“If her memory will miraculously get back, then maybe you’ll be able to see and talk to her again like you did before.” Cara said admittedly though she wasn’t there during those times. She had only known Syrene through stories from her cousin. That was why she’d been eager to meet her personally when she came back to this town. How happy she was when they eventually became the best of friends despite the fact that Syrene couldn’t remember her cousin was her boyfriend.
“I hate you mom. I hate you!” Syrene shouted as she walked fast while exiting the restaurant. The coworker of her mom, Mrs. Bricks, was planning to go to Europe in two weeks. She was willing to sponsor her education there and had talked to her mom about it. Her mom agreed without consulting her first. She asked if her father knew about it and she even got angrier when she answered a yes.
She walked across the road and her mom was calling her. It was already too late when she realized that a car was fast approaching. The next thing Sarah saw was her daughter lying on the road and blood everywhere.
An ambulance immediately arrived and brought her to the hospital. Sarah was crying the whole time. It was like two years ago all over again. She remembered promising then that she’d never let anything bad happen to Syrene ever again but now she was back in the same situation. While Syrene was being operated in the surgical room, that was when she remembered to call her husband. Her hands were shaking as she speed-dialed his number.
“Sy---Syrene got hi—hit by a car.”
The operation took more than an hour. Sarah and her husband, Jon, were in the waiting area until a nurse approached them. They had been told that the operation was a success but it would take more than a week before she could fully recover. They hugged as tears came running down on their faces.
Four weeks after:
Syrene couldn’t wait anymore. She couldn’t stand still and just wait for the elevator to come down from ten floors above. She went for the stairs and climbed up as fast as she could. When she got to the right apartment, she frantically knocked on the door as she kept on calling his name.
It had been weeks since they last saw each other and that was before the accident happened. Music knew of her accident only days after it happened and he hadn’t been allowed to see her. It was a painfully long month for Syrene for she was excited to finally see him again and tell him that she could now remember him.
The door opened and standing there was a middle-aged woman. “Good morning. Looking for my son, I assume?”
She nodded. “Y-yes.” She stuttered as she was still catching her breath.
“Who is he to you?”
Syrene wiped her tears away but more tears came running down her cheeks. “Music was my boyfriend.” This time, she was able to answer straight.
“Not was.” She suddenly heard a very familiar voice that she made her heart thumped faster than when she was climbing the stairs. “Is”
THE END
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THE DAY I DIE
Prologue
Walking through the narrow space between the two cheap motels, I couldn’t help but feel a little nauseated. There were a lot of garbage bags and cans in here, most were either left open or were torn that the trash were scattered everywhere and the smell coming from them were oozing in the cold chilly wind.
It was already bad that I had to take a longer different route because of my now ex-girlfriend and now I had to suffer from this unbearable smell. I didn’t know which one was worse and I wanted to complain to her but that would just mean seeing and talking to her again.
Hell, no.
When I came out to the other end of the walkway, I realized I had taken the wrong route. There were only old boxes in the corner, broken appliances everywhere and a high wire fence surrounding the small area.
I glanced at my wristwatch and it told me that it was already half past six in the evening. As I turned around to go back to that smelly narrow alley, I took out my cell phone from my pocket only to realize that it was already out of battery.
I was about to walk out of that dead end when I heard some harsh whispering and then seconds after, two bulky men was at the other end of the alley and were dragging a girl about my age. They were busy dragging and looking at the girl that they didn’t notice me when they started leading her through the narrow space I had been walking on just minutes ago.
My heart started to thump very fast and I was paralyzed for a few moments. I took a few steps back quietly and looked for somewhere to hide. The two-door broken refrigerator immediately caught my attention and I quietly hid behind it as I wouldn’t be able to hide inside for one of the doors was obviously broken.
Once hidden, I was too afraid to dare sneak a peek and risk being seen. At that moment, it felt like everything was silent and all that I could only hear were the sounds made by the two men and the poor girl they were dragging. My heart thumped even faster as they got closer to where I was.
I heard them talking in a foreign language I couldn’t understand. I heard every hit they gave the girl, every thump on the ground every time she’d fall, every cruel laugh, every sob and whimper. I heard every little thing clearly that it almost felt like I was the one in her place.
I wanted to save her, to get us out of this place but this wasn’t a movie. I wasn’t a hero with some kind of super powers. Trying to save her would just mean myself most likely getting killed. And even it was kind of hard to admit, I realized how selfish I was at that very moment.
I heard another harsh thump on the ground and this time, her lifeless face was blankly staring at me. She’d landed only a few feet away from where I was hiding. I thought it was the most terrifying thing I ever felt but I was immediately proven wrong when I felt a cold steel touching the back of my neck.
I woke up to the sound of my cellphone’s alarm tone. With still closed eyes, I moved my hands around me, feeling for the tormenting machine who dared interrupt my very important sleep. When I already had it in my hands, it took me a lot of effort to open my eyes, though I was only able to do so partially. Turning off the alarm, I did a double take in reading the time when it showed that it was already 8:15 in the morning.
“F*ck!” I harshly whispered as I immediately got up from my bed. I even felt a little dizzy due to the sudden change of position but it didn’t stop me from hurrying up towards the bathroom. While taking a quick shower, I kept on blubbering about how was I not able to wake up earlier when the alarm had been ringing for already about forty minutes or so.
I had a very important test today in Chemistry class which always, as in always, starts at 8 a.m. sharp. Mr. Clayton, our Chemistry 101 professor as well as my writing mentor in journalism, wasn’t strict except for one thing:
Time.
When I got to head out of my room, it was already quarter to nine and so I ran on the hallway though that was against one of the rules of Cannelton University and its boarding house. I was just hoping then that no professor or supervisor would see and then stop to ask me questions and probably give some scolding or punishment. That would have taken more minutes from me and I didn’t want that. This was one of the few times that I regret going solo in the room. If only I had roommates, I’d probably have been able to wake up much earlier.
The only thing I had to be thankful for in that morning was that the Chemistry room was located in the nearest building from the male students’ boarding house. Aside from that, I couldn’t find anything to be grateful for.
Five minutes before nine, I entered the classroom full of sweat and was a little out of breath. The whole class was looking at me, some were even shaking their heads while the others immediately got back into answering their own test papers.
Mr. Clayton looked like a raging bull but I could see that he was just trying not to scold me right then and there. He probably didn’t want to disturb the whole class during a test just for a single tardy student which in this case, was me. I saw him took a long breath before pointing a blank chair
at me and then handling me a blank test paper after I was already seated.
Knowing that I only had an hour to answer the two-hour exam, I read the questions quickly and answered as much I could. When Mr. Clayton wasn’t looking, I felt someone poked me on the back and a piece of crumpled paper gently fell from over my shoulder. I uncrumpled it and immediately recognized the handwriting.
Good luck! – R
After that small sentence was a list of answer for the first half of the test. I didn’t want to cheat at that time especially if it was coming from Rachelle but I felt that I had no choice. I needed to get high scores in all of my exams to maintain my grades and so my scholarship in this university. My mother was a single mom and although she might be earning a good salary, the expenses for Nursing course was still pretty high.
Mr. Clayton’s timer sounded, signaling that time was up and we needed to pass the test papers and so the whole class did. Fortunately, I was able to finish answering my test paper on time. When Mr. Clayton had already left the room, I looked back to thank Rachelle though I promised to myself that I’d never talk to her again.
How surprise I was that the girl seated behind me, cleaning up her desk and was about to stand up from her chair wasn’t Rachelle but a girl I didn’t know. She had a short bob cut hair which was ink-black in color. She looked cute and petite that if only she wasn’t here, I would have mistaken her for a high school or even for a middle school student. She caught me staring and so she snickered and said, “You’re welcome.”
She then left and then I just sat there for a whole minute before deciding that I should go ahead and study for the next subject. I was about to get up from where I was sitting when the back of my neck suddenly felt very painful like I had just been shot by a gun on that spot. The few students who were still in the classroom came to me, asking if I was okay.
They were about to brought me to the clinic when the pain subsided eventually and I told them there was no need for that. I even shook my head at myself being so overacting comparing the pain I felt a few minutes ago with that of a gunshot.
Ha! It wasn’t like I’ve been shot before!
Some still continued to give me worried looks but I assured them I was fine. I went out of the room and decided to head to the library to study. As I was looking for a certain book, I saw Rachelle on the other side, her back on me, reading most likely a romance pocketbook again.
Rachel was my ex and I was her first boyfriend. She loved to read romantic fiction books and so obsessed with them that sometimes I would think that she’d probably wanted to date a guy from a pocketbook more than me. She became more idealistic that I couldn’t keep up with her expectations for a boyfriend.
Without thinking, I just grabbed a random book from the shelf and walked away quietly. I settled on a vacant seat at the very corner of the library so that Rachel would have lesser chance on seeing me. I sighed heavily as I realized how pathetic I was.
“Out of the body?” My heart almost jumped out of my chest when I suddenly heard a woman’s voice just right behind me. She giggled and took a seat on my right. I looked at her and immediately recognized who she was. “You looked like you’ve seen a ghost.” She commented as she put her pile of books on the table.
“I would probably even prefer a ghost.” I said. “You’re scarier.”
“Uh huh.’ She nodded without looking as she grabbed one of her books and flipped it open. “Be careful what you wish for Mr. Scaredy-Cat.”
“Scaredy-cat?”
She shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I don’t know your name so what’s more interesting than calling you by a name that suits you.” She said the sentence like I’d done something wrong to her before when today was the first time I’d seen her.
“And that is Mr. Scaredy-Cat? Oh, c’mon. Anybody would have reacted the way I did when someone would just appear out of nowhere.” I pointed out. “And what did you say earlier, anyway? Out of the – the what?”
“Out of the body.” She said.
“What do you mean by that?” I asked.
She pointed the book I was holding and there I read ‘Out of the Body’ written on the cover. “Oh.” was what came out of my mouth at first. “I don’t even know what this is about.” I said honestly.
“Paranormal.” She said quietly before fully concentrating on the book she was reading.
The girl sitting right next to me, whose name I didn’t even know, suddenly nudged me on the shoulder. I looked away from my Anatomy textbook and turned at her with a questioning look. We’d been quietly reading beside each other for nearly an hour.
She glanced pointedly at the other side of the library. I turned my head at that direction and saw Rachelle looking at us with a hurt expression. Almost automatically, I stood up from my seat a little harshly that the chair made a screeching sound against the floor. The librarian glanced towards my direction and pointed a finger towards the door, indicating that I should better leave.
I wouldn’t even have noticed the librarian telling me to leave if it wasn’t for Rachelle who just passed by her and was walking out of the library herself. I quickly grabbed my bag and was about to walk away when the R girl grabbed me by the hand.
“Don’t forget you don’t belong here anymore.” She whispered as she looked me seriously in the eyes before letting go of my hand.
My mind was too preoccupied of Rachelle that I didn’t even have the time to ask her what the hell she was talking about. I walked out of the library fast, hoping to explain to Rachelle though I knew I didn’t have to as we had already broken up.
When I was out of the library, I saw Rachelle at the other end of the hallway and was about to enter the ladies room. I called her name loudly but she didn’t look at my direction though I knew she heard me as the hallway was almost empty. She entered the ladies room because she thought I’d never dare follow her inside.
I walked at a normal pace and when I was just in front of the door, I knocked and called out. “Rachelle, please come out.” When I heard no response and it seemed like no other girls were inside, I knocked again. “I swear I’ll open this door and come in.”
No response.
I grabbed the door handle and twist it, slightly pushing it open. As I had guessed, no other girls were in there except for Rachelle who was sitting on the floor by the corner. Her head and arms were on her knees, her long blonde hair falling freely around her.
“Stupid.” She murmured. “This is a ladies room. You’re not allowed in here.” She said through her muffled voice.
I came towards her and sat on the floor just a foot away. “Well, obviously.”
“Why can’t you be just a guy who doesn’t give any special attention to anyone but his girl?” She asked with her head still bowed so I still couldn’t see her face.
“Rach, I was just sitting next to that girl. I don’t even know her name for God’s sake. Do you already call that giving someone special attention?” I asked. “And why I can’t just be that guy you’re talking about? What guy, huh? That kind of guy you always read about in those pocketbooks?”
“I— I don’t know.” She stuttered. We fell silent for a few minutes before she decided to break it. “I still want you as my boyfriend.”
“You’re the one who broke up with me.” I reminded her.
She looked up and I saw her tear-stricken face. “You’re putting the blame on me again.” She whined as she pouted her lips but the mood had already changed and we started laughing at ourselves.
“Don’t laugh at me!” She said as she was laughing as well. She tried to playfully hit me on the shoulder like she always does but her hand passed my shoulder without touching me when it should have.
“I swear I hit you but –“ She was also confused at the moment as I was.
“I didn’t feel anything.”
She put a hand up and slowly tried to bring it on my shoulder but it just passed like I was only made of vapor. We both looked at each other with wide eyes.
Don’t forget you don’t belong here anymore.
“What’s happening, Ash?” Rachel asked as she got me out of my reverie but unfortunately, I didn’t have an answer for that. “Ash?”
I shook my head. “I got to ask that girl from earlier.” I said and I immediately noticed her grim expression. “She probably knows what’s happening. I think she can help me.”
I wanted to kiss her before leaving but I couldn’t. I just settled in giving her a quick smile that I hoped was reassuring.
I came back to the library but I couldn’t find her anywhere. After around half an hour of turning my head left to right and walking around inside looking for her, with the librarian who kept on giving me irritated pointed looks, I decided to head out.
I finally saw her walking towards another building which belonged to the College of Arts. I wanted to shout then and call her name only to be reminded that I didn’t know what that was. I settled to running as fast as I could until I was just a few feet away.
“Hey!” I called and she immediately turned towards me.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re here to ask me.” She said, clearly knowing why I was after her. “I’ve warned you but you didn’t listen. You don’t belong here anymore.”
“What exactly did you mean by that?” I asked irritated. “Do you know what’s happening to me? Why can’t Rachelle touch me?!”
She shook her head and I could see on her expression that she even wanted to roll her eyes on me. “It’s not just Rachelle. Nobody can touch you.”
A Bride Worth Billions Page 23