Heavy breathing.
Blinding light.
Deadly Silence.
"Rebecca!" Eric yelled. My mother was on the phone talking frantically, obviously upset. Her skin had paled. She was scared. It wasn't often that that happened, so I sat up, and was concerned for her sake. Not entirely sure what had just transpired, I looked around, noting that Eric and Charles were also upset in some way or other.
Eric helped me sit up properly, not that I felt I needed any help. Everyone was making such a fuss. While my mother was on the phone talking to my aunt probably, Charles was also on his phone talking to the hospital for an ambulance.
"Wait, what? Why do we need an ambulance?" I asked and went to get up, but Eric kept me down. "Eric, I'm trying to get up."
"You shouldn't, don't you know what just happened? You fainted. What day is it? What's your birthday? Do you know my name?"
"Why no, Eric, I don't. Could you possibly tell me your name?" I said angrily, pushed him away, and got up. "It's Tuesday, and my birthday is December twelve. Anything else doctor?" I stood, and Eric sighed loudly.
"Yeah, same Rebecca. She's okay."
"Oh... okay, cancel the ambulance, we'll take her in ourselves," Charles said and looked at me.
"Are you okay honey?" my mom asked, running up the stairs and gave me a hug about ten times tighter than she needed to.
"Yes," I replied in a whisper. "Mother. Stop. You're choking me."
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" she said quickly and let go but made sure that I was okay by looking into my face and holding my shoulders steady. "You're sure you're okay honey? How many fingers am I holding up?"
"Two, because your thumb isn't a finger," I replied and walked past her down the stairs. Everyone looked dumbfounded. It wasn't that I was acting weird. It was the fact that I acted like nothing happened which threw everyone off. I didn't even know what happened, so how was I to help them answer something I had no answer for?
"I suppose this is probably a bad time to ask this, but," Charles said and turned to my mom with a half smile. My eyes darted in their direction and watched Charles like a tiger ready to pounce. She looked mildly surprised by the change in topic. "I wanted to ask you both," he paused and looked at me, then back to her. "I wanted to ask if you would go to a party that's happening this weekend. It's the Gables' party just a city over and I can invite whoever I want. I figured you were both perfect candidates." My mood changed instantly, but it wasn't just that that got my attention.
"The Gables' party? Anyone who is anyone goes to those parties! How did you get an invite?" I asked, trying to cover up my happiness with little success.
"You'd be surprised young lady, you'd be surprised," Charles replied and Eric cleared his throat rather loudly, which Charles ignored when I looked at him. "So?"
"Of course we'll go!" my mom said happily, knowing I would definitely say yes.
"Right, so that gives you both almost two days to get new dresses and whatever else you think you'll need. Sound fair?"
"Obviously," I said and opened the fridge, instantly attacking the fudge.
My mom smiled, knowing that I was all for the parties, the glam, and the fame. The sooner I got into Hollywood and L.A. as any type of celebrity, the better- or so she thought. Honestly now I couldn't care less about any of that. Okay yeah, I liked the high-class parties, but they weren't mandatory. I wasn't even old enough to drink yet.
Ever since I was little, I had always wanted to be famous and get a lot of attention. That was until my dad left. I kept up my play after he was gone, acting as though I was too little to realize what actually happened to my family. I knew. However, in my play of sorts, I became a famous teenager in my city. Contrary to popular belief, or what was seen of me thus far, I was interested in helping the elderly, fund raising for causes I believed in, etcetera. In my school I was the most athletic, hardest worker... most popular and talkative. I wasn't a bad person, not really.
After going up to my room, which was after arguing with my mom and Charles about going to the hospital, Eric let in on me about the party.
"Rebecca, don't you think it weird that Charles just suddenly asked you both to a party? Look at him, really look at him. I don't think he did it to be nice."
I didn't reply, I just turned my laptop on and sat down in my chair. "Rebecca? Come on, listen to me."
"Look, I don't know what's going on but if I declined and she accepted, I'd never know what happened. I mean, what if he wanted me to say no so he could propose to her and there was nothing I could do about it?"
"Do you think that if he asks her in front of you it will make a difference? It's her choice after all, there's still nothing you can do if he does. You know that," Eric said, an annoyed look on his face. "Don't you think you're getting a little paranoid?" he asked. I stopped in the process of signing in on Messenger and turned to him.
"I'm not paranoid, but that doesn't mean he won't," I replied and smiled. Eric rolled his eyes and walked behind my chair and put his arms around me as he rested his chin on the top of my head.
"You know I love your stubborn nature, but I think maybe you should let it go this time, because it might not be so bad to have a guy around the house."
"If I let him stay, be prepared to never see me again. I'll probably be shipped off to somewhere like California or Colorado, left for the animals, never to be seen by humanity again. Is that what you want?"
"You sure have a wild imagination. Your mother wouldn't let that happen, she's not like that. Even if he is, she won't let him go through with something like that babe," Eric said and hugged me gently, kissing the top of my head. "I won't let that happen either."
"You might have to," I whispered and clicked onto Miya's name which pulled up a conversation screen. "I need to come up with something to drive him away from here."
"True, but don't you think you're going overboard, just a little?"
"No, overboard is when I plan to kill him. The point of becoming psycho, is when I follow through with the plan, and believe me, I'm not that far off," I growled. I imagined Eric to be surprised, though I knew he shouldn't be. It was just like me to do this, but Karli usually had a helping hand in it. He probably guessed that a bit or a lot of Karli had seeped into my brain and was slowly making me crazy. Maybe that was true.
"Well, I hope you can hold out a little longer," Eric said. "I don't think he'll kick you out of your own house."
"We'll just have to see, then won't we?"
"Eric, your father called, he said he needs you at home to help put the counter top on or something," my mom said from outside the door. My mother at least had manners in this house.
"Um, alright," Eric said standing up and I looked at him. "See you later Rebecca," he said and kissed my cheek, then turned and walked to the door.
"Oh, Eric," I said quickly as he opened the door and went to walk out. He turned with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes?" he asked curiously, waiting for me to speak.
"I... um... thank you," I said after a moment. "For everything."
"You're welcome," he replied back and smiled. "See you soon."
"Bye," I said, and he walked out. I waited for a moment and then almost ran to the door, looking down the stairs as he put his shoes on. He looked up as he stood and gave me a genuine smile, something he didn't do often. He opened the door and walked out, closing it softly behind him. I sighed and leaned against the door frame, waiting for the screaming to come in a few moments when Charles checked his bank account, but it never came and I slid down the wall still looking at the door in a daze.
I'm not sure how long it took, but my mother came out of her room and saw me just sitting there staring at the door. "Rebecca, you shouldn't be sitting on the floor," she said, and I jumped. I turned to my mother and sighed. "C'mon, I'll make you a coffee."
"Alright," I agreed and nodded. I got up, followed her downstairs and sat down at the island in the middle of the kitchen. "Are you going to have one too?" I asked and wondered where Charles was.
She turned to me and smiled. "Yep. How strong do you want your coffee?" she asked after putting three tablespoons in it. She turned back to me with a wink. "Two more?" she asked with a devilish smile. I smiled and nodded, slightly tired even though it was only four in the afternoon. After putting the coffee on, my mom sat down beside me. "Look Rebecca, I know you don't like him, but you didn't like any of the others either. What am I supposed to do to make you happy? I don't want to stay single forever."
"Remarry dad," I said quietly. "Please. I know you two aren't in love anymore, but please, do it for me? You can both have your own rooms. I'll take the guest room and Dad can have my room. Just don't marry Charles mom, I'd make you take back your last boyfriend if it means you won't marry him."
"Becky, I can't do that. I love Charles now and I think he's the best to make this family work. Please like him Rebecca, he's really trying." Was there a strain to her voice, or was I imagining that?
"No mom, I'm really trying. I want him gone. He gives me a really bad feeling when he's around. Like he wants to kill me."
"Rebecca! He wouldn't do that!" Eileen said and shook her head. She got up and took out two coffee cups for us. Denial. "Don't even say that."
"Mom, I think I did."
"Don't say it again then."
"Whatever, you just know I'm right and you're trying your best to ignore it."
"It's not like that at all Rebecca, we're in love, and that's that. We're ending this discussion right now."
"Whatever. Let him destroy you, just don't let him destroy us."
"I'm warning you Rebecca James..."
"Just remember that," I persisted. "Is the coffee ready?"
"Yes," she said and turned to pour the steaming brew into both cups. After giving me one cup of coffee, she sat down with her own, still beside me. Once again, I was in my father's old chair. "Look, I know you don't think much of him. I'm sorry but I'm not going to listen to you this time. I've listened to you too many times already and can you see where it's gotten me? Nowhere."
"I'm telling you he's trouble. I've never told you that about any of the others, have I?" I asked, already knowing the answer. "Where is he anyway? Thought he'd be staying tonight, like every other night this week."
"He's not here. He went to his apartment for the night. We're only dating right now, he said he doesn't want to start staying over all the time."
"Bull, he's stayed over the last two nights in a row."
"Which is why he isn't here tonight. Besides, I thought we could have a good time together tonight," Eileen said with a small smile. "Sound okay?"
"Yeah, definitely, it may be our last for a long time, so I'll embrace the chance."
"Rebecca... stop being so negative."
"Stop dating him."
"No."
"Ditto."
"He's not going to be here tomorrow either, he has a business trip he has to go on for the day. We can take that time to go get dresses and just have a mother-daughter day, alright? I'm really sorry you don't like this idea, but I can't be without someone forever."
"Whatever, I don't care," I said and drank my entire coffee at once, getting up and staring down at her for a moment. "Expect me to be miserable for the rest of my life. Blame yourself too, because it will be your own fault."
I woke up in the living room the next morning, with a huge headache to the phone ringing beside my head. I groaned and picked it up, "Hello?" I asked, and my mood got worse. "She's sleeping. Go away." I hung up the phone and looked at the clock. It said it was six in the morning and I groaned even louder. The phone started ringing again five minutes later, and I was starting to get frustrated. I picked it up again to listen to the same, annoying voice of my mother's boyfriend telling me to wake up my mother, and I rolled my eyes, which hurt, and spoke again, "She. Is. Sleeping. Go the fuck away and go on your trip." I slammed the phone down and cringed as my headache got worse. It definitely wasn't going away anytime soon.
I got up and went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and went up to my room to change. When I went back downstairs, I was surprised to see my mother knocking back a few Tylenol with water, her hair still a mess and an agonized look on her face. "You too hm?" I asked as I walked past her. She smiled as we sat down.
"Coffee?" My mother asked as she set a coffee cup down in front of me and sat to drink the rest of hers. I nodded and started drinking mine, not that there was really much choice with it right in front of me. I had to be the worst coffee-holic in high school.
"Y'know, the coffee is going to stop the effects of the medicine you just forced down your throat." We sat in silence as my mom smiled and shrugged, neither of us caring, both of us just trying to wake up.
"So, ready to go get the dress for the party tomorrow?"
"You're still going to go with that sad, sad face of yours?"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world. My headache is almost gone."
"Awesome, let's go then," I said. Both of us got up and got into the dark blue SUV that was hidden in the garage. I would just add to the coffee when we got back if we had the time, or else I'd drink it cold. I sat in the passenger seat, thinking of a million things to say, but could only say one. "So, I heard this year's color is purple, shall we get purple dresses?"
"I'm not sure honey, when we see the right dresses for us, we'll know."
"How expensive can we go?"
"No more than a thousand I think."
"Each?"
"We'll see."
Once we got to the mall that was long enough to be a landing strip for airplanes, we went inside, heading straight for the Dior department. The last thing on our minds was getting a cheap knock-off dress. In the end, I got a red and white dress that was white. The dress hugged my upper body all the way down to my waist where it gently flowed down to the floor. It went over the right shoulder, looking like it was tied. The sash that appeared to be tied was a brilliant red, most of the dress black. At the bottom it looked like the red dye had seeped up from the hem like I had walked through a lake of blood. It was stunning. It showed off my curves better than anything else I owned.
My mother's dress was strapless, using a light baby blue and navy. The design was definitely something different. Around her torso the material seemed to slant down to the left as navy blue, and with a bit of light blue along the top, while the bottom of the dress looked pleated in the same light blue to the floor. She looked decent in it, at the least.
After going home and dropping the dresses off, both of us decided to go out and have Chinese for supper. Then we came home and watched the movie Twilight.
"Wow, imagine having someone like Edward to fall in love with!" My mother said in a voice that longed for a fantasy lover.
"Oh I don't know really, he seems sweet, but he tells Bella that she shouldn't be with him way too much," I said as though I wished for someone like that too. Just at that point, I saw something move outside the window. I got up, walked over to it and looked in the direction I saw the figure disappear. It looked to quick to be a person, but it looked so much like one that it scared me.
"Rebecca? What is it?"
"I'm not sure, I thought I saw something outside..." I shook my head and looked out again, not seeing anything. "I was probably just seeing things..."
"I think we're both tired, we've had a long last few days, it's time we get some rest," my mother said as she went to the kitchen for a glass of water, taking out two Tylenol pills, and getting a second glass for me. I sighed and went into the kitchen after her, taking my glass and filling it with water, refusing the Tylenol.
"Goodnight mom," I said as we walked to our own rooms and I closed my door, then closed my curtains, suddenly having a fear that someone might be watching me. I got undressed, then into my silk pajamas, turned my light off and got into my soft, comfortable bed. I fell asleep, dead to the world like a corpse in a grave... in sheets as smooth as silk.
In the morning, it was my mother woke me, telling me everything I neededto do that day, and an unpleasant fact. "Hurry and get ready to go out.We're getting our hair done in three hours. Do you want your make-up done theretoo? Then we're coming home, getting the dresses on and Charles is taking us tothe party for seven. He's already here."
"I'm not going to theparty in his car, you know that right? I'm not going to look all fancied up andgo in that car. I'm serious this time, and there's nothing you can do to make meget in it. What time is it?" I asked and looked over at my watch that wason my bedside table. Ten. Zero. Two. Damn it. Two hours and fifty-eight minutesleft.
"You'll get used to it,now c'mon, get ready!"
"Mom, we have threehours. Calm down."
"Quick!" Sheinsisted before closing the door and going downstairs, chattering away toherself and I smiled. I knew my mother was crazy about occasions like this, somuch so that I would tend to just disappear for the day until the very lastminute before leaving for the event. I almost felt sorry for her...
Before getting into the showerhalf an hour later, my phone rang. I picked it up and smiled. "Hey Hailey,no that's alright. Karli? Cool, tell her I'll see her there sometime then, I'mgoing too. I wish you could go. Well, I was going to have a shower before youcalled, so could I call you back? Oh, okay. I'll talk to you tomorrow then.Love you too. Bye."
After getting out of theshower, getting dressed and having breakfast, it was almost twelve thirty, andmy mother was going insane with anticipation. I went to my room, brushed my hairand went to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I couldn't help but have my mindstray to tonight and what events might take place. Then I remembered how I feltlast night, what I thought I'd seen. Had I really seen a lightning fast personin our back yard? Was I really being watched? Was I just being stupid?
I went back downstairs, and mymother was standing at the door, keys in hand, and smiling at me like she'dnever smiled before. I almost turned to go back upstairs when Charles walked upbehind me. I then instead made a bee-line straight outside and into the car.The guy just creeped me out.
Once our hair and make-up werefinished, it was almost four in the afternoon and we were on our way back tothe house. Both of us looked fabulous, and our make-up matched the colour ofour dresses, our hair matched the fanciness of the individual garb. My almostblack, hip length hair was put up in big somewhat loose curls with red sparkleshere and there, like flecks of blood to go along with my dress.
My mother's hair was done upin a pony tail, with looser curls then mine, curled pieces left out in front toframe her face, and blue sparkles to match her own dress. I chose to have no lipstick;my mother had a light pink lipstick applied to her lips that was barelynoticeable. While I had my eyes done so they were darker on the outer parts,and a lighter red by my tear ducts, my mother had a hint of blue over her eyes.I had a bit of black eyeliner; my mother chose light blue. I chose a whiteshimmer for my face, my mother chose to have foundation added to make her facemore evenly colored, and a light rosy color applied to her cheeks. She looked manufactured.
Charles was waiting outsidethe house when we arrived, reading the newspaper. He looked relaxed, and my bet?He was probably scheming. My oblivious mother would look at this situation andthink he's relaxed and smiling, but I loathed his smile, and so I kept'scheming' in my mind. As we pulled into the driveway, I was struck with anidea.
"Hey mom, we didn't getmanis or pedis," I began as my mother slowed to a stop in the driveway."I mean, the perfect dress only demands the perfect hair, perfect make-up,and perfect nails, doesn't it?"
"I never thought ofthat," my mother replied looking at me for a moment, smiling and thenrolling the window down. She poked her head out of the window and Charleslooked at her. "Honey," she said at first - I cringed - Charlessmiled. "We forgot to do something, so we'll be back in a little while.We'll be here before six though, is that okay?" she asked, and I rolled myeyes, You never bothered to askdad when you wanted to do something, why do you have to ask him? This isstupid...
"Of course, go, go! Bequick my little butterfly!" Charles said waving us away with a 'flirtatious'gesture to show he didn't mind. "Have fun."
"Okay, bye," mymother said and put her head back in the window, rolling the window back up andpulling back out of the driveway. I stared at her, and she ignored me. When wegot home we helped each other get our dresses on. Once that was done, Charleshurried us out the door, and just as I opened my mouth to protest about therushing I stopped. There, sitting in front of the yard, was a long, blacklimousine. It was unbelievable. Maybe he wasn't that bad after all... but Istill didn't want him marrying my mother.
As amazing as it sounds, mymother didn't keep tabs on me throughout the whole party. Karli was there so Ispent most of the time with her, trying to forget about my mother and Charles.It was hard though, seeing him almost everywhere I went. Eventually, Karli andI ended up in a back corner, talking just between the two of us without beingdisturbed. My eyes wandered for a few moments as we talked, not seeing anythingthat was out of the ordinary at first.
As my eyes swept the room, Isaw a lot of unfamiliar, boring faces. Karli did the same thing, becomingrather quiet. We'd talked almost all night, and we were quickly running out ofthings to say. My eyes took a slower look around the room, to look for anyhidden faces or details about someone's dress, and I came across two men thatlooked a lot like they were from a model company. They both looked about twentysomething, probably close to twenty-four, and absolutely gorgeous. Too good tobe true. I looked over at Karli for a second and it seemed that she'd foundthem too.
"Who are they Karli? Doyou know them?"
"Hm?" Karli asked,snapping out her trance at the sound of my voice. She looked at me and smiled,looking back at them. "I heard they were Duke Krasten and Claude DeLuca, fromOttawa or something. Aren't they beautiful?"
"That's anunderstatement," I said looking at them again. Karli just nodded as shewatched them. Just then, the one I assumed was Claude looked our way. He hadspikey bleach blonde hair and the most beautiful green eyes I'd ever seen in mylife, and I thought my mother's blue ones were as mystical as eyes could get.He didn't smile, but his eyes glanced from Karli to me, stopped there andseemed to get a bit darker. It startled me a little, and before I could lookaway, his eyes turned back to Karli. He was tall but looked built compared tothe other beside him.
At that moment, Duke turned inmy direction, not even looking at Karli. He stared at me. He had dark hair,fair complexion like Claude's, both of them almost white but still healthylooking. Something about Duke though held my attention and soaked me with fear.I didn't know why, but something scared me when it had no affect on others. Itore my eyes away from his dark, almost black ones and looked at Karli who wasstill caught in Claude's stare. "Karli," I said quickly, touching hershoulder. She blinked and looked at me. "Let's go touch up in thebathroom," I said. She nodded still in a slight daze and we walked swiftlyover to the bathroom doors where I looked over at the two men, both of themstill staring at us. A shiver ran down my spine as I backed through the door.
"Aren't they the mostprecious things you've ever seen?" Karli asked staring at me through themirror as I came in. "They look amazing..."
"No, Karli, they freak meout. I don't even want to be in the same room with them." I looked atmyself in the mirror. The make-up was still all there, and my hair was the sameas when I had walked into the place. My skin was more white than usual, and Iwanted to blame it on the shimmer being so white, but I knew that wasn't thereason.
"Rebecca, you look pale.Are you alright? I can drive you home if you want me to," Karli said,seeming to regain her usual personality back. "Rebecca?"
"No, I want to stay tomake sure nothing happens with Charles and my mom," I said and turned,watching a girl in red come into the bathroom. She looked just as attractive asthe guys out in the other room, her eyes just as dangerous. I turned to Karliand felt the woman's eyes on me as she closed the stall door. I nodded to theexit door and Karli followed me out into the ball room.
"She felt like the mendid that were- where are they?" Karli asked as she scanned the entirefloor with me, not seeing either one of the two guys that had been staring atus. "This is a little creepy, do you think maybe we were seeingthings?"
"Not a clue but the onewith dark hair didn't feel right to me. The other one seemed fine but... Duke?Was it Duke?" I asked, and Karli nodded her head. "Okay. Duke, heseemed menacing. He freaked me out when he looked at me." We watched tosee if anyone else was looking at us oddly. Nothing. Then everyone went quiet,and Karli and I hurried to the center of attention, just a little bit too lateto stop what was happening.
"Eileen, will you marryme?" I heard the voice I dreaded so much ask my mother. I froze, seeing mymother standing and Charles down on one knee to her. Before I could yell no, Isaw, as if in slow motion, my mother nodding... yes.