I woke up groggily looking at my alarm, 'shit'!!
It's 9. How come I didn't wake up to my alarm? Normally it's so loud that the whole building can hear it and then I remembered last night.
I still can't believe whether it's true or a figment of my imagination. I quickly checked my call register and there it is, the truth. The phone number of my Sister with whom I haven't spoken in 6 years. I didn't believe my ears at first when I heard her voice last night. She sounded excited, happy. I forgot how her laughter sounds. If I can remember she never was happy when she was staying with us, mom, me and her. There was always a cloud of sadness clinging to her. So, it was quite a shock when I heard her with a complete personality change. She said she wanted to clear the air between us, I'm not sure what that meant for us. It's little bit too late for me.She left us when I was 15, still a minor to do anything, still in the clutches of an evil witch aka our mom. I don't want to spoil my thoughts thinking about my dead mom. I don't know whether I should be happy that she finally contacted me or angry that she left me when I needed her the most. I'm about to find out in 3 hours which mood I will be in.
I started my morning routine getting ready for my work. I work as an errand girl aka assistant secretary in training as an executive in Sinclair enterprises. It was hard to land what with no experience and my lack of higher studies, but I pulled it. I'm not ashamed to admit my looks have been a crucial factor in getting it, thanks to the interviewers wandering eye and I played that to hilt. I'm 5.8" with a curvy figure and blond. My green eyes are the Colour of leaves after heavy rain.I checked my watch and I know I'm going to be late. I hope the dragon (secretary manager) who handles all duties of us lowlife secretaries is late, I know it's wishful thinking still I can hope and pray. I took the subway and ran as fast as I could in my 3-inch heels stopping at a cafe to take latte for my boss.When I reach my floor, the lift door opens to the face of a very angry dragon. I can see her teeth grinding and jaw flexing.
'Good morning Mrs. Kimberly'
' Is that so Ms. Anderson? I didn't notice'
I thought to say, you should walk out and watch the sun, it's fun to see it other than chained to a desk 24/7, but I didn't say it.
Instead, I said, ' well I think Mr. knight needs me'
and tried to walk around her with special emphasis on trying to.' please note that next time it wouldn't be good morning for you if this is repeated'
'Yes Mrs. Kimberly', I replied as meekly as I could get.
I stumbled past her trying to forget the dragon scaring me out of my job.
Ugh this is so not my morning, I found out belatedly. Not only I got a warning from dragon but also Mr. Knight crossed with me. Mr. Knight is in his 40's and is of gentle nature normally. Apparently today is my lucky day
'Ms. Anderson', he called me.
'Yes, Mr. Knight?'
'I told you to fax the details of members present in the NGAI project yesterday evening, where is it Ms. Anderson? Is it lost in the mail?'
'Umm I would do it right away
' what is this? School projects! Can't you do it when asked?'
''Mr Knight, I know you are going through a rough patch in your personal life but it doesn't give you an excuse to behave with me in such a manner, as you asked my assistance in after office hours".
'I'm sorry Erica for behaving in such ghastly way. Today is the day. I thought I had time, but she asked for a divorce. I didn't see it coming. I thought we could mend our fences'
'It's not your fault. Don't place your wife's infidelity on your conscience'
' I wonder taking those Long office hours is the cause'
'Stop it. It's her decision to make. Some people just fall out of love. You have to understand it.'
'It's hard to. But I get what you mean. I forgot myself in the race to give her everything that all she asked for is for us to be together. It has been such a Long time now. 17 years of marriage gone'
I don't know what else to say to him, so I kept silent. Sometimes silence is all it took to support others.
'Anyway, I owe you a Long lunch for my behaviour since morning. Why don't you go for it? And bring me back my favourite sandwich, will you?'
'Oh god, I forgot. I was going to ask for a Long lunch myself. I have a meeting with someone.'
'A male someone?', his eyes dancing.
Now there is the boss I know.' No. It's personal, but just so you know, I'm meeting a female'
"I don't know you swing that way", he said with humour shining in his eyes.
'You never know. I would like to keep my personal life to myself'
'Don't I ever know? I don't know anything about you except what is there on your resume and you don't like black coffee'
'Trust me, you know more than enough'
'I wonder '
'What?'
'Is it to keep your personal life secret or a secret from your personal life?'
'You watch way more Detective movies than required. I'm leaving. Will come around 2'
' ya ya, just divert me why don't you'
I shook my head and took myself out of my office building. It's 11:40am already. I must meet my Sister in 20 min in a well-known cafe four blocks over.
The traffic is more than normal. As Christmas is around the corner every shop is decorated in white and red. I don't have anything against Santa, but holidays and I don't rub well together. There is no big mystery just that as far as I can remember I was always alone during holidays even when my Sister was living with us. It doesn't say much about our family bond.
Checking my phone for any new messages I entered the cafe and my eyes found auburn hair before I recognised myself doing that. She has changed a lot. For one her figure is not stick and bones abused with drugs anymore. She has a healthy glow about her. She smiled when she saw me. It can only be called radiant. I don't know what happened to her in these six years but I'm happy for her even though she left me out cold.
'Hi', she said tentatively when I kept on staring.
Realising I was still standing I sat across her and asked her the one question that was burning through me since that call.'Why now?', I questioned coming to the point.
‘What do you mean?''Don't play coy with me, Sophie, you know what I mean'She sighs as if I'm troubling her, well tough luck because, with the things as they were, I'm behaving like a saint if you ask me.' what do you want me to say?''How about the truth? Or is it so much to ask for?''Don't be a B. Chill, will you? You know the situation at home when I left. I thought it would be less of a burden if I left.''How you mean? Less burden? Less burden to whom? By not being there for me when I need you.''I'm sorry I was not thinking''Obviously''Could you tone down the sarcasm for a minute? I'm trying here''Ok''I was 20. I could have left when I was 18. But I stayed for you. So that you won't end up like her. I tried my level best. I was juggling between two different jobs to help pay the bills. I was exhausted daily. It's no excuse I know but then I learned about the mortgage on our home.'
'Marriage?', I asked, shocked she was so involved with someone to contemplate it. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but she was always careful, dainty. I never thought in that direction about her. Why would I? She left me.'Well, sort of. I think so', she blushed.'Huh? I don't get it. Either you are getting married or you are not', I questioned the fact.'He hasn't proposed yet', she mumbled.'Then how can you be sure he is going to', I asked astonished. Trust my Sister to plan the names of her children even before the marriage proposal.'I'm 100% sure he is going to propose and soon', she exaggerated stubbornly.'Whatever you say', I mumbled while eating my sandwich.I tried to think of something to divert our current discussion. I don't want to be the one to lift the veil from her eyes.'How did you know my number?', I asked, recalling the call yesterday.'Jack hired a PI', she replied.'PI? As in Dete
'Why did you shift?', she asked, trying to change the subject.'I hit bob. He got mad and threatened us with his friends. This time even mom was scared because she knows his friends are much shadier. So, we ran that night itself''But what about the mortgage? Our home?', she asked.'Didn't you get that from your PI?''No. Like I said I don't dig your closet full of skeletons''Haha funny'I thought about that night and what followed. Our home was the only thing we owned. It was built by our grandparents from our Mother's side. We never met them. They died when Mom was pregnant with Sophie. We never knew our Father. Mom said he left us when I was a 3 months old baby. We believed her, there is nothing to contradict it. After Bob threatened us, we left the home. We stayed in the next city not far from our old one. We don't have money to go far. We thought it was better to hide near while he was left searching for other states.We must st
I rushed to the office knowing I'm going to get a talk down. As I pressed the number on the elevator I thought of my Sister. There is so much said today, I don't even know where to start. My emotions are jumbled right now. One thing I noticed is the difference between our looks which was subtle at best when we were younger has become prominent. She is willowy with auburn hair, amazing tan and at 5.5', she could be called petite to my Amazon stature. I'm not fat, just curvy, you could say like Kylie Jenner and my skin gets red when I attempt tanning, emphasis on attempt here. We have the same eyes and similar jaw structure, other than that we are as opposite as we could get. It's natural as we have different fathers. The elevator made a ding sound making me come out of my reverie.I peeked my head out to catch if the dragon was there. It seems luck has finally turned my side today as the coast is clear. I hurried to my station and busied myself looking as if I had something im
My eyes landed on a man turned towards the view of New York. Glass walls cover the entire side of the room. He is talking on mobile unaware of me. I'm too far away to distinguish what he is saying. I took this time to watch the room. My entire flat can fit in this one room, it's that big. Two sets of couches are aligned on both sides of me. On my left side, there is a coffee table littered with documents. I can see his desk which looks so pristine, I'm afraid to think about what happens when some coffee is spilled.As I took notice of the room, Mr. Sinclair turned around and caught sight of me. My breath hitches, standing in front of me is the most handsome man I ever saw. Not that I haven't seen many. In New York, you can find every other block a handsome guy. I couldn't pull my eyes away from him, there is something more to him than just being handsome. Maybe it's his position, he knows how powerful he is and wielded that power into his persona.He is 6.3' or 6.4' in
'On what grounds, Mr. Sinclair?', I asked tentatively, all attitude gone.'I said I could, not would Ms. Anderson. Though I can say, we are cutting our most incompetent employees'Indirectly implying that I'm incompetent. I bristled at this suggestion.'You couldn't do that. I never gave any reason to. I'm competent. I always stay late. I complete the work given to me.''Exactly that Ms. Anderson, the work given to you, which is not much''It's not my fault I wasn't given much', I answered.'But it would be mine if I don't rectify this situation', he stated firmly.'What are you trying to say, Mr. Sinclair?''I'm not trying but stating the fact that you are on my payroll with nothing much to do. And I don't like that, at all.''Are you going to fire me?', I questioned directly, tired of the footsie we are playing here.'No Ms. Anderson''Then what?', I stared at him expectantly to no avail. One thing I foun
I stare at the screen trying to comprehend. This can't be true. There might be a mistake with the picture. I must go check with her. Shit, I don't even know where she lives. How pathetic that is. There is still no reply to my message. I don't have any other way of contacting her. I won't believe or rather I make myself not believe all that crap brewing on the screen. I must, the other option is too much for me to comprehend right now. I didn't get a lot of time to sort my emotions after our talk. I put everything in a metal cage in my mind. Now that box is about to burst. To divert me from the current event, I noted down the officer's name who is handling this case.I tore the paper after jotting down, took my keys and mobile, and left without even changing from my pj's. My mind is preoccupied with my sisters’ photos. They don't show any pictures of the body. I stopped hearing anything after I saw that photo.The street is bustling, and I join the fray, dreading
"he is dead Ms. Anderson', he stated proudly.'Dead? How?', mixed emotions churning inside me. Words swam around in my head, but none of them would coalesce to form complete sentences. I should be relieved that justice has been met, but I couldn't get myself to feel it. It's like it has been robbed and given to me. A ping of regret is also laced there for not getting to hit him myself.'I won't bore you with the details, suffice it to say that we found the trail leading to him. He tried to escape vigilantly, we are left with the option of shooting to constrain him, but unfortunately, we miscalculated. He died on the way to the hospital', he explained, showing me the details of the murderer.I read the file learning all the details that led to my sister’s death. He was obsessed with auburn hair. It all started with his cheating Wife who had auburn hair. He killed 4 girls before Sophie, all with the same hair color. He is just a psycho on a killing spree. I