It was two days before christmas when Alec found himself staring at the sky again. The breeze was cold and harsh, the sky dark and mellow. There was nothing cheerful about that night. The stars were hidden by the gray clouds above him and the moon rays were failing to light up his apartment balcony.
He pulled his jacket closer to his chest when the cold wind hit him again. His phone's display was still glowing bright, displaying the message Beth had sent him. She wasn't going to return home that night. And he was glad. Even in this cold bitter night, he had been able to find peace that he hadn't in the past week.
He loved Beth, she liked him and everything was going well between them. He had been repeating those words like a chant for days now because the fantasy seemed far better than the reality. Those words were his fantasy. But reality was far different from this.
The truth was, Alec was in love with Beth. Every night after they returned home from office, they would straight away go to their bedroom, making love to each other in every raw and primeval ways until the morning would come. But then almost like a switch, Beth would change, from a raw passionate woman who knew tricks in bed that made him beg into a distant woman who didn't want to be near him from the very moment sun's first rays fall into the room.
He couldn't understand what was going on until three nights back, when he saw the wildfire in her eyes die down, making the eyes spiritless to which he was usualy waking up. It was then, he realised she was just using him as a distraction. That was all he was becoming for her. He still wanted to believe in opposite but he knew what the truth was.
The truth was, something had changed that night when they had first slept together. Something had changed between them and now she was a woman he didn't recognise anymore. The truth was, he was losing Beth and she was only pushing him out, letting no way for him to save her.
He closed his eyes and repeated the words, He loved Beth, she liked him and everything was going well between them and went to bed.
•
Beth wiped the foggy mirror of the bathroom. There stood a lady staring at her with a blank face and hollow eyes. Her body aching with exhaustion from the flight; her face, dull and tired; her eyes, encircled with dark circles. Her wet hair fell along her lifeless stature and she stared at the woman she had become.
Alec didn't know she was in a tiny motel in another city. For him, she was performing an emergency bypass surgery which is going to last for six hours. She had to lie to him, otherwise he would have asked questions. He wouldn't have left her alone. He would have wanted to know the entire truth about her past. He would have wanted to help her, even when she didn't want it.
But a part of her did wanted his help. Help to bear the pain she always felt. She wanted him here. She him to hold her close and to cry on his shoulder, hear his voice calming her. At first, she felt he was her distraction, but now she was beginning to feel he could become her support too, helping her carry the weight which she had learnt to carry alone.
She had been bearing this pain alone for so long, she just wanted to know what it felt like to share with someone. Like he was doing with his pain of losing Melissa.
But that also made her scared. Sharing it with him also meant letting it all go. And she wasn't ready to let go of the memories that brought her all this pain.
Pain was her only way to relive them. And she didn't want to let go.
•
When next morning Alec woke up, he knew what he had to do. He had to speak to his wife. It was a Saturday morning, she would be returning home soon. She always did after an evening surgery. That was when he decided to speak to her about what was going on between them. They had to. It was too much for him to know that he was just her distraction.
He wanted to be more than the guy who married her to inherit the property or the guy she finds dstracting her from her problems. He wanted to be the husband who loved her.
He waited patiently until the lunch time, hoping she would return home, but she didn't. He didn't know when she was going to come back home, so tried calling her. Her phone was switched off. He tried at random intervals of time until it was seven in the evening and he was actually worried about his wife's safety.
'Mother?" He called Grace.
"Hi darling."
"Mother do you know where Beth is?"
"Well I thought she was at home."
"She hasn't returned yet. Her phone is switched off and I thought she must have been performing that surgery she had told me-"
"Son, she is on leave. There was no surgery to be performed by her." His world suddenly slowed down. He was sure there was some misunderstanding. "Mother but she told me she was performing some emergency surgery last night."
"But son she has been on leave since yesterday afternoon."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I am, I had snactioned the leave." His mother spoke with a certainity.
"But then where is she?" He paced around the room thinking about all the possibilities. He was a big face of the country. He had a lot of rivals and- No, he thought to himself, Beth was safe. But then why did she lie. "Mother, let me call you back."
"Keep me in the loop. Don't worry, she will be safe." He could sense the worrisome tone in her voice too.
'Yes mother." He quickly ended the call and dialed another number. "Roger, I need you to give me last location of Beth's phone. Urgently!"
He knew it wouldn't take Roger long to track down her cell phone's last location. He was well equiped with every technology he needed to pin point her location in a minute.
"Sir," He called again. "Her last location shows Georgia."
Georgia, the place where Melissa died.
•
Beth bought two sticks of white roses on her way to the cemetery. Dressed in black dress, she visited the one place like she always did on 24th of december. Her balck shawl barely protected her against the cold beeze bu she didn't care about it either. She didn't care about her heels that were digging inside the ground, making it harder for to walk. All she cared about was finding the twin graves that were present in the cemetery.
And then she saw them, amidst the sea of headstones, there were two graves with black headstones that gleamed in the sunlight. Her hands begun to shake, her feet grew weak and as she reached near the graves, her heels dug deep into the ground, making her fall head first.
°
Far away, an old lady was visting her dead son's grave. He had died in the war. And on her way back, she saw a woman, fallen on the ground, crouching near two graves and crying. She was begging for someone to comeback.
•
Alec paced back and forth in the room, trying to contact Beth. His mother had called him five times already, Lucy had no clue why she would have been in Georgia, Roger was getting ready to leave for the same place and Mrs. Norris like always made him a strong drink to calm his nerves. But they weren't going to calm down until he had Beth in his arms. It had been three in the morning, and there was still no clue of her.
It was around the time when he had recieved a call from Roger, who was sitting in the flight to Georgia, when he heard the front door open.
"Beth, is that you?" Alec ran towards the foyer.
"Oh shit, did I open the door too loudly?" She said as she entered the house. Her gait was off, there was slurring in her speech and then he noticed the bottle of rum she had in her hand. "Sorrrrrryyyyy abou' that!" She stumbled inside. He caught her in time. He had never seen his wife drunk. She barely used to drink. And today the bottle of rum had been almost finished. He was worried how many such she had before coming back home.
"How much have you been drinking?" He helped her stand but her heels gave away this time. They were cakes with mud. Her dress too was covered in dirt.
She grinned. "I.... Doooon know."
"Beth why are you covered in mud?"
"I fell on the ground.. like.. thuuuddd!"
"Come on, let's get you inside." He picked her up in his arms. "God Beth, you scared me, where were you? Were you in Georgia?"
"Yeaaees."
He noticed the fallen duffel bag on floor. "Mrs. Norris, could you pick that up and-"
"Don't worry sir," she came running from the kitchen. "You take care of her. I will get some water."
He took the rum bottle from her hand. "Hey that is miiinnneee!!" She shouted.
"I think you have had enough of these."
"No! I need more!"
"No you do not. What you need is water. Lots of it. You need to be hydrated." He took her inside the bedroom and laid her down on the bed. Mrs. Norris came with a glass of water and they tried their best to force Beth to drink it.
"Mrs. Norris, thank you but I think you should go. It's late. If you could inform Roger?"
"I will. Don't worry."
Alec drew his attention back to his drunken wife again. She was humming a song softly. She had finished drinking water and was now playing with the glass. She looked like a child and he smiled. This, drunken, crazy lady was his wife.
"Okay then, let's get you tucked in. Time to sleep." He started drawing the covers but she pushed them back.
"I don't want to sleep!"
"Oh but you have to dear. Come on."
"No!" She said with the stubbornness of a young child.
"Why?"
"Because he will come in my nightmares."
Nightmares, they both dealt with their own ones but both of them had never asked each other what were they about. This was a first.
He always thought her nightmares were about her mother. Losing Nora had been difficult for her. But it was today he realised they were about someone else and now he wasn't sure if he wanted to know about them.
"But you still need rest." He said, trying to dismiss his curiosity.
"No, I need alcohol. It numbs the pain."
"Pain?" Her words reminded him of himself. When Melissa was gone, he would often drink until he would lose his senses because the pain was hard to bear.
"Yes, the pain. He is gone and now..... And now.... Now there is ..... It hurts!!"
"Who's gone?"
She didn't say a word. He could see tears coming up in her eyes. He decided the topic was best left for the morning.
"Okay, so you don't want to sleep?"
"No!"
"Okay.... Do you want to tell me why you went to Georgia without telling me?"
"Because you.... ask toooooo many questions. You would ha'e waaaanted toooo be there...."
"But why were you there?"
"Because it was his birthday. I always go there on his birthday." Her voice drifted. She smiled at the memory that was being played in her mind.
"Who's birthday?"
"My husband's."
That was wrong Alec's birthday was in January, next year. "Darling my birthday will be in next month."
"Who said your birthday?" She laughed. "My hubby..... who.... is dead, his birthday."
****
Okay so there you guys have it, Beth's secret is out. You guys like it? Too many dead people? Anyone expected this? Let me know in the comments bellow. Do let me know about any typos you guys find.
Also I really want to thank you all for all the love you all have shown towards this books. I had lost my drafts for the upcoming chapters, but you all supported this story and me so much. Thank you so much for all the support and love. I hope I am being able to live up to your expectations.
You guys are amazing.
The chapter is dedicated to sung_ohmei. She been real sweetheart.
Also, do anyone of you make book covers? PM me if you guys do.
I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Vote for it and share it with your friends. Love you all so much!
Until next time,
Cheerio.
Love,
Alice.
****