A Bride Worth Billions (26 page)

Syrene and Music stayed for a few more hours at Cara’s. Thought it was getting late, they were in no hurry to end the night yet. They talked about themselves and got to know each other better. She found out more things she didn’t know before about Cara.

              “How about when you were in sophomore?” Cara asked and Syrene thought Music gave his cousin a pointed glance.

              “Hmm . . . what about it?” She asked.

              “I’ve heard about freshman and junior year in your stories but never when you were in second year high school.” Hearing that, Syrene found it odd that Cara even noticed that.

              “Well . . .“ Reminiscing, she realized she didn’t remember much about the said year. “I don – “

              “That’s okay. We tend to really forget things anyway.” He said quickly and then murmured, “Especially if they weren’t really that significant.”

It was almost ten in the evening when Syrene decided that she needed to go home. Her mom might had allowed her to stay gone for several hours but she’d still be worrying about her. Music told her that he’d walk her home though her house was just a few minutes away. Cara winked at her when Music wasn’t looking.

              Outside, they now had time together alone although it wouldn’t be that long.

              They made no steps and were just standing in the cold night. “I loved how you read the poem.”

              “What poem?” Syrene wondered.

              Music chuckled. “The one Mrs. Johnson made you read the other day.”

              “Oh.”

              They were comfortable with each other but it seemed like the wind had gotten warmer when there were only the two of them talking to each other.

              “When you were reading that poem, it was like you were using my own power on me.” She remained silent as she stared at his eyes. It was like she getting hypnotized through his words. “It was like falling in love with you the second time around.” His last sentence just slipped from his mouth and he immediately looked away when he realized what he just said.

              “Falling in love?” She asked as if the words were new to her. “And what do you mean second time?”

              Music just let out a silly laugh and said, “That was just a part of one of my favorite poems as well.” He then breathed a sigh of relief when Syrene nodded.

              “Let’s walk now. I still have something to do.” She lied. Though she couldn’t figure out her feelings for the guy yet, she thought he was starting to have feelings for her when he said those words. She was trying to hide her disappointment about Music just reciting a quotation from a poem. 

              “And then what?” He scoffed. “Telling her the truth won’t bring her memory back. That won’t make her love me again.”

              “You’re probably right but not telling her the truth might make her hate you instead.” He knew that but he still wanted to create new memories with her rather than forcing those memories and himself to her. It maybe was like being back to zero but to him, that was much better and easier than doing the latter which would be more painful for the both of them.

At the moment, she and her mom were going to a restaurant for dinner with her mom’s co-worker. Why she had to be there, Syrene had no idea.

              “They’re my friends, mom.”

              “Don’t get this wrong, Sy.” Sarah shook her head as she drove the car away from the school. “I know they’re you’re friends but you know they’re not ordinary people.” Her mother still thought that Cara could do something out of ordinary as well. “That boy killed his own father.”

              “Mom!” She couldn’t help but feel irritated. “That wasn’t his intention. And besides, his father was already suffering from a heart disease at that time.”

              “With intention or not, Sy, his father still ended up dead. I don’t want you to be in a situation like that.” Her mother’s voice was full of concern and sincerity that she couldn’t stay mad at her for long. She decided to just stay silent for the rest of the ride for she didn’t want any more arguments to take place between the two of them.

“Will I meet her again?” Leila asked Cara. She was happy to see her husband’s niece again because the last time she’d seen her, she had been five. Now she was wondering if when she’d talk to Syrene again. The last time they talked to each other was two years ago, before Syrene’s memory was erased after an accident. Nowadays, Leila would just see her on the street sometimes but no recognition could be seen on her face.

              “If her memory will miraculously get back, then maybe you’ll be able to see and talk to her again like you did before.” Cara said admittedly though she wasn’t there during those times. She had only known Syrene through stories from her cousin. That was why she’d been eager to meet her personally when she came back to this town. How happy she was when they eventually became the best of friends despite the fact that Syrene couldn’t remember her cousin was her boyfriend.

              She walked across the road and her mom was calling her. It was already too late when she realized that a car was fast approaching. The next thing Sarah saw was her daughter lying on the road and blood everywhere.

              An ambulance immediately arrived and brought her to the hospital. Sarah was crying the whole time. It was like two years ago all over again. She remembered promising then that she’d never let anything bad happen to Syrene ever again but now she was back in the same situation. While Syrene was being operated in the surgical room, that was when she remembered to call her husband. Her hands were shaking as she speed-dialed his number.

              “Sy---Syrene got hi—hit by a car.”

The operation took more than an hour. Sarah and her husband, Jon, were in the waiting area until a nurse approached them. They had been told that the operation was a success but it would take more than a week before she could fully recover. They hugged as tears came running down on their faces.

Four weeks after:

It had been weeks since they last saw each other and that was before the accident happened. Music knew of her accident only days after it happened and he hadn’t been allowed to see her. It was a painfully long month for Syrene for she was excited to finally see him again and tell him that she could now remember him.

              The door opened and standing there was a middle-aged woman. “Good morning. Looking for my son, I assume?”

              She nodded. “Y-yes.” She stuttered as she was still catching her breath.

“Who is he to you?”

Syrene wiped her tears away but more tears came running down her cheeks. “Music was my boyfriend.” This time, she was able to answer straight.

“Not
was
.” She suddenly heard a very familiar voice that she made her heart thumped faster than when she was climbing the stairs. “
Is
”

THE END

Walking through the narrow space between the two cheap motels, I couldn’t help but feel a little nauseated.  There were a lot of garbage bags and cans in here, most were either left open or were torn that the trash were scattered everywhere and the smell coming from them were oozing in the cold chilly wind.

It was already bad that I had to take a longer different route because of my now ex-girlfriend and now I had to suffer from this unbearable smell. I didn’t know which one was worse and I wanted to complain to her but that would just mean seeing and talking to her again.

Hell, no.

When I came out to the other end of the walkway, I realized I had taken the wrong route. There were only old boxes in the corner, broken appliances everywhere and a high wire fence surrounding the small area.

I glanced at my wristwatch and it told me that it was already half past six in the evening. As I turned around to go back to that smelly narrow alley, I took out my cell phone from my pocket only to realize that it was already out of battery.

I was about to walk out of that dead end when I heard some harsh whispering and then seconds after, two bulky men was at the other end of the alley and were dragging a girl about my age. They were busy dragging and looking at the girl that they didn’t notice me when they started leading her through the narrow space I had been walking on just minutes ago.

My heart started to thump very fast and I was paralyzed for a few moments. I took a few steps back quietly and looked for somewhere to hide. The two-door broken refrigerator immediately caught my attention and I quietly hid behind it as I wouldn’t be able to hide inside for one of the doors was obviously broken.

Once hidden, I was too afraid to dare sneak a peek and risk being seen. At that moment, it felt like everything was silent and all that I could only hear were the sounds made by the two men and the poor girl they were dragging. My heart thumped even faster as they got closer to where I was.

I heard them talking in a foreign language I couldn’t understand. I heard every hit they gave the girl, every thump on the ground every time she’d fall, every cruel laugh, every sob and whimper. I heard every little thing clearly that it almost felt like I was the one in her place.

I wanted to save her, to get us out of this place but this wasn’t a movie. I wasn’t a hero with some kind of super powers. Trying to save her would just mean myself most likely getting killed. And even it was kind of hard to admit, I realized how selfish I was at that very moment.

I heard another harsh thump on the ground and this time, her lifeless face was blankly staring at me. She’d landed only a few feet away from where I was hiding. I thought it was the most terrifying thing I ever felt but I was immediately proven wrong when I felt a cold steel touching the back of my neck.

I woke up to the sound of my cellphone’s alarm tone. With still closed eyes, I moved my hands around me, feeling for the tormenting machine who dared interrupt my very important sleep. When I already had it in my hands, it took me a lot of effort to open my eyes, though I was only able to do so partially. Turning off the alarm, I did a double take in reading the time when it showed that it was already 8:15 in the morning.

“F*ck!” I harshly whispered as I immediately got up from my bed. I even felt a little dizzy due to the sudden change of position but it didn’t stop me from hurrying up towards the bathroom.  While taking a quick shower, I kept on blubbering about how was I not able to wake up earlier when the alarm had been ringing for already about forty minutes or so.

I had a very important test today in Chemistry class which always, as in
always
, starts at 8 a.m. sharp. Mr. Clayton, our Chemistry 101 professor as well as my writing mentor in journalism, wasn’t strict except for one thing:

Time.

When I got to head out of my room, it was already quarter to nine and so I ran on the hallway though that was against one of the rules of Cannelton University and its boarding house. I was just hoping then that no professor or supervisor would see and then stop to ask me questions and probably give some scolding or punishment. That would have taken more minutes from me and I didn’t want that. This was one of the few times that I regret going solo in the room. If only I had roommates, I’d probably have been able to wake up much earlier.

The only thing I had to be thankful for in that morning was that the Chemistry room was located in the nearest building from the male students’ boarding house. Aside from that, I couldn’t find anything to be grateful for.

Five minutes before nine, I entered the classroom full of sweat and was a little out of breath. The whole class was looking at me, some were even shaking their heads while the others immediately got back into answering their own test papers.

Mr. Clayton looked like a raging bull but I could see that he was just trying not to scold me right then and there. He probably didn’t want to disturb the whole class during a test just for a single tardy student which in this case, was me. I saw him took a long breath before pointing a blank chair at me and then handling me  a blank test paper after I was already seated.

Knowing that I only had an hour to answer the two-hour exam, I read the questions quickly and answered as much I could. When Mr. Clayton wasn’t looking, I felt someone poked me on the back and a piece of crumpled paper gently fell from over my shoulder. I uncrumpled it and immediately recognized the handwriting.

Good luck! – R

After that small sentence was a list of answer for the first half of the test. I didn’t want to cheat at that time especially if it was coming from Rachelle but I felt that I had no choice. I needed to get high scores in all of my exams to maintain my grades and so my scholarship in this university. My mother was a single mom and although she might be earning a good salary, the expenses for Nursing course was still pretty high.

Mr. Clayton’s timer sounded, signaling that time was up and we needed to pass the test papers and so the whole class did. Fortunately, I was able to finish answering my test paper on time. When Mr. Clayton had already left the room, I looked back to thank Rachelle though I promised to myself that I’d never talk to her again.

How surprise I was that the girl seated behind me, cleaning up her desk and was about to stand up from her chair wasn’t Rachelle but a girl I didn’t know. She had a short bob cut hair which was ink-black in color.  She looked cute and petite that if only she wasn’t here, I would have mistaken her for a high school or even for a middle school student. She caught me staring and so she snickered and said, “You’re welcome.”

She then left and then I just sat there for a whole minute before deciding that I should go ahead and study for the next subject. I was about to get up from where I was sitting when the back of my neck suddenly felt very painful like I had just been shot by a gun on that spot. The few students who were still in the classroom came to me, asking if I was okay.

They were about to brought me to the clinic when the pain subsided eventually and I told them there was no need for that. I even shook my head at myself being so overacting comparing the pain I felt a few minutes ago with that of a gunshot.

Ha! It wasn’t like I’ve been shot before!

Some still continued to give me worried looks but I assured them I was fine. I went out of the room and decided to head to the library to study. As I was looking for a certain book, I saw Rachelle on the other side, her back on me, reading most likely a romance pocketbook again.

Rachel was my ex and I was her first boyfriend. She loved to read romantic fiction books and so obsessed with them that sometimes I would think that she’d probably wanted to date a guy from a pocketbook more than me. She became more idealistic that I couldn’t keep up with her expectations for a boyfriend.

Without thinking, I just grabbed a random book from the shelf and walked away quietly. I settled on a vacant seat at the very corner of the library so that Rachel would have lesser chance on seeing me. I sighed heavily as I realized how pathetic I was.

“Out of the body?” My heart almost jumped out of my chest when I suddenly heard a woman’s voice just right behind me. She giggled and took a seat on my right. I looked at her and immediately recognized who she was. “You looked like you’ve seen a ghost.” She commented as she put her pile of books on the table.

“I would probably even prefer a ghost.” I said. “You’re scarier.”

“Uh huh.’ She nodded without looking as she grabbed one of her books and flipped it open. “Be careful what you wish for Mr. Scaredy-Cat.”

“Scaredy-cat?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Well, I don’t know your name so what’s more interesting than calling you by a name that suits you.” She said the sentence like I’d done something wrong to her before when today was the first time I’d seen her.

“And that is Mr. Scaredy-Cat? Oh, c’mon. Anybody would have reacted the way I did when someone would just appear out of nowhere.” I pointed out. “And what did you say earlier, anyway? Out of the – the what?”

“Out of the body.” She said.

“What do you mean by that?” I asked.

She pointed the book I was holding and there I read ‘Out of the Body’ written on the cover. “Oh.” was what came out of my mouth at first. “I don’t even know what this is about.” I said honestly.             

“Paranormal.” She said quietly before fully concentrating on the book she was reading.