ELLA :
I woke up with a severe headache and my whole body felt crushed by something huge. It was so painful, each part of my body was aching terribly.
I moved and felt weird when I felt my palms touch my skin, “F**k,” I sat up immediately forgetting about my aching body just to find myself in a nightdress and not a proper nightdress. It was a seductive one.
“When did I wear it?”I tried hard to remember but nothing came into my mind. I remembered that I slept on the bed tiredly without changing my clothes so how come I woke up in this nightdress?
I frowned in distress and with each step I took to the washroom a curse escaped from my mouth eventually, I couldn’t stop, it hurt like hell. I stood in front of the mirror and took off that little piece of cloth to see my naked body, I want to see if I have bruised my body somehow when I was with Gael.
But I was surprised to not see any mark on my body. It was clean like usual. I then started washing my face and then brushed my teeth. My stomach growled in hunger and then wearing my long shrug that covered my whole body I walked out to fill my stomach.
The hall was a complete mess, I frowned looking around, and then when I noticed the shattered glass and blood on the carpet, I jumped in fear.
“F**k…”I then without thinking ran to the door and there I bumped into someone as I tried to run out of the home.
“Ahhh..”I yelled in fear and then two arms wrapped around me in a coaxing manner and then I heard a voice, “What’s wrong Ella? What happened?”It was Rita, she looked haggard and was wearing as usual black pants with a sleeveless top and a jacket.
I hugged her tightly, scared as I revealed, “It’s a mess inside, something happened…”I was yelling in a hoarse voice and I was completely panicked.
“Come with me,” I heard a loud sigh escaping from Rita’s mouth and then very gently pulled me inside the house with her. She took me straight to her room completely unbothered by the mess inside the hall.
Her calmness was petrifying me but still, I followed her quietly, she made me sit on her bed and then sat beside me, “Ella, do you remember something from last night?”She asked.
“Like what?”I asked back, puzzled.
“I mean like you saw Alex last night or someone else in the house?”She asked cautiously and I froze on hearing Alex’s name.
“Alex?”I asked, surprised.
Seeing my blank expression, she sighed in distress and then said, “Last night, I and Janet came back quite late and when we entered Alex was on the floor covered in his own blood like someone had beaten him to death. Thankfully we got him to the hospital at the time otherwise we would have lost him from our life.” She started sobbing suddenly.
This is really shocking, not Alex being beaten by someone but the way Rita cried for him, she seemed to be very close with Alex and deeply concerned about him.
I felt pity for her and then I pulled her into a hug not knowing that my shrug had opened slightly and unknowingly I was pressing her face into my b**bs.
When I felt her palm touching my skin as she hugged me back, I realized what I did, and then immediately I pulled back from her with a red face feeling embarrassed.
“If you need anything, kindly let me know and as about last night, I saw Alex near the street but not in the home,”I told her truthfully and she nodded her head while wiping away her tears.
I then held my shrug tightly and left her room as quickly as I could. I laid on my back and groaned because of the pain in my body, my hunger was already gone because of the shock I got before, and without knowing I suddenly fell into a deep sleep.
And the most stupid thing I did was to leave my door unlocked and sleep completely naked on my bed.
***
BANG…BANG…BANG
The loud voices from the hall woke me up, I put on my clothes first and then finally walked out to get a surprising shock. Rita was cleaning the dining room while Janet was in the kitchen cooking.
There was not a single mess in the hall just like it was in the morning, and I sighed secretly with relief looking at our normal and clean apartment, Thankfully.
Rita smiled at me, that's really surprising and then Janet looked towards me as she asked in concern, “Ella, how are you feeling now? Rita told me that you weren’t feeling good and looked quite shocked by what happened.”
“Oh yeah, just a temporary shock,” I said while shrugging my shoulders and then walking to the kitchen, before I could open the door, my stomach growled loudly, and then I heard a chuckle from Janet making me flush with embarrassment.
“I have prepared steak and rice and also a soup, come eat with us as you’re here.”Janet offered and I really can’t deny her offer because the aroma of food lingering in the kitchen was making me hungrier for food.
We all sat together at the table after we placed the dishes. Janet and Rita looked completely calm, I couldn’t see that sad and sorrowful Rita at all that I saw in the morning and the way she kept looking at me was making me feel a bit uncomfortable.
“Ella, it’s really common for Alex to get into these kinds of fights… You know he belongs to a dark world soo…”Janet began explaining to me the reason why they both were calm because they used to face all these things in the past and that made me wonder what if that person would have harmed me too?
Safety alert warning triggers in my mind, instantly.
“I hope you won’t tell Miss Van about this,” Janet said looking hesitant and then after placing a large piece of steak on my plate she passed me a small smile.
I frowned but looking at the food I really didn't care about anything as I smiled back and said shamelessly, “Of course, why not…”
She heaved a sigh of relief and then raising her glass of wine, Janet tossed, “Our new friend.”
And there we all three clinked the wine glass, drank and ate and talked. It was such a pleasurable night and I felt so happy and relaxed all the morning stress, body pain, the shocking sight, everything completely vanished from my mind and I felt grateful for Rita and Janet’s new friendship for this.
As Alex isn’t here, I am happy to spend some time with both of them.
We all three have started talking daily while Alex was in the hospital still in coma condition. Janet and Rita visited them daily and I completely forgot about wearing my locket as I kept it inside my drawer safe.
One day Rita and Janet took me to their parlor salon, yeah they both are tattoo artists and I don’t even know about it. They offered me to ink a tattoo but I felt afraid of the needles but after Rita convinced me nicely I finally agreed.
They showed me multiple things to choose a design but I thought of something unique as I started describing them. After making a vague sketch about my description, Janet showed me and I nodded my head with appreciation and joy in my eyes.
“Yes, just like that…”