THE TROJAN HEIRESS

It wasn't until a minute before midnight in the evening that the rain starting falling heavily upon on the central area of the concrete jungle of Monte Carlos. Weeks before the eventful storm occurred, the media had forecasted a terrible cataclysmic rainstorm to occur on Monday night. The rain fell as a result of the cataclysmic natural disaster to the extent that many companies within the designated region of the predicted disaster, had to permit their workers to return home early than usual especially the perimeters of the city's central hospital situated near three skyscraper and a bus station four avenues' eastwards from the fourth subway station built within the center heart of the city.

As predicted, the warring signs of the storm were already twisting the clouds above the cityscape around an hour after sunset but not a single raindrop fell until after midnight. It kept raining heavily as soon as the heavy downpour of rain was unleashed upon the city from the firmament which drove considerably a lot of drivers and pedestrians off the streets particularly a hospital situated within the very heart of the terrible storm. Though they did their compassionate duty of taking the patients overboard by following the orders they received from their medical superiors at the media's forecasted time, which turned out to be inaccurate when the long-awaited rain drastically fell heavily at late hours of midnight, most nurses were forced to isolate their patients in their ward rooms due to the heavy rainfall. They were unwilling to let their patients suffer from the stormy weather, especially those who were allowed to freely roam around the hospital grounds.

A black limousine was driven by an unwavering driver who, in contrast to many other drivers who were terrified to drive in the threatening rainstorm, parked the vehicle unharmed a short distance from a bright street light on the opposite side of the road facing the hospital building. This driver had driven inclement weather for at least four hours, arriving at the hospital entirely unseen by onlookers who were hiding in the dark alleys of the nearby building or by the roadside.

"Your highness, I suggest we wait till the rain stops and I fear this might impede your health if you step into the rain" The driver said to the passenger at the back seat who coughed twice before taking a handkerchief from the right pocket of his natty suit to wipe his mouth clean.

"Robert, there's no need to worry about me. It's important that I do this myself."

"But your serene highness, the weather's not looking too good for you to step outside and it will most likely keep raining to dawn tomorrow." Robert advised, hoping that his words convinced the man sitting at the back seat.

"I appreciate your concern but there's no perfect chance like this to carry out this gruesome task." The man sitting at the passenger seat, replied.

"Now hand me my umbrella." The man ordered and Robert willing obeyed.

"Good. Wait for me till I get back",

The man said and received the umbrella from Robert but took his black bowler hat beside and wore it on his head before pushing the door open. Everything that was exposed to the elements was already soaked with rain, but a man in his early forties was standing by himself outside the car, staring straight ahead at the hospital building while the heavy rain fell from the stormy sky. He was under the cover of his own black umbrella, facing the front of the six-story hospital building that he had obviously come to see at such an unusual hour of the stormy night. He was dressed in his usual fancy outfit of a black suit and trousers which fitted his tall body stature. Despite the fact that he could not see the nearby dark alleys clearly due to the darkness, he was determined that the pale lights coming from every cell window of the hospital building clearly indicated the existence of the building right before his eyes, which was growing duller by the minute. With great tenacity, he sniffed and exhaled the extremely cold air that accompanied each of the raindrops that he kept seeing pouring down upon the tarmac road and upon his black lace-up shoes.

When he began walking towards the hospital building, he knew that visitation hours had long since ended and that he wouldn't be met with warm reception if any of the nurses working the night shift saw him enter the building at such an hour. Casting aside his fears, he walked with more energetic effort than he could manage to avoid being swept away by the harsh wind brewing around him.

He moved slowly but steadily across the road, leaving the automobile behind. Robert continued to watch him to make sure he entered the hospital grounds without getting knocked down by the persistent wind and rain, which crashed over everything in its path. Robert was shocked to see the man, whom he had assumed was too sick to brave the storm's center, within sight of the hospital's main door.

From the front seat of the limousine, Robert watched him comfortably weather the storm's harshness, though he could hardly see his face against the black clouds. He used to cross the empty street in the shadows, with no one but Robert observed him make his way inside the hospital until he eventually vanished inside the building. His driver watched him closely as he strode towards the entrance with the same rhythmic reverence and speed.

Moments later, he was inside the building and he completely was enraptured in a different atmosphere than he was outside few minutes ago. He found the first floor almost pitched black and himself alone striding through the corridors away from the counter abandoned by the nurse on duty. The hospital's doors were recklessly left open, and the few nurses who were left to tend to the patient left the counter vacant because none of them anticipated having a visitor at such a late hour of the night. In addition, the heavy rain outside the building added credence to their assumptions, which encouraged them to leave the doors unlocked before going back to their own rooms, which were ready for them to spend the night.

Similar to the first floor, he found the fifth floor to be eerily dark and eerie after using the elevator to get to his intended location. In reality, though, he knew exactly where he was going because he had made several, frequent visits to the same hospital for very important matters and had grown quite familiar with the hallways and wide hollow spaces that make up the majority of the hospital's floors. The steep darkness within the hospital didn't feel all that strange to him, even though the facility had a power supply that could meet the substantial electrical needs of its patrons. He knew that power was readily available after ascending to the fifth floor via the electronic powered lift, but this didn't do much to divert his attention because his thoughts had been consumed by something quite menacing and dangerous ever since he braved the rain with an umbrella in hand. He felt as though he had his own reasons for venturing into the shadows, acting as though he was a nighttime grim reaper.

With great patience, he silently scoured for Ward nine without having to look for any clear indication of its presence with a torchlight since he needn't none to read the bold inscription placed at the top of every door of each room in numerical order. Sooner than he thought he would find what he was looking for, he found the ward with little effort of silently approaching each of the wards in the fifth floor. Hoping to find what would confirm his fruitful search which had ended briefly, he gently wriggled the door knob and slightly pushed the door ajar. Then he peered inside the cubicle partly shining brightly with a long cylindrical fluorescent light bulb glowing dimly inside the room from where it was neatly fixed near the roof at one side of the ceiling board farther inside the room.

With his dull eyes, He saw a woman sleeping comfortably on the bed cloaked with her usual tunic underneath the blanket which ended at her abdomen while her wavy black hair lay spread on the pillow. The steep darkness within the hospital didn't feel all that strange to him, even though the facility had a power supply that could meet the substantial electrical needs of its patrons. He knew that power was readily available after ascending to the fifth floor via the electronic powered lift, but this didn't do much to divert his attention because his thoughts had been consumed by something quite menacing and dangerous ever since he braved the rain with an umbrella in hand. He felt as though he had his own reasons for venturing into the shadows, acting as though he was a nighttime grim reaper.

After giving the woman two winks to keep from giving him too much attention, he removed his black leather gloves from his right pocket and moved closer to another focal point. After forcing himself to ignore his inner want to abandon his plans, he put on his black gloves and walked quietly over to two hospital cribs that he had noticed were housed at the hospital's other flank, where his wife was sound asleep. He was sure things would go accordingly to plan if he doesn't yield to his emotions pestering him from carrying out such gruesome task and did well to gather more courage to carry out his endeavor. Painfully but yet willingly, he pulled himself closed to the cribs and saw the babies lying unconsciously inside. The same set of twins whom his wife gave birth to a week ago, sleeping inside the crib profoundly. He was tempted once again to change his plan but he knew the appearance of the two little babies did nothing to help solve his problem. He wasted little time in moving to grab one of the newborns, keeping a low profile as he removed the infant from the crib and placed it in his arms. Before leaving the room and silently closing the door behind him, he gave the babies one last rub on their cheeks with his index finger and gave his sleeping wife one last look.