A Dark Secret

Chapter 9 | An illusion.

Hello everyone! How is everyone doing? Please comment something underneath the chapters, I will be truly happy to see what you guys think of the story! Also I am sorry that I didn't upload yesterday... I wasn't really feeling well!

Valerie looked at Marina who looked confused around. Valerie didn’t know what was going on with her and deep inside her heart, she feared that Marina was imagining things such as Grayson. Every time Valerie would come, he magically disappears. It just sounds wrong and messed up. What if Marina was actually losing her mind? Maybe the death of her mother had much more of an affect on her than anyone thought it would have. 

Valerie didn’t blame Marina for feeling the way she did or in what kind of a way she was dealing with her grief. Marina went through a trauma and Valerie would have reacted and behaved in the same way if she had lost one of her parents. No matter what happened, it was better for Marina to realise that she was imagining it. The sooner the better it was for her… 

"Should we go eat?" Marina asked as she looked into Valerie’s eyes. Marina had beautiful eyes with the darkest hair. Anyone would almost say that she was the living Snow White. Valerie smiled softly at her as she nodded her head.

"Yes of course." She replied, forgetting what she was thinking about or at least tried. They walked into this cafe like shop. Valerie sat down on one of the chairs, surrounded by a table and not a second later there was a waiter coming her way. Marina smiled as she quickly sat down and looked up at the waitress. 

"Could I please take your order?" The waiter asked politely. Valerie looked at her and she could see that the waitress didn't like where she was. Her facial expression said it all. There was no kindness whatsoever. She had to be here because it was her job. 

"Yes, can I please have a ice coffee with cheesecake and a croissant?" Marina asked with a smile as she looked at the waitress. She nodded as she wrote down Marina’s order in her little notebook. Now she looked Valerie’s way and she smiled uncomfortably.

She still wasn’t sure what she wanted to get but from the look of the waitress, she felt the pressure of deciding it right now. Her cold expression made her so uncomfortable. 

"Can I have the same thing please?" Valerie asked and the waitress just quietly nodded her head as she wrote a note in her notebook. She looked at both of Marina and Valerie with the fakest smile Valerie had ever seen.

"Can I get anything else for you?" She asked but both of Valerie and Marina just shook their heads to answer her question. 

"Well, enjoy." She said before she left. Marina looked at Valerie with a surprised look on her face and laughed softly.

"I don't believe I am saying this but I miss our cafe shop in Mooresville." Valerie said as she sighed. Marina nodded her head as she was looking at her best friend. 

"Do you already want to go back?" Marina asked Valerie as she looked at her and Valerie quickly shook her head. It wasn’t that she didn’t liked it here. Everything seemed so different. Unfamiliar. 

"I love it here but it feels so unfamiliar." Valerie said and she meant it every word of it. They didn't really knew someone and college wasn't starting until upcoming Monday and it was Friday now. They still had a few days to get to know the country or get something that they needed for college.

"I know what you mean." Marina said as she looked at Valerie. Valerie could see it from her face. She missed Mooresville and deep inside Valerie’s heart, she did too. They grew up there, had their first kisses there. At least Valerie did. Marina was never in a relationship with someone.

"But college is starting. How do you feel about that?" Valerie asked. She was more into singing than Marina was. Marina loved to write. She wrote songs, her own stories and poetry. Valerie always thought that Marina m was honestly so good at it. Marina smiled and nodded.

"I am so excited about it. I can't wait for all of it to begin." She said with a smile. Valerie saw the waitress coming without food from behind Marina. When she came closer, Valerie saw Marina looking up. The waitress put down their plates where a croissant and a cheesecake was placed. 

"I will get your ice coffee in a minute." She said with the same fake smile before disappearing again. Marina was looking at the food and it looked like she couldn't wait to eat.

"This looks so good, Valerie." She said as swallowed. Valerie smiled as she nodded. It truly looked so good. The cheesecake looked so fulling with the cream on top of it and the croissant was just fully screaming out France. It was honestly perfect.

"I could get used to the food here." Marina said and Valerie chuckled softly. The waitress came again and place their ice coffees on the table. 

"Welcome to LA." She said with a smile before walking away. Confused, both Valerie and Marina looked at her as she walked away from them. How did she even knew that they were new? There were more than thousands of people coming here every single day and somehow she knew they were new.

"That's weird." Valerie said as she took a sip of her ice coffee. Valerie didn’t think much of it as Marina did. She . widened her eyes as she nodded her head. Weird things were happening since her mother’s death. What if this was a part of this too?

"Since we have left Mooresville, strange things have been happening." Marina said softly as she took a bite from her cheese cake. Valerie looked at her and she could see the confusion on her face.

Valerie was afraid that Marina might tell her again about Grayson. She honestly wanted Marina to talk to her but she just didn’t know how to respectfully and positively talk about this with her. What if she hurt her feelings by mistake? It might things worse for Marina than it already was. 

"What do you mean?" Valerie asked out of curiosity as she looked at her. Marina sighed as she looked at Valerie.  Valerie could see that something was bothering her and deep inside her heart she felt like it had to do something with Grayson.

"First I met Grayson. I met Grayson nearby the river and he just disappears when you come by. It happened again near the tank station and now as well. He was here and it is terrifying because I don't know how he keeps on finding me." Marina said. Valerie looked with sympathy in her eyes at Marina. She could see that Marina was truly afraid. Valerie held her hand gently. She knew what to say to hopefully reason with her. 

"Marina, what if you are just imagining this? What if none of this is true?" Valerie asked her carefully, hoping that she wouldn't take it to her heart.

"So you think I made all of this up?" Marina asked offended and Valerie shook her head immediately. 

"No. I don't think you did. I think you believe that you see him but it doesn't make sense that he leaves when I come by. It sounds unrealistic." Valerie said and she hoped that Marina would understand what she was trying to convey without really hurting her feelings. Marina sighed as she looked at Valerie.

"I know what you are trying to say but when he is there. It feels way too real for it to be fake." Marina said softly as she looked down and Valerie sighed softly. She just shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know what it is then, Marina... It can't be something else." Valerie said as she looked at Marina who was gazing down at the table. She nodded her head quietly as she looked down.

"Maybe I just imagined it..." She said softly but it sounded like she was convincing herself but it didn't quite work. Valerie squeezed held her hand softly and saw Marina looking up. She softly smiled at her, hoping that it would make Marina feel less upset. 

"Whatever this Grayson guy is. We will get to the bottom of it, okay?" Valerie asked as she looked Marina into her eyes. She gave Valerie a warm smile before nodding her head.

"Now enjoy your food. You have been way too hungry for it to leave like that." Valerie said and Marina chuckled softly.