"Number 5. Done! So much to do, so little time." The woman said.
Checking an item off her list.
She already got her things packed, ready to leave for the beach.
She rode a plane, a cab, and a train going to her destination.
"Plage Solitaire." Gisela mentioned the name of the beach.
Her vision turned from left to right.
She inhaled the fresh air and appreciated one of her best decisions in life.
The place looks private and isolated for there are only few people living at the sea-side.
"No pure white sand. Waters are not so clear. Lonely. Of all the Beaches, why here in this damn stinky hole? Well, 'can't blame ye, the morning and afternoon in this village is peaceful indeed." An old folk muttered with a western accent as he is mixing drinks at his so called 'BoozeBar' which the old rusty sign said.
She just smiled and looked at the man.
"Oh, where's my darn manners, the name's Old Man Larry. What's your name child?" She shook his hand and answered.
"Nice to meet you Larry. Gisela. I have just moved in, I wanna live here, this is one of my favorite places as my parents brought me here once... Way back, when they're still alive. Wouldn't exchange it for another. Even if it's the last place I go to." She said forcing a smile to the man who just nodded feeling sad by just listening to her tone and watching her facial expressions.
She must be going through something.
Not just something.
A lot.
Tons of things are running on this silent woman's mind.
"Grandpa, can I drink this juice?" His grandson asked Larry.
"That ain't no juice son. That's poison. By the way, Gisela, you're welcome drink's on me. Ye may join the party later. The Valentine's Night is the opposite. It's the only night apart from Christmas ye can consider a festival." He said as he handed her his own concoction, like it was derived from two known mocktails/ladies' drink, Mimosa and Sangria.
Then an old lady approached and greeted them.
She seemed tough but she went to them smiling.
"I'm the owner of this isolated place you called a stinky hole Larry, like you have no respect for your wife, goodness gracious! You should be helping me build this place up, not spread rubbish to tear this place down. Do that again and I'll burry an old man to the sand. Nice to meet you?" She did not finish the sentence.
"Gisela. Of the doomed." She said laughing a bit.
"Oh such a joker. I'm Olivia." The old lady introduced herself.
The old woman showed Gisela the directions to her beach house.
It was a tiny, cozy, bright-yellow colored wooden beach house.
It's so remarkable and outstanding that you would even recognize it from afar.
It outshined the other dull-colored houses.
Plus, the best part is that, it's the nearest one to the beach.
She was busy arranging her stuff... When she heard the loud music pumped and started at the beach, she peaked through the window and saw the lights that gave life to the dead atmosphere earlier.
She heard and saw the people mingle, laugh and started to gather round the campfire to dance, chat and have fun not being sober tonight.
She dressed up wearing my lace bikini under my beach dress.
She went out and hanged at the BoozeBar when a guy recently approached her.
"Why aren't you drinking yet beautiful?" The weird guy asked.
"I don't plan on drowning myself in hard-liquor tonight. I would rather just drown in my own thoughts. Alone. Thank you." Gisela answered.
"Just a sip. Please." He insisted.
"No thanks. Can you go and leave the goner now?" Gisela resisted.
***Phone Rings***
Gisela's phone rang, she just stared at the screen to see who's calling, thinking if she would answer or not.
As she was doing so, split-second, the man dropped something in her drink and left without a trace.
She took a while deciding whether to answer it or not but in the end, she chose to ignore and miss the call.
She sipped her glass and her favorite songs played.
She went near the waters and sat on the sand to get a feel of what she seeked for.
Freedom.
After a few hours of listening to music, her vision began to blur.
She panicked and immediately stood which was a bad idea for she felt more groggy... Like a bad case of vertigo.
She tried to walk passed the crowed, little did she know that there was a hungry hyena waiting for her at the other side.
The man she was with earlier was waiting for her to fall under his trap and sieze her, like a predator stalking his prey.
Well, I guess first impressions last, by the looks of it, he isn't really gonna do any good.
She walked, but she also felt so dizzy that she cannot even stand straight.
Her knees are trembling and it looked like her eyesight betrayed her for being inconsistent, it goes back to normal in a few seconds then intermittently goes back to being blurry again.
Her strength gave up on her and she lost her balance.
A man caught her from her back using his strong and firm arms.
A different man than the one from before.
"Are you alright Miss?" The man with a very deep voice asked.
Gisela gathered all of her strength to open her eyes wide to locate her house.
Well, it's literally just near the water, the BoozeBar and the party so she did not have a hard time pin-pointing the place even if it's just the outline and the color of the house that she can recognize as of the moment.
She lifted her arms and pointed her finger to that direction.
To make sure, the guy asked old man Larry where she lives...
"Well, it's that bright house over there. Take care of the lonely woman but don't try to do anything ungentlemanly or you'll end up in a dungeon..." The old man warned the handsome man and he just nodded.
It seemed that he got tired and carried the woman in his arms.
When they got to her place, he immediately looked for the sink and filled the kettle with water then he set it to boil.
He's now got a luke-warm water on the basin and wiped Gisela's face with a wet cloth.
It seemed that right after, Gisela went to life a bit and asked the man who he is...
"Are you sure you do not recognize me? I can't blame you, this place has no TV." He muttered his observation.
"I can't breathe! I might die from it! Why is it so damn hot in here?!" Gisela screamed and immediately slipped out of her dress and untied the knots of her bikini, exposing her bare skin in front of the stranger.
The man is also drunk but Gisela might have been drugged.
But the man was not aware of that, he just thought she had more than enough Booze because of her stench.
Technically, she drank but just little.
So that's what he smelled.
The man tried to dress her up again.
With the shown concern, Gisela got curious to get to know the man who's taking care or her.
She looked at his face carefully trying her best to recognize a feature of his face which might have been misinterpreted by the drunken man.
He thought that she was trying to kiss him and suddenly their faces went closely looking at each other...
It did not matter who broke and closed the space between them but their lips met, passionately kissing and wildly answering evey touch of the other person.
Leave it to one's imagination.
You name it...
They did it all the way that night.
Then, the rest were just hot history in the making.
Next morning, er, afternoon, with eyes still closed Gisela felt her aching body muscles and her 'you know what' is definitely sore but that was the best and the longest sleep she ever had especially for the passed couple of weeks that she has not been able to sleep properly due to insomnia.
Not remembering what happened last night, she moved a little to embrace the pillow beside her but she felt that the pillow turned rocky and it felt like a heat of another person's flesh.
Little did she know, that it really wasn't a pillow.
So she opened one of her eyes, trying not to be blinded by the light coming from the window.
Am I still alive?
She thought.
She turned to the other side of the bed...
Then, opened both of her eyes widely due to shock and she felt her whole body froze.
Not because her body is aching from the streniuous activity she did last night...
But because she saw a naked stranger sleeping beside her...