Dark Chemistry

Chapter- 2

"Baby, you chose the pain

'Cause you don't know me, you just know my name."

Natalia's POV :

".... Talia! Get up! "

"Mom said you're late!"

"Natalia! You little cockroach! Get up!"

Why was I hearing a kid screaming by my name? Maybe some neighbor's kid appeared in my dream I thought.

"What the- oh my God!"

I jumped off of my bed with a pillow as my *ss met the cold floor with a loud thud.

Someone splashed a blatant amount of water on me. I was totally f*ck*d *p.

I rubbed the water off my face with my palms and tried to open my eyes. But they were burning like hell.

A few moments later, of rubbing and blinking, I finally managed to open my eyes and looked ahead. Ellerie was standing in front of me with a small bucket while laughing his hearts out.

"What was that?" I asked blankly.

"A full bucket of water." He giggled.

Amazing! God this kid's gonna give me a heart attack one day!

I rubbed my eyes again to see clearly, it was a sunny day though the sky wasn't so clear.

"You know what, I know some cockroaches. They love to snatch toys from naughty kids like you. I'll tell them about your remote-controlled cars," I snorted.

"What! NO! MOOOOM!" He stormed out of my room in one blink.

Why does he always overreact?

I shrugged and walked into the bathroom. I looked in the sink mirror, but God, I looked more pathetic than a beggar who was sleeping on the street. My silky long hair looked like a bird's nest. I always braided my hair before sleeping, but the previous night I was so scared to do anything after hearing that news.

I brushed my teeth and washed my face quickly because it was already 8:30 am and my class was at 9. I made a ponytail bun of my naturally wavey long hair. I changed my nightgown and slipped into a loose white shirt and grey jeans. I quickly grabbed my backpack which I luckily packed last night and ran downstairs.

"Good morning everyone!"

"Good morning, my little princess." Dad smiled.

"Mom, tell her something! She wants to give my favorite remote-controlled car to that awful cockroaches!" Ellerie looked at mom with puppy eyes.

"Stop your crocodile tears, little bro. You splashed a bucket of water on me! And you ruined my mattress!" I complained.

"Don't act like a child, Talia. You're already late." Mom shook her head.

"Dad, let's go. We're late!" I mumbled while struggling with an egg in my mouth.

Ten minutes later, we finally reached in front of my school.

Bidding my father goodbye, I ran towards my classroom and, luckily, my teacher hadn't arrived yet. I sighed in relief and walked into the classroom.

"You're late today," Reema uttered.

"Yeah. Ell splashed a bucket of water on me in the morning." I huffed and sat down beside my friends who were sitting on the last bench of the left row.

"What?!" They laughed out loud.

Before I could say anything, Mrs. Gomez, our Mathematics teacher, entered the classroom. This lady is nice but boring.

"She looks cool today," Reema whispered.

"Didn't have a fight with the husband today, I guess." I giggled, but it was a bit louder.

"Ms. Rauf, are you here to offer us your giggling sound instead of learning some mathematical formulas?" Mrs. Gomez threw daggers over her ugly glasses.

"Sorry, Mrs. Gomez. Actually, I was listening to you attentively. But suddenly I felt a lump in my throat, so I coughed."

"Then can you please enlighten us by explaining the difference between integration and differentiation?"

"Ah.. I — I just, you know. Ijustnevereverheardthosewordsinmyentirelife." I blinked and smiled awkwardly.

Her jaw dropped on the floor as everyone started laughing.

"I don't want to waste my precious time on you, Ms Rauf. You should sit down."

"Thank you, Mrs Gomez."

After that, she went back to her boring lecture again. In mathematics class, my eyes stay on the blackboard, but my mind goes somewhere else and my brain sleeps peacefully.

In the lunch break, we headed to the cafeteria for lunch. We sat on the usual corner side table.

"We're tired of this scenario," Reema growled at Delilah and Fardinn, feeding each other like a perfect sweet couple.

"Don't give a sh*t." Marjan rolled her eyes.

"You heard the news about yesterday? Someone killed a man horribly and threw the dead body on the seashore behind the forest." I whispered.

"Oh yes, I was about to say that. I almost had a heart attack," Reema uttered.

"Yeah. I think it's a perfectly planned murder," Marjan whispered.

"I think it's some psycho killer, and we should postpone our plan." I huffed.

"Of course not!" Marjan frowned and scoffed.

"Oh girls! I forgot to tell you something. Granny is coming today! I think she's already arrived at my home."

There was a dead silence for a few moments between my two best friends.

"What?! Are you kidding me?!" Reema opened and closed her mouth.

"No, I'm dead serious." I bit my bottom lip.

"God. Why is this happening to us?! First, a murder occurred yesterday and now this old lady is already in your house." Reema rubbed her face with her palm and sighed.

"Don't worry. We're going to the club tonight and your granny won't be able to stop us." Marjan smirked.

Reema and I looked at each other and then looked at Marjan.

After school, I headed back home and met uncle Jacob on my way. We had a small conversation about the murder. He told me to stay cautious as everything was messed up in the town because the victim was a journalist.

The police were thinking that the murder was connected to some organized crime. Perhaps that journalist found out some important evidence about some big criminal organization so they killed him. It was not a psycho killer's case.

But apparently the guy who had killed him was a psycho.

In the evening, I got ready as we planned. I slipped into a big loose white shirt, a pair of black jeans and white sneakers. I straightened my long hair, made some curls on the top with a curler and let them hang down my back. I put a scarf on my head. Then I applied some light makeup, mascara and cherry lipgloss to complete the look.

A few minutes later, I heard Reema and Marjan's voices downstairs. I quickly moved downstairs and met two nun-looking people, Marjan and Reema, sitting on the couch with granny and Ellerie.

And of course, there was a reason for these baggy clothes and scarves.

"You look beautiful," Reema said sarcastically.

"And you two look stunning." I rolled my eyes.

"Why do you admire each other's appearance? Are you going to see a patient or a wedding ceremony? Are you girls hiding something from me?" Granny raised an eyebrow and looked at us up and down.

"No, granny. Is there anything ever exists which we could hide from you?" Marjan laughed awkwardly.

"Whatever. Natalia, your mom, was telling me that she didn't know about your friend's car accident." Granny looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Which friend?"

I was confused. I looked at Marjan and Reema. They were blinking and moving their hands and mouth. They were gesturing something.

"Oh yeah, that friend. Actually, that accident occurred this afternoon and mom was busy, so I forgot to tell her and you. But she's in a very critical condition." I lied neatly.

"But your friends were saying that the accident occurred the previous evening." Granny crossed her arms on her chest.

"Yes, exactly. But I got that news this afternoon." I smiled awkwardly.

God, I was lying smartly, but she was about to catch me.

"Yes, granny. We also got the news this afternoon and informed her." Reema grinned, showing her teeth.

"Oh, whatever. But don't be late. I repeat, Don't. Be-"

"Don't. Be. Late," we said in unison.

We got into Marjan's car and five minutes later Marjan parked the car behind an abandoned building.

"Take all your stuff and change quickly before anyone comes here." Marjan turned off the lights of the car.

Yeah, we were not going to a club dressing like this.

"We're really insane!" I laughed.

"Hell, it was so easy to fool your granny!" Reema laughed.

"Stop talking and change quickly!" Marjan whispered—shouted.

I slipped into a black spaghetti strap short top. Its sweetheart neckline made my breasts more prominent and revealed half of my stomach and belly button, a black skirt which just reached my mid-thigh and black net stockings. I applied mascara, winged black eyeliner and matt brick colored lipstick. I completed my outfit with black stilettos and a black leather jacket and left my half-curled hair free.

Reema put on a long-sleeved, v-necked white glittery short party dress with brown stilettos, applied black eyeliner and matte red lipstick. Her short hair was shoved back through some black clips.

Marjan threw herself into a long-sleeved, square-necked golden fringe dress that reached her mid-thigh with matching heels. She made smokey eyes, applied maroon matt lipstick and let her straightened hair fall on her back. Reema applied some glitter on our cheeks, eyes and necks.

"If granny catches us like this..." Marjan smirked.

"I'm sure she will have a heart attack immediately." I laughed as well as Reema and Marjan join.

Ten minutes later, a club came into view. It was a big black-coloured building that was almost invisible. Only on the top of the building had written Cimitero with big giant words that were illuminated with red lights. The 'O' was a flaming skull and the 'I's are skeletons, which made the whole building look more scary.

"What does that even mean?"

"That means the cemetery in English. People say that the owner is from Italy," Marjan explained.

The whole area was dark and calm, very few lights were on. It was more like a graveyard than a nightclub.

"What a freaking weird name! Is it a club or graveyard?" I laughed awkwardly.

"It looks like some horror film's shooting set!" Reema chuckled.

"I don't want to go inside!" I threw my hands up.

"Come on, Natalia! I've come here twice and there are a lot of people dancing, drinking and f*ck*ng inside! You're judging a club by its cover?" Marjan laughed .

"It's judging a book by its cover b*tch." Reema rolled her eyes.

"Whatever, the same things." Marjan shrugged.

Two intimidating-looking, bulky men around six feet in black suits were standing in front of the large black wooden door. I was d*mn sure they were not from here. They checked our ID and let us get inside.

Inside the club everything was black due to neon lights. Smells of alcohol and weeds hit my nostril and made my stomach knot immediately. People were dancing on the dance floor, laughing, drinking and flirting. Bartenders were serving drinks continuously without any breaks. There was a staircase on the left corner of the room that led to the VIP section upstairs. On top of the stairs, there were two guards standing all in black.

"We can't get into the VIP section. I've heard that there are many stripers and many private rooms for intimacy." Marjan spoke a bit loudly through the blasting music.

"Girls, let's go to the bar and try something." Marjan clapped her hand.

"Yeah! Let's go! " Reema cheered.

"What if mom and granny smell alcohol on me?" I shook my head.

"I brought three toothbrushes and toothpaste with me." Marjan gave us a mischievous smile.

"God! Marjan, you're really something!" Reema chuckled.

We walked towards the bar. There were now a few people because everyone was busy dancing on the dance floor. A handsome looking bartender with brown hair and grey eyes came toward us.

"Hey s*xy ladies! What can I get for you?" he asked with a mischievous smile.

"Three tequila shots for us," Marjan ordered with a shy smile.

"Is it also awful? " I asked Marjan stupidly.

"Looks like it's your first time in a bar." The bartender smirked.

"Yeah, you can say that." I gave him a tight smile.

"That makes sense." He chuckled. "Wait a minute, I'm giving you something so cool."

The bartender took three glasses and started pouring a bottle of whiskey, then passed them to us with a charming smile.

We had a great conversation with the bartender and an awful experience with the alcohol. He was quite friendly and charming. He told us about his country, culture, family and traditions. His mother was Bengali and his father was Afghani. They fell in love and got married. So he often used to come here before he settled down here.

Now, I was standing confused in the middle of the dance floor with my two crazy friends who're dancing like frogs. I was feeling shy at first, but then both of them encouraged me and the alcohol did its magic.

I swayed my hip and shook my whole body with the rhythm of the music. I was feeling like I was in another universe. Reema and Marjan started screaming when I rolled my hip.

I was moving my body like a shameless horny high school girl. I was so confused about myself, but at the same time, I was enjoying that moment and I wanted to enjoy every moment right then. An euphoric shiver ran down my spine. It felt like I was floating on a cloud.

"Talia has a s*xy hidden talent inside of her," Marjan giggled.

"Such a hot, s*xy dancer, and we didn't even know until today." Reema laughed.

I started giggling at their comments.

But suddenly I felt like I was being watched. I looked around, but everybody was busy dancing and drinking. Who would look at me? I mentally laughed and tried to brush it off. But anxiety was swallowing me.

A cold shiver ran down my spine and my heartbeat stopped when I looked over Reema's shoulder.

Someone was really watching me.

He was standing on the balcony of the VIP section with a glazing glass of alcohol in one hand, the other in his black slacks pocket and watching me with those mesmerizing ocean-blue eyes.

His black T-shirt tightly hugged his body, enabling his muscles and arms to contrast and bulge. He was watching me without blinking nor shifting his eyes elsewhere, not even drinking from the glass. He was still like a statue, plump pink lips slightly parted and sharp jaws clenched.

His dark hair was messy like he ran his big tattooed hand over it many times. I stopped dancing while the song ended.

I was feeling as if everything stopped beside me and my heart was hammering inside my ribcage.

"Natalia!"

I was so engrossed by the man that I hadn't heard anything of my friends were talking about.

I was possessed, possessed by his unreal and devilish beauty.

"We have to go now! Delilah is here with Amrin and Sima. Fardinn and his friends are also here!" Marjan spoke urgently.

That was it. It pulled me out of the hallucination.

"What?! Did they find out we're here?!" My mouth was hung open.

"We're not sure. But we have to leave now," Reema uttered.

"Yeah, let's go!"

I looked at the stranger from the corner of my eyes while talking to them, still in the same position, no blink, no movement, not a hair out of place, even holding the glass like before.

He was very tall and huge. For some reason he looked very dangerous and scary. The more I kept gazing into those ocean-blue eyes, the more he seemed to enjoy it.

We were almost close to the exit when I felt like looking there one last time. I snapped my head to the VIP section's balcony and widened my eyes to see him in that same place, the same position like he was a living statue. His mesmerizing eyes were still on me.

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder and I gasped loudly.

"Woah, it's me Natalia!" Reema chuckled.

I quickly turned to the stranger, but my heartbeat stopped again because, for the first time, I was seeing movement.

A small sinister smirk lifted the side of his mouth while his cold blue eyes were telling me something.

And it was a vow. A vow of a predator to hunt down it's prey, no matter what.