Chapter 7

Orlena’s POV 

Joan twisted her lips. Her face curled into something that felt like a mere performance. 

The air in the room stood still. 

I watched her walk past me like I was a piece of furniture. Like the six years I had spent with Brent and taking care of Eli meant nothing.  

She handed one paper cup of coffee to Brent. Her fingers brushed intentionally, sending a signal. 

Not once had she ever offered me anything. Not that I wanted anything from her. But just a reminder that she shouldn't barge into a space that she had abandoned for years. 

A space that someone had spent six years of her life putting together when she left and disappeared into oblivion. 

“Eli, looks peaceful,” she said, as I watched her locate a chair beside Brent like she belonged here. She sipped her coffee, with one eye, the other projecting on me. 

“You should rest, Brent. This is having a toll on you." 

I watched her place her fingers on Brent's neck. Feeling his body temperature like she cares right in front of me. 

Brent ran a hand through his hair. "I’m fine.”

“You are not,” Joan's voice dropped, with a concerned voice like she always cares. "Let me stay with him tonight." 

What did I just hear now? Joan staying with Eli? 

My head twisted to both of them from where I stood. 

No… no…. This can't happen. Brent wouldn't allow this. 

Then a prolonged silence.  

Brent nodded, “Maybe you are right." 

Something cracked him. I knew it stupid fool. I knew you would give in. 

"Orlena would stand in the gap… for you tomorrow." 

Me standing in a gap? That's all you have to say? 

My blood boiled within my flesh. I wanted to flinch. Launched towards Brent, for being so stupid and indecisive, and telling him to his face that I am not a placeholder. 

Maybe he should have allowed me to go. When I said I wanted to leave. So why the earlier convincing and begging that Eli loved to see me around? 

Calm down. 

A voice warned me. If not for anything, do it for Eli. For that seed in your stomach. 

I squeezed the tip of my skirt. The fabric glued to my sweaty palm. 

I turned away, pretending I was no longer in the room, watching life outside through the window, streaming by, forgetting that someone was choking behind it. 

My phone buzzed again. I reached for it in my pocket. My heart was pounding fast. 

“Leave now. Or everyone finds out.”

My body temperature rose. My breath piqued.

I looked at the message for the umpteenth time. The words laced with threat swarm before my eyes. My thumb trembled, hovering on the screen. 

Then I typed: “Who is this?”

Sent. Tiny beads of sweat formed on my nose. I quickly wiped it off with my backhand. I narrowed my vision to my phone screen, waiting for the reply of my life. 

Three dots appeared. Disappeared. Then, appeared again. 

Look out the window. 

That was the message. 

My eyes flickered on the message. My blood turned ice. 

Every part of me screams not to look outside, to stay still and focus on my phone like I haven't read the message. My other body part betrayed me. My head turned towards the window. 

Then, the hospital parking lot sprawled beneath. Cars scattered like a toddler's toy beneath me. A few nurses huddled at the entrance door, and I could spot an ambulance near the emergency bay. 

Then close to it. I spotted a figure. Hidden between two packed SUVs like a ghost in the shadow. 

His hood was pulled low. Face obscured. Arms crossed like he had been waiting for a long time. 

I couldn't tell if he was more than one. But I could only spot him from where he had hidden. 

Then he looked, directing his vision at my window. 

I stumbled back. My shoulder slammed against the wall. The phone slipped from my hand and hit the floor, clattering. 

“Orlena!”

Brent's voice erupted behind me, but it was distant like he was calling me from under the water. 

I was physically in the room. But the other part of me had disappeared, to where I didn't know. 

I couldn't answer. I couldn't breathe. I held my hand to my chest like death had found its entrance into the room. My heart slammed against my ribcage like a caged bird. 

“Orlena!” Brent flinched from where he sat. He drifted towards me. " What is it, young woman!”

He looked outside through the window. Nothing changed the gaze back toward me.

I blinked severally but the figure was gone. The empty spaces between the SUVs were obvious and apparent, as if a stalker wasn't there. 

My body shook and trembled nervously. My eyes widened apart. Like someone who had suddenly seen a ghost. 

“What is wrong?" Brent stood in front of me, still scanning my face. Searching for an answer. “ You are pale. Your hands are shaking. What is wrong?”

“I'm…” I swallowed hard. Trying to look for the best narrative, I tried my best to meet his gaze. “ I'm fine, I am just thinking about my father.”

That was a perfect lie. It landed well in the room.  

Something flickered on Brent's face. 

Emotion? Pity? Something I couldn't put together. 

Joan's composure changed instantly. 

Hissing reigned in the air. 

Jealousy or something I couldn't name plastered across her face. She changed her gaze to Eli, like she was no longer in the room with us. 

"Your dad?!" 

Brent asked. “What happened to him?!”

My breath squeezed tight. 

I couldn't tell the news I got about my father's demise.