Rayne Parker stood before the counter and gazed out the window. It was a beautiful spring morning at California Avenue with omens of summer everywhere. On each side of the road running from California Avenue down to Lincoln Drive, bright pink blossoms were already bursting forth over the whitewashed walls of the houses. Rayne had often been struck by those whitewashed walls. It seemed incongruous to have such humble exteriors surrounding such lavish mansions, each one stuffed full of every luxury money could buy.Rayne worked at one of such mansions. It was a shopping mall, albeit not an ordinary one. They sold things ranging from groceries to superficial things like cosmetics and every manner of luxury clothing.She'd started working here about a year before and there was only one regular set of customers that she was accustomed to. She recognized them when she saw them. They always had that same look of unbothered regret on their faces. They regretted what they did but they were n
Edmund opened his diary, a padded red-cover book with his name written on it and wrote;"Dear diary,I have no idea what this feeling is but I do hope it's not love. It feels stupid to be so vulnerable because of a single human. It feels horrible to start being affectionate towards a mere mortal. Whenever I see someone so much as look at her, whether man or woman, I want to kill them. It's crazy what she does to me! If this is love, then, I just want somebody to shoot me in the head and end it all."He slammed the diary shut and buried his head in his palms, his mind wrapped in confusion. He was thinking of everything and nothing in particular. The mundane things of life. That was what he called them.Just this morning, he'd received a message from his mother. She was asking him how things were going along with 'Laura'. He'd told her that the relationship was moving smoothly and had hoped that it would end there. But of course, it didn't. She'd gone ahead to make him fix a dinner date
Edmund stared at Dre for a long time, or rather, he stared into space for a long time. Dre's genial hopeful face just happened to be in the way. A few minutes ago, he'd arrived at Sibley Memorial hospital where he'd learnt that Emily had been admitted a few minutes ago. The text message he'd received on his phone was supposedly typed by Dre who had now introduced herself as Emily's friend. There was something familiar about her heavily made-up face but he could not quite place his hand on it yet. All he knew, for now, was that Dre was nice and down to earth and willing to sacrifice anything for her friend and…. The doctor walked in. She wore a bleached white laboratory coat over the shirt and trousers that she had on. Edmund and Dre cleared the way for her to pass through. She went straight to Emily and placed the stethoscope on her body. Her face bore a grim look. "Will she be alright?" Dre asked, her voice filled with despair. Dr. Mia Sanders shook her head. A small, hopeful s
Charlotte Baker prepared a smile on her face as she raced towards the door. She'd gotten the distress call from her sister over an hour ago and due to the severity of the issue, she'd insisted that she came over to the house so they could talk. Edmund wasn't home after all. She held the door opened and wrapped a frosty grin on her face. The woman that stood before her was a young lady in her early twenties. She was an attractive lady with a slender figure, fine bone structure and sparkling emerald eyes. Charlotte wondered how many heads she must have turned on her way here. Not that it was anything new anyway. Lucy had always had that charm since when they were little girls and apparently, she'd only gotten more attractive when she transformed into an adult. In the early years of her parent's marriage, it had just been her and Lucy. Naturally, everyone believed that all of her father's possessions would be passed on to her as his first child when he died and for well over fifteen y
Emily hurried past the winding doors of the hospital and stepped into the blinding sunlight outside the premises. A car circled around to her side at once. She stopped, dazed. She glanced quickly over her shoulders and found Dre walking behind her. Then, she relaxed her shoulders and heaved a slow breath. It's showtime. She thought.Jason jumped out of the car in a frenzy and advanced towards her. He had a questioning look on his face."Are you okay?" He asked, on reaching her."Yes, I am," Emily said, her face solid.Jason looked uncertain."I called you severally and you didn't answer. Your location was on, so I decided to track you down. When I noticed that you'd been static at the hospital for over an hour, I got scared. I thought something was wrong."Emily blushed."I'm perfectly fine, babe."He studied her for a long moment, his eyes hovering over her body, like a man looking for a fault in his car.Dre reached her side and flashed him a genial smile."Hey, Jason. Long time, n
Emily stepped out of the hotel into the open, feeling as nervous as a teenager on her first date. Edmund trotted behind him, clutching a briefcase in one hand while the other hand buttoned his suit.They were at the heart of the city of Paris where Emily was going to help Edmund decide the fate of his company. This was no ordinary meeting. She'd figured out that much. The French took their holiday and weekends seriously and as such, prohibited any work to be done within those time limits.But against all odds, Edmund had dragged her to Paris on a weekend to talk business with prospective clients, business that would determine whether they would still have a deal by Monday morning or not.A limousine was waiting outside when she sauntered out of the winding doors of the hotel they'd lodged at. She jumped into it and Edmund followed suit. They sat apart from each other inside the limousine. As the vehicle tore past the streets of Paris, Emily found herself feeling like she'd strayed i
ll through the flight home, Emily could not stop thinking of one thing; how she was going to face Jason after everything that had just happened. She was so immersed in her thoughts about him that she unconsciously forgot about how Edmund had lowered his pride and done the most unexpected thing earlier that morning.He'd begged her to stay! Edmund had begged her to stay! She knew Fache contributed to a very great extent to his decision to let her stay after everything that had happened already, but she didn't mind. All that mattered was that she was no longer leaving. The plan to save SkyNet was still on.A limousine was waiting for both Edmund and herself at the airport and as soon as they landed, it took her home first. Then, it took Edmund back to his house. Thankfully, Edmund had given her the day off.He'd done that with a long face, a reminder that he wasn't happy to do what he'd just done but must have been compelled by something beyond him to do so. Emily knew that there was no
Emily Peterson felt a clogging feeling in her throat as she tried to figure out what was happening. Jason on the other hand looked relaxed, almost relieved even. He watched as the man strode in and took a seat on an easy chair across from them. Emily adjusted on her seat. She glanced at Jason, demanding an explanation. "This is Dr. Cole McGuire and he's a psychologist with over ten years of experience. That's why I chose him. If there's anyone who can help us get back to normal, it's him." He turned to the man who now had a half-smile on his face and said, "This is my fiancée, Emily Peterson." The smile on Dr. Cole McGuire's broadened. His greying hair around the edges suggested that he could be in his late forties or early fifties. He had a pair of inquisitive brown eyes that were printed on his rather oblong face, a small moustache and a ready smile. Emily thought that there was a certain wariness about his smile. But it was too early to judge yet. She'd give him the benefit of
Life had suddenly turned good for Emily. It was barely a week into her engagement and the soles of her feet had stepped into more bridal shops than she'd stepped into restaurants in her entire life.It wasn't exactly her fault. Jason wanted a quick wedding. The wait was killing him and he needed the wedding to be over and dine with in no time. He'd reintroduced her to his family and his mother had even begun warming up to her, despite her earlier cold feelings towards her.Emily wasn't sure whether it was the universe that was tired of seeing her suffering and had decided to make things better for her or it was just purely out of merit but whatever it was, she was grateful for it.Today, she was going to go with Mia and her soon-to-be mother-in-law, Mrs. Wendy Campbell to yet another boutique that had a bridal shop to pick a wedding dress.The boutique was owned by one of Mrs. Campbell's influential friends. She was going to take the ladies there to show them around and also catch up
Seeing Edmund jump down from his jeep and advancing towards her like some maniac made her blood to suddenly stop flowing. She stood rooted at the spot and plotted her next move.Directly across from her, Jason was standing on his own, waiting for her. No matter the direction that Edmund came from, he was going to see him.There was no need to run away. Edmund didn't look like he was going to back away easily. The only decision she now saw was to stand back and contend with him or maybe reason with him.They didn't have to cause a scene here. In fact, if Edmund cooperated, no one would have to know what the problem with them was.As Edmund continued to take quick strides to reach her, all her hopes of reasoning with him evaporated into thin air.Edmund didn't look anything like the Edmund she knew. He wore nothing else but a fades shirt that shouldn't have been seen outside and a pair of trousers that were at least two sizes smaller than him.He looked even worse. His facial hair was s
All around the garden, black umbrellas formed pinnacle of covering over the over hundred people that had come to witness the lowering of her coffin to the ground.It was unarguably the most horrifying scene that Emily had ever witnessed. It was hard to just stand there and not shed tears while the burial proceedings for Dre Sinclair who was amongst other things, her friend was ongoing. She thought she had her acts together all this time. Not even when the priest had delivered a pitiful sermon about how people ought to lead good lives when they were alive so that when they died like Dre had just done, their spirit would not be filled with regret, had Emily shed a single tear.The high point of the event was when everyone was led to the graveside, dug in the middle of a beautiful garden. It was just the kind of place that Dre would have wanted to rest in, had she been alive to make her decision. A place filled with so much calmness and serenity, where she would forever commune with th
The man slipped out of the door unnoticed, feet barely touching the ground as he struggled to make it out of there without making a sound.Just a few meters away behind him, Jerry Ishag's body lay lifeless, his face bent over on the table. He'd died with tears rolling down his face.A part of him felt guilty for what he'd done but there was no undoing his action neither was there another option. It was a dog-eat-dog world. You either ate or got eaten. If he chose to disobey the order that had come for him to kill Jerry, that would be him signing his death warrant with his own hands.It was best to obey and stay alive to fight another day. The image of Jerry lying helplessly while the poison worked inside his body, killing him slowly was certainly going to haunt him for life. But Andre had no regrets, only guilt. Even if he'd refused to get the job done, another person would have been hired to finish Jerry off once and for all. And afterwards, come after him.By killing him, he'd save
Charlotte arrived breathlessly at his door. It'd taken a lot of guys to admit to her fault and finally make the trip here but in the end, she decided that it was all worth it. She was never really welcome back at Edmund's house anyway. At least here, she had a man that loved her, a man that wanted to be with her and most of all, a man that was determined to take care of her.Those were things that Edmund could never ever do for her. So, her fall was a blessing in disguise. At least now she'd get to love her truth and loving her truth wasn't as hard as the lies she'd been trying to keep up with all along.She didn't bother to knock on his door. He barely went anywhere these days. He just stayed at home and read all the books on his shelf. When she was around, they would make love from sunrise to sunset.As happy as she was about this new development, she still had her doubts about the new life that he'd adopted for himself. Would he be able to take care of her if he continued to live
Outside, Emily could barely focus on the road that lay ahead or any other thing for that matter. It was hard to focus on anything knowing that she could be in the police cell any minute.The idea of trusting Edmund to keep everything that had happened between them simply did not appeal to her. He wasn't just going to allow her to get away with everything she'd done.That's why she needed to clean up her mess and get out of town. This town had taken so much from her. Now, all she wanted to do was stay far away from it and count her losses.In reflective moments such as these, Emily couldn't help but think about how lonely her life had just gotten. With Dre dead and Mia grieving, there was really nobody else to talk to.Well, except for Jason who'd gotten so busy with work that he barely had time for her anymore. There was also her father. But surely, he too would be busy with work.Emily was in the mood to throw in a surprise on her old man. She didn't bother to think about it or call
She struggled to breathe but the stubborn burning sensation in her chest was so great that every attempt to breathe made her feel a lot worse than before.Everyone was looking down at her on the floor, waiting for her to say something, to clear the air and to answer all the questions that they had, both the ones that were said and the ones that weren't said yet. But the most demanding of them all was Edmund, maybe because she was betrayed on a very personal level. He refused to give in to her show of being hurt and continued to probe her to know what was going on."I'm sorry I lied," she said, making an effort to speak. "I didn't mean to lie. And I'm very sorry about it. ""What do you mean by you didn't mean to lie?" Edmund probed. "You did what you did with very clear eyes, so why are you pretending that it was a mistake now?" He rose from his squatting position, scratched his head rather roughly and paced to the end of the room. When he returned, he faced Charlotte squarely in the
From the first day he was arrested and brought in here, his hope had wavered. For people like him that weren't worth a ransom, no one would even notice he was missing and no one would come looking for him.The only thing Jerry Iahag now lived for was to know the truth. The moment he knew the truth about who sold him out and punished the offender accordingly, he would gladly tell the truth and accept whatever penalties went with it.But he was quite sure of one thing. He wasn't going down this path alone. It was either he brought everyone else who was involved down with him or he told the truth and struck a deal with the detectives, a deal that would allow him to return to the outside world again, to hunt down whoever had betrayed him.But with Andre's presence in the station, his hopes were restored. He suddenly didn't look forward to dying anymore. Like an animal who'd been caged for too long, he longed for freedom. He longed to breathe the air outside the walls of the police station
About thirty miles away, an unknown visitor slipped into the premises of the police station. Dressed in a pair of khaki shorts and a blue UCLA T-shirt, he looked very ordinary.But there was nothing ordinary about this man. His name was Andre Anderson and he was a very well-known friend of Jerry Ishag who was still being held in the station.Today, however, he was not there at the police station as Jerry Ishag's friend. He was there as a traitor, ready to perform the last act of betrayal to his friend.Getting into the station was made very easy as he'd had access to the map of the entire building and chosen to go through the places which were less guarded than the others. He got in noiselessly, slipping in like he was invisible. Taking the front door was suicidal as there would be many officers waiting to receive him. But Andre had a better plan. There were two main doors in the station. One opened up at the entrance of the building while the other one was at the rear of it.He chos