Arabelle

Chapter 10 - Conversation at a Café

Derrick's POV

"Good day My Lord" 

I heard an a voice I could never mistake even if I had just up from a deep slumber, my head jerked up quickly to see if perhaps I was  maybe hearing voices, raising my eyes, I was met with a pair of familiar blues, there was the owner the voice standing before me with a smile that spoke volumes of danger on her pretty face,

I felt my eyes widen to great heights "Arabelle" I said, even to my own ears, it sounded like I couldn't believe she standing here right now,

Her smile widened a little "You seem surprised to see me My lord" she said casually,

"What are you doing here Arabelle?" I said, I felt panic begin rise inside me, Arabelle should not be here, it wasn't safe for either of us, I had to make her leave the building right now,

"I am here to have a conversation with you and you are going to listen because you don't really have much of a choice on the matter" she said as she walked toward me and took the chair directly opposite me and sat down, she looking very much like the Arabelle i remembered, last time, she was angry and vengeful, looking nothing like the woman I remembered but right now, she looked like the proud and beautiful Lady Arabelle Highwater, 

Suddenly, the sound of a ringing phone pierced the air, I looked down at the table where my phone was ringing, it was Alfred calling me, it was almost time for the board meeting, there was only less than 10 minutes left and now, Arabelle was here, I muttered a cuss under my breath, I will have to miss the board today, there was going to be consequences for this,

"Go ahead and answer your phone" I heard her say,

I reached out my hand and pressed the decline button on the screen, "You wanted to talk, let's talk" I said to her,

she smiled brightly at me and said "Indeed my lord, we have a conversation long overdue"

I nodded my head and said "You are right, we will talk but not here" 

She gave me a look and said "You seem to have gotten the situation all wrong, you are not in the position to make demands Richard, I will tell you what to do and you will do exactly that without any question, am I understood? or maybe you will like to see a demonstration of what will happen if you don't do as I ask"

As she said this, her eyes flashed a brilliant blue and tiny sparks crackled on her finger tips, 

I exhaled, Arabelle was too stubborn for her own good "Arabelle I am not making demands, I am stating an obvious fact, we can't stay here and talk, I have a meeting scheduled for right  now and if I fail to show up then they will obviously come to find me, and could very much interrupt your conversion"  I said,

The look on her face told me that she was not ready to listen to me, I felt another wave of panic, Arabelle had to leave this building very soon or things might not go very well,

"Arabelle, I know that you will never believe anything i say to you, i already broke your trust..................." I was cut short by Arabelle,

"It wasn't only my trust you broke Richard, you bloody killed me, I trusted you completely and gave you all the love I could offer and what did you do? you dragged me by my hair from our matrimonial bed on our wedding night, you handed to the angry mob and watched as they tied me to the stake, you watched as the rain came down on me in heavy torrents and just when I thought you couldn't do anything worst, you, my so called husband, the man who had promised to protect me from the world, the one I had trusted with my life stabbed me in the heart and used your own hand to light the fire that burnt me to death and you stood still and watched me burn while the crowd chanted behind you, you are a despicable monster Richard, right there on that stake as the fire consumed me I muttered the spell that bound us all together, the spell was to make sure all the people directly involved in my death returned and now here we are Richard" she said, 

I could hear the emotions in every word she spoke and as she had spoken them, each word was like a dagger to my heart, she was right, I was a despicable monster and no punishment could be considered too grave for me, I will accept any punishment Arabelle gave to me but that will have to wait, we had to get out soon,

"Arabelle I know you have questions and I promise to give you the answers you seek but I beg you, please let's get out of here right now, it is not safe for you" I said,

I saw something flash in her eyes, perhaps she had heard the urgency in my voice, she stood up regally from her chair,

"You will tell me everything Richard, every single thing without leaving out a single detail" her voice was cold and low, 

I released a breath I didn't know I had been holding, I grabbed my jacket and slipped it on then grabbed my phone and car keys from the table,

"Let's go" I said to her,

she looked at me wearily before standing up as well,

my phone began ringing again, I looked at the screen and it was Alfred calling me again, I rejected the call once more and shoved it into my trouser pocket

“Let’s go quickly, there is not much time left, we have to go now” I said,

She looked at me, I could see the questions marks on her face,

I kept my voice to a whisper “Arabelle, please we have to go now, I beg you” I said

She nodded and walked past me towards the door, I breathed a sigh of relief and followed after her.

**************************

I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally got into my car and drove off, we had been able to get out successfully without any problems and for that I was more than grateful,

Arabelle was sitting beside me in the car, she had been quiet since we left the office, she had not protested when I asked her to get into the car, she had gotten in without any complaint,

“Where are we going?” she said finally,

“We are going to someplace quiet, somewhere we can talk without any disturbance” I answered and she remained quiet after that,

The place I had in mind was a coffee shop located in the inner part of town, it was located far away from all the hustle and bustle of the city, I had found it one day when I was just driving around, it had caught my eye and I decided to go in and check it out, I had fallen in love with it the moment I stepped inside, there was a warm ambience attached to the place, the furniture was made of polished wood and the tablecloths on every table was handmade, the young girl who ran the place told me they were all made by her late mother, the shop had been in their family for many generations, it was quiet and secluded, it was the perfect place to have the type of discussion I planned to have with Arabelle.

After driving for almost an hour in complete silence, we arrived at our destination

“This is it, we have arrived” I said to Arabelle,

She looked out the window toward the small picturesque coffee shop surrounded by greenery, I could not read the expression on her face because it was turned away from me,

“Let’s go, we have a lot to discuss” She said and opened the door to get out of the car, her voice was even colder than the last time she spoke,

This was going to be one hell of a conversion, I thought as I also got out of the car, Arabelle was already walking towards the shop, I followed behind her until she got to the door, she pushed  the door open and walked in, I went in a few seconds after she did,

Angie, the owner of the shop rushed to over to us, she was dressed in her usual blue apron and black jeans underneath, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, her brown eyes lit up when they fell on me and Arabelle, and a coy smile instantly lit up her face,

“Good day Derrick, always a pleasure seeing you but this is the first time you have come with a guest, a very pretty one if I might add”  she said in her thick Texas accent,

Arabelle remained quiet and her face complacent, I managed a small smile and said “Not today Angie, we just need a table and two cups of coffee”

“You can bring only one cup, I won’t be having anything, thank you “Arabelle said and walked away,

Angie gave me a look after she had left “it’s complicated” I said to her,

“I can see that, well your coffee will be ready soon, you better join her before she gets really mad at you” Angie said,

“Trust me Angie, you don’t want to see her get really mad” I said remembering when Arabelle was aiming light balls at me,

Angie laughed “Good luck Derrick, its looks like you will need it” she said and walked away,

Unfortunately luck can’t save me I thought and walked to join Arabelle at the table she had chosen, she had chosen the table that was farthest from the others, she sat down with a look on her face that I couldn’t decipher,

As I took the chair facing her, I realized the air was a little chilly, looking at Arabelle, I noticed her eyes were glowing very faintly, so faint one might mistake it from her normal eye color but of course I knew better,

Not too long after I sat down, Angie brought the coffee over, perhaps she had noticed the tension between us, she quietly placed the table on the table and walked away, which was very unlike her,

“I have only one question for you Richard, Why?” Arabelle said,

I knew this was going to be the first question she asked but now that she asked me this question, I had no idea where to start,

“I have gone over everything countless times in my head, I have looked on our life together and can’t connect it with how it ended, even till the ceremony, you were happy, I saw it your eyes so tell me what happened that made you behave the way you did that day, that’s all I need to know Richard” Arabelle said,

Despite her cold exterior, I could hear the emotions in her voice as she spoke,

 Taking a deep breath, I said “First of all, I must apologize to you Arabelle, there are no  words that I can use to tell you how sorry I am, I have not known a single moment of peace since the day I hurt you , I found living itself was torture, I lost count of how many times I contemplated taking my life, I could not sleep and when I did, nightmares tortured me, I meant every word I ever said to you, I meant to honor every promise I ever made to you but things didn’t quite go as planned”

A humorless laugh came from Arabelle “You have failed to answer my question till now, I do not care about your promises anymore, you have already broken every single one and they mean nothing to me in this lifetime, so simply tell me the reason that has brought us to all this, I ask you again, why did you do it Richard?” she said,

I took a deep breath and said “Okay, I had promised you the truth and that’s exactly what I will tell you”