Chapter 3

LAURA — 03

This couldn’t be happening. My hands fished for my phone as Michael suddenly helped Kayla to stand up. 

I had no strength left to call his name. I was choking in my own silent sobs. I placed the phone to my ear, the trembling affecting my grip.

Michael’s ringtone pierced the soundless hallway. I watched in horror as he fished out the phone.

“Michael, who’s that?” Kayla could barely whisper and before my eyes, Michael declined the call.

A tender smile creased his lips “It’s nobody,” he said and I nearly doubled over.

I was his wife. Not nobody! I tried again and Kayla  frowned, her mouth opened in half of a complaint but this time Michael excused himself.

Dread grew in my chest as I watched him help Kayla back down then go outside. 

“Hello?” He sounded irritated. A bitter lump had formed in my throat.

“H–hi hunny!” I tried to keep my voice steady but it ended up high pitched. 

“Laura? I’m busy,” the hints of irrationality and tiredness slipping into his tone  and I struggled between asking if Kayla was alive or if he had always been a liar.

“Where are you? I’m getting lonely,” I tried to sound normal but I was already wiping my eyes as the tears left without control.

I heard him sigh tiredly, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose “You can’t just call me because you’re bored, Laura. I have work to do. If you’re lonely, why don’t you get some groceries or make yourself useful at home?” He asked and my stomach dropped.

Never in all of our five years of marriage, has Michael spoken to me in this manner. 

I closed my mouth tightly with my palms and sobbed viciously into it. 

“If that is all, please don’t call. I’ll be home soon,” he said and I could tell he was about to end the call when I forced myself to swallow the rest of my tears.

“Where are you, Michael?” I asked again and the silence from the other end was so deafening, I already knew it.

Michael had never lied to me, not once or maybe I was just too gullible. 

“I’m at work, didn’t you hear me say I was busy?” He asked and I couldn’t control the sob that left my lips.

“Don’t wait up for me,” he said and ended the call abruptly. My world was collapsing right in front of my eyes.

Michael walked back into the clinic and as though he didn’t just shatter my heart in the most betraying way possible, he placed an arm around Kayla’s waist.

Slowly, he led her out of the clinic while I crumbled. Just when they were about to cross the theeehold for the clinic, Kayla suddenly looked behind her.

Our eyes locked and my breath hitched the instant her lips curved into a smirk.

“Take me home, Michael,” she said breathlessly and walked out of the clinic completely. Something hot burned in my stomach.

Kayla wasn’t dying. She wasn’t even helpless!

I didn’t know what the hell was actually going on but Michael and I were married. It was for better or worse and there was no way, I was going to let any ghost, dead or alive destroy my home.

Not when we were about to become a family. Michael was mine. Always have and always would be.

I wiped my tears angrily and walked out of the clinic. Going back home, I ignored the staff and started getting dressed. 

There was no way Michael would ditch me for the annual charity ball. We’ve been going for four years in a row. 

[I hope you didn’t forget about the car? I’m feeling way better than before.]  three dots immediately appeared the instant I sent it.

[Don’t wait up Laura, goodnight.] 

He replied. 

I scoffed. Did he really think he could get rid of me that easily? I was going to meet him at the ball and he was going to give me a dutiful explanation of how the dead rose because nothing about Kayla looked dead to me.

I was downstairs in about an hour, the driver’s eyes bulged but I spared him no explanation.

“Mrs Alden!” He exclaimed “Mr Alden didn’t offer any instructions on where to take yo—“

“The charity ball. Now,” I commanded and opened the door to the car myself, slipping into the back seat. I could see the confusion in his eyes. For four years, Michael drove us to the ball and back. He always said he wanted something as private as that to be intimate.

Well, too bad. 

The ride to the event was not smooth. Sweat kept beading around my forehead, matting my hair to my scalp. My legs were bobbing ferociously, I was breathing erratically as anxiety coursed through my veins at an alarming speed but I kept sucking in air to regulate my breathing.

The car rolled to a stop and the midnight blue dress I wore stood out. At first as I walked through the entrance of the event, I didn’t notice that everyone was dressed in black or with masks.

The ground couldn’t open fast enough to let me bury myself alive but I kept on walking even as my legs shook occasionally.

It was when I fully crossed the threshold of the main hall that I started to realize that something was amiss.

The hall had grown quiet and out of the shadows,whispers rang out of every corner. Eyes rolled and roamed around me and in that instant, it didn’t make sense.

Why was I subjecting myself to such embarrassment? This was not my niche and to make it worse, my husband wasn’t by my side, holding my hands. Protecting me from their vicious eyes.

My eyes roamed the crowd, attempting to fish out a head full of dark curls and charm dressed like a man.  My husband, Michael.

But no matter how much I searched, a part of me already knew he wasn’t here. I couldn’t feel him. 

I grabbed a flute of champagne, about to down it for liquid courage when I remembered. I was still pregnant. 

Maybe I should call it a day and let Michael come home to me. He always did.

I returned the flute, about to make an escape when the hall went breathless. Eyes that had eaten me alive for dressing wrong suddenly lifted their attention somewhere else. 

Curiosity drew my legs towards the growing crowd at the entrance of the hall. A strange connection tugged at my heart, pulling me towards the crowd until I slipped past and my eyes widened.

I could feel my skin go pale, my heart thunder in shock.

Michael, had never gone to this charity ball without me and today of all days, he not only ditched me, his wife but took Kayla as his plus one!?

“His wife is so lucky,” one of the women in the crowd whispered and I looked at her in shock.

“I heard she just came back from a. Very long vacation, that she was even sick and that Alden was with her at every step of the way,” another gossiped and I wanted to pull my hair out.

To scream that I was his wife. That Michael did no such thing and my lips had even opened for effect. 

But Michael had lied to me for years that Kayla was dead. Yet here she was, dressed in a black gown that hugged all of her features so smoothly, my fingers touched my gown in self-awareness.

Her curves were explicit, it didn’t need any form of special attention. Standing next to Michael, she looked part of a power couple with her glistening red nails being held delicately in Michael’s hands as they came down the steps.

I couldn’t breathe. My chest had tightened. My stomach had turned to ice. 

Almost as though Michael could sense my heart breaking, he turned and pinned me with a stare.

I was too heartbroken to be frightened or notice how his eyes glowed under the light. How his shoulders went stiff. All I could see was him strolling towards me and grabbing me by the wrist.

Within minutes, he was dragging me across the hall to the bathroom where he pushed me softly inside and shut the door.

I couldn’t control the tears. Michael had betrayed me. Through and through. The harsh whispers from the ball came to a decibel before I realized that Michael was breathing roughly. 

“What the hell are you doing here, Laura!?" He growled dangerously and without thinking, my hands lashed out and slapped him across the cheeks.

“How dare you!?” I screeched.