The Dying Soul

Chap 6 – Angel Has A Name, EVA

EKON POV

    I entered Mike’s office looking around and notice that Owen was absent. Mike understanding my gaze answers my unvoiced question. “Alice called him asking him to drop her and your sisters back home from a friend’s place.” I raise and drop my eyebrows with a nod of understanding. “So...” he starts. I squint my eyes and shake my head knowing he is going to mention her name I say “Don’t even go there.” “Well you should have thought about that before you committed to a s****l relationship with her bro.” Mike says. I groan letting him know that I’m annoyed with the topic when I answer him “It is called ‘friend with benefits’ man not a relationship.” He lifts his hands in a mock surrender. “Anyway, about earlier. What was that all about?” he asks.

    “Mhmm. Any idea who that singer might be?” I asked casually not to put any wrong ideas into his brains. He being my friend somehow knows how to read me and being a sappy and hopeless romantic person does not help my case. Thankfully he did not pull any love s**t so far though I knew it was not far behind when it comes to him. He raised his right eyebrow in question. “I have an event coming up so I was thinking if she might be interested to participate as a singer but I missed her. Probably I’ll just come around tomorrow and ask her.” I say with a confidence and voice a thought in it to not raise any red flags. Though the event is a lie, he will not know it until a few days later. 

    “Well then you should come by next week. Her slots are on Friday, 2100-2200 for ‘An hour of Romance’. She is good at it. Her music seems to attract more couples and young women that makes the bees come rolling in just before the music pumps up the night. She is new here and already has her own fan club.”  I sit on his couch with my jacket draped over my right thigh listening to him. “Her name and contact? Maybe I can give her a call and see if she is interested” I ask. “You’ll call? Her?” He asks me back in disbelief as he leaned forward on his desk. He knew me well. I do not like to associate with people much unless it is decision making or important meetings. I always get my PA to make any arrangements. I sigh running my palm down my face. “Fine. Her name is Eva and I only have a fixed line as a contact number. Not much details as she requested for privacy.” he says while rummaging through his system and penning down some information on a piece of paper. “She did tell me that she might not be able to do this for a long period of time. So, I don’t really know if she would be your best candidate” he added.

    I take the note from him then make my way to my car after saying goodbye. My phone rings as I reach my car. I ignored the incoming call when I see it was from Bec. I get into my black Audi A3 Cabriolet a convertible, throw my jacket over my book on the passenger seat and ignite the car. I rev the engine and pop open the stack and breath in the cool air around me. “Eva” I breathe out. I put my car into gear and decide to take a drive in my open top car to let the wind rush through my hair. 

    Manoeuvring through the open road during this late hour, I breeze through the empty road running at the top speed limit. Her image running through my mind. Her doe eyes. I wonder what she really looks like up-close. Eva. She looks like a person with a good sense of style. She looks comfortable with herself though she kept her head low most of the time. ‘Aargh’ I let out as I slam my palm on the steering. How can a person fill one’s mind by the mere sound of her voice?

    I find myself near the beach road when I pull the car into parking. I walk out and sit on the heated hood of my car. Leaning back on my windscreen I cushioned my head with my clasped hands. Gazing up into the silent night sky as only one word fills my thoughts. Eva. I pull out the note Mike gave me and called the number just to hear her voice one more time but the phone kept ringing. I sighed deeply putting away my phone. I kept gazing up at the night sky. It was clear tonight unlike my wavering heart. The stars twinkling in the night sky making them seen like a thousand diamonds. I close my eyes feeling the salty wind blow with calmness and tranquillity enveloping me the blanket of darkness. Slowly I drifted to sleep in the comfort of nature.

    I startled awake when there was a disturbance in my peaceful dreamless state. I tried to drift off again but instead I opened my eyes when I hear a dog bark in a distance. Looking for the source. I see a silhouette of a person and a dog walking near the waters. Observing the grace and poise of the silhouette walking through the night, I wonder if Eva is as graceful as her voice deem. The silhouette is of a female judging from her gaits and structure. I watch them until the silhouette of the female and her dog disappear into the shadows of the 2-storey beach house on my right. Leaning back onto my windshield, I realise I must have slept longer than expected as the night sky was getting lighter slowly. I slid down the hood and got into my car. I sat with my head rest back. A glance to my right had me looking at the book of my favourite contemporary author. I read the blurb of the book before choosing to open to a random page. It reads;

    ‘It doesn’t have to be this way. Trouble has always made its appearance known in many different ways. Different people go about it differently. It is only a matter of what would you do? Would you sit back and worry yourself to oblivion or would you take the reins and steer your way through it. Never give up on what you can solve. Save yourself and others before you die of misery. Ask yourself, “how is this my life?”Is your past haunting you? What is it about the past that never lets you go, even when you’re so wrecked it’s hard to believe you would ever want a future to begin with? You can always find something or someone truly important in an ordinary situation. Just take one step at a time’  

I closed the book feeling thrived and drive back home with her voice in my ears. 

Eva