Inside The Manor

Chapter Sixteen

Munching on a donut as I opened the gate of my manor, I noticed that Trey hadn't come back yet.

I shrugged and passed the threshold.

Walking inside I removed my jacket and ate the last piece of the donut. While coming back here, a thought had crossed my mind.

'I might die.'

I had no idea what the heck was expecting me on the other side of the portal. The Queen already wanted me dead and I had no friends on the other side of the portal. Even if I were to enter the other side armed with guns, they still had magic.

So dying was a very potential option.

With that being acknowledged, I had decided to take a quick break, well multiple quick breaks at multiple stop so I could eat all the junk food I wanted.

And a donut shop had happened to be my last stop.

Oh well.

The more you eat, the harder you are to kidnap anyway.

Just as I made my way to one of the bathrooms to wash my hands a noise came from my phone.

After checking the name, I opened the call on speaker.

"What's up?" I asked as I started washing the leftover sugar from my hands.

"Hey are you busy?" responded 'Cam's dumbass' after a moment.

"Not really, no. What's wrong?" I wiped my hands with a towel, closed the speaker and put the phone on my ear.

"Uh, do you know a Lucy of sorts?" My blood ran cold.

"What? Where is she? What did she want? Are you ok?" I fired the questions one after the other.

"Umm she was here asking for Camilla. I told her that we hadn't talked together ever since we broke up. She still seemed suspicious and kept provoking me. I didn't fall for it thou so she seemed satisfied enough and left. She left me a business card to contact her. They were friends or something."

"I'm not sure... But I think she's from the other dimension, that's how she knows Claudia. You need to stay away from her." I shortly explained.

"She's gone now anyway." He said and I heard a weird noise coming from his side of the call.

I sighed in relief, but then it registered that they were already looking for Claudia.

Time was pressing, and it was time for me to take a decision.

Take Trey with me to the other side, or not?

If I did take him with me he would be a liability for sure, but then again, Cam was the love of his life.

But then again, he couldn't even recognize Cam's alter-ego from the real one.

But then again neither could you, whispered a voice in my head.

That's true, but then again, Trey had never been good at handling stress, and now we would have to make spontaneous decisions that would decide his survival.

But then again, you make too many rushed decisions, the voice objected again, you could use him as balance.

That's also true.

But then aga...

Bitch he's calling, the voice shouted inside of my head.

I quickly snapped out of my daze and heard Trey calling my name repeatedly.

"Yeah, I'm here. Just got lost thinking." I immediately said.

"Oh, ok. Anyway, I'm headed to Cam's apartment. Is there anything you..."

"No! I mean yes! Can you get here first? We need to talk about something" I finished the call and got the stone out of my pocket.

Well, looks like he's tagging along after all.

I was looking at myself in the mirror after changing my shirt.

This could be the last time you're seeing yourself, the little annoying voice whispered.

I could see myself nodding in the mirror.

I lifted my shirt and checked myself out on the mirror. If someone had given me a choice before, would've I changed anything about myself?

The answer was an immediate yes.

A flatter stomach would have been nice, maybe sparkling eyes, shinier hair, fuller lips, bigger booty, even skintone, smaller nose, naturally lifted face, whiter teeth, taller height, better personality...

But, if someone asked me that same question now... My answer would be no.

Why?

Cause who the hell has time to change all that s**t, when you're heading to certain death!

I scooped another spoon of ice cream.

Nothing better than ice cream as your last meal.

Just as I was about to finish all of it, a knocking sound interrupted me.

Cursing Trey to hell and back, I went to open the door...

Ah s**t!

Well at least this wouldn't happen anymore to where I was going...

"Lucy! What a surprise! What are you doing here?" I asked faking excitement through the half open door.

Lucy smiled a fake smile.

"Hi, can I come in?" she asked almost immediately.

NO, you can not.

"Now's not a good time actually. I was actually about to go grocery shopping." I excused myself.

"That's ok... Can I come with you? We can also stop at a café to chat." She said as she rose and lowered on her tiptoes multiple times.

I thought about it.

"Yeah, sure." I decided. "Just let me grab my purse."

I softly shut the door in her face, and then went to text Trey.

'Lucy's here. I'm heading out with her and I'm leaving my map app open. Track my phone if I don't text back in less than an hour.'

I grabbed my purse and my keys, put my shoes on and faced Lucy one more time.

I smiled awkwardly at her as she back out to let me space to lock the door.

If she planned on doing something, why would she suggest a public place to talk and not just insist on staying at my house?

I heard the clicking sound and turned to her.

"Let's take my car." She suggested and walked away to where I supposed she had parked her vehicle.

Yes or no?

Yes or no, Elora?

"Sure."

We stopped in front of a small café. She got out of the car wordlessly, and I sighed before following her. It wasn't hard to get a table, because Lucy apparently knew the working staff. Nice to have friends in such places, isn't it?

We walked to our table and waiter left after Lucy ordered her usual for both of us.

How nice of her! Note the sarcasm!

"So, Lucy, something you wanted to talk about?" I said in a questioning tone.

"Elora this might sound a little personal, but you're her best friend after all..." Lucy paused and scratched her neck in a nervous manner.

"I'm not really following..." I spoke once the silence became too awkward.

"Let's say I've fallen in love..."

"Congrats?" I said unsurely as I spotted a waiter holding a tray coming our way.

But, then at the last second he bent over to the other table.

They do this everytime, I swear.

"Elora, you're not listening." Lucy snapped.

I immediately directed my eyes to hers. She was frowning and looking at me disappointed.

"I'm sorry." I said sincerely. "I'm so sorry. You were saying you were in love..."

Lucy sighed.

"You know, this might have been a mistake. You wouldn't understand, anyway." She moved further back in her chair and I felt bad.

"No, I'm sorry. Lucy, I really am. What's wrong?" I tried again.

"I'm in love... With Camilla."

I... What?

I wasn't trying to make an expression or anything, but something must have shown on my face because her face darkened almost immediately and she pushed herself back on her chair.

Damn girl, where you trynna go?

"Umm, wow! Ok." I exclaimed

Now, did she mean Camilla or Claudia?

I forced a smile and leaned closer to the table.

"That's great! I'm happy for you, seriously! Have you told her yet?" I softened my tone and plastered a smile on my face.

She blushed.

I had no longer an idea if she was faking the whole thing or she meant her confession, but either way, for some reason, I felt like believing her.

"I haven't told her yet." She muttered as she smiled, her eyes twinkling with sincerity.

I smiled, for real this time even as my heart sank as soon as reality kicked in.

Funny how my mood changes so fast.

I bit my lip, trying to contain a smile at the stupidity of the situation. For a second there I had believed Lucy had fallen in love with Cam, but then realized Lucy had never met Camilla.

Lucy was in love with Claudia.

The one I had helped kill.

Oh, s**t!

"Why? I simply asked. I had to get out of here, but my curiosity wasn't that easy to deal with.

"She is in love with Trey," Not really, no. "And then again is she is your best friend." No, nope. "Plus, I was dreading your reaction..." Huh? "After all, I felt like even if Cam would accept me, you wouldn't."

I just stared at her confused. And she stared back.

Ok, then...

"What... What made you think that?" I asked and scoffed softly, because the mere idea of it was ridiculous.

Is it really, that nasty voice asked.

Not now, I mentally shooed it away.

"Well, I don't want you to be offended," Too late, but I appreciate the gesture. "But, you are so close to Camilla. And... You know, whenever it felt like I was making progress with her, you would always interfere." The tone of her voice had slowly turned accusing.

I was speechless. And that didn't happen often.

"Why?" I pressed myself to ask, needing to figure it out.

Her eyes glared at me, and for a second I thought of glaring back, but refrained myself.

Priorities, Elora.

"Well, for starters whenever Cam and I would meet up, you would always blow her phone. Calling her whenever, no matter the time or the day, the place or anything. I thought it normal, I don't have a best friend myself, and thought it normal how you guys were so close. So I just accepted it, plus she was with Trey at the time, so I tried to move on." She paused to take a breath, her word get fired one after the other with lightning speed, her face completely red form the lack of air she was forcing herself to breathe. "And I thought, I don't want to accuse you, but I just thought that you were so attached to her it would be impossible to ever be in a fully-committed relationship with Cam, without you destroying the picture." That hurt. "But, then, then I finally noticed that you weren't the only one who couldn't deal with the separation. Camilla doesn't stop talking about you. Everyday. We talk about you so much, it feels like you're the only thing we have in common."

She was finally breathless. Gasping for breath multiple times, while I just stood there frozen, she then slowly started chuckling to herself.

She let out a long sigh and I knew another monologue was due.

"She just keeps asking about you." Lucy's tone was calmer, more collected and she pronounced the words slowly and softly as if she thought I would get scared. And frankly, that was enough to get me scared. "I still thought it was normal, you know. Friends care about friends. But then, the more attention I paid, the more I started to notice something."

She leaned forward on the table and I did the same.

"An obsession." She stated and I just raised an eyebrow. "She is obsessed with you. You're everywhere for her."

I scoffed.

"Ok, sure." I shrugged. Trey had known all of that. Even Lucy had been able to tell something was wrong with Claudia. So why hadn't I?

You liked it, the voice answered.

I ignored it.

"Elora!" Lucy snapped, all traces of softness from her face now gone. Her eyes warning me of a storm brewing inside of her head, a danger she was trying to protect me from. I zipped my lips and looked at her, imitating her state of seriousness.

"She is tracking you." My breath got knocked out of me. Had I known all of that, yes. I had already seen all the pictures of me she had kept at her apartment, but it just felt different hearing it from someone else. She didn't stop there though. "I think Camilla has a tracker on your phone, and even on Trey's. When she asked me to keep an eye on you, I thought she meant it in a friendly was, I thought she wanted to protect you or something. But no, she hadn't been asking me to just keep an eye on you, she had been asking me to report all of your actions to her."

Hold up!

I backed away from her, pressing my back against the chair.

Thankfully the waiter chose that moment to drop off our order. Ice coffee and two small croissants for each of us. Nice.

I raised my eyes from the plate to smile at him, only to see he had already run off to another table.

"I'm sorry." Lucy whispered.

I sipped the coffee, and make a weird sound in the back of my throat to let her know I was still following.

"I did what she asked." I stopped drinking and turned my accusing gaze to her.

"I'm so sorry, Elora. I see it now, but at the time I just wanted to make her happy. I have never fallen in love, so I couldn't realize how wrong it was to report everything you did to her. It felt like I was spying on you and I was. I can't apologize enough for all the stuff I have told her about you. I was evading your privacy and it's wrong. I should have realized it sooner that following you around like that, wasn't a happy healthy friendship, and now I feel stupid for not understanding things sooner. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I want you to know that I never meant to hurt you. And, also whenever you had thought that Cam had just suddenly appeared at our work place that was also my fault. She had told me to let her know whenever you entered our workplace and the next thing you know she would just show up, completely ignoring me. I'm so sorry, Elora."

I had already finished my first croissant and was already biting onto my second one.

I smiled sadly at her, trying not to appear all that indifferent.

I could understand her anguish, I think, but anyway Claudia was dead.

And I was probably going to die soon anyway, thou one question was still bothering me.

I swallowed down the rest of my bite and sipped the coffee once more before I spoke.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked.

She seemed flustered for a second, before she muttered quietly.

"She ghosted me. She isn't picking her phone anymore, since the last time you passed by the office. And I have had enough. I refuse to be played any longer. Good luck, Elora." She grabbed her purse forcefully and just left, her heels clicking against the floor.

Dramatic much?