PRESENT
Boy: If it's not fate, then what is it? Fate was culpable to make me fall irrevocably in love with her, when the odds, on the contrary refused to let her stand on the same side of the bridge. Fate is responsible for providing my hopes a dais only to renege it at the end. Fate is and will always be the reason of our meeting.
I tried to open my eyes but I had to immediately squint it because of the bright daylight in the room.
"Urgh" I groaned in pain as my head felt as if it was carrying a burden of 100 pounds and someone was hammering it continuously. I sat up on the bed, with my head held up in my hands and tried to blink my eyes ferociously. Slowly, I felt the things transforming from blurry to clear in my vision and boy, did I realize that this is not my room.
Oh Shit. Where the fuck am I?
If not before then, I am certainly awake now. My heart is pounding in my chest heavily because I don't know whose room is this. The air is blocked inside my lungs and I am sweating like a person who just ran 10 kilometers. I think I am hyperventilating because out of all the things that are happening to me lately, sleeping one whole night in a stranger's room is not prudent. And suddenly, the memories of blue car, my destroyed room, that lady flashed into my mind and I realized that I had to get out of here.
I grabbed the quilt that was covering me and threw it on the bed away from me, in order to escape from here. But in this process, I notice handprints all over my hands.
This should not be what I am thinking it to be.
And these handprints covered only my arms. They were no prints on any other part of my body. I closed my heavy mind for all the dirty and bad thoughts from entering. Nothing has happened to you, Sarah. I mentally console myself.
But what happened last night?
I pressurized my mind to flash some memories of last night, but none of it came instead pounding increased and my head felt heavier than it possibly was.
I remember wearing this dress and going to Neil's house with my friends where the surprise party was held, I remember talking to Neil, I remember going in a room or someplace like that, I remember talking to Andr-
The door creaks open. I could see only see the shoes at the bottom of the door of a person who is holding the door knob on the other side. From the shoes, it is clear that the person is a boy. The door slowly opens and the figure steps inside the room in full view.
Wearing a red t-shirt with dark blue jeans and holding a cup of coffee between the hands, stands Andrew with his bright blue ocean eyes which are busy looking at me.
I sigh of relief escapes my mouth as I realize that this is Andrew's room and no one else's. But why am I even at Andrew's?
"You are awake." He said with a cold voice which said that something is quite not into it's place.
"Why am I here? And what-what happened last night? How come I am still in my clothes?" I attacked him with my questions as I really needed to know what happened last night after I met him.
Instead of answering my questions, he just raised his eyebrows and asked, "You don't remember?"
"No, otherwise I wouldn't be asking you in the first place."
"You really don't remember what happened last night?" He said as he took a step towards me.
"Don't beat around the bush, Andrew. Just tell me what happened yesterday." I urged him to say as fear took control over me.
"Are you sure you want to hear it?" Andrew asked, mentally fighting a battle whether to tell me or not.
"What do you mean are you sure? Ofcoure I want to hear it". I said exaggeratedly as the emotions took full control over me.
He took a deep breath, before he began, "When we both started talking in the kitchen, I don't know why but I just felt the need to tell you that I was sorry about your parents and that I was always here for you-"
I think I know what I might have done after listening to that.
"-but you didn't quite hear the rest of it and I guess listening to the same thing, you got frustrated and started drinking to take all your frustration out."
Just what I expected.
"I tried to stop you, but you pushed me away and started drinking from the cups. When you were down to your 8th shot, alcohol had taken full control of you, you did not know where you were or what you were doing, so I pulled you out of the room, thinking that I could safely drop to one of your friends' houses. But-"
"But what?" I said not sure if I want to hear the rest of it.
"But apparently you had some other plans. When we reached the living room, you pulled out of my grasp and went to the centre to dance with other people. So, I came there and I grabbed your hand to take you out of there, but you pulled my hand and you............"
"What did I do?" It felt that as if air just refused to enter my nose.
"You asked me to dance as a slow song came up. I refused but you were very insistent and in the condition that you were, I thought it would be better to just have one dance and leave from that place. So I agreed, but when we were dancing you started crying which made me more worried. But suddenly when you looked at me, you-" He took a deep breath and looked at the ground, indicating that this is the hardest thing for him to tell.
"Oh for God sakes just say it Andrew." I said angrily as I took a step towards him.
"You kissed me."
"I what? Nooooooo!!! No, No, No, No!! It's not true.... It must be a mistake!" I said as my heart was going to burst out of my chest and my head felt numb, no pounding, nothing.....just numb. And heavy.
This cannot be happening. I kissed Andrew? And the worst fear I don't remember any of the things that Andrew just told.
"But why would I kiss you?"
He took another long breath and closed his eyes, before he could open them and say, "Because you thought I was Jake."
"Shit." How can I be such a jerk? How can I be such a loser? I thought that I had moved on from everything. How can I hurt someone like this?
I could feel the tears brimming in my eyes as I said, "I am so sorry, Andrew. I was drunk and I did not mean it-"
"I know, Sarah. You don't need to justify it."
"But how can I do such a cruel thing?" I said to myself more than him as few tears rolled down my cheeks.
He looked at me and I could see pity and hurt replacing the former piercing cold look in his blue eyes.
He came closer to me until we were only inches apart and took a strand of my hair to tuck it in behind my ear. He placed his hand on my cheek and said, "Hey, it's ok! I am not mad at you. I don't blame you. And if anything at all, you should be blaming me, because I was the one to open your wounds again, foolish enough not to realize that they were just stitched recently."
Listening to that, I started sobbing uncontrollably till the point where I couldn't breathe properly. I just felt that everything was coming back to me again. The things that I have been running from, the people that I have been running from are coming back to me again. And I feel that they are etched in my heart like a tattoo. Tenacious to leave.
As I sob like this standing in front of Andrew, I realize what a mess I am right now. And yet he is still standing hoping to help me in some or the other way. I don't know what takes control of me, but I hug him tightly and say, "Thank you Andrew. For not blaming me."
"I would never do that." He said as he hugged me back and wrapped his hands around my waist.
As I pulled out of the hug, my eyes fell on my hands and I saw the handprints on them again. They had faded a little, but were still clear.
"Do you know anything about this?" I asked as I wiped my tears off my face.
"I think I may have a little bit of idea on how that came." He said as he took a step back and shook his head as if shaking a thought from his head.
"You kissing me was not the only thing that happened last night." He said looking at me hoping for some kind of reaction. But I couldn't give anything else than fear and speculation.
"What else happened last night? What did I do?"
"Actually, you were not responsible this time. While you were you know---kissing me........I don't know what happened to you or something came on to you, but you pulled away and you screamed your lungs out. It was as if you saw something that nobody could see and you just ran away from the party.
"I tried to stop you like million times, I called out your name but you wouldn't listen. You just ran towards the exit and out of the door. I realized that you should not be all by yourself in that condition, so I ran after you before anyone could. But I don't know if it was the effect of alcohol or you are naturally fast, I couldn't find you. It was after only a matter of few minutes that I came looking for you, but you seemed to be nowhere. So I started looking for you, I shouted your name, really hoping that you were not caught in some form of mess. I started running until I came to a crossroad when I heard some hushed male voices and whimpering of a girl."
He did not need to explain to me that that girl was me. I knew that. Ofcourse, I do not remember what happened to me, but looking at my history of being so attractive to mess and various other shit, I kind of figured it out.
"What happened after?" I asked as I still don't remember any of this happening.
"So I took steps towards the place from where these voices were coming, and when I finally arrived there I saw a very big built up man fighting with some guys who were probably the cheap local thugs of that area. And the most shocking site was, you were lying on the ground, unconscious-"
"What? Why was I unconscious?" I asked as I pressurized my mind more to at least give me a glimpse of last night.
"I don't know that for sure. Maybe it was an alcohol effect. It happens you know. People pass out like that way." But I could swear my life on the fact that he knew better than me that me being unconscious was not an alcohol effect. It just tells me that even he doesn't know what actually happened to me last night after I ran away from the party. I try to think harder and harder to remember something, anything, but all I could see black patches making the memories blurred.
"This is not it, Sarah. From what all the thugs were speaking who were getting punched by that man, it seemed that he helped you. They were speaking something like 'who are you' and 'this is not your girl' and 'move out of the way you fucking asshole' and much more." After he finished speaking he released a sigh of relief feeling as if a huge burden had been lifted off his shoulders.
"Did anything happen after that?" I asked keeping my cool and trying to relate things as I could.
"As far as I know, nothing much happened after that. When I saw you lying on the ground, I quickly came towards you and tried you wake you up. But you wouldn't budge. By the time, I picked you up, the thugs had already ran away and I came face-to-face with the big guy. Before I could say thank you, he quickly turned away and sprinted towards his car. Before I knew, he sped off.
"After that, I just took you to my car and brought you to my house. Ofcourse I couldn't leave you at your house like that and I thought of dropping you to your friends' house, but I did not have their number and your phone was password protected, so-"
He trailed off but I hardly paid any more attention to him as my mind was busy analysing the situation that Andrew said that happened last night. Who was that man? Why did he help me? Was it out of courtesy or was it something else? Judging from the things that are happening in my life, I think nothing is by coincidence.
So, determined to know each and every detail of yesterday, as I couldn't remember, I asked Andrew, "Did you know that man who helped me?"
"No, I did not. The only thing I know about that man is that he was very weird. Like, he had a deep cut across his face that ran right from his forehead to his left cheek. Even in full light, that man has full potential to make people pee in their pants."
Just imagining that man, makes shivers run down my spine and goosebumps all over my body. If he was that scary, then why did he help me?
I knew there is something else to this. It has to be. So I asked him, "Do you remember anything else? Anything weird or something?"
"No, nothing else happened. As far as I know." He said as he looked at me and then at my hands.
After all of this, I have a lot to think about. First, I need to figure out who was that man. Second, I need to try remember everything that happened last night. So if any of the details were missed out by Andrew, I could know it. I don't know how I am going to do that, but I would have to find some way.
Thinking everything through, I said, "I think I need to go back home."
"Like this?" He asked by raising his eyebrow giving me a ridiculous look.
"Well, I do not have any other option-"
He interrupted me with this extremely good idea. "Unless, you take a bath here and I can arrange some clothes for you."
"Are you sure?" I asked thinking whether it would be weird to take a bath in a boy's house. Especially a boy who had ties with the person I loved.
"Ofcourse I am sure. Why would I have any problem with it?" He said helping me to shake away the train of thoughts I was just building.
"Ok, thanks."
"I'll just go and arrange some clothes for you." He said before opening the door and making his way out.
I was about to ask where the washroom was, when my eyes fell on the wooden door on the left corner of the room. I walked towards it and opened it. Yup, it was the washroom. Pretty big one, though.
I moved inside it and looked at my reflection in the mirror. I left a voiceless scream when I realized a girl with smudged mascara under her eyes which had spread a little all over face because of the tears and who had hair like Medusa was staring back at me, instead of the normal unscary me. I don't know how Andrew had put up with me all this time. I quickly looked away and started unzipping my dress, until it fell onto the floor.
I stepped inside the shower, letting the hot water calm the tension in my body. I massaged my whole body with the soap to let the heat calm all the muscles in my body and relieve the stress. When I was massaging my head, I realized that there was a spot on the back of my head which was hurting. I did not realize it until just now when I started massaging my head. I tried to press that spot again, but it just left a huge throbbing pain in my head with little dizziness and appearance of black patches in my vision. I made a point to myself to not touch it again as it may have caused my sudden unconsciousness.
After taking a shower of exactly 30 minutes, I stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel that was already present inside. As I neared the bed, my eyes fell on the pair of clothes that were neatly arranged.
I quickly wore and made myself comfortable in it. They were a lot loose to me as they were not my size. It felt quite weird to be in Andrew's clothes, but when I looked myself in the mirror, it actually looked cool on me.
After combing my hair and leaving it open, I neatly folded my dress and kept it in an empty bag before I made my way downstairs. When I reached the bottom of my stairs, a small smile curved up my lips as I saw Andrew flipping a pancake and wearing a classic apron.
"You cook?"
He looked and smile of his own covered his face as he said, "Yeah, pretty good actually. Mom is mostly out for work and my dad generally comes home early so it leaves me no choice than to work my ass in the kitchen. In the evening, me and my dad both cook together but in the morning it is generally me."
"That's sweet." I said as Andrew flipped another pancake making him sexier than other times.
"I thought I should make pancakes as it would help you from your hangover and take away the bitterness just for a while." He said as his ocean blue looked deep into mine.
"That's very...thoughtful of you" I said as I was really grateful of him for being this kind to me. Especially after what I had done to him yesterday.
After flipping the pancake one more time, he placed it on the plate and started spreading the syrup all over it.
He moved the plate towards me and said shrugging his shoulders, "Come on, taste it. And tell me how good I am!"
I rolled my eyes at his overconfidence and tasted the sweet hot pancake.
"Oh My God, it's delicious." I said as I took another bite of it before even finishing the first one. It was that delicious.
"I know." He said wiggling his eyebrows and placing his hands on either side of the kitchen counter.
After finishing the last bite and savouring it, I said, "Thank you for everything, Andrew, I really don't deserve it. But I think I should be leaving for home, because I haven't informed my Aunt and Uncle about it, they must be worried by now".
"I'll drop you." He said removing the gloves from his hands and placing them on the counter.
"I can go, it's ok. I have my car." I said before I realized that I didn't actually have my car. He brought me here in his own car. My car is probably still at Neil's.
Realizing the thought process in my mind, Andrew said, "Your car is at your home right now. In the morning, one of your friends called you up but you were sleeping so I picked it up instead. I told them not to worry and asked about your car. They said they safely drove it your house."
"Ok so........." I said thinking to use one of the public transports.
"So, I'll drop you." He said clearly not listening to me as he grabbed the keys from the couch.
"But it's fi-"
"No, its not fine. I'll drop you." He said with an authoritative voice which was clearly not acquainted to listening a no.
So I agreed as I was not left with any other choice.
As we made our way to his car under the bright sun, I looked around to check whether the blue car was still following me or not. I haven't seen that blue car since 3 weeks or even that strange lady. What if that strange lady or the man in the blue car found following me futile? Or what if the person who had intruded in my house, just dropped his plans? I just hoped that.
But when I sat in his car, my sixth sense just dropped a bombshell.
No, this can't be true.
"Andrew, you said that weird man went away in a car. Was that a blue Toyota Corolla?"
It did not even take a second for Andrew to turn and look at me with his piercing ocean blue eyes and say, "How did you know?"