It's been a while! A year, actually. I hope you're still with me though I update excruciatingly slow. Sorry. I keep getting distracted and stuff like that. T_T Anyway, hope you'll still like this! Next update...okay...I don't know when. Maybe whenever I'm not busy and if I get inspired to write. :)
Thanks for stopping by! - Holi
Solen
The night was getting closer. I could feel it with the cold breeze coming into my makeshift cardboard shed. Ok, so when I said that I was letting fate take its toll on me, I hadn't really expected that a strange hobo would suddenly give up his cardboard shed to me. Seriously, though, I was really grateful to him considering it was becoming very chilly tonight.
I breathed in and gave out a long sigh before I made myself comfortable by lying down on my back with my arms underneath my head as a makeshift pillow.
This is going to be a long night...
Turning my attention to the dark sky above, I've noticed some stars peeking through some thin clouds. I couldn't but help but smile at the beauty nature has graced me tonight. I bet this was the only night I ever felt at peace again with myself. Ever since that tornado ruined my life, everything has been going downhill for me. I never thought a day like this would come again. It almost seemed surreal.
Too surreal...
"Why hello there, young girl! Care to drink with me?" a voice suddenly tore through my silence suddenly asked.
I screamed in shock when the man suddenly hovered himself over me. He pinned both of my arms down and locked my entire body under his legs as I whimpered and struggled to get away from his grasp. I felt him go nearer to my face, leaving me disgusted when I smelled his drunken breath.
This isn't happening... This must be a dream!
Those thoughts lingered in my mind as I tried to force myself to believe that this was just a horrible nightmare.
"Hey, pretty lady! Look at me!" I heard him shout, but I didn't dare look at him... I was too afraid to do so.
Another scream went out of my mouth as I felt his tongue licking the sides of my jawline. A shiver went throughout my body as soon as he met contact with my ear. I thought it was all over when I felt him moving away from me, but I was so wrong...so horribly wrong. He tore my shirt apart, revealing only my bra out in the open. I tried to cover myself up with my hands but he pinned it both above me and began licking the sides of my neck, causing tears to finally spill from my eyes as I whimpered and silently cried at the frightening man invading my personal space.
Would anyone even hear my cry? It would only be a miracle now. It was night time and the streets were only a vast of plain empty lanes and lonely night owls surrounding the area, with only a lamp post providing an ample amount of light. I was right all along. No wonder it felt surreal to even think about a peaceful night.
No one could save me now. Was this it for me?
"Ow!"
My eyes quickly opened and wondered what happened, only it wasn't what that mattered, it was who it was.
***3 Years Later***
A row of telephones began ringing when I passed through the hall of my new office. It was just my first day, but already I could feel the weariness this day has started to be. Who wouldn't when you got stuck in a horrible rush-hour traffic, got yelled at by a stupid naked kid saying that I was fucking looking at his "gorgeous" butt and has the nerve to even call me an A-hole for child abuse when he was the one who decided to parade her way to cross the frickin' street! That kid has some serious issues! Seriously.
Anyway, as if my morning couldn't get any worse, which it did, my boss, or should I say the "Nasty Drew", just called me in to say that I missed an important team meeting for this Wednesday because I, apparently, was two minutes late, and they just had to shut the door in front of my face to make it clear to me that I was not wanted. That was a warm welcome. Thanks, Nasty Drew. I really appreciated the hugs and kisses.
I shuddered at the thought of how my morning went pretty swell (Note the sarcasm).
"Solen, be a dear and take these to the photocopying machine beside the printer out back? I need 300 copies of these—Pronto!"
I nodded at Sheila and immediately carried the thick folder she handed me. While I scanned the pages, I hurriedly walked towards the back to find the machine. It was a simple task. I just needed to push some buttons like what I did at home when I was in high school.
Easy!
My heart sank immediately when I saw the photocopying machine. The buttons were all in colors. Nothing seemed to be written on them, either that, or the people who used this before had sweaty fingers and accidentally erased all the words on the machine. I tried pushing the big red button on the side, but nothing happened for the next five minutes. I then pushed the blue one and was panicking when the machine actually ate half of Sheila's papers from the feed.
"Shit." I softly muttered to myself. It must have fallen off from the top when I was busy trying to figure out which buttons to push. The sound of paper shredding on the inside of the machine filled the area, before I started hyperventilating. What to do? What should I do?
I tried to pull the paper out from the feed but it was stuck and the machine was as stubborn as hell wouldn't let go of them.
"I'm pretty sure that's not how a photocopying machine is supposed to sound like."
"AAAHHH!" a scream tore from my mouth as I suddenly let go of the paper and touched the sides of my ear when I heard that voice.
My chest was still rising and falling deeply from panic, when I saw a man dressed in a loose white shirt leaning towards me. Blood rushed to my face as I tried to keep my cool, but cool, shmool, who was I kidding? My face's as red as a tomato right now.
A familiar, deep chuckle escaped his mouth as he tore his gaze away from me and pushed some buttons on the machine behind me. I swerved a little to his right to give him a little room to move through that screwed up contraption. When I was about to reach for the shredded papers and begin panicking about them, Matthew got his hand onto my waist and pulled me closer to him.
"So...uh...are you up for dinner tonight? Same time, same place, I'll pick you up?"
"Matthew, not in the office!" I whispered to him angrily.
His hands were still roaming around waist, pulling me closer to him every single second I didn't answer.
"Matthew..." I leered at him as I tried to pry his hands off me, but then softened the way I looked at him when I saw his sincere eyes, "...please."
I felt his hands on my waist loosened a bit after I said that. For a moment, I thought he would stop, but he only hugged me a little closer and rested his head on my left shoulder. My hands were frozen in air when I heard him exhaled a deep sigh. It didn't take me a second to guess that something was wrong. My hands immediately combed his hair to console him. It has been quite a while now since he was like this—three years to be exact. I wondered what made him this way once again.
"Okay, I'll go." I told him, reluctantly accepting his invitation.
The warmth on my body suddenly cooled when he lifted his head and faced me with a slight smile on his face.
"But, on one condition."
"Anything."
"I get to pick the movie this time." And then, I gave him a big, fat raspberry face before taking all the papers with me and walked out of that place and away from that stupid contraption.
Seriously, guys, I hate machines.
On my way back to the office, I thought of all the possible excuses I could probably tell Sheila to avoid getting me fired at my job. I couldn't afford to lose another one after having lost five others. I couldn't, not when Matthew's always the one supporting us for everything.
How did this happen? When did this happen? Wasn't he hating on me ever since I came to his life? Well, that, ladies and gents, would be a long short story. Anyway, it happened three years ago after I almost got raped by a drunk hobo. Not the greatest experience of my life, but it became the most important one at the moment.
-.-.-.-.-
"Matthew..." I whispered with eyes growing wide as he grabbed the man away from me and landed a big punch on the man's gut.
I couldn't believe it myself. Was I dreaming? I slapped myself and pinched the sides of my cheeks very hard in order for me to know if I was aligned with reality, and I confirmed I was as soon as I felt the aching pain from my self-inflicted torture. My attention suddenly turned to the two guys currently fighting, and it seemed like Matthew was losing. I've got help him somehow...
Quickly rising to my feet, never minding the inappropriateness of my attire, I grabbed the empty beer bottle lying on the other end of my makeshift cardboard shed and landed a hit of it on the molester's head with all my might. As soon as it landed on his head, the glass bottle shattered into shards, leaving the molester bloody and half-conscious on the ground.
"What the hell, Solen? You nearly got me killed!" a certain someone exclaimed from beside me.
"But you didn't."
Unfortunately...
"You know...a simple 'Thank you!' would've been enough!" I added before I turned my back away from him when I realized that I was standing in front of him half-naked.
Matthew coughed and, surprisingly, put his hoodie on me. I muttered a soft "thank you" to him, while still avoiding eye contact. Change of heart or not, this was still an awkward situation for the both of us.
I looked back at what seemed to be left of the frail shed I had and let out a heavy sigh. This was never going to work out anyway, why did I even think otherwise? Grabbing my duffel bag off the ground, I forced myself not to shed a single tear, especially not in front of him, but of course, the cliché-ness just had to ruin my wall.
The sooner I stood up, I was already starting with the waterworks.
"Shit." I cursed as I tried to wipe the tears away.
Silence soon followed with my tears, the only barrier of our close distance to each other, as we were now walking side by side. To where, you might be wondering...Well, I've got no idea. The only thing that's on my mind right now was to shake off this awkwardness around us. Honestly, I couldn't stand Matthew right now with his weird gestures. I mean, c'mon, one night he chased me out of the house and literally just told me to get the fuck out of his life, then the next time we meet, he began acting like some guardian coming out of a movie. That was not normal, and it's really creeping me out. A person couldn't possibly be a changed person after a few hours. That's totally insane! Unless, he has a bipolar personality...
"Hey, you sure you're alright?" Matthew went in front of me and stopped us from walking any further.
"Of. Course. I'm. Fine." I stared into his eyes, emphasizing every word I said.
"I'm splendid!" Note the sarcasm.
In the end, I gave up a sigh and stared at the ground instead. There was something about the way he looked at me back there. Was it pity? Remorse? If it was, then why? He's got no reason to feel that way about me.
"Matthew... just stop, alright? Just stop acting this...this way!" I shouted at him.
"Stop what? Solen, what are you talking about?"
"That!" I began pointing at him, "That concern voice, the way you look at me—just stop! It's creeping me out! Just act like you always do."
"Act how?" he raised an eyebrow with a quizzical look on his face. It almost seemed like he was really confused, but that wasn't going to fool me.
"Don't act stupid, Matthew! I know your undying hatred for me."
I looked at him with my eyes seething at his every glance, every movement he made. Was he for real?
The night breeze grew bitter cold almost as if it was begging for me to keep quiet and die already so the night could sleep. But, what the hell? He was still looking at me that way. Those hazel eyes with a hint of green specs staring at me like there was no tomorrow. It was almost as if he knew me.
Shit. I sound crazy. No, Solen, you walk straight away from him. Doesn't matter where. Just get the hell away from him!
I turned my back towards him and walked as fast as I could away from him. I didn't need to hear a reason why he helped or why he was like that. What I needed was peace. The world just couldn't even give me a slightest taste of that these days. What did I ever do wrong to get me here in this stupid place with stupid bitter cold night breezes? I mean...
"UGH." I let out in frustration as my hands wrapped onto my body tighter to cope with the cold.
A hand turned me behind and another hand carried me on my waist to prevent me from falling to the ground as my heart suddenly stopped.
No, this was not happening.
Matthew kissed me. He k-kissed me.
I pushed him away from me with all the strength I have left and that bliss completely ended when my butt hit the ground. While rubbing my sore butt, Matthew offered me a hand, but I didn't take it. Instead, I carried my own weight and stood up on my own.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I shouted at him. "Are you out of your mind? Are you on drugs or what?"
"Solen. Calm down. I can explain." He took both of my arms and held on them tightly. "Look at me. Don't you remember who I am?"
"Wha—let go! Let. Me. Go. You're crazy!" I exclaimed, struggling to break free from his grasp.
"SOLEN!" he shouted, "Look. At. Me."
Tears were brimming down my eyes as I struggled with him. He, at last, let go of me after much kicking, but his hands trapped my face and forced me to look at him. A spark of recognition seemed to come to me when I saw his hazel eyes sparkled with green specs.
"No...it couldn't be." I muttered to myself.
"John?"
© WhiteSecrets715 2015.