Chapter 9

I don’t know if I should say that I was a blessed man or a cursed one, because I had two of the finest women in town in the same room. But this time, it was nothing to rejoice about because I had been caught and, in my mind, I thought that Charlotte was going to bring us some real drama so I had my fingers crossed. On the other hand, my heart was beating very fast as I tried to accumulate lies that made sense for Charlotte to believe if she was to ask what was going on.

“Babe” I paused “what are you doing here?” I asked.

Charlotte glanced at Cindy who didn’t look nervous or even affected by the fact that Charlotte walked in on us, not just walk in but as we were about to have sex.

“What’s going on here? Why is the door locked?” Charlotte asked.

I cleared my throat “oh, Cindy and I here were busy checking how we can renovate some of the sections in the store” I explained.

Charlotte gave me an intimidating stare which showed that she didn’t believe me.

“With the door locked?” she asked.

Cindy was still standing beside my chair; she was so calm and not intimidated by Charlotte’s presence as if she was waiting for Charlotte to snap so that she could react.

“I didn’t realize that it was locked” I replied.

Charlotte and Cindy exchanged stares, and to my surprise they never said anything to each other until Cindy walked out of the office without a word being uttered out of her mouth. How they were staring at each other it was as if they knew each other.

“Babe, do you know her?” I asked.

“Grab your stuff, and follow me to the car” Charlotte said as she walked out of my office.

This is what she did every time I asked a question, if she didn’t want to answer it, she would just bring up another topic. This time I realized that Charlotte and Cindy knew each other but I had no idea how.

I grabbed my stuff and followed Charlotte to the car, I got into the car she came with and found her seating comfortably in the backseat.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“We are going to see Cynthia Smith” she replied.

That was the cashier who claimed to know me at the movie theater.

“The cashier?” I asked.

Charlotte nodded “you want to find out who you really are, right?” she asked.

“Yeah” I nodded.

She stared at me “Good” she said.

The driver started the engine. I did not want to say anything about Cindy but the fact that she seemed like she didn’t care about it and right before she entered the door was locked bothered me. It’s women’s nature to cause drama or was I wrong all this time? Or maybe it was just in Charlotte’s nature to let your own guilt and thoughts eat you alive thinking about what she would do to you because she found you red handed cheating on her. I was filled with shame as we remained silent in the car, I hardly glanced at Charlotte because I was afraid that my eyes would give her all the details that the minute, she walked on me and Cindy we were about to have sex. It was as if my guilt was revived once again and it was once more piercing through my chest.

We got to the complex and Charlotte got out of the car first as I followed her lead, at that moment she still hadn’t said a word to me. I was afraid to even open my mouth because I knew that if I said anything wrong, she would snap and I was going to go back to the guest room that day. We walked all the way to the cinema and Charlotte waved at one of the staff. The staff member approached us; it was a gentleman who looked decent.

“Hey, I’m Charlotte and this my boyfriend Steve” she said as she extended her hand to greet him.

I also extended my hand to greet him. I had a little bit of relief that Charlotte actually introduced me as her boyfriend, at the same time, Charlotte was full of surprises and you wouldn’t finish them, in fact you she had so many tricks in her sleeves so that had me worried a little bit.

“Can we talk to the manager?” Charlotte requested.

“I am the manager ma’am; how can I help you?” the gentleman replied.

I just remained there like spectator listening to my guilt judge me about how much ungrateful I was, I mean I was cheating on this beautiful woman who was trying by all means to help me remember who I was.

“Well we are looking for a lady who works here sir” Charlotte said.

I glanced at the direction of the cashiers but Cynthia wasn’t there.

“Who are you looking for?” the gentleman asked.

“Cynthia Smith, sir” I dragged my words out.

“Cynthia hasn’t been coming to work since last week” the gentleman said.

“Do you have her address or something we can trace her with?” Charlotte asked.

I glanced at Charlotte wondering where she got such a brain, she always had a plan and that made her so attractive. Charlotte was that kind of a person who had a plan to get out of everything and at this point for me to be one of the success business in our town was because of Charlotte’s schemes.

“Okay, give me a second” the gentleman said as he ran to his office.

Charlotte and I still didn’t say anything to each other and I just remained quiet and people always gave Charlotte their admirable glances. People were attracted to her beauty and she would get the attention of anybody in any room she would enter. The gentleman came back holding a piece of paper on his hand.

“I think this is where you can find her” the gentleman said as he handed over the piece of paper to Charlotte.

An address and a phone number were written on the paper.

“Okay, thank you very much sir” Charlotte said to the gentleman as we walked away from the cinema.

We got to the car and then Charlotte handed the piece of paper over to the drive, without saying a word he started the engine. The silent treatment continued throughout the drive to the address that we were given. I figured out that we were going to the neighborhood that I dropped Cindy at the time I gave her a ride home for the first time. I looked around it was the same neighborhood, full of shacks and it was impossible for you to drive around that place. Without saying a word, the driver stopped the car, then took the piece of paper, he then got outside of the car. I glanced at him as he spoke to some ladies, pointing at a certain direction. The silent treatment in the car was still so loud, Charlotte kept on pressing her phone while I kept on giving her glances and I realized that until I said something the situation wasn’t going to change.

The driver came back to the car, he opened the door.

“They say this place is not far from here but we have to walk because the car won’t get in there” the driver said.

“Okay, can you stay here with the car?” Charlotte asked the driver.

He nodded, then Charlotte took out a pair of sneakers from her bag while she took off her high heels and replaced them with the sneakers. I got out of the Car the driver handed me the piece of paper.

“You go through that passage then you turn right, you will see a house with that address on” the driver directed us.

I led the way as Charlotte followed me, everyone gasped at our sight. They looked shocked, I glanced at Charlotte wondering why was everyone giving us such surprised stares. I spotted a shack that had the address we had. We walked through the gate, and went straight to the door. I knocked but no one replied, I knocked once again and this time I realized that the door was not locked. We slowly walked into the shack, and there was a stench like something has died.

“Hello, Cynthia?” I shouted and there was no replied.

We followed the smell which led us to the kitchen where my heart began to beat so fast as we found four corps sitting around the table. It seemed like it was an old woman, two boys and a little girl but there was no sign of Cynthia in the room sitting around the table. I wondered if Cynthia really lived in that place.

“Oh, my gosh” Charlotte gasped placing one hand on her mouth.

“What the…” I said out of shock.

It was as if they were poisoned because in front of each of them there was a plate full of rotten food. Charlotte, held my hand tight as we exchanged glances filled with shock and questions. I wondered why would someone kill an old woman and little children, whoever it was must’ve been evil. Charlotte couldn’t stand it anymore, she rushed outside as I took out the phone and called the police.

‘Who would have done this? And if Cynthia really lives here, where is she?’ I said to myself as I followed Charlotte outside.

Charlotte was outside vomiting; I went back to the house and took glass to get her water.

“Here, drink” I said as I handed her the glass of water.

We the waited for the police who finally showed up 30 minutes later. The people started getting crowded around the gate wondering what had happened. I had no words for what I saw and Charlotte looked as twice as traumatized. I couldn’t conclude that they were poisoned or what but my observations told me so. Detective Smith approached me and Charlotte as we were watching the bodies being taken away, inside body bags.

“Mr. Steve, I am told that you are the one who found these dead bodies” Detective Smith asked.

“Yeah” I nodded.

“May I ask what you were doing here sir?” Detective Smith added one more question.

“We…” I couldn’t finish up my sentence as Charlotte jumped into Detective Smith’s face.

“We actually came here to check up on a friend” Charlotte lied.

I stared at Charlotte with a surprised look.

‘A friend?’ I asked myself ‘why would Charlotte lie about us being here’ I continued to ask myself.

“A friend?”

“Y-Y-Yes sir” I dragged my words out.

Detective Smith stared back at us with a suspicious look. I glanced at Charlotte and it seemed to me that the trauma she had when we saw the corps had actually faded away.

“Okay, that’s all thank you very much” Detective Smith said as we shook hands.

We walked back to the car and this day was more than just a bad day to me. It was actually depressing, traumatic and full of bad lucks.

“Why did you lie?” I asked Charlotte.

“About what?” Charlotte replied.

“About us being in that shack? Was it necessary?” I asked once more.

Charlotte paused as she stared at me without the blink of an eye.

“Are you cheating on me?” Charlotte threw back a heavy question that increased the intensity on my guilt.

“What does that have to do with this?” I asked.

“You know what leave me alone, I don’t have time for you right now. You are the reason we’re in this mess in the first place” Charlotte yelled.

The driver kept on glancing at as the argument was now heated.

“I’m the reason we’re in this?” I pointed at myself.

“Yeah you are, you and your memory nonsense” Charlotte said while poking me on my forehead with her finger.

“You know what fine. Stop the car bro” I commanded the drive but he kept on driving.

“Yeah go to your worthless side chick, you are such an ungrateful son of a b*tch Kat” Charlotte yelled and gasped at the end of her sentence.

There was silence for a few seconds in the car.

‘She just called me Kat’ I thought to myself.

“What did you call me” I asked knowing very well what she called me.

“Pull over” Charlotte yelled at the driver.

The driver pulled over and I got then slammed the door behind me. He drove off while I walked to the house that were nearby. I texted Cindy.

“Hey come pick me up” I sent her my location.

I walked into a bar and remembered that Cindy actually had no Car so there was no way that she could pick me up. I decided to order some drinks trying to deal with my own misery and Charlotte’s drama. As I sat on the table having a drink, glass after glass I realized that there was something big that Charlotte actually ever told. The fact that she called me Kat also ever made sense, maybe when we were arguing I reminded her of her ex-boyfriend, nothing made sense to me at that moment. But at this moment I was trying by all means to forget about my argument with Charlotte.

“Women problems?” A male voice said behind me.

I turned trying to see who was speaking and it was a middle-aged man wearing a suit standing behind me with two bodyguards. I ignored him and carried on with my business but he in fact came and sat next to me.

“I know you’re searching and you want to know where you come from, you want to remember” he said.

I glanced at him realizing that this guy knew something, in my life I just kept on meeting these people who had clues about who I was but unfortunately, I had no slight idea about my real identity.

“Remember what?” I asked.

“Remember who you are” he replied.

“What makes you think that I don’t know who I am, are you some kind of a prophet?” I said as I got off the chair and slowly walked away from him.

“The world is a funny place Steve” the man said.

‘Wait, how did he know my name’ I thought to myself.

I gave him a stare but my pride just told me to keep on going and not entertain him at all. I walked out of the bar and to my surprise Cindy was standing right in front of the bar and behind her was a silver jeep Cherokee which I certainly never thought it was hers.

‘How did she get here?’ I asked myself.

“Get in” Cindy opened the door for me.

I got into the passenger seat while Cindy got into the driver seat and drove off. In my mind, I thought that there was no way that a girl who worked at a bookstore, who didn’t get paid that enough money to feed a family of six could afford a jeep Cherokee.

“You smell alcohol” Cindy said.

Without saying a word, I just glanced at her.

“You want to tell me what happened?” Cindy asked.

There was a sense of peace that I had every time I was with Cindy unlike when I was with Charlotte. Every time I spent time with Charlotte there would arguments and fights about little things but every time, I was with Cindy there was always peace and quiet.

“I had an argument with my girlfriend that’s all” I mumbled my words to her.

Cindy pulled over to this huge house same size as Charlotte’s house. I was astonished as I saw her press the remote opening the gate and drove through the gates and packed right in the front door. I glanced at her and realized that almost all my life was some kind of a lie. Last time we accompanied her to place full of shacks and now here we are landing at a house that only a rich person could build.

“What are we doing here?” I asked.

“This is my place” she said as she stopped the car.

I gave her a surprised stare and it now made sense to me why she never paid a cent at the guest house. She actually owned the guest house, but was she doing at the bookstore if she was rich? It never made sense to me. She drove into the yard and then she went straight into the garage.

“I know you’re confused; follow me I will explain” Cindy said as she opened the door and got out of the car.

I also got out of the car and followed her lead. To my surprise, Cindy’s house looked just like Charlotte’s house in everything. Everything that Charlotte’s house had, Cindy’s house also had even the sizes of each and every room were the same. It was no coincident that they had houses that had a similar design, something was up here. But I wouldn’t dare ask her more questions about Cindy because I felt like I was delusional to actually assume that Cindy and Charlotte were sisters. Sometimes my life was coming together and then sometimes the roof was caving in on me and escaping wasn’t an easy thing since I didn’t even know my own identity.