I Hate Love

Raya Walton

I finally reached Italy. I came here to do my masters in Business Development so that I can take over my dad's business when I get back home. I have so much to learn and see. I'm so excited, I'm gonna have a really good time.

Or so I thought.

First day of class, I reach the university 30 mins before class. Went to the administration, got the paperwork done and I'm ready for my degree.

The classrooms are soo big. Like lecture halls. I try to find a seat at the front but it was filled until the third row. I sat on the fourth row on the left side of the classroom.

New faces, new language, new environment. The bell rang and everyone sat in whatever seat they got. A young girl sat beside me.

"Hi. I'm Emily. Emily Russo.". The girl said grinning ear to ear. So cute. "Raya Walton. Nice to meet you Emily." I smiled politely. She seems nice. Maybe I'll keep her around. The professor then walked in. And classes began with an introduction.

All the classes I had today was brief and ended quickly. So we're out at 2 in the noon. Emily grew up in Italy. Told me everything, about how beautiful the country is, the good food, plenty of wine, different kinds of cheese, yummy pastas. Ugh I'm hungry and drooling.

I found another friend too. Her name is Mia. Mia is the same age as me, 24 years old. Emily is 22 years old. Mia is also italian. We found out that Emily is pretty wealthy. Her family own businesses here. Despite that, she seems so nice and kind.

Mia Bellucci, a wild one. Beautiful, shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes. Always dreaming about tall, muscular and dangerously looking guys. Reads a lot of romance and thrillers. Emily Russo, blonde hair, petite looking, olive green eyes. Loves luxury, attention, and has a side that I can't comprehend. Like there's something she's hiding. Too clingy.

Me, I'm Raya. Raya Walton. Wine red hair, length reaches my butt. I love long hair. Don't like people. I have a hard time trusting people after what had happened with me back in my home country.

But these two, they seem sweet. They just won't leave me alone. I think they kinda know or understood that I don't like people. Or maybe they came to a conclusion that I had some traumatic past, which is not a lie. I never said anything about my life. They never pressed me about it. And for that, I'm thankful.

--

First semester is coming to an end. Can't believe almost 6 months went by. "I can't believe i failed one!", Emily looking at her grades. She was feeling down for a while. "It's okay Emily, you can retake the exam."

"Easy for you to say, Mia. You passed all subjects! Raya too.".

I couldn't say anything to that so I just smiled. We were given a break of 3 weeks and we decided to go for a trip to the beach.

Emily brought her car for us. Her chauffeur drove us to the beach. We checked into a resort changed to gorgeous beachwear and took loads of photos and videos. Even made a few tik toks.

"Why don't we go out and explore the city?", Emily asked jumpily. I don't want to go out. Too much people. "Oh c'monn". "Okay okayy". I grumplily stood up. Dressed up and went out.

"I may be paranoid but", we've been walking around, had a few drinks, "but since an hour ago, I feel like someone has been following us.". "I think so too", Mia chimed.

"OH don't be ridiculous, we're finneeee. We're just drunk that's all.". Emily is clearly drunk.

"Okay you know what, let's get back to the resort shall we?". "Yeah, let's go."

Mia and I picked up Emily. With us on either side of Emily, we started walking towards the resort. It's a 30 minute walk. But it's gonna take longer at this pace.

We started getting tired from Emily's weight. We sat her down on a bench near an alley. "I'll go get some water to drink", says Mia wiping away her sweaty forehead. I sat with Emily.

I suddenly felt chills. Like someone was watching us. I looked around. Scary enough, no one is around. But I just can't shake this feeling off. I stood up looking around us.

There. Down the alley, a man's figure. He's holding a knife. I freeze seeing his silhouette. I can't even swallow my own saliva. Shit. Emily is out like a bulb. He starts to walk towards us. Shit shit shit.

I try to wake up Emily and get her to walk. That's when he started running towards us."Emily wake up!!! Get up dammit!!" Too late. I'm gonna be stabbed to death.

He storms towards us. I'm trying to drag away Emily at this point. He lunges at me and grips my throat. I think he's around 5'7 foot tall. Fuck, I'm gona die. But he throws me aside. I scramble to get up. And I see him pointing his knife at Emily. He was taking his position to stab her on the ground. I can't just sit there. I ran towards him with all my might and threw my weight over him, making him fall over to the other side. He was seconds away from stabbing her heart.

I kick and stomp him on his spine which makes him growl in pain. I try to drag Emily away again. But with my back against him, I didn't realize he had recovered and is standing right behind me. He hit me right on the side of my chest, leaving me out of breath.

I fall down because of pain and suffocation. I can't breath. My breath is hitching. He walks over me to Emily on the ground.

He's gona stab her. She may die. I can't let that happen. But I also can't get up. I'm heaving, out of breath, adrenaline rush. I tear up because of how helpless I feel. I look at him crouching near her. He's gona kill her.

I see a loose half brick on the pavement sticking out. I thought of nothing else and took the stone and hit him with all I could. He falls unconscious.

I thought Emily was safe but then I saw her blood seeping out from her stomach.

No. He stabbed her. She's bleeding. It's not deep maybe. I can't hear nothing but my heart pounding in me ears. I can't breath. It hurts when I breath. I'm dizzy. I'm loosing consciousness. "..yaa..... aayaaa....". What, I hear something. Everything's soo slow. I look up and see someone running towards me. It's blurry. Who's that. "Rayaa!!!!!". It's Mia. She's freaked out. "Mia...", I reach my hand but everything went black.