Deceived

Chapter 3 | Beyond Plain Sight

Walking with blinded sight

Oblivion guiding us fearless

Only if you knew the night

You wouldn't sleep so careless..

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When the sun does rise and bring to light every thought of the forlorn mind, comprehension of even the worst becomes a necessity.

As her alarm woke her up in the arms of her boyfriend Alethia was still letting the dreams of previous night sink in. It was a nightmare of sorts and yet felt more homely than ever. She took time to realise that it was Jason spooning her from behind, his arm tight around her waist and his face buried in her hair. It was like the dead weight of an anchor sinking to the bottom of the vast ocean trying to fight currents as she let go of the comfort that came with the bright blue eyes that had been talking to her all night and let the grey gaze of the man lying in bed with her wrap around her.

"Good morning Ali." Jason smiled at her as she turned around in his arms, mustering a true enough smile for him.

His blond disheveled hair was framing his face and his crooked smile bringing out the glimmer in his eyes. They had been in a relationship for four months now and Alethia never could bring herself to tell him that she hated being called Ali.

"Morning blondie." Alethia always teased him about his bleach blond hair which he swore to be natural.

Jason rolled his eyes at her, pecked her on the lips and got out of bed. He started dressing up in his jeans and shirt. In a hurry he grabbed his jacket, pushing the wallet into the back pocket of his jeans. Alethia noticed something that she had never noticed about him before, he always wore jeans. She didn't mind men in jeans but for some petty reason the thought had just plopped in her head flashing back to the man she had met yesterday in his smooth Armani suit.

"In a hurry?" Alethia sat up in bed wanting to lie smothered up for a little longer.

"Yeah I gotta go finish the designing of that website I was telling you about yesterday. Big money!" Jason looked at her excited as he buckled his belt.

Alethia made puppy eyes at him trying to lure him back in for suddenly she felt even more lonesome than she had all night. She did not even remember talking about any website or anything else for that matter.

Dinner last night was a buzz for her as she drank herself into oblivion on the bottle of wine he had got for celebrating. There she sat with him chattering away as she looked into empty space trying not to think about the warmth she had felt that morning. But Jason never noticed.

"I really gotta go Hun. I've too much work. But we'll celebrate after I land this pot!" He grinned at her and left her sitting there alone in her bed which felt even more massive than before.

"Bye!" She wasn't even sure whether he had heard her.

The bang of her apartment door let the emptiness and silence fall upon her like a blanket.

Alethia hated herself for thinking about that man so much. She never had ever bothered about giving so much space of her mind to anybody. She felt like she was vexed to only think about him. Looking at her empty bed she let a shudder pass down her spine as she thought about her dream.

He was there right next to her, holding her hand and rubbing tiny circles into it lightly as they both faced the whirlwind at its brink.

Everything in its path of destruction vanished as its huge grey swirls became bigger and bigger gaining momentum as it neared them.

She looked at him and as their eyes met he smiled at her a warm smile and nudged her to move forward.  Like warm butter down her throats she gulped away the feelings that were rising within her and looked ahead. With his hand in hers she felt she could finally conquer this upheaval but she had been utterly wrong. As soon as she stepped forward in the middle of the tornado his warmth vanished leaving immense emptiness behind, making her feel more vulnerable than she ever had before and then she was met by the ugly creature with blood red eyes who always chased her to death. She looked around for him, for that homely feeling she had been searching for all her life, for a glimpse of those bright blue eyes but it was all in vain as she was left alone in the wake of her death again.

She let it fall behind and got to her feet to freshen up and get ready for work. Each step she took she commanded her head to leave all of it behind and let go of any feelings she felt. Soon enough as she jumped into the steaming shower she felt herself wash off the dream and the essence of the warmth that she had felt.

By the time she was done dressing up in her maroon pants and black shirt she had forgotten about Nathan. Alethia had been alone all her life. Being alone with oneself can be a difficult task for somebody with her past but she had been victorious upon her mind. She had learnt the ability to control her thoughts and let go of the unnecessary fragments. And Nathan was extremely unnecessary to her, at least that's what she thought.

She tied her hair up and grabbed her bag rushing to get to the coffee shop so she could get her essential caffeine fix. Her black shiny heels clicked against the tiled floors as she reached the elevator. A sudden chill made her freeze near the button. She felt the temperature drop a little below the normal and made her very aware of her surroundings. She looked behind, along the long corridors lined by locked doors and the tinted window at the very end but there was nobody there. Once she made sure she was alone she jumped into the elevator and walked the rest of the way to the cafe.

While she was waiting for her order of coffee and cinnamon rolls she was surprised to get a call from an unknown number. She ignored it the first time not bothering to hassle with the bickering of sales calls but then she got a second call from the same number.

"Hello is this Ms. Foss from Creative Publishings?" A smooth low voice greeted her on the other side. It made her insides twirl in knowing. Somehow she had a clear idea of who it was.

"Yes. Who is this?" She answered keeping her pace.

"Well hello Alethia. It's me. Nathaniel Damon. We had a very memorable meeting yesterday." His voice rolled over her like a swarm of butterflies as he chuckled.

"Oh! Hello sir. How did you get this number?" Alethia asked confused. She never let her personal information out to any client.

"I have my ways." His words dripped with amusement. She could almost imagine that devilish smirk that he wore on his face.

"Sir you cannot-"

"Call me Nathan, Alethia. And don't worry about the formalities."

Alethia shuddered not liking the path the call was going down and yet the heaviness in her chest spoke differently.

"Umm sir. What is it that you wanted from me?" She managed to hold her stance. She was trying hard to not squirm as his voice rang in her ears innumerable times.

"Right to business huh? I actually wanted to know whether the editing team has met for the book yet?" His dominating tone meant business. Alethia was taken aback by the work talk but gladly welcomed it. The knots in her tummy started to loosen up.

"We have called our head. They should have a meeting in a day or two. I'll let Mike know the details." She scampered picking up her order and her bag.

"I see. I would like it if you would let me know personally Alethia. I'm very interested in this project." His amusing tone was back.

"Sure sir I'll mail you the details as well." She tried to put him off as much as she could.

"What coffee suits your taste." Alethia felt a little alarmed at the mention of coffee as she had just walked out of the little cafe carrying the styrofoam cups towards her office building.

"How is that related to work? Sir.." his behaviour was getting on her nerves now. She was maintaining her cool so as to not offend her client but at the same time she hated him for making her melt so easily.

"You're hard to win over aren't you. Well I was wondering if we could grab some coffee together at that quiet cafe down the street from your office?"

His chuckle made Alethia stop in her tracks. She looked around feeling a little nervous about the reply. It was the usual busy yellow street and oblivious crowd minding their own business. Nobody seemed to have even notice her existence. Yet this undying twitch within her made it feel like like she was being watched.

"I'm sorry sir but I don't think so. I have a boyfriend. So if that's all you wanted I'd like to get to work." She said as she began her journey closer to the building.

"Oh I see. Taken huh? That's a pity. I could have had a lot of fun with you. I still can. Hoping to hear from you soon." And with that the line went blank.

Alethia felt a little creeped out by what he had just said. She paced faster towards the elevator waiting for it to open on her floor already. As the elevator doors dinged open she walked to her desk to dump her things and ran to Rhea's cabin.

"Waoh waoh! Good morning. What brings you here so early?" Rhea greeted her with a surprised look. Her brunette hair short and wavy falling around her face and her sweet smile.

"Well, he called." Alethia told her.

"Mr. Burn? For what?" She asked. Even Rhea was a little taken aback by the call.

"For work. Then he asked me out for coffee, at the tiny cafe down the street." Alethia raised her eyebrows trying to relay her tension to her friend.

"Oh he has great taste. That's your favourite place right?"

"Yeah but! He asked exactly when I was stepping out of the cafe." Alethia wanted rhea to just understand what was brewing in her head.

"And? He must have seen it on his way back yesterday.. what are you trying to say?" Rhea looked at her confused.

"You know when you try to scare me and I already know you're there.." Alethia looked at her with wide begging eyes. Her caramel orbs lighting up trying to relay everything to her friend.

"So you.. felt.. he was there?" Rhea tried to join the dots. Alethia nodded.

"Did you see him?" Rhea asked in concern.

"No no I didn't see him but.."

"So you just felt it?" Rhea looked at her with a slight head tilt like she did when she couldn't understand the workings of the complicated firings of Alethias mind.

"You know it's really great that you have such intuitive powers but I don't think a rich jerk like him would bother following you around. May be hire somebody to follow you!" Rhea joked trying to lighten the mood.

"Right. He just creeped me out when he said something. Anyway I'm just overthinking it." Alethia just waved her hand and walked out leaving rhea utterly fumbled with her behavior.

"What's it with this guy and you?" She asked after her.

"Nothing. It's nothing.."

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