Arabelle

Chapter 16 - A word with the dead

Derrick’s POV

The meeting with the foreign investor had ended on a good note, he was still very much interested in investing in our company, I came out of the meeting feeling rather pleased, today was turning out to be a good for me it will seem,

With a smile on my face, I headed to my office, I felt like I could just go home and relax, or maybe go out for a drive later in the evening, I finally got to my office, I found Alfred standing at the door with a somber look on his face, he looked very downcast, the first thing that came to my mind was my mother, I hoped nothing bad had happened to her, I suddenly felt my head feeling very faint,

“What happened? Why do you like that?” I asked trying very hard to make my voice sound undisturbed,

Alfred was quiet for a while then he said “Mrs Ruth was found dead not too long ago, she had reportedly jumped off the statue of liberty”

“What the hell? But she was just here a few hours ago, how can she be dead and how the hell did she get on top the statue of liberty, it makes no sense?” I said at once,

This was one of the most absurd situations I had ever heard, it made no sense no matter many times I looked at it, Ruth wasn’t a woman to try and commit suicide, she was a woman with perfect control of her life, even this morning, she showed no sign of someone who was planning to end her life, she had looked determined like she was going to keep trying until she got what she wanted,

Alfred handed me a tablet, a video was on the screen but it was paused, I pressed the play button and watched the video,

“It has been confirmed that Ruth Grant of King’s Enterprise committed suicide today by jumping of the statue of liberty, authorities are still investigating how she got up there in the first place, she was reported to have jumped off sometime around 2:45pm this afternoon, family and friends have said there is no reason they could think of as too why Mrs Grant will want to commit suicide, it is truly a tragedy indeed, we hope that she rests in peace and that the family are able to bear the loss”

The video concluded, I was finding this very hard to believe, I handed the phone back to Alfred,

“Where is the body right now?” I asked,

“The body was taken to city hospital for further observation, there is no fixed date when it will be released to the family” Alfred said,

I couldn’t help but feel pity for Ruth, we had our differences but no one deserved such an end, it was a pity indeed,

“Get the car ready, we are going to the hospital, I am going pay my condolences to her family” I said,

“Yes sir, I will prepare everything” Alfred said and turned away,

I stood where I was for a few minutes, I still couldn’t warp my head this news, it was a sad end for anyone and I really, truly hoped she rest in peace.

“The car is ready for you Sir” Alfred said to me,

I hadn’t even hear him return, I took a deep breath and said “Let’s go then”

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

Bella’s POV

I wasn’t sure I where I was, I was wondering in a dark hallway, it was windy and the skies were dark, around, I had no idea where I was going and where I was coming from, I just kept walking and then finally I came across someone, she was standing with her back to me,

“Excuse me, please do you know we are, I don’t know how I got here” I said, walking towards the woman, I placed my hand on her shoulder and my hand came in contact with something wet and sticky, I pulled my hand away and found it was stained with blood, I pulled away for her quickly, I took hurried steps away, blood began to drip from her dress, the smell of blood began to choke me, slowly she turned around, her face was stained with blood, it was mangled in many places, her hands and legs were twisted at odd angles, they looked like they were broken, her eyes were hollow and vacant, I felt an intense fear overtake me when I recognized the woman, it was Ruth, she was still dressed in the clothes she had been wearing the last time I had seen her in Ian’s office,

She opened her mouth and the smell of blood filled the air “She wants you  Arabelle, everything she does is to be rid of you, she is wicked and unforgiving, you are not strong enough to face her, you must become stronger, and do not let yourself be guided by fear and anger, anger will be your undoing and fear is your enemy, she feeds of fear and it only make her stronger, protect your loved ones because she will go after them just to get you”

“Who is she?” I asked, I desperately needed to know

“I am sorry Arabelle but that is all I can help you with, during my last moments on earth, it was strange that you were the one I thought of, she had spoken only of you, I think some of her memories of you were shared with me because of the magic she bound me with, Arabelle, you must Protect them all, including Richard, he also needs your protection” Ruth said and she slowly began to fade away,

“Wait please, come back, please tell me who she is” I said, but she was already gone,

I felt tears well up in my eyes, she was gone and somehow I couldn’t help but feel like it was my fault, I felt like she had died because of me,

Somewhere in the distance, I heard someone calling me back, they were waiting for me, I had to return quickly, Ruth had said I must protect them and I will protect them all no matter what, I closed my eyes and focused, gradually, I felt the connection to my body, a gentle breeze blew around  me and when I opened my eye, I was back home and Ian was looking down at me with worried eyes, I sat up quickly,

“Calm down, you were out for a while, I rushed over here when you didn’t answer me on the phone, I freaked out because I saw what happened to Ruth, I thought you were in danger, luckily when I got here, I found you unconscious but you were unharmed, I have been trying to get you to regain your consciousness but when you didn’t wake up, I figured it you hadn’t lost consciousness naturally plus I smelt the magic in the air” Ian said and gently pushed me back to lie down on the couch,

Of all the things he said, the one that caught my interest was the part where he said he could smell the magic “What do you mean you could smell the magic? I asked him,

He handed me a cup and gestured for me to drink it, then he said “There is much you need to learn, mother only taught you simple spells and a little complex ones, she had told me that she wanted  your magic to remain pure, the deeper you go into magic, the more it becomes accustomed to your senses, magic is like a force of life, you understand it just like you do with Chemistry or Biology, the more you use magic, the more you get used to it, it becomes very normal to you, it begins to have a unique smell, you can sense it if it’s close by, it becomes a natural part of you”

I raised the cup to my lips and drank, whatever drink it was, it tasted great, I felt my strength returning slowly, it tasted like a thousand bubbles exploding in my mouth, it was something like I had never tasted before,

“What’s this? I am sure I have never drank it before” I asked,

Ian smiled and said “Of course, you haven’t, it’s my own invention, it apple juice laced with a spell for healing, I found that when healing spells are immersed in liquid, they work about 3 times faster than usual plus it’s very refreshing”

I smiled and said “You are a genius”

Ian shrugged casually but he said nothing, I knew he was worried about  me and what happened today, he wasn’t asking me any questions, he was trying to act natural but I could see how worried he was,

“I am fine Ian, you don’t have to worry about me, nothing happened” I said with a smile,

He looked at me and smiled “I see that now” he said,

I smiled and held his hand, I squeezed it a little, I must protect all of them , then I remembered what Ruth had said, she had said I also had to protect Richard, why should I protect him? He was the enemy along with whoever the monster who had killed Ruth was, I had no business protecting him, he meant nothing to me, I remembered how Ruth had looked when I saw her in my dream like state, I felt pity towards her, she didn’t deserve to die like that, no one did.

“What are you thinking about?” I heard Ian say,

“I was thinking about Ruth” I answered,

I heard Ian exhale “I dragged her into all this, I feel like her death was my fault” he said, I had never heard him sound so sad,

“It wasn’t your fault Ian, the only person to blame is the person responsible for all this and we are going to make sure he or she pays for everything, we cannot let them get away with this” I said,

Ian looked at me and said “let’s go to the hospital, I feel like I really need to apologize to Ruth, maybe I will feel at peace”

I smiled and nodded my head “You are right, we should go” I said and he gave me a warm smile,

“Give me a sec to get changed” I said and stood up to go to my room and find something appropriate to wear, suddenly my phone started ringing, I picked it up from the couch, it was Danny calling me, I felt a stab of guilt, I had said I will inform him about concerning Richard but I had been ignoring him for a while now, I felt it was better this way, I really didn’t want him getting involved in all this, it was getting more and more dangerous, I didn’t want Danny getting hurt because of all this, with that thought in mind, I put the phone on do not disturb mode and dropped it on the couch,

Ian gave me a look “Boyfriend?”  He said with a small smile,

“Not really, a friend” I said and headed upstairs to change my clothes.

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

Derrick’s POV

We pulled up in front of city hospital, there was a large crowd of people gathered in front of the hospital, most of them were reporters, once again, I felt pity for Ruth and also her family, they could not even be allowed to mourn quietly, the press will continue to bother them for a while, it was very sad indeed.

“Sir, should we go in now or we can come back later when the press is gone? it will be very hard to avoid them now” Alfred said,

He was right, the press could be annoying and I only interacted with them when it became impossible for me to avoid them, seems like today was one of those days,

Exhaling, I said “let’s just go Alfred, this can’t wait”

“Okay Sir” Alfred, he got of the car and turned around to open the door for me, but I was out of the car by the time he came over,

I walked towards the entrance with determination, maybe by some miracle, the press might not recognize me, even I knew it was just wishful thinking,

In a matter of seconds, they had sighted me and were swarming around me and asking all sort of questions, I kept my face straight and said nothing, Alfred tried to word them off but they were relentless, it was impossible to get past them, I had to talk to them and just be done with it,

I stopped, I took a deep breath and spoke into the microphone closest to me,

“It is really unfortunate thing that happened today, all of at King’s Enterprise send our condolences to the family of Mrs. Ruth Grant and we hope she rests in peace”  I said and turned to walk away,

It was a difficult task but I finally got into the hospital, Alfred went to get the information about where we could find Ruth’s Family, I waited for him to be done, I really disliked the smell of disinfectants, I found hospitals revolting, I couldn’t spend more than an hour in hospitals or I might just up getting admitted,

 I remembered one event from the past, my mother had asked me to go to the local clinic and make a donation on her behalf, I had asked Arabelle to accompany me, we had gone together to distribute blankets and food to the patients, I was okay for the first 30 minutes but I started feeling sick later on, I had told Arabelle I wasn’t feeling very well, she had told me that I was just been lazy and was trying to escape hard work, she hadn’t believed until 20 minutes later when I ended up vomiting on her new dress which she so much loved, she had mocked me about that event for weeks, a smile crept into my face, some memories were still very beautiful , it’s just that the most vivid of them all was very ugly thereby casting a dark shadow on all the rest,

I sighed and ran my palm over my face, I really missed those days and sometimes wished for impossible things, I wished things were different, I wished Arabelle and I had enjoyed our married life, I sometimes imagined us with our cute kids, smiling and living happily as a family, a small laugh escaped my lips as I remembered a famous quotes about wishes and horses.

“Richard” I heard a voice call from behind me,

 I couldn’t help the smile that crept into my face as yet another famous saying crossed my mind, the one about talking about the devil and the devil shows himself,

I turned around and there she was looking like an angel, she was dressed in a white gown that came down to her knees, she wore black heels which matched with her hair that came flowing down to her back I had always dreamt of seeing her hair like it was now, her face was void of any makeup but still her strawberry lips stood out, lips that even in this moment, I wanted to kiss, lips that brought buried memories surging to the surface, she was beautiful, my beautiful Arabelle, my beautiful bride she had been once,

“Arabelle, what are you doing here?” I asked,

She had a look in her eyes that I couldn’t completely understand, it was a mixture of many things, I saw doubt, confusion, anger and something I couldn’t decipher,

She walked toward me then stopped when she was standing right in front of me, she was close enough for me to know that she smelt of roses and honey, just like she had done in the past,

Her blue eyes were looking into my Hazel ones, we had stood like this once, in another life and in another time but now we were different people in a different time, in a different life.

“Richard, for the life we once had once shared and the love we had once had, I beg you to tell me the truth, I know you are hiding something, you are trying to protect someone but please I beg you to tell me the truth, a lot of people are in danger” she said,

I felt a feeling of guilt and pain rise deep in my soul, she had asked the one question I could not answer, if she asked me anything else, I would tell her without hesitation but this was the one thing I couldn’t answer,

“I am sorry Arabelle, I truly am but there are some question I cannot answer, I am very sorry” I said and turned to leave, I was a coward and I knew it but if I had to be a coward to protect Arabelle then I will happily be a coward all my life,

“Sir, they are………..” Alfred was saying but I cut him short,

“Forget about it, we are leaving” I said and walked away from the one woman in my life I wanted to run to more than anything in my life,

“Forgive me Arabelle, forgive me my love”