Chereads / The Painted / Chapter 28 - Strange Occurrences

Chapter 28 - Strange Occurrences

I slowly opened my eyes,

blinking away the drowsiness as I rose to a sitting position.

I was still in a daze, searching my surroundings, confused.

'How long have I been asleep' I checked my phone "well it's still early in the morning".

I still seemed to be half asleep as I headed into the kitchen, dragging my feet along the cold floor.

"I'm freezing" I exclaimed hugging my jacket around myself tightly as I watched the steam leave my mouth when I exhaled.

Entering the kitchen, I quickly filled the kettle sitting on the counter with water,

'at least the water is running'.

Quickly I placed the kettle on stove, waiting for the water to boil while I watched the sky from the window.

Only then did I realise that it was raining outside, the sound of the rain crashing against the window triggered a memory from last night.

Was it a dream?

I didn't really remember much of it, but I did remember him.

The rest of the seemed foggy, hazy,

but that part was vivid.

Too vivid, and the more I thought about it the more realistic it seemed to get.

'What happened before that?'

I searched my brain for the memory as I felt troubled,

something was being purposely hidden from me.

The sound of my phone buzzing cracked the silence rather abruptly.

Fishing the phone out of my pocket I sat at the dining table.

"Um, hello?" I looked down at the ground,

watching my feet, my toes turning red as a result of the cold.

"Hi, is this Evelyn?" a rather feathery voice spoke from the other end of the line.

"Yes, its me" I frowned as I tried to decipher the face behind the voice.

"Hi Evelyn, I'm Julia" she seemed a little too enthusiastic and cheery this early in the morning.

"Oh, hi?" I was already socially awkward and my brain being half asleep right now wasn't helping in my case at all.

"How are you doing? How are you settling in? Is everything to your liking?"

I was relieved to hear her voice for some reason, maybe it felt good to not be forgotten completely,

or maybe I was expecting someone else.

"I'm settling in alright thank you"

I paused "um, how are you?"

"I'm good" there was a period of short silence as I waited for her to speak,

contemplating on what she would say next.

"Listen I just called in to let you know that I'll be paying you a visit in a few days,

just to check on the overall condition of the house and you, if that's alright".

"Um, yeah of course please do"

I played with the cup in my hand,

examining the details closely as I waited for her to talk.

But the moment she started talking all I heard was inaudible mumbles in the background as my eyes widened in surprise.

"Wait a minute" I exclaimed as I frantically stood up, searching the ground.

"Is everything alright?" Julia voiced, concerned.

"Yeah, yeah everything is fine" I whispered, talking to myself more than to her it seemed.

"Um, Julia I have to go now, thank you for calling, bye".

I ended the call immediately and placed my hand on my mouth as I recalled yesterday's events.

'I broke the cup last night,

then why is it sitting on the table today, in one piece'.