THREE: Left for dead.

Ophelia.

I was dangling from the balcony of a four-story hotel building.

“Please…” I whimpered, looking over my shoulders to the bare ground where there wasn't even a car waiting for me to land on if I ever let go of this railing and for a moment I imagined my skull cracking open and my blood spilling like oil slick across the tarred ground.

The media would pick this up real quick. My pictures would be branded all over New York’s billboards with the tag ‘gone too soon’

Fear gradually crawled under my skin like needles, pricking every nerve in me until my vision blacked out for a second.

My legs flailed mid-air, the bones in my arm stretching as I clung tightly onto cold rails, my manicured nails were at the verge of breaking from the fierce vigor of digging them into the iron.

“Please Brandon…help!” I cried out, hot tears burning down my cheek.

For a moment the realization and panic flashed raw and wide in his eyes and I thought maybe, just maybe he’d finally realize what madness this was and grab my hand to pull me back up but then Edna walked in as though she was walking a fashion runway, eyes glinting with pure evil.

“Step back, baby” she placed a palm over Brandon’s shoulders and shoved him back lightly.

The fool. The coward of a man took a surrendering step back. “I’m sorry Ophelia, it wouldn't have gotten to this if you didn't start a fight”

Edna cackled like the devil incarnate she was beneath her breath as she stepped forward, gripping the edge of the railing.

“Edna, it doesn't have to get to this, okay? Please…help…” I pleaded, lashes wet with tears.

“Aww, baby sister” she cooed with a soft venom in her voice then crouched to the ground, her hand passing through the narrow space in the railing.

My chest heaved, the bones in my legs gradually freezing up from hanging for too long in the cold air. The hand I had clinging onto the railing was beginning to grow numb from less blood flow and I could barely even feel my arm at this point.

Rain droplets kept hitting the handrail consecutively, each drop fracturing into multiple bits and landing on my face,

“I'm going to seriously miss you when you are gone” She brushed the back of her palm down my face. “Don’t worry sweetheart, I’ll restore the lost glory of Veline cosmetics”

My pulse spiked when she said that, no. No. Not the company please, not my sweat. How could I leave my company in the hands of these Judases?

“Aaargh!” A strangled cry left me when she stabbed a pen knife into my hand. My heart beat accelerated from the shock and when I looked to Brandon, he had turned away, maybe from guilt or he just wanted to exonerate himself as not being part of my murder, either way I hoped he would rot in hell, he and this evil woman he chose over me.

“Just die! I’ll honor your death with the largest lilies, that flower you love so much, I’ll place them right at your coffin” she flashed a smile that weaved into malice.

“Edna, please…I don't want to die” I was begging now, my voice broken, heart caught in my mouth and tears cascading down my face like it knew no bounds.

But Edna didn't bat an eyelash when she pulled the knife from where it was stuck in my hand, the blood gushing down my wrist. She retracted her arm up in the air, dagger pointed down at me.

I tried my last resort, knowing this was the end for me. “…you can't take a life you didn't give”

Her brows furrowed as if reflecting but almost immediately her countenance grew even deadlier. “Spare me the bullshit. You should have thought about that when you cut off your employees’ wages for unjust reasons and most of them ended up committing suicide or was it when you shoved that old maid down the stairs and she ended up in a coma?”

Right. Even I had been a villain for

once in my life. And maybe this was payback, this was karma like they say.

But I still wanted to live. I could right my wrongs…

The next stab Edna drove into my wrist this time had left my lips hanging open in a silent gasp, the sharp edges of that blade driving into my bones. My wrist snapped and I let go of the iron, my manicured nails now bent and crooked awkwardly from gripping too tight for dear life.

Gravity’s force pulled me but it happened so quickly and right before everything faded into oblivion, I saw Edna lock lips with Brandon triumphantly.

My body felt like it had no stamina or weight of its own—which in all senses didn't. Falling past four more layers of building, my skull cracked when it finally kissed the earth.

The sound was dull, sickening like a watermelon splitting open and my body stiffened immediately, probably going into shock.

My limbs were numbed and I couldn’t even tell what awkward position I was in but from the corner of my eyes, I saw my own blood pool on the pavement—thick and crimson. Gradually, my vision blurred out, my body finally shutting down.

This was it.

Pathetic life, pathetic ending.

Some would say I deserved this, while others would pity me but surprisingly, the only thing I could worry about in this moment was my mother. She loved me and I was her baby girl, she’d throw herself onto the ground and weep mercilessly and maybe my cruel father would fly her out yet again and feed lies to the media that she was having a relapse from abusing drugs.

“Mom…”

The word caught in my throat, every functioning cell in me going stiff.

With eyes wide open and bulging red, I died.

Or maybe I thought I did.