CHAPTER FIFTEEN
DERA'S POV
Eliminating Roxanne once and for all was my utmost goal. She shouldn't have applied for a job at NattCom company.
She should have run far away when she heard that NattCom was recruiting. Now she was to be eliminated after one week of stay in the company.
Remembering the knife, I felt my pocket to make sure it was lying where it was. The knife was quite a friend of mine.
I took a cab down to Kingfisher Street, ready to commit a crime.
The driver dropped me at the right address. I stared, surprisingly at the storey building in front of me.
It wasn't what I had expected. I had expected to see something very miserable and dilapidated.
"How could she afford such a home?" I left the question hanging for listening ghosts to answer.
I took a few steps forward then stopped. "What if she asked how I got to know her address?"
But then, as swiftly as the question had flown in, an answer presented itself. "Well, by then she'd be lying in a pool of blood," a part of my brain whispered.
The plan was to not say a word to her. Killing her was easy, I just needed to avoid leaving a print.
I took the stairs to the second floor, where I was sure to find apartment 26b. I knocked at the door, suddenly feeling nervous.
Why was I nervous? No! This wasn't the first time, I shouldn't be feeling nervous. I tried to will myself to stop being nervous but met with little success.
I heard two sets of voices inside and my heart took a long jump to my nose.
Her job application form showed that she had no guardian and was actually living alone. Was she lying?
Then the door creaked open, revealing her. "Oh thank God she is alone" I heaved a sigh of relief.
But disappointment loomed dangerously near, as another beautiful face appeared behind her.
"Dera! What are you doing here?" She squinted her eyes in something that looked very much like a mixture of surprise and suspicion.
She had every right to be suspicious for I had been very unkind to her and was capable of harm.
"Uhm.... Good evening Roxanne," I greeted, ransacking my brain for a good and convincing explanation.
"Yeah. Why are you here" She asked again, opening the door wider for the other girl to see me properly.
Then an idea came. I suddenly began to on uncontrollably, hoping my manipulation worked.
"Why are you crying?" She asked sympathetically, moving forward. My heart returned to its position at her sympathy. I still had a chance.
The other lady came out fully, wearing more surprise on her face.
"What's going on here?" She stepped into the little balcony where I and Roxanne stood.
I wasn't ready to drop the act, so I let the tears flow in their torrents
"I lost a close friend of mine," I said in between fits of sobs, tactically raising my face a little to read the environment.
On the other lady's face, lay a disgusted look that could reduce self esteem to zero.
She wasn't buying the victim card I was playing. But the aim was to get myself alone with Roxanne and not for some nameless lady to pity me. So I overlooked her disgust.
"Come inside dear," Roxanne said offered, leading the way in.
I followed her inside, leaving the lady outside to think on her own.
Her presence had spoiled the plan. Killing Roxanne now, would be to my own detriment, so all I needed to do was to take a quick glance at the house to know the appropriate entry and exit areas.
She offered me a seat before she went in to get a clean kerchief for me.
I took a quick survey of the house, noting satisfactorily the opened window. It would be a good entry and exit route.
She returned shortly with the clean kerchief. Indeed she wasn't dirty at all for the kerchief and her sitting room were a testimony to that fact.
A few moments later, the other lady came in with a straight face and sat quietly. I rolled my eyes.
She must have caught on to something. I silently hoped she would keep her suspicions to herself, I didn't want her to arouse Roxanne's suspicions too.
If I played my card right, I could make Roxanne my friend, then I could control her however I liked. All I needed to do was to act pitiful.
But the lady would not have it. Somehow she had gotten insight of how dangerous I was and would be.
"What's in your pocket?" She asked, staring directly at the knife's hideout.
My heartbeat tripled and my lips quivered. I was tongue tied and scared. I tried to stare her down, but she wouldn't budge.
Roxanne was astonished, "What's in her pocket?" She asked
"Bring it out" the lady commanded still maintaining the hard glare
"There's nothing there," I replied shielding my emotion with a stony look.
The lady didn't say anything more, she just lifted her butt from the sofa and walked menacingly to where I sat.
She swiftly dug her hands into my pocket and brought out the knife.
"And why would this be in a mourning lady's pocket?" She asked, showing the object to Roxanne
I was done for. "It's not what you think," I began stammering. I was so shaken that my hands refused to lay still.
"It's either you tell us, or you tell the police," the lady threatened, making forward to use the telephone.
EDWARD'S POV
My dad called, informing me that my mom wanted to speak with me physically and not on the phone.
In response, I drove as fast as I could with my heart, beating dangerously fast.
I began sweating profusely in the Air-conditioned car. My body refused to adapt to the environment as I drove madly to see her.
I reached the hospital in no time, rushing in like I had even pursued by a Carnivorous goat.
I got in the ward just in time to meet the doctor covering her whole body with a hospital cloth and my dad crying profusely.
"What's going on?" I screamed out in confusion. "Why is she being covered. Don't you want her to breathe anymore?"
"She's dead!" The doctor said
"Who's dead?"
"Your mom," another response came.
The confusion swiftly converted to anger. "You were supposed to do your work while I paid you. How dare you let her die?" I yelled.
"We're sorry sir, we tried our best but.."
"But what? Your best wasn't enough? You were unqualified?" I felt my eyeballs shift forward and my forehead enlarge.
My dad walked to where I stood, just outside the hospital room my mom had occupied and gave me a hug
"It's okay Ed, everything will be fine," he consoled, using my childhood nickname
"How will everything be fine when mom is gone. Dad, I lost another loved one. How can anything ever be fine?" I broke down in furious tears.
In six years I had lost four people closest to my heart. How could anything be fine? My eyes stung with brewing tears.
"But why?" I moaned painfully, "Why? I didn't even get to say goodbye to her. She just left me alone in this world"
"You're not alone in all this. She left me too," My dad said, trying desperately to hold in the tears.
I didn't say a word, I just took my car keys and went out.
He followed in worried haste
"Dad I'll be fine," I said, trying to ward him off
"You need someone by your side," he replied tenderly.
"Sometimes, people heal faster when they're alone with their grief". I turned on my heels and continued my journey.
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I lay sprawled on my soft bed. My pillow was covered in tears.
"Why them?" I sobbed quietly, using my pillow as a kerchief to wipe out my tears.
Then the quest for Roxanne began. My hands started shaking frantically; it looked like I had been denied some addictive drug I had been taking.
Flashes of her kind face kept moving haphazardly in my memory. I needed to talk to her, to see her. I needed her to comfort me.
Abandoning all sense of pride and rationality, I picked up the phone to dialled her number.
She picked at the second ring
"Hello," she said in her melodious voice
"Hello Roxanne, it's me, Edward," I responded, trying desperately to still the little sobs
"Edward..." She gasped before saying "Edward the CEO? Mr. Edward?"
"Yes, Roxanne. Please can you come over to my house? If I don't see your beautiful face today, I'll die. Please, Roxanne, I'm almost running mad. Please come and comfort me, I just lost my mom. Please," I begged lunatically, not stopping to filter out some words with ambiguous meaning.