Chapter Eight

Aria's POV

"Don't do this." A deep male voice said behind my ear.

I didn't bother looking behind to see who it was. I just wanted to jump in the ocean and go away.

"Let me go." I said as I tried removing the stranger's hands from my waist.

"I can't let you do this." He said holding me tighter.

What is wrong with this guy? He doesn't even know me yet he is trying to stop me from jumping off this bridge.

"I might not know you, but what I do know is that there is another way out of all problems than trying to kill yourself." He said and that's when I realized that I had been thinking out loud.

I took in deep breath before speaking up.

"You are wrong, this is the only way out of my problems, and it's the best way. By jumping off this bridge and taking my life, I would be out of everybody's way." I said as I felt tears starting to roll down my cheeks.

"Why do you said that?" He asked in a low tone and I felt his breath behind my neck.

"Because they don't need me." I said, and having no control over my emotions, I broke down.

"Just let it all out, everything is going to be alright." The stranger said as he pulled me to him and I sobbed in his chest, ignoring the reek of alcohol and cigarette on his jacket.

*******

"Here we are." Jake, the stranger whom I had met, said as he opened the door to his old rack-shacked apartment.

I stepped inside the apartment and he put on the lights. I started looking around the house and assessing my surrounding, the house had a small living room which had two old couches and a small black television on an oldbeaten stand. On my left you could see the kitchen, which had dirty utensils on the counter and sink. I turned to the other side of the room and saw a small hallway which was leading to two other rooms, one on each side. The entire room was filled with the smell of alcohol and cigarette, empty bottles of alcohol were all over the floor and used cigarettes had been thrown all over the place. This place was a mess, dirty clothes were all over the couches and I think I even saw a mouse when I was getting inside the apartment.

"This my home." Jake said as he came to stand beside me."I am sorry it's a bit messy."

A bit messy?

My subconscious said and I blocked her out because this really wasn't that the time to be sassy.

"It's okay." I said putting on a smile as I looked at him.

Now that we were in a well lit room, I could Jake's features clearly. He had a very thick beard that looked like it had not been shaved for months. His eyes were bloodshot red and I assumed it was because he was smoking. On his left cheek, there was a very big scar and on his right eyebrow, he had a small cut that had blood coming out of it. It seems he had gotten the cut today. Something about him made me feel uncomfortable and unsure about wanting to spend the night here, but I did not have a choice, I had nowhere to go and I did not have any money, my father had never bothered to open an account for me.

"Why are you staring at me?" Jake asked pulling me out of my thoughts.

"Ummm... sorry, I was just lost in thoughts." I said looking away from him.

"Here, make yourself comfortable." He said as he started picking up his clothes from the couches. I went and sat on one of the couch and it made a creaking sound when my body made contact with it.

"Are you hungry?" Jake asked and I shook my head no.

"Well do you need anything, like a glass of water?" He asked again but I politely declined.

"Thank you so much for letting me stay here Jake, I really appreciate your kind gesture." I said to him and he smiled.

"It's nothing, I am more than happy to help you."

"Let me turn on the TV so that you don't get bored." He said as he started looking for the remote.

"Where is that damn remote?" He said as he bent down to look for it under the couch.

"It's okay Jake, I don't feel like watching the TV anyway." I said wanting to save him the trouble.

"No no, I think I remember where I had kept it." He said standing up and rushing to the kitchen.

He came back holding the remote in his hands.

"I told you I know where I kept it." He said and I just smiled.

"Now let's turn on the TV." He said and pressed on the remote control to switch on the TV.

The TV went on and I saw my face, it was the incident that had happened earlier on today. It was all over the news. I should have expected that as the media was present during the wedding.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE.

The headlines read.

"The only daughter of Mr.Mark Watson, Aria Watson was supposed to get married to Axel Campbell, but that didn't seem to have happened." The female news reporter said.

"And do you Aria Watson, take he Axel Campbell, to be your lawfully wedded husband, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, in fitness and obesity, till death do you apart?"

"No, I don't, because I can't marry a blind person."

I watched myself rejected Axel right there on the alter, in front of everyone.

"That's you." I heard Jake say but I did not look at him, my eyes were glued on the screen in front of me.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he came to wipe the tears that were rolling down my cheeks but I still did not answer him.

"I want to go talk to Aria now, why can't you understand that?"

I watched as Axel yelled, his eyes red from all the crying, his neatly combed hair was now a mess, but he still looked attractive.

What have I done? Why did I hurt such a good person? Did I really deserve to leave? Why did Jake show up and stopped me from ending my life?

I felt all the anger in me surging when my father's face came into view. It was his fault that I had refused to marry to Axel. It was his fault that Axel was in this pain right now.

I screamed as I threw a couch pillow on the screen.

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down." Jake said as he brought me to his chest and I cried in it.

After a while I pulled back and he pushed back the hairs that had fallen down on my face.

"I'm sorry." I said in a low voice as I looked down at the floor.

"It's okay." He said as he switched off the TV.

"Do you want to go take a shower?" He asked.

"Yeah." I said. I really needed a shower right now after the long day I had.

"The bathroom is that way, the one on the left." He said pointing towards the small hallway.

"You will find some towels in there, and if you want you can borrow some of my clothes."

"Thank you." I said and he just smiled.

I went in the bathroom and stepped inside the shower after taking off my gown, and let the flow over me, as I let today's incidents play in my mind.

I don't ever want to see you near this place.

I recalled my father's last words to me before the gates were closed. I started crying as I leaned against the wall and slid down and buried my head in my knees.

"You okay in there?"I heard Jake's voice and I quickly stood up, I wiped my tears and then I answered.

"Yeah yeah, I'm fine." I said trying to sound okay.

I turned off the shower and took one of the towels on the towel rack put it around myself before stepping out.

I found Jake leaning against the wall outside the bathroom and he looked at me from head to toe. I felt really uncomfortable by the way he was looking at me.

I cleared my throat to capture his attention.

"Here, you can put this on." He said handing me a grey shirt.

"Thanks." I said taking it.

"You can sleep in this room." He said while opening the door of the room right across the bathroom.

"Where are you going to sleep?"I asked noticing that that was the only room left in the house.

"Don't worry about me, I'll just sleep on the couch." He said casually while putting his hands in his pockets.

"No Jake, this is your house so it's only fair that I have the couch."

"What? No way. What kind of a man would I be if I let a lady sleep on the couch while I sleep on the bed? That's insulting me." He said trying to look serious but I knew he was joking.

"Okay, I will sleep in the room." I said.

I went inside the room and after saying goodnight to Jake, I closed the door, and once again I was surrounded by loneliness.