The Story of My Life

Imagine this. There's a dark room. Nothing is audible but the breathing of a person. A light switches on and there, right in the middle of the room, is sitting a woman. She's dressed in black clothing, almost resemblant of a yoga outfit, with a leather jacket over it. She seems nervous. And scared. She's fumbling about with her thumbs, trying to distract herself from what's coming. She has to open up. She has to tell where she came from, and what happened to her. She has to be honest about her past.

She introduces herself as Aleksandra Zofia Zima, a rather Slavic sounding name. Her voice carries an accent that resembles that exact origin. Her voice is soft and quiet, yet has a firm tone to it below that surface. She breathes in deeply before looking up. It takes her a few seconds to speak again. When she does, there's a slight quiver in her voice.

"I am Aleksandra, but better known as Winter. I am here to tell you all my story. The story of who I am and how I became what I am today. How this path was forced upon me, and how I made it into what it is now." The woman pauses, inhaling deeply once again.

"My story started a long time ago, in a time where cell-phones and computers weren't a thing, and when cars were incredibly new and only for the elite classes of society. I was born to a middle class family. I had no siblings, only a mother and a father. My mother was a maid in one of the richer people's homes, serving food, cleaning their houses and performing various other household tasks. My father worked in a factory, the same factory I came to work in when I was sixteen as well..."

"... I had a rather average life for a girl in that period of time. I went to school, did relatively well, and later on went to work wherever they needed help. I didn't have many friends, but the friends I did have, were the best I could ever wish for." She smiles as she thinks back to that time, where she would play outside with the other girls and boys of her age, and where she would play football and roll around in the dirt during wrestling matches to see who was the strongest. She wouldn't always win, and she would get a scolding when she once again came home, covered in dirt, but it was worth it.

"Heh... As every girl, I too had my crushes. There was this one boy in particular who had always caught my eye. He was from the richer suburbs and he would never even consider me to be his wife, or so I thought. But I was wrong. One night, when I was out with my two best friends, I ran into him. We were about 18-years-old at the time. I was drunk, he was drunk, and my friends pushed me into his arms. It was one of the best days of my life. We danced all night, and when it was time to go home, he walked me all the way back to my house in the far district of the city where he would kiss me and wish me good night..." A sigh escapes from the cat before she continues.

"I was in love. I was young and stupid and I never foresaw what could've happened next. It turned out he was the son of a mafia godfather, and as the son of a mafia boss, you had very strict rules to obey. He brought me to his house one day. It was beautiful. Silver and gold everywhere, a huge chandelier and so many mirrors and so much marble and all these other treasures. It was unbelievable. When he led me to his father's study, I saw armed men guarding the door. Now, guns weren't that much of a special thing back then—they were quite common actually. It should have set off an alarm in my head, but it didn't. I thought it was normal. After all, the man was rich, and his death would mean his son would get all his wealth. Since his son was still relatively young, people would be able to manipulate him and... you know how the story goes. When I was let into the study, there were quite a few people waiting for me to show my face. It was strange. After my boyfriend's dad had examined me, he nodded and said... nothing. He was quiet all the time. My boyfriend later explained what had happened and why it was of utmost importance I didn't tell a soul about this. If I would tell anyone about what I had learned that day, his father would make sure he sent everyone he knew after me to ensure my death."

Aleksandra stopped, looking back down at her hands again, trying to distract herself.

"I... I never would have guessed that one dumb night, one choice, would send me down the rabbit hole that became my life. It changed everything completely. For seven, long years, I was the girlfriend, and later on the fiance of a member of the mafia. It was dangerous and tasking. If I ran, I would be killed. If I disobeyed any man of his family, I would be beaten. I was forced to move in with that... man, that monster, or they would hurt my family. I had no choice but to obey whatever they said and told me to do. Their wish was my command. I was trapped. Then that one, dreadful night came... I found a note at my bedroom door. What it read was strange: "Go to the harbour. Knock on the second door of the fifteenth warehouse and wait for 10 seconds for the door to open. Make sure to be there at 11:59 PM tonight." I didn't know what to do. I heard the harbour had been long abandoned, but I had never been there myself. I was terrified. I had no choice but to go, but part of me screamed, 'Run like your life depends on it!' I should have listened to my insinct. The choice I made that night was the worst choice of my life, and I still regret it to this day."

"Upon ariving I followed the instructions of the letter very strictly. I knocked on the door, waited for ten seconds, and then the door opened, showing me a man I had never in my life seen before. Behind him I could see into the warehouse. It was empty, safe from a strange, see through, coffin-like case with silicone bedding inside it. It was riddled with wires and tubes, all leading to the same device that was put against the wall. I had no idea what was going on. Never before had I seen such a thing, and how could I have? This was cutting-edge technology, some super advanced secret project the mafia had been working on. Before I could even say anything, the man who had opened the door escorted me to that case, that, that box. He told me to stay there and wait for someone else to arrive. When the person we were waiting for showed his face, I was hit by shock. It was my fiance. What in the world had he to do with this... THING? Then again, to say I was too surprised would be a lie. He had dabbled in strange projects before, so why not this one? But when I took the time to actually look at him, he didn't seem like himself. He was... grinning like a madman, as if he had gone insane. It was the most frightning thing I had ever witnessed so far. He looked like he wanted to kiss me when he approached me, but then he just stopped moving. He snapped his fingers and before I knew it, I was knocked out. The next thing I know is that I was stripped from my clothes, having them replaced with a plain, white night gown, and I was tied up inside that box. It felt strange, laying there inside the silicone bedding. It was squishy and cold, but it was isolating at the same time."

"I..." She stops, clearly fighting back the tears welling up inside her. Doing this is hard. Harder than she imagined. She clears her throat before continuing. "The emotions I felt were indiscribable. The betrayal, the fear, the vulnerability. I just... I didn't know what to do. I tried to scream but nothing came out. I tried to free myself from the ropes, but couldn't move. The last thing I saw was my fiance's face with that insane grin before he closed the lid and turned on the machine. I don't know what happened next. It felt cold. As if your entire body gets encased in ice. I fell unconscious, unable to defend myself against whatever it was that was trying to put me to sleep."

The light temporarily turns off again, and all that can be heard is the muffled crying of the woman. It sounds heartbreaking, and it is clear she's in a great struggle. Then the light turns back on again, reavealing the same woman but this time a lot less confident in her stature and demeanour. She has bloodshot eyes and wet fur on her face. Her shirt and pants are stained by her tears and she has to swallow away the tears that tried to follow.

"I... I don't remember what happened in the 54 years that passed when I was locked away. All I know is that it changed me significantly. My body changed. I stopped aging physically, giving me a strange form of immortality. I am still susceptible to disease and murder, but I can no longer die of old age. I also developped this new skill..." The still wet tears in her shirt suddenly disappear and a swirl of ice starts surrounding the woman. "... It allows me to control ice and to convert water into ice. It opened up a whole new world for me, but I didn't know what to do with it at first... I'm side tracking myself. So, what had happened, someone or something had opened up the case and released me from my bonds before disappearing again. I still haven't found out who or what it was and why it did what it did. I remember running, and running, and running until I couldn't do it anymore. I collapsed at a lake, where Sarah found me. She helped me through all of the new things in this world, introduced me to smartphones and computers, explained to me how the new world worked and took me in, despite being a student with a small budget. I will never be able to repay her and I will be forever grateful for all that she has done for me."

Aleksandra knew it wasn't the full story, but she didn't want to tell everything at once. "There's more to be told, but that might be for another time. It's not pretty at all. Thank you for listening to me."

And with that, the light turns off again, the only sound audible being the woman getting up and her footsteps as she leaves the room.

***

Thank you so much for reading! This is a story about my own character, Aleksandra. I will most likely publish a second part where she explains what she does nowadays and why she chose the path she took.