shocked to feel the pain of the bullet. But then nothing happened, I was still seated, with the gun still on my forehead.
Then he staggers, his eyes turned white, and I see a hole in the center of his forehead, as he collapses to the floor, his gun clanking beside him.
What the hell just happened?
This has to be a dream, I'm still breathing and alive.
I lift my gaze from the dead man and that's when I see him,
Standing in the doorway, the gun still smoking in his hand.
The face I've been chasing my whole life.
The reason why I was in this damned situation,
Mason.
My face stared back at me in disbelief. I could see the shock written all over his face.
He was the opposite of me, he wore a white V-neck shirt and jeans, he looked so casual no one would ever suspect he was a swindler now I understood how he was able to fool all those people, I had the look of a killer while he was just charming. He then smiled at me before walking in slowly.
"Hi, Brother!" I breathed out, the pain from the blows still stinging on my skin.
He slangs his eyes in disbelief "Why do you look just like me?"
My pulse hammers. "Untie me. I'll explain everything."
For a few seconds he just looked at me as if thinking if it was the right decision letting me go, then he stepped forward, crouched to my side cutting the ropes loose with a sharp knife he pulled from his belt, the wolfsbane did nothing to him and I wondered how that was possible.
As soon as the ropes fell away, it revealed my wrist; raw and sore.
"Let's talk outside the club shall we?" Mason says, smiling at me. I nod.
A few minutes later we are standing outside the club, in a dark place that gathers less attention, he is holding a bottle of beer in his hands but I don't drink, I prefer my coffee.
"You want some?"Mason offers. I politely decline.
"Hmmm, you are boring!" He says gulping the beer down his throat, now that I'm staring at his face, I can't believe it. I didn't feel it before. Our resemblance is so striking and uncanny, it's like I was staring back at a mirror. We had the same jawline, the same blue eyes, just that he looked like the normal version of me.
"So how do I know you aren't just a look-alike sent by my enemies to try to deceive me?"
I looked into the night, letting the cold air slap into my wound, "I have better things to do with my time than pretend to be who I am not."
"Valid!" He commented, "But what about our parents, huh? Or were you adopted like I was ?"
"They died."
He stopped drinking the bottle halfway to his lips, his face filled with shock. "How did they die?"
"It's a very long story I'm not sure you are ready for," I mumbled, " but that's not why I am here, I came because you've got something precious that matters to me."
He lifts his eyebrow. "You need to be specific brother, I have a lot of things you don't have. We might look alike but you can't deny the fact that I'm hotter than you." He grinned.
I didn't even smile.
"A ring, a daylight ring, you stole from a lady, it doesn't belong to you so hand it over and we can start afresh."
A grin spread across his face as he reached into his pocket, and he pulled out a shiny diamond ring that sparkled in the dark.
My chest tightens. There it is. Everything I've risked, everything Sabrina threatened, if only I could have that, Cressida would be safe and all this would be over.
"Do you mean this?" Mason asks slowly.
"Yes!"
He studies it carefully flipping it between fingers like a coin, then he let out a sarcastic laugh that intensified the pain I was feeling.
Before I could say jack, he had thrown it into the bushes behind us.
"There you go, fetch it," he chortles, smirking like the devil's spawn. "Like a dog!"
Then it dawned on me that he didn't plan on giving me that easily.
"Oh!!" He adds, flashing his teeth at me," My bad, it's too late, it's gone."