Carter's Beloved

Kidding Me

"Where are we going to go now?" I ask nervously, softly caressing my hair. The taxi is cramped, my legs are pushed against the seat as I glance at the air conditioner, inwardly begging that the driver realizes how hot is is and turns it on.

"I don't know. They know where you are and where you live." He says. His hand twitches next to mine, I see his desperate attempts to not touch my hand. I roll my eyes and look out of the windows, which is extremely hard considering they're covered in grime.

"Geez, was this never cleaned?." I mumbled,careful not to let the driver hear. I take my hand off the  window trim and placing it on my knee. 

"We should go to my house." He offers, before guiding the driver to his address. I look up excitedly to see where he lives. We soon enter a normal neighborhood and stop in front of a red brick building. He pays the driver, before stepping out and glances behind us. The street is empty except for the usual cars passing by or people walking.

"Come quickly." Carter says hoarsely before pushing me inside. I fight the urge to hit him, and reluctantly climb up the stairs. His house is small but comfortable, with beige walls and modern furniture. Grabbing a chair, I sit down massaging my head thinking about what happened today.

"I should call Daniel. Tell him about what happened." He dials his phone and grabs a glass of water. I stand up and look around the room. The walls have some pictures with family photos, while above the mantelpiece a small framed picture lies. Looking closer, I instantly recognize it. His arm is draped over me, as I smile looking directly at the camera. the picture was taken years ago, my face looked young and red, like I had just ran a mile. I pick up the photo looking closer, hoping to bring back any memories from the past.

"He isn't picking up." He groans behind me. I look up at him, and notice him staring at me.

"Is this a childhood friend?" I ask nonchalantly. He nods slowly and gulps. Putting the picture back on the mantelpiece, I wonder how long he had it with him and carried around it for.

"Someone I used to know." He mumbles from behind me. I smile softly and turn around. I look over to the room, observing how shoes are neatly heaped in a corner, while clean dishes are placed on the table.

"So what are we going to do?" I ask, placing my hands on the chair, glancing at the mirror behind me.A normal face greets me, as if nothing had happened an hour ago.

"I don't know. Should I call the police? Why did I have to pick up that call!" He slams his hands on the table, and I jump back clearly worried. Carter places his head in his hands, thinking deeply. 

"You know, I'm the one that should be worried. Calm down, I'll figure something out." I tell him gently and sit down.

I have two options right now. Either to return home and leave Carter behind, or let him help me. One glance at him tells me that it does not look like he can tolerate another big shock. Feeling guilty for troubling him to this extent, I make up my mind to return home.

At the end of the day, I need to figure out who sent me my mother's watch, she wore when she died and why someone wants me dead. I switch on my phone to see any recent notifications to see 5 missed calls from Logan. Rolling my eyes, I call him back. He picks up on the third ring.

"Madison! Are you okay? I heard you got into a car accident?" He asks. 

"I did, but I'm fine, don't worry about me." I say irritatedly. Who told this man that  got into a car accident Taking a mental note to investigate my snooping employees, I tune back to the conversation, Logan talking in full flow about the wedding plans.

"Okay, thank god. the dress fitting is in a few days and I'll send my assistant. I already told her about which gown styles I like best. I'm free tomorrow, want to get lunch?" Logan rambles on without paying the slightest bit of attention to what I'm saying. 

I accept my fate, staying out of sight to avoid trouble is not a choice. Especially with the wedding coming up, I agree to get lunch with him and hang up the phone call. Carter is standing next to the window, deep in thought but faintly glancing at me, from the corner of his eyes, not noticing that I was gazing at him.

"Carter, I think I should go back home." I try to break it to him as gently as possible. I don't want to hurt him. He turns around and stares at me, frown lines etched across his face. I stand up, showing that my decision was final. Carter shakes his head, and opens his mouth to cut in between but I shake him off with a gesture from my hand.

"I'm getting married next month, and I have a business to run. I appreciate your concern but I can't shut myself from the world. I guess I have to deal with what is coming." I tell him with a small smile. He looks confused and tries to convince me, but after a shake of my head, falls silent.

Soon after, I took a cab home. Sitting on my grey couch, I rest my head, and close my eyes. Confused, shocked, scared. I guess these words can describe how I'm feeling right now, and filled to the brim with questions. Getting up slowly, I walk towards my bedroom, hoping to take a shower, when my eyes land on a certain black velvet box kept in a drawer. I open it to find the watch stained with blood, once owned by my mother.Thoroughly confused, and having more questions, I close the box. 

I seem to have become more paranoid over the night; my eyes keep glancing towards the windows, like a shadow will erupt out of the flowerbeds, with a motive to kill me. I keep checking security cameras around my house, and after calling the security company twice, telling them to strengthen security around my house, placing more guards.

Waking up the next morning, I feel groggy and cranky. Who said getting 8 hours of sleep makes you happy? Dressing quickly, I leave the house, knowing that I could be targeted at nay moment, towards Winsor. Reaching late, because of traffic, I arrive at the office in a worse mood than I was before.

Sitting in a meeting, I listen as Rose, also head of designing shows me the recent trends and the clothes we can launch in our Mid-Summer collection. Ripped tees, tie dye, and cropped cardigans. Nodding along, the meeting soon comes to an end. In my office, I pass Carter arranging meetings with other officials from companies, and decide to check my email.

Skimming past the usual sponsorships or collaboration requests, I see a spam email, tucked across thousands of others, with the subject "June 5th". I hesitantly click on it, to find a one liner message from an anonymous user.

"When the sun sets, at quarter past 7, you will die." It reads. Blinking rapidly, I reread it again until the message has registered within my brain. I check to see if I received any other messages from this sender, but it is not the case. Shaking my head, I delete the email from my spam and block the email, from sending me any further texts.

At lunch, Logan calls me, and I snap at him to stop calling me. Grabbing my coat, I leave for the cafe where Logan is waiting for me. He meets me with his usual sly smile and hugs me. I pull away quickly, not wanting to have more contact than necessary. He notices my cold behaviour and sits down, without further comment.

We small-talk a little, and finally Logan reveals his true intentions of having lunch with me. The mysterious email still running through my mind, I glance upwards as he slowly brings up the topic about our marriage.

"You know, I never wanted any of this. I had other plans, to wait more and find the right one, but it's strange how I find that person in you." He gives me a sloppy grin and to hide my laughter, I drink my latte. He continues on, telling me how he thought our relationship would last, being pleasantly surprised. halfway through his monologue, his phone rings, and I sigh in relief.

"Yes. I'm having lunch. I'll join you now." He whispers to someone, and I notice his smile and how his fingers tap lightly on the table. Glancing at me, he makes a lame excuse about work and leaves in a hurry. Feeling suspicious and with nothing better to do, I follow him out of the cafe, deciding to return back to the company when I catch a snippet of Logan's conversation.

"Yes, I left her. No trust me, it's only you." He reassures the other person, chuckling. Smiling faintly, I drive off in my car, knowing that like me, he has no choice as well. Gripping the steering wheel tightly, I accelerate, thoughts rush into my mind, that I can escape right now from this hell and not risk my life but something pushes me to stay back. Something is certainly happening. I try to connect the dots between my accident, the phone call carter received, the email  and watch I received but come to no conclusion. Shaking my head slightly, I turn to the only suspect I know. Samuel.

He has to be doing this, to make me quit.