by S. S. Sahoo
“You have got only five minutes” he spoke his voice emotionless as he ate his food as usually not even bothering to look towards me.
Hurriedly I took the phone and dialed my mother’s number. I was feeling really happy. It ringed and my heart began to beat rapidly. It rang three to four times and then it got disconnected.
“What the-” was my only expression as I looked at the phone with a blank expression.
She freaking disconnected the call.
I looked towards Zachary to find him eating a food with a calm expression.
Clearing my throat, I tried to call again. I dialed her number again, thinking maybe I dialed the wrong one the first time. It began to ring and mentally I prayed her to pick it up.
But to my absolute irritation, she disconnected the call again for the second time.
“No! No! Mom, what the heck are you doing?” I whispered rubbing my forehead.
“You’ve got three minutes left” I heard his irritating voice from beside me.
“The fuck” I thought to myself.
This time I dialed my brother’s number. I am sure he is gonna pick up as soon as it rings.
I dialed his number and waited for it to get connected. But to my absolute shock, it was sent to his voice mail.
“Damn!” I exclaimed as I began to panic.
“Two minutes le-”
“Yeah! Yeah! I know I know” I exclaimed cutting him off and looked towards him to find him already looking at me from the corner of his eyes with a smirk on his face. He was enjoying seeing me in distress.
“Kiara!” I said out of nowhere.
She will surely pick up.
Hurriedly I tried to remember her number.
“Damn these phones have made us weak,” I thought when I was unable to recall her number. But finally, I did remember her number. So getting little excited I dialed her number praying the non-existence Angels to help me.
It begun to ring and fortunately she picked up only in three rings.
“Hello?” Her voice sounded tired.
“Kiara? Kiara! Its me! Juliette!” I screamed excited and at the same time relieved.
“Uh! Umm” was her only answer.
“Kiara?” I questioned. I thought she would have been getting excited or happy hearing me but her expression made me filled with anxiety.
“Who Juliette?” She asked and I huffed out air unbelievably.
“Kiara this is not the time to joke. Listen to m-” I was growing impatient now but she cut me off “I told you I don’t know anyone with the name Juliette. Please stop all this and do not call me ever again” with that she hung up on me.
“No! Kiara! Wait!” She didn’t even bother to hear me.
“Kiara! Kiara!” I called but the line was end. I was totally shocked. Not in any way the woman to whom I talked was not Kiara. It was Kiara. It was her voice.
Why the hell did she reacted like this?
She doesn’t know me?
Tears formed in the corner of my eyes thinking that she was kind of betraying my friendship but then again this all didn’t make any sense.
What made her like this towards me?
Why was she treating me, her only best friend with her cold shoulder?
What actually happened?
What the heck was going on in my life?
Every people who were closed to me were distancing themselves away from me.
Before I could dial again, the phone was snatched away from my hand.
“Time up!” He interfered my train of thoughts taking the phone away from me.
Then it strikes me.
“Wait! Is this you’re doing?” I asked slowly and suspiciously.
“What?” He raised his eyebrow.
“Are you behind all this?” I asked and glared at him when I noticed the smug look on his stupid face.
“Maybe” was his only answer.
“How dare you?” I stood up angrily as I glared at him while he wiped his mouth using the napkin.
“Why are you doing this?” I yelled while he didn’t even pay any attention to me.
“What the hell did you do with them?” I yelled as tears fell down on my shirt.
“Answer me” I yelled when he stood up keeping that stupid phone into his pant pocket.
“Nothing. Relax! They are fine and will be fine as long as you” he trailed a finger on my tear stained face with a satisfied expression on his face, completing his previous sentence “Behave”.
“I am not your dog” I slapped his hand away and watched as an irritating smile formed on his lips taunting me.
He looked beyond satisfied. As if he enjoyed watching me cry.
“I hate you!” I exclaimed while he stood there silently watching me with a smirk plastered on his face.
“Of course you do sweetie” he exclaimed.
“And this is how I want you to always feel for me” he completed and with that he turned his back on me and walked out of the room.
“I hate you. I hate you” I screamed to his retreating back angrily, wiping away the flowing tears.
“Do you hear me? I hate you. I just hate you” I screamed even more.
I cried and fell on the chair sobbing silently. As I wiped the tears away from my face I looked up towards the room end to find Whitney standing there with a sympathetic look on her face.
I wiped away the tears and got up from the chair, walking back towards my room.
My appetite was lost.
8
“How can you tell that?” He asked as his eyes twinkled mischievously and he smiled at my impatient look.
“I know everything about you. Now give it to me” I said as I raised my hands to take that gift which he was holding.
He brought a gift for me but the problem was he was finding it more of a fun to tease me by not giving it to me.
“Nope. I won’t” he said as he raised the box higher in the air. I stood on my tip toe trying to get it but couldn’t because of the height difference.
“Emmett!” I scowled at him and gave up crossing my hands over my chest frustrated.
“Fine! I am going” I said as I began to walk and as soon as I heard him shout for me to wait I inwardly smiled. This was the trick.
“Don’t you want the gift?” He asked following me.
I shook my head negatively and looked around the park to find children running everywhere playing with each other. Their laughter echoed in my ear and I smiled looking at them.
“Aww! But I brought for you” he pouted and I stopped in my tracks glaring at him.
“And You are not giving it to me,” I said and he smiled. He came to me and stood behind my back wrapping his muscular arms around me he gave that box to me.
I smiled and took it from him. While I unwrapped the box he kept his head on my right shoulder, his stubble touching my cheek and I could feel his hot breath fanning my ear.
“Oh my god!” I clamped my hand over my mouth.
Tears pooled my eyes and I couldn’t believe my own eyes.
Inside the box was a very elegant and expensive yet traditional necklace and it was not just some necklace, it was his mother’s necklace.
It was his family’s traditional which was passed down to every generation, to every new bride.
“It’s It’s..” I stammered not finding words to describe how beautiful the necklace was.
“Beautiful?” He completed for me and I nodded smiling as I trailed my finger over the jewellery.
“But not as beautiful as you are,” he said his cheesy line and I blushed but nevertheless elbowed him lightly on his rib.
“But I don’t understand. Why are you giving this me?” I questioned as I turned around to face him.
He gave me a wholehearted smile and I raised my eyebrow questionably.
“Do you know why I love you so much?” He asked and I gave him a blank look.
“Because” he kept his hands on my shoulders and bent down maintaining our eye level “You
are so innocent and naive. So pure” he told me and I couldn’t help but blush deep red at his comment.
I felt him kiss my cheeks and the next moment I found him kneeling on one leg on the ground.
I gasped as my heart rate spiked thinking about the possibilities that were going to happen.
“Ms. Juliette Swanson will you please do the honor to marry this Mr. Hot jerk as you call me” I chuckled at this “to complete him, to mend him, to make him a better person?”
By this time happy tears were flowing down my cheeks and I couldn’t believe that the day I dreamt of was finally happening before me.
“Ms. Juliette Swanson, will you marry me?” He asked and I broke out of my state of surprise nodding slowly but as I was giving him my hand the place surrounding us started to change and I looked around to find myself in a church where people were standing looking at me sympathetically.
I frowned looking at their expressions. But as soon as my eyes looked down to where they were looking my breath hitched and I couldn’t breathe properly because of shock.
There I saw a woman who looked just like me wearing a bloodied wedding dress crying and screaming at no other one but Emmett.
He lied on the floor; his head rested on that woman’s lap as blood oozed out from his body and stained the floor.
“Emmett!” I heard the look-alike of me cry.
“Emmett!” She cried, even more, when he began to close his eyes.
“Emmett!” I screamed running to him.
But it was as if I wasn’t reaching to him. The more I ran the far they looked. Slowly everything began to change around me and I cried it to stop. Desperation was flooding into me.
I was desperate to reach him. My only desire was to touch him.
“No!” I screamed as the scene before me began to fade.
“No! Emmett!”
“Emmett” I screamed as I woke up gasping and panting for air.
Beads of sweat formed on my forehead and on my neck which I had to wipe it away using the back of my hand.
“Another nightmare” I spoke to myself as I rubbed my face in frustration. I have been seeing these nightmares since that day, my supposed to be wedding day.
My hands stretched out towards my left towards the nightstand for the water jug.
It wasn’t there.
Sighing I got up after ten minutes when I felt my throat burning. I needed water.
So I got up from my bed and walked towards the door. It wasn’t locked. Much to my relief or I would have panicked.
I walked out of the room and slowly looked around for anyone. When I found no one I walked dragging my feet towards the kitchen. I was feeling really exhausted.
It was as if those nightmares sucked up all my energy.
As soon I got there, I pulled out a glass from the cupboard and poured water from the jug. I gulped it down my throat and instantly felt relaxed.
I closed my eyes and stood there until I felt my breath turning normal.
Again I poured water into my now empty glass and drank it when I felt someone behind me.
I looked back only to find no one other than the Devil himself. The real cause of all my nightmares and sufferings.
I glared at him and he raised an eyebrow shoving his hands into his pant pockets.
“What are you doing here at this time of the night?” He asked as he took small steps walking towards me.
I remained rooted to my position and continued glaring at him.
“Nightmare?” He answered his question probably seeing my state.
“Thanks to you” I whispered to myself but I think he heard me because he cleared his throat and took a glass for himself and poured water in it.
He drank his water while I drank the rest of water from my glass.
“I need to buy some clothes for you” I heard him whisper and I raised an eyebrow at him then looked down to what I was wearing.
Then I realized what he meant.
“Oh shit!” I cursed and looked up at him to find him looking towards the chair.
“Thank God!” I thought to myself and slowly walked backward towards the door. As soon as I reached the door I turned around and ran back towards my room. I closed the door and leaned against it. Keeping a hand against my rising and falling chest, I tried to control my breath.
How can I be so stupid?
I walked out just wearing purple shorts which had white polka dots on it and a purple tank top with nothing underneath it.
Thankfully my breast was hidden behind my hair.
But still, how could I walk like this in a strange place.
“Ahhh!” I pulled my hair feeling little embarrassed.
This is his entire fault.
This was his entire fault from the beginning.
I had no other option but to wear this as I didn’t have any other clothes to wear. It is what I got from that wardrobe and I wore it because I couldn’t roam around naked.
I composed myself and walked back to my bed. I crawled back into my bed and lied down on my belly and stuffed my head into the pillow.
“Is it necessary for you to embarrass yourself before him every time?” I scolded myself and flipped back staring blankly at the ceiling fan.
“Please don’t fall on me” I found myself talking to the damn nonliving ceiling fan.
Its squeaking sound disturbed me, giving me a headache and at the same time made me worried.
“Fall on him” I spoke pointing towards the door.
“Fall on his head then maybe he will get some senses into his thick skull” I spoke and stretched my hands and legs.
“I hate him and you should also hate him. He is not repairing you after all. What is your life?” I yawned and rubbed my eyes feeling sleepy.
“Squeak! Squeak! Squeak… is all that you do” I turned to my side wrapping my hands around myself.
“Stupid Zachary”
“Stupid Ceiling fan”
I drifted off to sleep.
You both can go to hell.
9
I sat there wrapping my duvet around my body with wide eyes as I watched a group of a man entering my room after knocking two to three times.
My eyes fluttered open after I heard some knocking sounds on my door.