My Kind of Perfect

by Lockheart, Freesia

  There was no second best. No settling down just because.

  But now, it felt like I hadn’t been able to achieve anything yet and I was getting older by the day. Work sucks. Well, my relationship might still be categorized under fabulous. But still, work sucks. And since I would be proposed to any moment soon, at least I hadn’t lost everything. I still got one amazing boyfriend that I could be proud of. We should just get married and live happily ever after.

  That sounded a lot better.

  Crashing down to the sofa, I gave in to exhaustion and had fallen asleep after hours of crying. What took me back and waken me was my phone ringing. I squinted, opening my eyes as I tried grabbing my phone. Then I opened it and put the receiver on my ear and said, “Hello?”

  “Hi, Kayla,” a man said on the other line. I rubbed my eyes and saw Aaron’s name on the screen.

  “Hey, babe,” I replied, adjusting my position.

  “I’m sorry, I can’t make it tonight. I thought that maybe I’d just tell you on the phone after all,” he continued.

  I turned back and looked at the clock and saw that it was a little past five. What was he saying? It was still early. And so I gave out an unintelligent, “Huh?”

  I was coherent most of the time. Just not today.

  “I’m sorry. I think we shouldn't see each other anymore,” Aaron said.

  Okay, I was getting delusional now. I was starting to hear my boyfriend say that he was breaking up with me. I should get hold of myself.

  “What is it, babe?” I asked him again.

  “Didn’t you hear me? I said that it would better if we don’t see each other again,” he replied.

  Wait, so I didn’t hear wrong. He was breaking up... with me? What was he talking about? Why the sudden break up thing?

  “Uhmm... what are you saying, babe?” I asked him in disbelief. “You see, this morning I got—”

  “I want to break up with you,” he cut me off.

  Fired. I got fired. Aaron, I got fired.

  I heard the crack in my own voice as the words came out. “You what? Why?”

  “I’m seeing somebody new.”

  “What!” I exclaimed, standing on my feet in surprise. Why was he seeing someone new? We were together for two years now.

  “I thought you’d be mad that was why I didn’t want to say it to you in person.”

  I paused for a moment.

  Of course, I would be mad. Who wouldn’t be? Any girl in my position would go berserk after hearing that. But then, losing him seemed to be much harder. I was jobless and breaking up might entirely send my whole world straight to the ground.

  And so I convinced myself that it was better if we would just work it out. This was nothing but a pity mess and my perfect boyfriend was only confused for a while. That girl must have had mesmerized him. But it would only be for a while and he would be back as soon as he realized that he couldn’t live his life without me.

  “I’ll go there, we’ll talk this through. You’re just tired. I’m coming,” I said as I grabbed my coat and was to about to head out of the door.

  “I’m moving away with her. We’re getting married tomorrow. I’m sorry. Kayla. I was planning to tell you earlier but things just got out of hand,” he babbled on the other line.

  “You jerk! You’re getting married tomorrow?” I shouted at the mouthpiece. I snapped at the mention of the words ‘getting married’. I couldn’t believe that he was going to tie the knot to someone else other than me.

  What about my Valentine’s Day proposal?

  “I’m sorry, Kayla,” he said before hanging up.

  I dropped the phone and it fell down on the floor. The busy tone resounded in my mind and the tone itself was deafening if not heartbreaking. What had happened?Aaron was getting married and I was not the bride. When did all this happen? He had been with me for the last two years and I hadn’t even noticed that he was having an affair. Yes, that was an affair because I was the legitimate one.

  Or was I?

  No, this must be a joke. Everything was just a joke. Nothing was real. This was just a dream.

  I shut my eyes close, taking in mind that this was only a dream. A mere fragment of my imagination. Reality wasn’t supposed to be this harsh even if a black cat turned its back on me hours ago. When I opened my eyes, I saw that I was still on the floor. I tried again. Some things actually happened the second time around. I closed my eyes and counted to three once more.

  Then I said to myself, ‘Open it now! Surprise! Nothing is real!’

  I looked around the room and it told me otherwise. Oh my gosh! This was not a nightmare. This was real. I pinched my cheeks and it actually hurt.

  Ouch.

  My phone suddenly started ringing again. I hurriedly grabbed it. It must be Aaron and he was about to tell me that he was just kidding and instead he would actually surprise me with a marriage tomorrow. I looked at the caller’s name and stared at it for a while hoping that I just read it wrong.

  It was Sandy.

  “Hello?” I answered gloomily.

  “Kayla, I’m sorry. I was trying to call you earlier but I couldn’t seem to get through,” she said. I wondered why I was hearing another ‘sorry’ word again. This was Sandy we were talking about. She was my best friend and we didn’t fight that often.

  “Why?”

  “Remember the investment we made with All is Good Company?” she began. I remembered that one. We invested all our savings in their new product. I wondered if we had doubled our money that fast.

  Wow! I was still lucky, I guessed.

  “What about them?” I excitedly asked her, hoping to finally hear some good news.

  “Uhmm... they are...” she said, stalling with the words.

  “They are?” I asked her again.

  “They disappeared,” she blurted. My shoulders dropped down in surprise. This was not the news that I was expecting to hear.

  “They what?” I exclaimed.

  “I went back to their office today and they weren’t there anymore,” said Sandy.

  “Sandy, what happened to our money?” I hurriedly asked her.

  Oh no, she shouldn’t tell me that... that... that!

  “I’m afraid they took it all with them,” she said with a rattling voice. Then I heard her soft cries as she held back the verge of tears that came out after.

  “What? But I thought that it was a trustworthy investment?” I dejectedly asked her as I felt my own voice shaking.

  My savings. All my life savings. I trusted it to my good old friend. She was the one who told me that she heard of a good investment. I actually got busy for the past few days that I never got the chance to look at it with her. And now what? My whole life worth of savings was gone?

  “Are you still there, Kayla?” asked Sandy on the other line. “What should we do?”

  “Just do what you can to get it back. I’m having a headache,” I said before hanging up. I pressed my phone to my forehead in dismay.

  In a moment, I suddenly felt my whole world spinning. This couldn’t be. This was just one nightmare and I had to wake up now.

  I got up and headed towards the bathroom, turning on the shower and putting my face underneath the flowing water. I felt shivers coming down to my spine as the cold water hit me. Okay, enough, so this was real. I turned the shower off and headed outside of the bathroom. Grabbing my coat from the sofa and putting it on, I decided to go out.

  Disregarding my broken stiletto and ripped up pantyhose, I slipped into a pair of ballet shoes. I locked my apartment door and walked outside, still having no idea where I was going. But I felt the need for some fresh air to clear up my confused mind so I went nonetheless.

  I randomly walked down the streets as the thoughts of everything that had occurred today flashed back and forth inside my mind. I hadn’t given a care about those people who stared at me like I was some psychotic. They could think all they want. What else could I lose when I already lost everything?

&
nbsp; All I needed was some place to clear my mind.

  Taking deep breaths, I kept on making myself believe that everything was just a dream and when I woke up, it would all be over. I felt like I was floating in the air as I trod the busy streets of New Waulds.

  As I continued walking around, I heard some chatter that turned into shouting then finally screaming. I disregarded them all. I wasn’t in the mood to pay any attention to them. I was worn out to even think about my surrounding. But then suddenly from afar, I heard one loud honking of a horn before I felt something bumping me from the side, of which instantly sent me flying down to the ground.

  Thud.

  I stared at the street as I felt the pain taking over my aching head. And in another moment, my mind went blank and I lost consciousness altogether. Still, there was no explanation whatsoever why these things were continuously happening to me.

  Chapter 3

  “Aaaaaah!” I exclaimed as I opened my eyes.

  I felt my heart beating wildly in my chest. The cold droplets that formed on my forehead found its way down and I carefully wiped it away. Looking around me, I saw that I was in an uncomfortable, rigid bed that was covered with floral sheet. And I also noticed that I was dressed in clothes that almost had the same print as the bed covering. So unfashionable. I continued scanning the room and was trying to figure out where I was. The smell of the place was suffocating, much like a disinfectant and it made me want to throw up.

  What was this place?

  “You’re finally awake. Are you okay?” I heard someone said. I looked to my right and saw my mom who was holding my right hand. Worry was painted all over her face.

  “Mom?” I asked her, confused.

  I looked around and saw that I was in a room that was tinted in absolute white

  Drip. Drip. Drip.

  Then I felt that tingly sensation in my arms, like something was entering my body. I looked down and saw a needle inserted in my veins. After which, it dawned to me that I was in a hospital bed. And I was the patient? Something was definitely wrong.

  “Where am I?” I asked Mom.

  “Oh dear, I’m glad you’re awake now,” she said, still holding my hand. Tears were touching the corners of her green eyes. Then after a moment, she started crying.

  I reached out to her and wiped away the tears in her eyes. “What happened?”

  “Don’t you remember? A car hit you yesterday,” she said while sobbing. Her honey-blonde hair was all over her face and was unkempt contrary to how she tidied it constantly so before. Then she cupped my right hand with both of hers and tenderly caressed it with her face. Then thoughts came into mind as I tried remembering what had happened to me.

  I reckoned that I did remember a car coming my way before everything went blank. A car? Uhmm... yesterday? Oh, yeah, so yesterday did really happen.

  For a moment, I thought that it was all part of a dream. But as if to answer my speculations, the memories of yesterday came back to me in a flash. I closed my eyes and let out a big sigh. Now tell me that surviving was the only good thing that had happened to me.

  “Are you okay dear?” asked Mom worriedly.

  I wanted to shout, ‘No, Mom! I lost my job and my boyfriend broke up with me and all my savings are gone. How am I supposed to be okay?’ But I held it back, knowing that this wasn’t the right time to blabber about all that. I just pretended to have a headache instead. And so I murmured, “Oh… my... head.”

  “I’ll... I’ll... call the doctor,” she said, touching my hand before heading outside. Yeah, it wasn’t as if the doctor could reverse everything that happened yesterday.

  Why did I even survive?

  After a while, I heard the door creak open. Keeping my eyes closed, I hadn’t even bothered to look at it knowing that it was just my mom and a doctor, I supposed. Then in a while, I felt someone holding my forehead and putting something cold on my chest. I opened my eyes and saw a doctor examining me.

  “Are you feeling okay?” he asked in the most formal manner there was.

  I narrowed my eyes in dismay as I cringed on the words ‘okay’. I closed my eyes again and replied a cold-hearted, “No.”

  “Oh.” He seemed surprised at my answer. “Your test result came in and everything seemed to be fine. Are you hurting anywhere?”

  Test results.

  I silently laughed in my mind as I thought if those test results could elaborate what was going on with my life right now. I suddenly felt like I was hurting everywhere. Why did he even bother asking? My whole life was a mess.

  I replied with a sigh, “No. Actually, I’m feeling all better and ready to go out.”

  He blinked twice and looked at me questioningly. Then he cleared his throat and finally said, “Then I guess I can let you go out today.”

  I nodded in agreement.

  “I’ll get on with the papers,” said Mom as she walked out of the room with the doctor.

  I removed the needle from my arm, wanting to get out of here this instant. The nurse seemed to be displeased with what I had done and put some cotton and tape over the puncture. I survived a car accident. What could lost of minute amounts of blood do to me?

  Then shortly after, following some unfavorable remarks from my attending nurse while she helped me put on some normal clothes, I was guided out of the hospital. And after a moment of paper works, I finally got discharged and was guided out.

  Argh. I hated that reeking smell.

  Looking at myself, I knew I wasn’t hurting anymore, physically speaking though. I got bluish bruises on my legs but that was it. And a scratch or two. Well, maybe just a minor headache every now and then that I was sure would go away in no time. Still, being alive after all that, could that be considered an achievement?

  Must be so.

  I asked my mom to bring me back to my apartment instead of dragging me down to our old house. But of course, my mom didn’t let me off that easy but I continuously begged her to do so. And finally, after several minutes of bickering inside the car, she finally dropped me off in front of my apartment.

  All in all, the patient was always right.

  Saying a quick goodbye, I trod my way back inside and saw the mess I left yesterday. All my things were still on the floor but I hadn’t even bothered to pick them up. Instead, I lazily lay down on the sofa. Now, since I was jobless, heartbroken and didn’t have a single cent, what was I supposed to do?

  I picked myself up and opened my laptop to look at my horoscope for the day:

  Today is the day when you mend those loose threads in your life. You need to fix some things in order to get over your bad luck. Maybe you want to visit some fortune teller to tell you what to do. A bright future awaits you so get up and get going!

  I suddenly felt alive as I read the words. The horoscope was once again correct. I only needed to fix my bad luck and everything would turn out fine. I might even get a call from Aaron. And then I would find a nice job tomorrow. Sandy would be able to get back all our savings.

  All I needed to do was to fix whatever that bad luck was.

  I took a quick shower to remove the hospital smell that lingered on my skin. Finally, after scrubbing myself until I was officially spotless, I felt fresh and clean. I managed to get out alive from everything that happened. There must be a grander plan for me after all.

  ‘That’s the spirit, Kayla!’ I said to myself again. Oh wait, why did I do that? I shook my head and shrugged off the thoughts of me talking to myself again, thinking that the bump I got yesterday permanently damaged my perfect being.

  I put on some fresh clothes and got out. I went down the next block and saw the fortune teller’s shop on the right. I sort of heard that there was one here. And I knew that this place held the perfect answer for my not so lucky yesterday. When I was a little way from it, I paused for a while and assessed the place.

  Okay, honestly speaking, it was kind of creepy.

  The sign was crooked. It was like a storm passed by and no one bothered to
straighten it out. There were cobwebs everywhere. Was that part of the shop or did the spiders find their home in here after several years of neglect?

  I pushed the door and it creaked open creepily which sent goose bumps all over my body. The room was dimly lit and I wasn’t able to clearly see anything except for the total darkness.

  I tried asking, “Anyone there?”

  For a moment, no one answered. Then as I was about to go back, I heard someone say an eerie, “Come in.”

  I looked around and was caught off guard when I saw the fortune teller’s table lit up against the dark room. I was startled, taking several steps back.

  Uhmm... wow? Quite the effects, huh?

  Then after a while, I saw an old lady dressed in all black, who was holding a magic ball in her hands sat behind the table. She asked me to sit in the chair in front of her. I hesitantly obeyed. I wasn’t quite sure about this all now. But I convinced myself that it wouldn’t hurt to try.

  “I know what you came here for,” she started. Wow! She already knew. She was good. I nodded and she went on, “You have quite a bad luck yesterday, don’t you?”

  I hastily nodded in agreement. “And what do you suppose is the reason for that?”

  She rubbed her magic ball. “You offended a soul years ago.”

  “Huh?” I asked her, blinking twice. What was she talking about? Me? Offending anyone? Let alone a soul. I was starting to doubt her ingenuity.

  “You hurt an earnest soul who sincerely loved you,” she continued.

  Okay, definitely fake.

  “Really?” I wondered what we were talking about. She said that I hurt a soul that loved me. Well, I do admit that I did dump a few guys before.

  Not sure about souls.

  “A guy who gave his whole heart to you,” she said.

  Oh, right. A guy. But were we on the same page? “How many years ago are we talking about?”

  “Ten years,” she answered, grittily, as she was getting sort of exorcised. I didn’t really know the term. But she looked as if her eyes might reach the ceiling any time soon. Was that a special talent or something? Or was it part of her act? Or maybe it is a necessity for fortune tellers?