Shimmers & Shrouds (Abstruse) (19 page)

I opened my eyes to a familiar place. The scene in front of my eyes was blurred at first, but gradually, it cleared, and the pain in my head made me wince.

“Mr. Albert, sir.”

“Mr. Sunross, is that you?” my eyes searched for him but he was nowhere near me. Was I dreaming his voice up?

“Sir, Mrs. Llewelly
n is on her way to meet you. I am glad you’re fine.”

I sobbed at the realization that my plan didn’t work out the way I wanted it to. “I didn’t die, right?”

“No, you didn’t.” Grandma’s cruel, furious voice surprised both Mr. Sunross and me.

I didn’t want to open my eyes and see her. She was the person for whom I had
torn my Pearl apart. I hated her now.

“What the hell do you think you were doing?” she yelled at me.

I remained silent.

“
You crazy brat! How could you― how could you do such thing you crazy fool. How can you…” she dumped herself on the bed.

I sat upright and supported her. My hands were paining from the bruises on it.

“You are going to snatch yourself away from me? Are you going to the same thing that your mother did to me?”

“No gran, I am not doing that.”

“Do you how long you were sedated? It’s been three days today.” She wept. “Were you planning to break me now? Are you that merciless?”

I wiped her tears and leaned on her shoulder. This was the first time I’d seen her so concerned over me. “I am
sorry; I won’t do it again, okay?”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” I smiled and hugged her.

Mr. Sunross informed me that while I was off, the news of my engagement with Diane was duly announced on the day of my suicide attempt.

On asking him
how they found me, he told that dad told gran about my location, and when they reached there, they saw some people nursing me. Those guys owned the nearby farm house and had come there for fishing. He told me that grandma settled the matter for some four hundred thousand pounds so they wouldn’t report to either the police or the media. That was quiet an amount

“
It’s not the money that matters, sir; I know why you did it.”

I looked at him, surprised.

“Breaking up this way will only create misunderstandings, sir. This will leave both of you devastated. Please meet her just once, sir, and tell her everything. She is going to understand you.”

He was right. She might forgive me, she wasn’t heartless.

He sat next to me and cleaned my wounds. I looked at my hands. The cuts were pretty deep, and the sterilizing liquid stung me everywhere. I closed my eyes and concentrated on happy moments that I’d spent with pearl so I wouldn’t feel the pain.

A scene came gushing in like
a typhoon. On telling her that I tend to ruin myself, she admitted that we matched.

In my anger and outburst, I’d forgotten that she was really like me. The warning that
she gave thundered in my ears. ‘If I left, she would never forgive me….’

The door to her apartment was locked and the keys were under the eaves. I sighed well heartedly. She was alive, she was safe― what more could I ask for?

I resolved to wait for her. I wanted to apologize for all the crap I’d said that day. I called on her number several times but she didn’t pick up, nor did she call back.

The tension and stress clouded up again when she did not return at her usual time.

I returned back to her apartment and made sure that I wasn’t dreaming about it being locked. I called on her cell once again, and this time, I heard the ringtone from inside. What the fuck! I collected the key and unlocked the door.

A
foul smell invited me when I entered the apartment. My legs started to shiver at the sight of the house.

The television set lay broken on the floor, so did all the cds. The posters that she’d made for my birthday were torn and ripped into shreds.
The curtains were pulled down. In the kitchen, the food she made was just the way that I’d seen them the last time. That was why the house smelled of rotten rats. That poor soul didn’t have her food at all. I turned away from the kitchen but something caught my attention. I was sure I’d seen a bottle of pills on the platform. I strode towards it and examined the bottle. It had sleeping pills and it was empty. My dreadful fears started taking shape. I pushed aside the unpleasant thoughts but a considerable amount of blood in the sink strengthened it more. I fished my phone and called Ken, Sam, and Daniel to check all the hospitals and nursing homes of Kensington and Headington to see whether they had her admitted.

I found a pair of scissors along with her clothes lying on the floor of the closet room. What did she do? Where did she vanish? I had destroyed her.

On the bed was the phone. The blot of blood on the bed sheet was right next to it.

I cleaned the entire house, and washed all the dishes after throwing away the stale food. I spread a new bed sheet and filled the garbage bag with the blotted bed sheet and the shredded clothes. After throwing away all
the things, I switched the light off and waited for her to come home. Daniel had called me to inform that he’d seen her coming out of a beauty salon with Summer. That meant she was okay. I could wait; it was just the matter of few minutes.

I heard a faint sound of her singing a common song. I tried to concentrate on the lyrics. My eyes flew open. I’d been sleeping all this time while I waited for her to come.

She was home. I checked my watch and the radium clock showed quarter past three in the morning..

Oh shit.

Her speech was slurred. C
ould it be that she had alcohol?

NO WAY. She boycotted its consumption at every single opportunity.

She removed her cluttering heels and broke something. May be the vase. Without switching on the lights she limped towards the bathroom, got in and closed the door. I heard the sound of shower.

I rubbed my eyes and got up. It felt like her job was to mess things up and mine was to fix them.

I cleaned up the glass pieces when the stench smell filled my nostrils. It was RYE. She was drunk?

I switched the lights on, ready to confront her, but the sight of bloodied footprints chilled me to the bones. That was why she limped all the way to the bathroom.

I pushed the door open and found her passed out under the shower. I turned the knob off and scooped her in my arms. My hands pained and bled but the mental pain that I’d inflicted on her was worse than any physical pain.

I dried her hair and took her clothes off. While dressing her up in more comfy clothes, I noticed the cut on her wrist. Tearfully I draped her with the blanket and left the place, promising myself to never show up in front of him.

Shroud of joy

"I want your help Theo."
I couldn't find any other option to take care of her, virtually. I was sure that Theo was the right person for this job, but he never used to hide anything from Diane
"Anything, Orpheus."
I liked the way he talked; he had honey melted and fused with his voice. He was a guy who had never let anyone down, and I was glad to finally use this to my advantage. It was for the girl we both were in love with, and somehow, I knew he wouldn't really mind doing it for me. It was a noble task after all.
"I want you to take care of a girl. you know her very well." I swallowed. Would he really not mind?
"I hope she’s not one of your exes. Ha ha."
Oh shit.

"Oceana." There goes my heart beat.
I could do nothing about my impatience and it felt to me that he was testing it by being quiet.
"H... how do you know her?" He stuttered. Thank god he was alive.
"Oh, She's my friend's sister, Ashton Viera." I lied; I couldn't believe I just invented a fake brother to fix my plot inside his head. My idea of being involved seemed much valid now. "And I have heard that she drinks a lot." I quickly changed the subject.
"So?"
"She's avoiding him for I don't know what reasons. And so he has asked me to help him out. I thought you could do it and Diane has told me that you love her."
"She did? That's embarrassing."
I barked a laugh at his audacity to admit the embarrassment in front of me.
"No its okay. You can stay with her for a longer period of time I suppose."
"Yes. What kind of care do I have to take by the way?"
Should I take it as a twisted question? No. I'll end up beating him to death. I wouldn't want to end up with the FBI.
"He wants her to stop drinking. Can you do something about it?"
"It’s a tough task. I usually do the opposite, anyway she didn't use to drink earlier."
"Thank you. You are a great help."
"Anytime, but she never mentioned about her brother, she told she had a sister."
Damn! Intelligent guy... Now what?
"He's her cousin."
"But she's an American."
"Yes. Actually his mom shifted here long ago." So that makes it a long distance relationship. Phew.
"Okay. Where should I call to inform about her?"
"On my cell."
“Okay, I will. I'm really hoping it's all true."
"As if I'm a good liar, Theo, you know me." You don't know me.
"I do. So. Anything else?"
"Yes. Stay away from her, physically."

I walked over to the window. Things were pretty jarred at first. Everything was so confusing. Oceana and I met coincidently or.... I don't know how
; and I fell in love with her the moment I saw her. If we were so different from the other couples in love regarding everything, couldn’t our lives be much simpler? Something like the happily ever after stuffs?
But wouldn't that be very predictable? After all I had always wanted something that made me brace myself up for some thrill. Yes. I had always wanted my life to be more than an adventure trip and not just the random idea I'd been hearing about it from a long time. I just didn't want to grow up like a rich man's spoilt brat that I'd become already, rather, a rich sophisticated celeb for whom life was much interesting than playing a game of polo, attending pool parties or the nightclubs.