Thousand Years

CHAPTER 10 - The Reincarnate

The first thing Adrian had done that morning was call Madame. She was surprised by his call so early in the morning and even more surprised by his request. He had asked Madame not to assign any more customers to Lora. He had said that he will continue being her customer for an enormous sum of money. He had also said if necessary he will draft a contract regarding this. He also asked Madame to keep this a secret from Lora. Madame has asked him for some time before she gave the answer.

Adrian dropped Lora at her apartment and called Ms. Kim and his trusted driver Dominic. They were going to Los Angeles. He had a feeling that if he visited the city he might find a clue to what he was looking for.

It is common knowledge that Los Angeles means 'The City of Angels', but what most of the people did not know was how accurate that was. When the angels were bored in heaven, they used to come down to earth. Mostly to have fun. And their obvious and the most favorite destination on earth was none other than Los Angeles. It is said that even the devil himself roamed in the city. Of course this was known by the angels but the mortals had no idea.

Adrian arrived in Los Angeles after a five hour flight in his private jet. Ms Kim had booked hotel rooms for Adrian, Dominic and herself. She knew Adrian would be busy all day running around. She had no idea why he wanted to come to Los Angeles though.

Adrian asked Ms. Kim to check-in to the hotel with his luggage, he set out in the car that Dominic had booked for him. He was not in a mood to drive. He had no idea where to go or what to look for. He had very bad memories in this city.

The last time he was in Los Angeles was in December, 1996. He was with a famous actress at that time. It was really hard for him to keep his picture out of magazines and newspapers when he constantly dated actresses. He was Adrian MacLaren at the time. He remembered what happened exactly on one fateful night. That was his last night in Los Angeles.

December 1996, Los Angeles

Adrian was at theater with Ms Olivia Hue, who was a popular actress at that time. They were watching "Getting away with Murder". She was wrapped around him in their private viewing booth. He literally had her wrapped around his finger. He knew she was in love with him. But for him she was just another woman he had met along the way. Tonight he had gifted her earrings and she was thinking that he would ask her to marry him soon.

As the movie finished, he went out with Ms Olivia, so that they could have dinner and go home. It was about 7pm and the streets were decorated since Christmas was just around the corner. As they exited the theater Adrian stopped dead on his tracks surprising Ms Olivia who was now hanging onto his arm. He did could not believe his eyes.

On the other side of the road was a woman who looked exactly like Dareanna. His Dareanna. But it was impossible. The last time he saw her was in 1920s. He knew this wasn't her but the resemblance was uncanny. She had the exact same facial features except for her eyes. They were not the green orbs that he remembered but a light blue. She had blond hair as well. Other than that there was no difference between this woman and Dareanna. She was wearing a short blue dress that had white patterns with a black jacket.

He vaguely remembered Olivia going on about how they are going to be late for their dinner reservation. The woman across the street was laughing with her friend. It was the laugh that he had longed to see for all those years that he had spent in agony. He was not going to let this go.

He saw her calling for a taxi. If he was to get his car, he would miss her. So he called for a taxi himself and got into it as she got into one with her friend. He was followed by a confused Ms Olivia who kept asking why they were leaving his car there. He did not explain. He asked the driver to follow the taxi that she had gotten into.

He did not take his eyes off the taxi as they followed it. He now realized the picture he had seen some 40 years back was not a coincidence. It was another woman who looked exactly like Dareanna. She was from Brazil. He was not able to find the woman even if he had gone all the way Rio De Janairo to find her. He later got to know that she had passed away the same day he had landed in Brazil. The cause was unknown.

When he saw this woman today, he got the feeling that this might be the reincarnation of Dareanna as a priest had once explained to him. And he had a strong feeling that he needed to talk to this woman today.

The taxi in front stopped and the woman and her friend got out. They were across the road from the same Italian restaurant that he had booked for them that night. He payed the taxi driver and got out with Olivia following him. He saw the woman crossing the street with her friend. He also got the feeling that he was being watched but he could not care less.

As she was crossing the road, she stopped mid way and looked back for whatever the reason he did not know. She looked straight at him and their gazed locked. And then he knew. He knew it was her.

He did not have time to comprehend the events that took place afterwards. The only thing he knew was that everything was in chaos. Olivia was dragging him to help the woman who was now lying in the middle of the road in a pool of blood.