The Lost Girl... (Faith, Hope and Tranquillity #1)

CHAPTER 6

UNKNOWN POV

“She didn’t notice at all!” Anger rose in the masculine voice.

“I know! How? It’s so frustrating knowing …” A quiet exasperated voice replied.

“I just want to grab her and make her mine.” The pain was clear in the first voice.

“That won’t work, stick to the plan.”

“I can’t, I miss her, I love her…” The voice broke, sadness taking over.

“It will all work out in time!” the quiet feminine voice said with resolve.

“Have you seen the news reports? We need to do something soon!”

“Nature spreading through the city. Yeah! It’s not a bad thing though, there isn’t enough nature here…”

“It doesn’t matter! It’s not natural, It needs stopping… I know it’s her!”

Lily’s POV

The afternoon went by in a blur. I was way too excited to even notice how things were progressing with the four new recruits. This was the whole reason people shouldn’t be allowed to date their co-workers. I found myself constantly looking back at David’s office and smiling. Even though he couldn't see me. My brain was completely overloaded with his beautiful eyes and his beautiful lips.

“Miss Lily?” I was snapped back to reality by Hope before things could progress further in my mind. “Everything OK?”

“Yes, brilliant!” I smiled, trying to hide my red face.

“You seem really happy!” She beamed “I wondered if I could trouble you to show me where the bathroom is?”

“Of course!” I turned to Jason, the computer trainer. “Jase! I’m just showing Hope to the ladies' room!” He waved, acknowledging he had heard me as he continued showing Black what to do on the screen. Black was looking intently at his screen and Silver was glaring at his screen whilst Faith was twirling a pencil around her fingers, looking at me and Hope.

“So…” Hope began as we walked down the hall, she was playing with her hands nervously. “What’s got you so happy?” She questioned.

“Well my headache seems to have completely disappeared today, and …” I shrugged, she was dating a colleague even though they were together before, so I don’t see why it would hurt to tell her. “I’m going on a date with David tonight!” I giggled to myself after saying it out loud. I'd carried on walking, not realising that Hope had stopped in her tracks. She was looking at the floor, a confused look on her face.

“The bathroom is just at the end of this hall…" I realized she wasn't following me and turned towards her "Hope?”

“David, like the boss?” Hope questioned, looking up at me. I noticed her eyes had changed, her pupils were becoming more and more cat-like. “Miss Lily?”

“Erm…" Suddenly I had become scared, and I didn't know why. "Yeah, why?” I noticed the air had become cooler and a breeze had started to drift through the hall. Had someone turned on the air conditioning?

“Lily?” She stepped forwards and grabbed my hand. My heart and head exploded in a flash of light, but no pain happened this time. In fact, if anything, all I felt was warmth spreading through me. It reached my heart and a face flashed in my mind, but I wasn't sure who it was. She seemed to want to say something but was holding back. She closed her eyes and I looked at her in both worry and confusion.

“Hope, are you OK?” The breeze died down, clearly people were getting too cold. Hope took her hand away from me and sighed.

“I’m fine, just… be careful!” She finished before running down the hall to the bathroom.

It was after work and David had dragged me to a small, local pub, just across the road from where I lived. We grabbed a booth with leather seats and a small table. It was set neatly in the corner. David went and got us a drink. It was the first time in two weeks that I could remember that my head actually hadn’t been hurting, so I decided to splash out on a glass of red wine.

I was so nervous; I’d looked up to this man for years. It started out as respect for the young man who had built his empire from nothing but eventually turned into a small crush before developing into a full-blown crush after 5 years. I just hadn't admitted it to myself until recently. I looked at him as he sauntered back over to the table with the drinks. I wondered how long he had liked me. He was gorgeous to me, messy black hair, always dressed smartly in full suits and ties and his chiselled body just pressing against the tailored suits, they pulled in at all the right places. I blushed, snapping myself out of the daydream as he sat down.

“Erm…” He started, not looking at me. I could see he was nervous as he placed his hands on his knees under the table. “Thanks!” He randomly said. I was confused.

“For what?” I questioned.

“For agreeing to come out for a drink with me.” I smiled; he really was nervous, how sweet.

“Well to be honest, were colleagues, why wouldn’t I agree to a drink with you” His head shot up, worried that I'd misunderstood the meaning behind his invitation, he found me giggling and frowned at me.

“That’s mean, Sweetness!” He chuckled. “I was worried you’d misunderstood for a second there…er…” I grabbed his hand, trying to calm his nerves.

“I didn’t misunderstand David.” I glanced at him reassuringly. “I’m glad you asked me for a drink.”

“Well…” He turned to me and grabbed my hand “I’ve liked you for as long as I can remember Lily…” I furrowed my brows, 5 years. I thought. “But recently I’ve grown more and more worried about you. I'd like to be there for you, as more than a boss… more than a friend…” My head twinged, making me mad, it was ruining a perfect moment.

“I would… really like that…” I blushed. He smiled so wide I thought he was going to break his mouth. He leant over and kissed my cheek, making me blush harder.

We spent the evening talking about all sorts as we normally did. Things seemed a lot more relaxed, like how we normally were at work. David and I had lots in common; favourite music, TV shows, even our fashion sense was similar. We had always got on throughout the 5 years I had worked with him, and we had always flirted, so David's nervousness had caught me completely off guard. He made me feel at ease all the time, like I'd known him for a long time.

Because it was the weekend tomorrow, we didn’t have work, so we stayed out quite late, having a few drinks and food, we danced and decided to call it a night when all the youngsters started crowding the pub. David walked me back to my apartment and I could definitely feel I was a little tipsy. It had been weeks since I had drunk any form of alcohol, so it had gone straight to my head.

“Night Lil!” He smiled before leaning in to kiss me. This time I wasn’t surprised and leant in for a kiss as well. Alcohol makes me a lot bolder than I usually would be. Our lips met and it felt amazing. Soft tingles were shooting through my lips into my body. It was only a small kiss, but the feeling it left me with, left me wondering what a deeper kiss would feel like.

“Good night, David.” I smiled in a daze. My body was on fire. Entering my house, I decided to sit in my garden for five minutes to cool down. I walked onto the balcony to find most of my flowers had started to bloom, which was lovely. The vines had grown longer and were starting to climb down the side of the building. How had they grown so long so quickly? My head began hurting again and I wondered, angrily, if I could have more than a few hours without it hurting.

UNKNOWN POV

“NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!” a voice was shouting in a dark room.

“Are you OK?” A quiet female voice asked through a closed door.

“My heart is hurting, they kissed! NO!” The masculine voice cried; pain clear in his voice. “I can’t stand this!” He started to cry. “I need her…” He broke off, the grief was too much for him. The girl pushed open the door.

“It will all work out Celeb!” she cried, noticing that the windows were beginning to freeze over. “You need to calm down!”

"How can I calm down? I need her!" He crumpled over, his fists clenching. The windows were now fully frozen over and snow had started to fall outside. She grabbed his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. His body was freezing, and his tears were falling as little hailstones as they hit the floor.

"I know, I know" the female voice soothed. "Trust me, she will remember the truth and come back to you. Her memories will be restored to their true form, and you'll be happy!"

Lily's POV

I sat outside for a few minutes but despite it being the middle of summer, a cold breeze had started to blow, and I needed to go inside. I'd hoped that it was just a wind chill or maybe the alcohol was affecting my body in an unusual way. I decided to get a shower but for some reason the water wouldn't get warm despite there being hot water available. I let it run few minutes before shaking my head and realizing it wouldn't be happening. I splashed my face with the cold water and my teeth chattered when I realized it was like ice water.

Despite the cold water, my head was aching again, not the usual throbbing pain that left me doubled over and collapsing, but a dull ache that seemed to pound more and more. I sat on the edge of my bed and held it in my hands. For some reason the air felt icy and I wondered if the heating was broken. I realized my voice was coming out in clouds of steam. What was happening? Surely this wasn't right. Summers here were unusually warm, and we rarely had storms unless it was a particularly humid day. I held my head, wondering if the alcohol was messing with me, and flopped back on my bed.

It was then that I heard the shouting. Someone screamed over and over again the word NO! I wasn't sure why, but I felt like I knew the voice. It sounded like it was in pain, and I needed to go to them. I pinched the bridge of my nose and the sound disappeared.

Shaking my head, I got into bed. My head was getting slowly worse and worse. My left eye began twitching and I knew it wouldn't be long before I blacked out. The coldness was now reaching my core and I snuggled under my duvets closer and closer. I turned away from the window where the moon had started to shine through. I closed my eyes and sleep overcame me quicker than I thought it would. As my eyes were closing, I thought I saw something falling outside, like a thousand glowing fireflies falling from the sky. However, what I hadn't noticed was that it was actually snow falling as night overcame both my eyes and the outside world.