Chapter 25: Chapter 25

Michael has been waiting for Brenda in his apartment for three hours now. He has ran out of things to do to keep him from thinking of Brenda and had called her three hours ago and she had told him that she was going to meet him at his place.

He looked out of his window from time to time to check for her but no sign of her yet and this got him a little more uneasy. He walked over to his reading table and tried to focus his attention on the book he has opened earlier.

He stared at the book for a while trying to concentrate but could not. “Fuck.” He cursed out loud as he stood up and swept his hands through his hair, pulling the hairs backward. “Why can’t I concentrate?” he muttered, looking at the time on his cell phone again, he had done this countless of times today.

This is the seventh time Brenda is standing him up, at first he thought she may be busy with something but now he is beginning to feel something is wrong. They have been friends for four months now and he has begun to get used to her company. They never stayed a day away from each other since their first date at the restaurant.

Brenda would come to his apartment every evening and they would spend some quality time together not until one evening she didn’t show up, when he called her she said she was going on a get-together party with some old friends and that she would see him the next day.

After that evening, she has been promising to see him but never showed up, when he calls her after some time she would give him excuses and the funny thing is she never allowed him to see her place.

“Michael, not today, maybe some other time.” She would say to him whenever he asks to see where she lived. If he had known where Brenda lived, he would have gone to look for her already.

He looked out of his window again for a while and then glanced at the time on his cell phone to see that it was already late. “She is not coming.” He said out loud to himself and went lie on his bed, he stared at the roof as he wondered what could be Brenda’s reason for standing him up the way she had done. “Have I done something wrong? Is she avoiding me?” He asked himself out loud, feeling frustrated as he seemed not to find the answers to his question. He wished that Brenda would at least tell him what he had done wrong or if she does not want to see him again.

He think he has started developing feelings for her already, especially since he could not concentrate on other things because he was thinking about her, he slowly got out of bed, took his phone and ear piece from the table and lay back on the bed.

“I need to listen to some music.” He said inwardly, wishing that it would help. He plugging the earpiece to his phone, played a music and began to nod his head to the beat of the song as he tried to get his mind wrapped up in the music so that he would stop thinking about Brenda.

***

Lora is busy unpacking the clothes and accessories she and Catalina had bought earlier when she had the telephone ring in the sitting room.

“Who could be calling at this time?” She asked out loud and quickly rushed out the get the phone leaving the things scattered on her bed.

“Hello” she said as she picked up the receiver. “Hello Lora.” The shaky voice answered. She recognized the voice as it is her Grandma Rosa’s.

“Good evening Grandma Rosa.” Lora replied. “Are you okay, is everything alright?” she asked knowing that it was unlike her Grandma to call by this time of the night.

“I am good sweetie, I called to tell you to come to the mansion tomorrow morning.” Grandma Rosa said.

“I hope there is no problem Grandma?” Lora asked, feeling a little uneasy. Her Grandma’s voice has this heavy weight on it, as if something is wrong.

“Nothing sweetie, just come home in the morning and you can bring a few things with you since you would be staying a few days.” Grandma Rosa replied, going straight to her reason for calling her.

“Okay Grandma.” Lora said in response even though she was worried because of the sound of her grandma’s voice.

“Good night sweetie, see you in the morning.” She told Lora and hung up immediately afterwards, not waiting for Lora to speak further.

Lora can feel something is definitely wrong from the way her Grandma sounded on the phone, she hope it’s not that bad, she said inwardly and stared at the phone for a while then went back to her room.

She quickly gathered the clothes she spread on the bed, put them back into the shopping bags and placed them in her wardrobe, then began to pack up a few things she would need in the mansion from the things she had before. She got her bag ready, ran a quick bath and lay on the bed.

Lora tossed uneasily on the bed as she imagined a lot of things that could have happened, her Grandma’s voice is still resounding in her head “just come home in the morning and you can bring a few things with you since you would be staying a few days”. She would have been happy to be staying in the mansion for a few day with her grandma and the housekeepers and friends who were like family to them if she had known the reason why she was asked to come home, she said inwardly again and covered her face with a pillow as she was still unable to sleep because of her worries, “this is going to be a long night.” She thought, seeing that she was still unable to fall asleep.

***

Lora suddenly opened her eyes, she had the same nightmare again and this had woken her up a few hours after she managed to fall asleep. She slowly sat up on her bed holding both arms across her shoulders, folded her legs and heaved a sigh, feeling relieved that it was a dream since the dream always seemed real and made her so frightened by it.

After a brief moment of collecting her thoughts and pulling herself together, she turned to the clock sitting on the table beside her bed and saw that it is already past 6am.

She heaved a sigh again and crawled out of bed and went into her bathroom, she ran a quick bath and hurried back into her bedroom.

She had to go to the mansion very early today she said inwardly as the call she had with Grandma Rosa replayed in her mind as she dressed up. “…just come home in the morning and you can bring a few things with you since you would be staying a few days.”

She shook her head at the though. “I hope all is well.” She said out loud to herself still wondering why her grandma said she would be staying a few days and did her father approve of this.

Lora glanced at the clock on the bedside table, it was past 7am already, she quickly adjusted her clothes and made some final touches on her face and hair, then took out the bag she had packed the previous night and looked around the room to see if she is forgetting anything, everything seemed okay, so she walked her way out of the room, rushed out of the house and properly locked the doors, turned around to the street, heading for the bus stop to catch the morning bus, this was actually the first time she had been told she would spend a few days in the mansion since she left, so she is a little excited and nervous at the same time because she does not know why she has been called to come home.