Chapter 45: Chapter 44

Kristal Anderson

“Kris-” I refused to allow her to take up much more of my time, I refused to allow her to feed me more lies. Every ounce of trust I had for the woman I once considered my guardian angel shattered right before our very eyes. There was nothing either of us could do about it, nothing we could do to stop it, to fix it. The damage caused by the gut-wrenching pain that I felt in that very moment was irreversible.

“Don't.” The pure venom that was laced in my voice cemented the complete tonal shift in our relationship, never would I ever even thought about raising my voice at the woman who raised me. “Don’t you open your mouth if you’re gonna continue to feed me lies,”

“What are you tal-”

I was right in front of her before she could get another word in, she nearly flinched back at my sudden movement. The look in her eyes told me everything I needed to know; she knew she was fucked.

“How could you?” That was all I could get out. So many thoughts were running through my mind, so many emotions that I couldn’t decide what to focus on first. Everything had been a lie, all these years I was living with a blindfold over my eyes. A blindfold that she strategically put over my eyes. “You. . .tricked me, y-you played with my emotions, you made me fear my own father a-all for the sake of money?” I already knew the answer but maybe saying it out loud would help my brain progress everything.

It didn't.

“I don’t know what you heard Kristal but I can assure you that it's not what you think, your father is a dangerous man and you know it or must I remind you of the bloody living room you walked into that day? Must I remind you who caused that bloody scene?” The rate at which my confidence left my body nearly gave me whiplash, with just a few words she was able to make me reconsider everything I thought I knew once again.

With just a few words she got me questioning what I was doing here in the first place, why I was arguing with the woman who sacrificed so much for me, why I was feeling sympathy for my father; the man I found lying on the floor beside my mother’s lifeless body with a gun in his hand.

How could that man be innocent?

. . .

Only when her manicured hand reached in to cup my cheek did I realise that I’d been staring at the floor, she knew that she had struck a nerve. She could see right through me she knew that suddenly I wasn’t so sure of myself, “Tell me what you heard, and I’ll explain everything because I can assure you that it’s not what you think. Kris, I’m not the bad guy here,”

My first instinct was to lean into her touch, listen to her like I always did, allow her to calm my worries with her lies, and allow her to create a new layer to the illusion. But her last sentence pulled me right out of the trance.

Now everyone was the bad guy until proven otherwise.

My hand wrapped around her wrist before pulling her hand away from my face, “It won’t work this time, now I'm going to figure out for myself who the bad guy is,” I dropped her wrist before turning on my heel and pacing towards the door, the sound of her hurried footsteps behind me didn’t stop me as I hurried down the hallway towards the stairs.

“Wh-what is that supposed to mean? Kristal you know that your father is close, he-”

“It means what it fucking means, I’m going to figure out the truth on my own. I’ll listen to whoever is willing to tell me the truth, I’ll get the fucking authorities involved, I’ll scream it to the fucking world if I have to,”

I had just reached the stairs and just as I took my first step down she took a hold of my arm stopping me from going any further, I whipped my head back in her direction to kindly demand for her to take her hands off me but she spoke before I had the chance to, “You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into Kristal,” There was a certain shift in her voice, it felt like she was finally being honest with me.

My eyes moved from her hand around my arm to her eyes, “I’m not afraid of Robert Vasilakis,” That visibly caught her off guard, it was clear that she had expected me to be completely clueless regarding the identity of the man she was talking to. I could practically see it click in her mind; I was closer to the truth than she had anticipated.

She tightened her grip on my arm staring right into my soul, before I could understand what was going on my body was pushed backwards before her hand released my arm. My eyes grew wide at the realization, I tried to reach for the railing but it was far too late.

I was tumbling down the stairs.

I fought to stay awake through it all, enduring all the pain that shot through me every time my body came in contact with the stairs.

It was all happening way too fast. I was tumbling down with nothing to halt my fall. I managed to catch glimpses of her, she just stood there watching me. Making sure that her job was complete.

Just a second ago I was all the way up there with her, now I was fighting to stay awake.

She pushed me down the stairs.

I blinked and my eyes refused to open again.

Just a mere second later I felt my body hit the floor.

But my eyelids stayed shut.

I had no choice but to let the darkness embrace me.

. . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

I always saw myself as a good person, a person with morals, a person worthy of landing at least somewhere close to heaven. I'm not perfect by any means, far from it actually but I just didn't expect for this to be the first thing I saw when I died.

Fire.

Angry flames making their way towards me.

Hell was welcoming me and I had no strength to fight it. I accepted my faith.

When my eyes fluttered shut and opened back up again the angry flames had moved closer.

Now all I could do was wait for them to engulf me.

Aiden Vasilakis

"Aiden, you're gonna have to promise me you'll stay calm this might not even be what we think, maybe they just didn't hear the doorbell, maybe they went out on a walk together"

My palm pressed into the centre of the steering wheel for what feels like the hundredth time, Thea’s last words before she hung up replaying in my mind but the longer I was stuck in this traffic the more unreasonable her suggestion sounded.

I felt like I was burning from the inside out and every second away from her, every second without making sure with my own two eyes that she was okay made that fire  burn brighter. Something deep in my soul was screaming at me, begging me to get to her now. It was a feeling I couldn't ignore.

Though the universe didn’t seem to be on my side, never had I ever been stuck in traffic at this time of day and today just when I needed to get to her, it happened.

My palm was pressing down on the center of the steering wheel again, honking at the car in front of me before I could stop myself. Every second I spent stuck in this unmoving traffic made my chest grow heavier and heavier with worry.

My phone dinged to my right with an incoming message, my heart stopped then started again hoping that that text would rid me of my worries, that it would be Kristal, my Kristal telling me that she was okay. That she had just woken up that's why she hadn't picked up, or that she was too enthralled in her book to notice our calls, our texts. Anything.

But slight disappointment filled me when I picked up my phone from the passenger seat to see that it was a text from Dora.

Dora: Hey just made it to work please keep me updated and please stay calm

When she called me she had informed me that she had to get back to work, she was expecting a delivery at the Cafe and she needed to be there.

I read over the text again.

Please stay calm.

As if that was so easy, as if I wasn't on the verge of breaking my steering wheel in half from how hard my hand would pound against the horn.

Me: Will do

I tossed my phone my phone to the passenger seat only to pick it back up again, I had to try and call her again.

It rang...and rang....and rang but there was no answer.

That was my last straw, this traffic didn't seem to be moving anytime soon and being stationary when every bone in my body told me that something was wrong just wasn't gonna cut it.

I opened my car door not bothering to shut it behind me as I began sprinting. I had to get to her.

So I ran, I ran like I had never ran before.

When I finally turned to our street I was so out of breath I was sure I was going to pass out from overexertion. But the sight that welcomed me had me going faster, running harder.

A crowd had formed just outside Kristal's house, the crowd of curious neighbors watched the house go up in flames.

Her house was on fire.

My Kristal...

I pushed past the crowd and rushes towards the front door ready to break in despite the angry flames that had consumed the right side of the house. A few gasps arose from the crowd along with a few whispers questioning my sanity.

But just as I was about to kick down the front door a voice stopped me, "Hey what are you doing? They're not in there!" An older man who lives a few doors to my right exclaimed, I had seen him around the neighborhood once or twice.

I whipped my head back to face him, "How do you know?"

"Their car," He pointed towards the driveway where Aunt Jenna's red SUV is usually parked, "it's not here, there's nobody home don't go in there that's a death wish,"

His statement should fill me with relief but it didn't in fact it was quite the opposite.

My loves I've missed you so much <3

Apologies for the long wait, life got complicated. But I've settled down and now I'm back.

Thank you so much for reading! Would love to hear your thoughts!