The same evening and Shew was returning home with her close friend Lisa.
Lisa was a chatterbox and they were joined by the hip from kindergarten. But today her chatterbox friend was continuously whining and complaining. The reason was that Shew was leaving to pursue her higher studies abroad. It was a huge opportunity and Lisa could do nothing but complain about how much she was going to miss her dear friend.
Sadly, Shew didn't listen to a single word spoken by her friend. She was too lost in her own musings. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't just shake off that morning's incidents. Her mind was filled with images of the man she met in the morning.
Seeing her lost somewhere Lisa poked her in the ribs feeling upset, "Hey! Where are you lost?"
"Sorry, it's nothing." Shew shook her head to get rid of the disturbing thoughts and smiled up at her friend to pacify her.
Lisa didn't buy her lousy excuse nor her did she fall for her smile, "Come on Shew, you very well know that you can't hide anything from me." She continued poking Shew in the ribs to get her to spill the beans.
Shew tried to escape the pokes but failed and took a little jab at Lisa, "That's just because you are too nosy."
"Now come on and tell me before I poke you more with my long nose", Lisa replied laughing airily.
Shew couldn't help but chuckle looking at Lisa's eager face filled with curiosity. She knew better than anyone about Lisa's personality. She was not the type to let go of gossip. She knew it was useless to resist and easily gave up, "You are incorrigible! Something happened today morning and I can't just shake it off."
"What was it?" Lisa asked with big doe eyes.
Shew couldn't help but laugh seeing her goofy expression. But she still humoured her, "Today I was late so I took that shortcut near the bridge and walked in on a shoot-"
Lisa couldn't believe her ears. Her eyes and ears opened up in disbelief. How was Shew so lucky to have walked in on a shoot casually? "Don't tell me you were lost in some book again!" She couldn't help but voice out her thoughts bluntly. There was no other explanation. If she had her wits around her then Shew would have avoided the place like some plague.
Shew nodded affirming Lisa's doubts, "Yup! And a man dragged me thinking that I was a part of it."
This was the real shocker for Lisa, "Whoa! And you are telling this to me now? Was he handsome?" She was shocked and excited at the same time.
Shew shrugged nonchalantly but her next words betrayed her thoughts, "That is an understatement Liz"
"Wait a minute, you walked in on a shoot that means he might be someone famous right?" Lisa whistled in appreciation. Shew might have come across someone really famous. She indeed was a lucky woman.
"I don't know Liz." Shew shrugged again helplessly. Unfortunately, she didn't recognize the person who had mistaken her to be the actress. The reason being- she was a hermit. Detached from the world.
"You are really boring you know. What kind of youth are you? You don't even know the celebrities. You only keep your head in those books of yours." Lisa couldn't help but criticize and control the itch in her palm to smack her friend on the head. She was indeed a hermit.
"Hey, there cut it now." Shew was offended. So what if she was not like others? She liked books more than anything else. How was it a bad thing? Out of everyone else, Lisa should've known better.
Lisa threw her hands up in despair and surrender, "You are hopeless Shew and you know that right?" There was no way she could change Shew's mind. She was a stubborn human being.
Shew smiled a little at Lisa's comment. "Yep! You make sure to remind me that every day." She threw one of her arms around Lisa's shoulder.
Lisa too smiled back giving up and acknowledging her defeat, "Now I would never know who that famous and hot celebrity you ran into was!!" It was indeed a pretty sad turn of events.
"Come on cheer up now. I will treat you with coffee and make it up to you." Shew tried to cheer up her best friend.
Lisa gave in happily. Coffee was her weakness and Shew was the one paying for it. Either way, it was a win-win for her. "Ok fine but you really need to see the world more." She threw in the last jab to try and get her to socialize more.
Shew nodded in acceptance, "I will definitely think about it."
The girls spend their coffee date talking about Shew's upcoming plans. She was all set to leave for her new college in a week's time and Lisa generously offered to help with her luggage. And Shew was more than glad to accept the offer. After all, she wasn't going to see this friend of hers for a long time. It was a good thing that they were going to spend the week in each other's company. They spent about two hours in the coffee shop before parting ways to their respective homes.
When Shew returned home that evening she was surprised and an uncomfortable chill ran up her spine. The sight of the house surprised her to no end. It was extremely unusual for her home to be thrown into darkness during evenings. Her mom hated darkness and made sure the lights were on as soon as the sun set.
She didn't feel so good watching the gloom surrounding the place she called home. Apprehensively, she walked up to the door and opened it. Somehow she managed to switch the lights on.
And what she saw made her faint the next second.