30

It was past ten am the following day. Giselle stood in the center of the living room, her eyes darting to the corners.

"Did you hear that?" Giselle whispered.

Lawrose didn't look up from his tablet. "Hear what, Gigi? The sound of my sanity evaporating?" He teased.

"The clock.  It chimed," she murmured, her voice hollow.

"Giselle, there is no clock chiming here," Serayah said, walking in from the kitchen with a glass of water.

"You’re hearing things. You’ve been hearing the Hemingway mansion fsince last night, I thought you were acting funny but you are beginning to have me concerned."

"I heard his voice," Giselle snapped, her eyes wide and bloodshot. "I heard Richard calling for Amelia. He’s close. I can feel him."

"Giselle get a grip, Serayah I think she's having withdrawals," Lawrose said, finally standing up. "Girl what has come over you, why are you acting this way"

Giselle suddenly bolted for the door, grabbing her coat from the rack. "I have to go. I have to go see him."

Lawrose moved like lightning, slamming his body against the door before she could reach the handle. "Don't tell me this sharade you just displayed would let me allow you out of this house sis, You aren't going anywhere!"

"Get out of my way, Lawrose!" Giselle screamed, clawing at his arms. "He’s looking for me! I can’t breathe in here! I need to see Richard!"

"Are you insane? I actually think you are losing it or about to" Serayah yelled, stepping between them. "Giselle, stop! Do you know what he did this morning? He tried to buy this entire building. He went to Mr. Aris and offered him a blank check just so he could own thevery  walls you're standing in. He wants to buy this house, what does that tell you!"

Giselle stopped struggling, her chest heaving. A manic, terrifying light flickered in her eyes. "He tried to buy the building?"

"Yes! I wasnt going to tell you till the whole thing blows over, but you are hell bent on reigniting whatever with that man!" Lawrose shouted.

"No," Giselle whispered, a shuddering breath escaping her. "That’s all the more reason why I need to go to him. Don’t you see? He isn't giving up. He’s coming for me. He’s the only one who actually wants me enough to burn money for it!"

"How are you so blind? Can you even hear yourself, it bites my hearing, someone get a hold of this woman" Lawrose roared, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her. "How can you not see the sacrifice we are making? I’ve lost my sponsors thanks to this man! Serayah is dodging calls from the bank because your father-in-law worked to having her accounts freezed! We are protecting you from yourself, and you’re making it impossible to help you!"

"I didn't ask for your help!" Giselle shrieked, shoving him back. "I didn't ask you guys to lock me up in here!"

"That’s it," Serayah said, her voice cold. "We’re doing the cleansing. Now."

Serayah marched into the bedroom and came back with a framed photo of Giselle and Chase from their wedding. She shattered the glass against the coffee table and ripped the photo out. She threw a metal bowl onto the floor and lit a match.

"Burn it," Serayah commanded. "Burn the memory of that family. Burn Chase. Burn all of it."

Giselle stared at the flickering flame. She took the photo, her hands shaking. As the fire licked the edges of Chase’s smiling face, she didn't feel relief. She felt a vacuum in her chest. She watched the flames turn blue and orange, and suddenly, she let out a gut-wrenching sob, dropping the photo into the bowl.

"I don't care about Chase!" Giselle wailed, collapsing to her knees. "I don't miss him! I don't care if he burns! I miss him! I miss the way Richard looks at me! I miss the way he makes me feel like a proper woman!"

Lawrose and Serayah stood back, the silence in the room turning toxic.

"What I don''t understand is if you are on drugs," Lawrose said, his voice dripping with disgust. "You’re addicted to a man who is twice your age and literally related to you by law. It’s sick, Giselle."

"You don't understand!" Giselle screamed, looking up at them, her face streaked with ash and tears. "You don't know what I'm going through! You're sitting here judging me, micromanaging my every breath, but you don't know what I am going through in all of this damn madness! I would rather be his prisoner than your 'pet project'!"

"Selfish," Serayah whispered. "You are so incredibly selfish."

"I'm selfish?"

"We are willing to lose everything for you!" Serayah stepped forward, her voice trembling with rage. "We are fighting to the last for your dignity, one you have sorely lost and you’re willing to throw our friendship and your entire life away to reignite the ashes of a one-night stand with your father-in-law? You’re irredeemable, Giselle."

"If I'm so terrible, then let me go!" Giselle stood up, wiping her face. "Let me go to him! Stop trying to save a woman who doesn't want to be saved!"

Lawrose stepped away from the door, his face a mask of cold indifference. He gestured to the locks.

"Go ahead," Lawrose said. "Leave. Do whatever you want. We're fed up. I’m tired."

"Lawrose is right," Serayah said, turning her back on Giselle. "The door is open. Go be his plaything. Go let him buy you like a piece of furniture. We won't stop you anymore. We’re done."

Giselle looked at the door. The handle was inches away. Freedom was right there. Richard was probbaly out there, probably waiting in his car at the end of the block, ready to sweep her into his arms and take her home.

She reached for the handle. Her fingers brushed the cold metal.

And then she stopped.

The silence hit her harder than their shouting. She turned back to look at them—Lawrose, who had protected her since they were children; Serayah, who had given her a home when she had nothing. They weren't looking at her. And that alone made her feel a certain type of way. Was she going to throw away her two strongest allies for this?

"I'm... I'm sorry," Giselle whispered, her hand falling from the door.

Lawrose didn't look back. "Save it for something else, Giselle. I'm so done"

Serayah walked toward the kitchen without a word. Lawrose followed her. They walked out on her, leaving her standing alone in the hallway, caught between desires to go see richard and the friends who were tired of trying to rent her back to herself.

Giselle sank to the floor, the smell of the burnt photo filling her lungs. She felt alone. Truly alone. And in the distance, she could swear she heard the chime of the Hemingway clock again. Or maybe she was just hallucinating. All that didn't matter.