Maria Lou drove straight home with tears in her eyes,' runaway' song was playing from the car radio. She began to recall the events of that day.
I was listening to the ocean
I saw a face in the sand
But when I picked it up, then it vanished from my hands, down
I had a dream when I was seven
Climbing my way up in a tree
I saw a piece of heaven.
Waiting impatiently for me, down.
And I was running faraway
would I run off the world someday?
Nobody knows
Nobody knows
I was dancing in the rain
I felt alive and I can't complain
But no,take me home
take me home where I belong ...the voice faded into her memories.
******
Maria Lou waited for the driver to come over and pick her up. She had her headset over her head, listening to soft music as she tapped her feet on the floor. Gray Williams walked by and stopped in front of her. She looked up to see him, Gray Williams was the golden boy of Riverton Heights.
Girls naturally would love to stare at him up and close. You know he was that kind of high school popular bad boy;cute faced,rude, flirty and promiscuous. Well girls still had a thing or two for him,all but Maria Lou. Not like she really hated him,it was just that she didn't approve of his way of life and distanced herself faraway from his preying eyes.
She could not forget that she walked on him, making out with a senior earlier that day. She swallowed hard when she saw the face of who he was, making out with. She felt nauseated,of all people,it had to be the school pristine queen. The same one that preached purity was rolling in the dirty,what a life!. She apologized and left hurriedly.
Now here he was, standing in front of her with a smug look on his face. 'Now,what does he want from me?' she thought. Her face revealed nothing as she removed her headphones slowly.
"Don't you know me?" he asked,still wearing the smug look on his face.
"Yes, I do " she replied, crossing her arms over her chest. His gaze wasn't working on her, she only felt annoyed by the way he was looking at her.
He looked surprised at the way she was staring,she wasn't like any of the girls who loved drooling over him. His thin lips curved at the corners,he was starting to like her by each passing seconds.....She tried to move away,he blocked her path. She moved leftwards,he blocked her path again. She glared at him, looking at with all the annoyance in the world.
"What's up with the blocking? Will you please move out of the way? If you're here to talk about, what happened earlier. I didn't see a thing,okay. My lips are sealed"she sneered with her hands making a mute sign over lips. He grabbed her and pinned her to the wall
"Feisty? Hun!" he said, fanning her face with his breath.
"Get off me!" she yelled at him and struggled with him. Her strength were no use for him,it was just like he was being beaten by a foam. He lowered his head and kissed her lips,her eyes widened in shock but she regained her senses and kicked him in the groin. He yelped in pain, holding his scrotum.
'How dare you kiss me with your flithy mouth!" she wiped her mouth and slapped him across the face. She didn't care whether she was going to get punished. She took one look at him and spat on the floor before running away. She just wanted to clear her head but soon a downpour came and she ran into a shabby hut to seek refuge.
No sooner had she gotten there that a teenage boy ran in as well. The rain got heavier so did the tears in her eyes. 'How could he take her first kiss away,just like that' she thought. She had always envisioned her first kiss to be very special but it was gone,wasted by such a jerk. She was so immersed in her thought,that she didn't hear anything. She only felt that she has been hit by something before blacking out.
She only opened her eyes after a while and saw herself lying on a raised pavement. She clenched her fist in an attempt to use it as a pivot to support her body but she felt a ball rubbed against her palm. She opened her palm,there was something in her hands...a jade bracelet. She recalled that she had seen it somewhere but still couldn't figure it out. She looked around and saw that she was no longer infront of the hut but a shop.
She groaned as she stood up,'why does ber back ache all of a sudden' she thought and saw a bloody shirt lying on the floor. The Riverton Heights badge made her recognize that it was her own shirt that was lying in the pool of blood. She examined herself, her shirt had been changed into a new one.
'But it was only the teenage boy that was there with her. Does that mean he carried her all the way here.' The thoughts in her head was going haywire, she did not know what to do. So she kept the bracelet in her bag and decided to look for its owner and repay him for taking care of her. She dialed the driver's number and sent him her location.
Day rolled into days,days into month,months into year but she didn't see him. She decided to keep the jade bracelet close to her heart,hoping that one day she would find him .
******
She did not know how she walked in to her room and slept on the bed.Maria Lou has never been confronted with this kind of feeling,it was making her feel weird in and out. Her head was spinning around and her thoughts were flying around. She closed her eyes and soon fell asleep.
Jason did not know why Maria Lou ran away when he was talking about the incident that made him decided to become a doctor. 'Was it too gruel?"he asked himself. He was utterly confused and kept thinking
'Did I say anything that could have upset her? Did she not like me?I thought she did' he thought but Todd burst into laughter. For goodness sake,his friend was so drunk in love..
" Are you falling for Maria Lou Lee?" he asked with curiousity reverberating in his voice.
"What? Me? No way!" his baritone voice resonated.
"Well, you just said it. What's it you said,"did she not like me?I thought she did" Todd says, mimicking him. Jason felt humiliated,and buried his head in between the charts that were submitted on his tables.
"How could I possibly love another? Besides, I'm still looking for her" he said, without looking up.
"Ah! You're still looking for her?" Todd teased,he thought Jason was joking when he saw he was coming back to look for his wife.
"Have I ever stopped looking for her?",he muttered.
"Well,I just thought it was one of the normal things we did as teenagers. I never knew you were so serious about it",he replied taking a seat infront of Jason's desk.
"I am serious about it and I won't stop at anything to find her. Not just find her,win her heart over and marry her" he spoke with definite resolute in him. It was as if he was taking a solemn oath.
"Geez,what if she 'edded?" Todd asked, raising his hands to his neck. Jason glared at him and for a moment,collected his thoughts. He wanted to say something but he hesitated. He thought of Maria Lou,he desperately needed to talk to her. The sight of her as she ran away made his heart feel jabbed. His mind drifted to how she reacted and there was only stains on his mind,'What could have gone wrong?' Jason shook his head as if trying to wake himself from a dream.
There was only silence,and for a moment,Todd felt he could almost hear a pin drop.
"Heyyyyy! Are you even listening?" Todd asked,waving his hands in the air.
"Hun! I am sorry,zoned out on you" he replied.
"Club?" he asked. Jason raised his head and contemplated whether to go or not but he had some much going on in his head. He shook his head in disapproval,Todd shrugged and bade him goodbye..
**********Platinum Residence
Maria Lou woke with a throbbing pain in her head. She didn't know when she slept off,she must have cried her way into her sleep. She stood up and went into the bathroom,to wash her face.
She washed her face and stared at the stranger in the
mirror. It felt as though she and the mirror are starting to fall out,she went into the room and stripped off her clothes. She opened the door into her walk-in closet. Opening her wardrobe,she searched for the white shirt she wore that day. Even though her wardrobe was filled to the brim with latest,limited edition, custom-made clothes;no one would think such an insignificant cloth will occupy the most special place in the wardrobe.
She walked into the bathroom, filling the bathtub with bubbles and jasmine oil, rose perfume. She rested her back and washed her body with the bubbles rising. She did not want to come out of the tub but after a while the water turned tepid and she came out,dried her hair and pulled out a towel.
She put on the shirt,it still fitted her and she smile. She went into the kitchen and brought out a cold sushi from the refrigerator grabbed a pair of chopsticks before she sat down to eat . She turned on the radio and watched some business news,just to keep her mind sane.
She retired to bed after she has eaten. Recalling the events of the day,she knew she had to offer Jason an apology but she did not know how to go about it. She picked up her phone, hesitating as she took her phone. 'Should I call or not?' she contemplated
Just as she was about to dial his phone, her phone rang. it was Jason,her hands trembled as she picked up.
"Hi, it's Jason Greene. I....I ...I ..." he stuttered,what followed was an awkward silence and Maria Lou thought she had lost the connection
"Are you there Jason?" ,She asked.
Jason felt a limpid string in his heart,her voice made the butterflies in his stomach fluttered. He was sitting in the garden,gazing at the night stars. They made him think of Maria Lou,her eyes. He picked his phone and called her,she picked it after it rang for two seconds.
"I just called you to check if you're alright....hhhmmmn! I did not mean to upset you in the morning"
"I'm not upset. Just feeling emotional that's all" she lied.
"ooooohhhhh! " he scratched the back of his head,not knowing what to say anymore.
"Have you found the lady you gave your bracelet to?" she asked,her voice sounding curious.
"No. I have not found her" ,he replied sounding very sad. His voice was so hollow ,making Maria Lou tear up.
"I hope you don't mind,I feel like I'm asking too much questions" she said, sniffling.
"No. Ask anyways" he said, chuckling.
"How important is the bracelet to you? Why did you give it to her?"
"Well,the bracelet is a heirloom. My mother gave it to me,the queen means she is royalty and the phoenix represents her strength it was meant for my future wife. The reason I gave it to her was because I really like her so much. She was the reason why I sought refuge in that shabby hut,the reason why I decided to study medicine and follow I the steps of my lineage." he said. Maria Lou listened with rapt attention,she felt that her eyes were filled to the brim with tears.
'I am his future wife?' she thought she shook her head strongly.
"Good night, Jason" she said.
."Good night,Maria Lou" he replied and hung up. She couldn't close her eyes,it was meant for his wife. How was she going to tell him she was the one?