UNVEILING SHADOWS

Chapter 4

"Spill girl!!!" Charlotte squealed in excitement as I changed into a simple jersey and shorts.

"There's nothing so special." I laughed, joining her on her bed. I burst out crackling with laughter as she laid her fingers on me. She tickled me so bad and I wasn't one to hold on for too long.

"Wait. Wait. I'm going to tell you." I struggled to say, unable to escape her teasing touch.

"He knew the baby wasn't his."

I could feel Charlotte heart drop into her mouth. "Damnn. How did he know? Oh my God. Did you come up with something? Like…what happened?"

"I tried to, Charlotte, but I just couldn't. The guy sounded so certain that this baby wasn't his."

"What if it was just a trick! After all the lies we cooked up to tackle his objections, you couldn't come up with one to challenge him??" Charlotte asked, sounding like she was desperately holding herself from laughing.

"Well…He said we could have a contract."

"Con…what?" Charlotte asked, with her eyes wide apart.

"A contract. He apparently needs a heir for important reasons, so he wants us to put up a show and act like we are married till the baby is born.''

"Are you for real, Prisca?"

"Of course!" I rolled my eyes. Why would I lie about this?

"This is good news! Acting as the wife of Ethan Johnson??? Oh my God. You'll be so popular!" Charlotte said, shaking my arms like I was blind and needed to see something important.

"Yeaaaa. I know right. But I told him that I'll think about it. I wanted to sound…or play "hard to get"…"

Charlotte's voice filled the air. "Think about what?? You're saying yes, right away! We can call him right now, if it's possible."

I laughed. "I'll give him my reply in a week's time. I don't know if I'd be able to stay confined to him for 9 freaking months. That's like…a lot and I'm not sure if I'm ready for the whole process. So I'll still think it over."

"Okayy. That's nice. You could think it over."

"Anddd I heard a sou.."

Charlotte's phone buzzed loudly. She stretched her hand to pick it from the bed. With the look on her face, I could tell there was a problem.

Immediately the call ended, she stood up, searching for her bag. "I have to go Prisca. I'll talk to you later."

"What's up? Is there a problem…?"

"No. No. Everything is fine. I just have to rush home to…meet up a deadline."

"Alright." I creased my eyebrows as we both made for the door. We both knew that was a lie, but I didn't stress it. I walked her down the stairs, over to the bus stop where she was supposed to get a taxi.

"What about Aaron?" She asked. I felt a weird pain in my chest when I heard those three words. "Your taxi is here," I changed the topic, pointing at a Toyota approaching us at the back. She gave me a peck and dashed into the car. Then, I helped her slam the rear door, smiling sadly.

Charlotte was my friend. My only friend. She was the only one I dared to show my vulnerability to. Even if she said nothing earlier on, I could sense that her mum scolded her over the phone for hanging out with me again. Aww. She didn't want me to feel hurt but how would I explain to her that I deserved the pain? Which parent would want their child hanging out with a slut like me?

I thought about my father again. It's not like he knew I wasn't into this godforsaken business. He had always believed my lie, and I was grateful about that. Aaron's words crossed my mind. I pushed it away with so much force. There's no way he wasn't babbling.

I became scared. Something told me Aaron wasn't lying. As I moved up the staircase, headed towards my apartment; I ran my fingers through my hair.

I was supposed to feel betrayed, angry and irritated, but I couldn't interpret this feeling. Guilt. I dug my nails into my skin as the memories of that night flooded my brain.

Why, just why couldn't I forget this and act like I was never r***d? Oh. I was pregnant. But even before I saw the pregnancy results, I had always hated the fact that someone had s*x with me without my consent. Wasn't s*x a norm for me? Why was it this hard to move on?

As I approached my room's door, I felt terribly dizzy. I pressed a hand to my forehead trying to steady my steps but my body wasn't having any of those. My eyes desperately ransacked the entire place, seeking for a place to rest my head.

But in a few minutes, I came crumbling. I just couldn't. Tears welled up in my eyes and this time around, I didn't want to place my palms over my mouth and cry silently. I wanted to scream, to shout and relieve myself of all these pains. Why couldn't I shout out? Just why?

My fingers went straight into my skin again, deeper this time, causing me to bleed. I wanted to stop. I wanted the pain to stop but I didn't know how.

I blinked rapidly to stop my tears but that again proved how weak I was. I let it flow in whimpers. I couldn't disturb the neighbors with my noise. After feeling relieved from that unnecessary outburst, I reached out for my phone and turned on i********:. I had 12 unread messages from Aaron. He was probably trying to apologize but I didn't wish to hear him out.

"You available again this night?"

This was from a married man who had three kids. I just wanted to appear in his dreams and bite his head off. He was so heartless but so was I. I got over 500 dollars the first time I had s*x with him. What rights did I have to question his heart? I smirked.

A message popped in. It was Charlotte. I felt happy. For some reason, her name brought in so much peace. "Got home safely. Take care of yourself love."

I read it without clicking the message, so I left it unattended. Her parents were right. She didn't deserve to be with me.

Ethan's offer flashed through my mind again. Then, I mustered all the strength within me, stood up, grabbed my key and inserted it into the aperture.

"Ethan must think I'm some sort of object. I'm sure he knows I'll come crawling at his feet with a yes. Well, what if I prove him wrong and show him that I'm not that predictable?" I thought aloud.

The contract involved marriage and I had vowed never to get myself involved in one. Marriage wasn't for me. Why on earth would I be confined to just one human? I could already envision how 9 months with Ethan Johnson would be. Somehow, we would end up having some sort of attachment and that would never ever turn out well.

I was going to turn down the contract and that was it. I could take care of my child. It probably wasn't as hard as I thought. I reached for my belly with my palms. All I needed from Ethan was cash. Now that I was rejecting his contract, I'd work harder.

"Yeah, I'm available. When should we meet?" I replied to the married man. This was the life I chose. This was where I belonged.

—--

The next day, I woke up to a mail. Ethan Johnsons wanted to meet with me again. He sounded like it was so urgent and I rushed into the shower to prepare and meet his scheduled time. We were meeting at a restaurant.

I reached the exact location a few minutes after the agreed time, but there was no restaurant. I asked an old lady whose hair looked very strange, for directions and she said there was no such location as Greenfield. She apparently laughed loudly at the name, making me feel extremely stupid.

I messaged Ethan and his message read:

"I can see you already. There's a black Mercedes, just a few metres away. That's my car."

I looked upward. The car was right there, down the lane. As I walked, I creased my eyebrows when I noticed I was the only one on the street. Apart from that old lady who had gone into thin air so fast, there was no other person on the street. My instincts became retroactive and I hastened my footsteps towards Ethan's car.

Something about the environment suddenly got eerie and I almost started running. I turned to my back again, and I saw a silhouette! Yes, that was definitely the shadow of a human. Someone was following me. I started running now but guess what? Ethan's car wasn't in sight again. What was happening?

I turned back again but had limited time to think or act now. Someone who had a mask on, had wrapped a poisonous substance around my nose. Yes, it was poisonous because it made me lose consciousness in seconds.

As I drafted into another world, I struggled to catch a glimpse of his face but everything was blur…all blur.