TWO: Static on channel six

Ophelia.

The room drummed with something eerie, the atmosphere narrowing on me when the patio door slid open.

From afar, thunder rumbled and lightning struck across the walls in a flash causing me to stumble back on my feet. The flimsy curtains in the room flailed from the sudden wind and then a droplet of rain hit the ceiling once, twice, third and cued the heavy downpour of rain in a loud ferocious cry as soon as the heavens opened.

Behind me the same news kept playing out like a loop, the voice growing more static and carrying through the heavy downpour outside.

Then he showed up at the door…

Brandon, my fiancé. Dark suits, handsome and tall on the patio.

My shoulder slumped in subtle relief, my hand tremors subsiding instantly. Oh, I thought I'd been caught up in some horror movie where the monster was about to walk out moments after that dreadful silence and the tension spiked.

“Ophelia” he called, shuffling close to me with practiced calm.

“Brandon!” I cried out, voice squeaky like a mouse from both excitement and extreme relief that he’d come for me—That maybe I wasn't alone anymore.

We hadn't even seen each other in months since his business trip to Malibu for a tech project and being busy people it was hard to put communication across to each other but we’d tried to make it work.

I dashed into his chest with the speed of lightning, already sobbing as my shoulders wracked profusely.

God, I missed this man so much, and funny how it was only now I got to realize. I was the kind who pushed people away when life gets too busy as I had that sense of autonomy without needing the help of anyone to handle things but maybe now I was regretting that also.

“We need to talk Ophelia” his hands wrapped around my arms and he pulled me off, his facial expression blank.

My heart dipped and I clutched a fisted hand tightly against my chest to keep me from combusting on the spot.

“You couldn't even return my hug?” I asked, voice awful “This isn't how you treat the fiancée you haven't seen in months. You can do better, Brandon”

Even now my tone sounded so egotistical and brash. The air wheezed stiffly around us, and from over his shoulders I could see our dark reflection lingering for far too long on the patio glass.

For a moment I'd almost forgotten the news that was still playing in a repeated loop on the TV until the voice grew even louder, itching my skull in irritation. I bit back a hiss, mentally making a note to call one of the room services to come turn the damn thing off.

These rising news stations were something.

“I’ve come to call off the engagement.”

I froze on that spot, a sudden hiccup leaving my chest as his words bounced off in wave signals against my skull.

The thunder outside didn't even grant me a chance to reply before rumbling mercilessly in the sky. In fright, I jumped into his arms without thinking twice and the next time I blinked, my butt hit the tiles so hard, I could swear I heard the bone in my pelvic region snap.

My face went white with horror, tears forming when the heavy impact of his words began to lay its emphasis on my mind.

He wasn't joking. Neither was it a slip of the tongue. He was dumping me after five years??

He even threw me off his arms like I was nothing more than a useless sack of potatoes.

“I spoke to your father, he’s given me his blessings to marry Edna…”

My head snapped up quickly before he could drive that statement to the end and the shock that sat deep in my bone marrow was almost paralyzing.

Edna, my eldest sister, stood next to him—where had she suddenly appeared from? Had she been behind the patio all along? What was even more gutting was the protruding bump that rounded so prettily on her belly.

“Hey, Ophelia” Edna kicked me as she wrinkled her nose. “Poor you, Veline’s cosmetic CEO reduced to nothing after a major business scandal”

Snap! Snap!

“This would be great for a viral news headline”

Her phone’s camera clicked with a blinding white flash on my face that caused me to shield my eyes with a protective elbow.

Brandon stood there, saying nothing to her in my defense.

So it had now amounted to this? How long had this been going on without my knowledge?

“Babe, that's enough. Don't stress the baby”

Something in me snapped like a vicious twig. Maybe it was from the whole mess my life was spiraling into or the now overbearing news reporter who wouldn't stop saying the same thing for the past ten minutes or maybe it was just because I was only getting to realize now that the so-called man I thought was mine alone had been screwing both I and this traitorous woman I called a sister behind my back.

But the moment I swatted Edna’s phone from my face, the device clattered to the ground and she fell with it also, instantly wailing out loud like a banshee as she clung a hand to her belly.

My eyeballs rolled so hard at her they almost got stuck. Before Brandon could reach for her I had already jumped to my feet with a swift agility even I didn't know I possessed.

Once I had an iron grip on his tie, I sent a hand flying straight into his face with a slap that even my body reacted to at the harsh intensity.

“Ophelia!” He barked, fighting to yank my hands off his tie.

“You can't walk out of here the same after practically shoving your cheating ass into my face” I barked back with the same vigor as his, voice decibels higher than I ever imagined my voice could go.

I had no idea what sudden force had overtook my being, but adrenaline spiked like something addictive and sugary in my blood.

The rain had died down now and the gusts of wind swirled lazily outside, the low wheezing sound of it audible. The bulb dimmed out leaving only a gloomy atmosphere that felt like it had come alive, as it sizzled with enthralment.

Brandon gained the upper hand and yanked me back until we were outside the patio and I was partially over the railing.

“Let go!” I slapped his hand, my throat tightening the more he reinforced his grip around my neck.

“You can't finish what you started?” He raised a dark questioning brow at me. “I only came here for a peaceful closure Ophelia, but you've crossed the line now”

When I glanced across my shoulder briefly, a massive chill that rattled my nerves settled in me. This scene played like a deja vu in my head. I'd seen this in movies where a character gets pushed off a building and they fall straight into a car. Was this going to be my fate likewise?

“Brandon, I'm sorry…” Tears stung like something pepperish in the corner of my eyes.

His hold tightened, gaze dark with that venomous intensity I’d never seen before.

“You injured Edna and my baby,” He said, voice harsh.

But behind him was Edna glaring back at me with a wide nasty smile prettying up her face.

“I really can't do this anymore with you Ophelia,”

My heart raced wildly in my chest as my legs slipped off the floor and I went brain dead for a beat. The world literally toppled before my eyes and in one swift motion, I was hanging on for dear life from the balcony of the last floor of a four-story building.

I caught sight of the TV and strangely the news had stopped repeating itself, what was now displayed was just the words ‘channel six’