Chapter 2
When Alex woke for a second time, the curtains were once again drawn, but there was no noise this time from the room. Sitting up Alex noticed for the first time that his hand was bandaged up, and cuts and bruises littered his arm, and no doubt face. Alex through the cover off him and pulled the curtain back slightly. The room was dark and empty, apart from him and the obvious furnishings that were in the room. Alex stood up, thankful for the fluffy carpet beneath his feet, as there seemed to be no slippers for him. Now that there was nothing blocking or distracting his eye sight, Alex had a full look around the room. The 4 poster bed stood against the middle of one wall, with a bedside table on the left, which had a silver alarm clock standing on it. Across from the bed, on the opposite wall, was a large wardrobe, with a full length golden framed mirror next to it. The wall to Alex's right had the closed door, bookcase and desk. The final wall, furthest from the door, had only a large window that covered early all of the wall, with black curtains drawn across it. All the wood seemed to be made of ebony, and the bed posts and wardrobe had beautiful carvings engraved into them. All in all the room felt much more homely than Alex's first room at Skeleton Key. Alex wondered if he was back at the high security island or somewhere different. Alex walked over to the mirror, and examined what damage had been done to him since leaving for Murmansk. He'd been right about there being cuts on his face, and despite wearing long black trousers and a short sleeved white top, both of which weren't his, Alex could tell that Conrad had done a good job on him. The most noticeable thing was probably the large black and blue bruise around his neck. So all in all he looked like crap. Deciding he'd seen enough, Alex walked over to the window and pulled the curtains back. It was almost completely dark outside, with the only light coming from the moon, which bathed the area below in a white eerie light, providing Alex with the knowledge that he was back on Skeleton Key. Alex could see that there were still a few soldiers around, all armed with guns, despite the how late it was. Alex considered trying to escape, but he knew that not only would he not get far, he'd most likely die from the experience. Alex heard the door open behind him, but remained facing the window.
'I was unaware you were awake.' came Sarov's voice. 'I thought you'd still be asleep.'
Alex remained facing the window, ignoring the Russian, even when he came up behind him.
'Are you still angry with me?' asked the General.
'I find it hard no to be angry at someone who tried to kill me.' replied Alex, finally speaking to Sarov.
'I understand, but I hope you now that I regret my behaviour.' said Sarov.
Alex didn't reply, and silence descended upon them. Alex looked at the Russian from the corner of his eye, noticing how he seemed better than when they'd faced each other in Murmansk.
'How long have I been asleep?' questioned Alex.
'You woke 12 hours after you were shot with the tranquilizer, and it's been 2 days since then.' answered Sarov.
'What's Yassen doing here?'
'He and I are old friends. He knew of my plans, but came to stop me doing something I'd regret. Something I am very grateful for.'
Sarov laid a hand on Alex's shoulder, but Alex shrugged it off immediately, and turned away from the window. Walking away from the General, Ales spoke.
'I'm not allowed home, am I?' he asked.
'No, I have no wish to let you go Alex, but you're still free to walk around the island. I don't think you ever found the library.' replied Sarov.
'Right.' said Alex, sitting back down on the bed.
He looked at his bandaged hand, the memory of Conrad ripping it from his grip still fresh in his mind. Alex heard Sarov move, but remained standing in front of him.
'They'll need changing tomorrow. The cut was deep, it's lucky there wasn't an infection.'
'I don't think Conrad cared if I got an infection or not. After all living wasn't on his agenda. Then again neither was dying.' mussed Alex.
'He wasn't meant to come near you.' said Sarov.
'I think his words were 'I think I'll ignore the General this time.', or something like that.'
'If he were still alive, I'd have killed him myself.' muttered Sarov, but Alex still heard.
'What about me then? Are you going to kill me? After all I did mess up your great rewriting history plan.' snapped Alex, anger towards the man coming out.
'No Alex, I won't kill you. As for Murmansk, that's in the past.' said Sarov.
'You can forget the past, but I won't.' said Alex darkly, glaring up at the man.
'Alex…'
'Just leave me alone General.' said Alex looking down again.
'I…'
'Just go.' snapped Alex.
Sarov nodded, and walked slowly towards the door. He stopped, just before closing the door, and turned back to Alex, who still had his back to him.
'I'm truly sorry Alex.' he said.
Then he left. Alex sighed and lay back down on the bed. Why couldn't anything in his life be simple?