Chapter 3

Candice, the mystery woman that showed up out of the blue, has been filling me in on everything I need to know about why she is here and what happens next. My mind is exploding, I feel like I am stuck on a perpetual rollercoaster ride and I can’t seem to get off. Showing up like this, and trying to elucidate that we are destined for each other has to be the most absurd thing I have ever encountered!

So, apparently, Candice was gifted to me on a silver platter by the woman that started this all, Professor Jones. Although I don’t think I can call her a professor anymore seeing as she is massive fraud in that department. Candice informed me that I would not be able to reach Mrs. Jones because she has gone off the grid for her own safety, whatever that means.

Here’s what I don’t understand about that though: Why tell me that I have a year left to live and then plant an exquisite being in my path? Is it so that I don’t have to endure my fateful doom alone? Does that not make it tremendously worse? Now she has to lose someone she might end up loving, that’s absolutely selfish!

My mother was this amazing woman that just knew precisely how to handle all of these bizarre happenings. If I could ask her to help me I most definitely would. Sadly, though, the angel of death had other plans for her. I don’t know how to process all that I have been told, it’s too much, I need sleep.

A loud crashing noise jolted me out of bed so fast that I slipped on the carpet and my head collided with the bedside table. That’s going to leave a massive bump. I shook it off and rushed to the kitchen where the noise happened. Candice stood in the middle of the kitchen dripping with blood from the huge knife that was now hugging the floor. It appears as though her hand took a knifing. She spotted me and said, “I am so sorry if I woke you, I was just trying to clean up, and then this happened.”

I told her to wait there so that I could get the medical kit. Once I had the kit I started to make my way back to her but before I got there my phone started screaming at me. Unknown caller, I answered anyway and instantly regretted it. As soon as I tapped the green button on the screen my phone started making this ear-piercing screeching noise that made my ears bleed. I threw my phone down and smashed it with my foot. Why did I do that now? I could have just ended the call.

I carried on making my way to Candice, trying to shake off the incident that just occurred. She looked worried, I suppose she must have heard the commotion and is most probably wondering what happened. “I received a prank call or something, then I overreacted, it’s OK”, I tried to assure her of this, but her face tells me that she doesn’t agree with me. She just nodded her head and we proceeded to fix each other up.

Her natural scent smelled like coconut laced with shea butter, it is extremely intoxicating. I tried to compose myself, hopefully, she doesn’t notice. It is especially hard to compose myself when her lips look that inviting, so full and soft-looking. Perhaps she thinks I am a creep for looking at her so much. I thought that I was pretty clear on not wanting to pursue a woman that was gifted to me, but how can I resist?

Once we were both good to go, I realized that she was in my humble abode uninvited, so I asked, “Why are you here in my kitchen?”, She looked nervous and said, “I am also confused by this situation and I feel that we should spend more time together so that we can figure this out.” I felt a flutter of amusement coming on but I shoved it down so that she wouldn’t get the wrong idea. “Let’s do it then, I will make us some Irish coffees so that we can be awake but relaxed. Wait here.” I forced out, I would like to get to the bottom of this even if I don’t fully believe that it is possible.

Irish coffees in hand I made my way to the living area and motioned for her to get comfortable, something told me that this was going to be a while. “I would like to start if you don’t mind,” she said, I sipped my coffee and nodded yes. She continued, “I understand that we are both confused. I also understand that according to Mrs. Jones, you only have about a year left to live. What I don’t understand is why we are making a huge deal out of this when we could just grab the opportunity with both hands and make the most out of it?” This was a good point. I hadn’t thought about it like that. “Alright, what do you propose?” I asked. “I propose we travel to all the places you would already be traveling to, together. What do you think?”, she replied. “I don’t exactly have the funds to cover the both of us…” I said with uncertainty because it seemed like she anticipated me saying that and replied with, “You may have mapped out a travel plan, but I have a plan of my own that I have been working on. You have a year left, we should go to the extreme while you still can.”

I had a bad feeling about where this was heading, so my next question was asked in a very cautious voice, “What is your plan?”. “It’s pretty simple really, all we need to do is rob a bank, are you in?”, she asked cheerfully. I thought about this for a hot second, I feel like I saw it coming in a way, then replied with, “hell yeah I’m in!” Is it the right way? No. Is it the best way given the circumstances? Absolutely!