ACE KINGMAN
"It's not as if we are running short of time," she answers steely.
Truth to be told, I just wanted to escape my life and live on a small isolated island with Katherine and Kyle. I didn't want to live the 'dark' times of my life again...the horror and sadness that crept within me when I recalled them was beyond words. And, I am not a wordless person anyways.
The past day, staying without Katherine...the look of hurt, betrayal, anger and disappointment flashing on her face...I couldn't bring myself to apologise to her, ever. Knowing that I was the reason for her hurt and sufferings. I always am, right when she left me five years ago and now again.
I let her slip, always.
I hurt her, always.
I lied to her, right from the start.
I do not deserve her, the sweet, soft, kind and forgiving woman sitting in front of me...I never ever deserved her, no matter how many times I would apologise or make up for it. But being the selfish person I am, I want her to be with me...wake up with me in the mornings and go to sleep in my arms at nights. Ironically, I feel safe and sound around her, sane. I couldn't even survive with her for a single day, restless at nights, snappy at mornings and annoyed in whole...imagining her being with someone else and raising Kyle with him...was just horrific...inconceivable.
As if my past couldn't ever catch up with me.
Is this what being in love feels like?
***
"True," I answered. She needs to know the truth, she needs to understand that I never meant to hurt her...I just wanted to escape the sorrow and desolation.
Wrapping my arms around my body, trying to shield myself, I speak, "This happened before I met you...all of it...me marrying Kendall and everything...it started seven years ago..."
I finally look at her, her eyes betray no emotion, "We were three siblings...I had to sisters-Freya and..." her name was difficult to say, "Maisie," it sounded odd, her name seemed strange on my tongue, maybe because I had tried to forget her...
"Ace?," Katherine asked me, "The media, and everywhere else...it only says that you have only one sister-Freya..."
I smiled and replied, "I am getting there, Kathy. Freya was shy, introvert and the person who would always be immersed in books...we both were born with the business like minds, my dad used to say. Whereas, Maisie was the exact opposite of Freya...she was outgoing, bold and a born rebel..."
I smile as I remember her protesting at each and every thing, "Though she was also into books and maybe the only person in our family...beside my mum and dad to believe in 'love' and...this may sound absurd...but her motto was YOLO..."
"She used to shout this every time we used to be sad or unhappy for some reason..."
Katherine was listening to me attentively. Her feet crossed, her face looked troubled.
I continued, "She was mum and dad's favourite, every time. When we were so caught up in impressing them, our teachers...she just used to be herself and still could be everyone's apple of their eye. But, she used to understand all of us very well. She was a great listener..."
I gulped as I started narrating the main part, "She fell in love with this guy...Michael, he was a cancer patient. Had like a year left to live. We thought that after his death, she would move on...but she didn't...she fell for him pretty hard...a few days after his death, her behaviour changed, she seemed lost, broken... we thought she would get better..."
"Fifteen days after I return home from a trip, I rush to her room," my breathing has accelerated, tears have started accumulated around my eyes, "I see her sleeping...or so I thought..."
The incident plays before my eyes, I can feel whatever was happening that day, I could recall even the slightest of the details.
I run up the stairs, throwing the bags on the floor. Its been so long since I have seen Maisie, Freya has literally chopped my brain after making me understand the different style and make up details! Maisie wouldn't know I am coming back today, I intend to surprise her
How I long to play football with Maisie! I even brought her the jersey she wanted, signed by Messi himself. I better record when I give it to her, she would be on top of her world. I open the door and rush. "Surprise!" I shout.
There is no usual reply, no one came to smack me or shout at me.
There she is! Sleeping Beauty...
I shake her but she doesn't wake. Frowning, I shake her a little harder but still she doesn't wake. Her head rolls to the side, lifeless. I scream for mother.
She and dad come rushing to her room.
Everything else happens in a blur. There are doctors in her room, servants with shocked faces, mum crying on dad's lap, Freya her hands around my shoulder.
"She died most likely an hour ago," the family doctor tells dad.
Died?
Tears start flowing from eyes as I read the crumpled sheet in her hand.
I read in through between the passages, 'couldn't take it anymore', 'felt dead', 'handling the pain', 'wouldn't know what I would feel'.... 'I am sorry'.
I could almost hear her speak that.
Those three words, they would haunt me forever. I look at her again, she did look different. There were frown lines visible on her forehead, slightly sunken eyes and she looked thinner. Her lips were blue and violet and she was as cold as I was feeling right now. Dead, I wish I was too.
Katherine was sitting beside me. My face was buried in her neck, I breathed in her scent trying to calm myself. It only worked a fraction, I could still see her face, the days she looked so distant and off...
I could feel her whisper, the words touching me as soft as the flutter of butter fly's wings- "I am sorry"
The pain that followed was unbearable. I couldn't stand the fact that someone who had been with me, just few days ago was gone...
I could never play football with her again,
bicker with her again,
see her making funny faces as Freya applied make up again,
never see her smile again,
never feel her in my arms again,
she was gone.
"Make it stop! Make it stop!" I cried hysterically referring to the pain. Images of her lifeless body and then her chuckling flashed in my mind. Hot tears dropped from my eyes. I could feel Katherine console me...saying some soothing words.
Trying to calm my breathing, I breathed in...and then out...then in again.
Repeating this a few times, I finally could feel. Feel Kathy shush me, warmly. The feel of her arms wrapped around me, safely.
I didn't know till when we remained in the same position.
But I felt something, something that Maisie could only describe to me...
Love.
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HOW DID YOU LIKE THIS CHAPTER FELLAS?
BTW THE STORY IS LEFT... A LOT OF IT, IS...
BUT ANYWAYS HOW WAS THE CHAPTER!?
ALSO I AM DECIDING A CAST. POST IN YOUR COMMENTS WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE AS:
A. ACE KINGMAN
B. KATHERINE EVY JONES
C. VERONICA SMITH {SHE ISN'T INTRODUCED YET, BUT THEN ALSO}
D. CASSANDRA KINGMAN
E. RICHARD KINGMAN
F. ACE'S WIFEY
G. MAISIE WILLIAMS
H. FREYA WILLIAMS