All Chapters of Survive Me, Darling: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

OpheliaCoffee shop, wet evening. “It’s 6 pm in Los Angeles and there have been reported cases of bodies found in dark alleys across several parts of the city…”The reporter on the TV hanging on the wall adjacent to me blares out the news report for the day. Something I couldn't even be bothered about when I had my own life crisis currently rolling out like a nightmare before my very eyes. I leaned back into the table, fingers fiddling with the documents, about ten of them stapled together at the left edge. The more I flipped through each script the more my whole world blurred from the tears pooling in my eyes. Alopecia. The word hung thick, heavy, and branded like a cursed logo on every single document, each letter coming alive to mock me with the devil's horn. This one word had my company trending in the worst ways for three days in a row. I’d spent four years building ‘Veline Cosmetics’ into a multi-billion-dollar cosmetic and hair line company, famous and globally rising to

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 t

Ophelia.“Hey, keep it down. Most of us are trying to have a good sleep here”My teeth gnashed and I immediately wrapped both my hands around my arms to soothe myself from the sudden cold that clogged my chest.Who in their right mind would sleep peacefully when there were hordes of grotesque creatures roaming down the building? What in God’s name had I walked into! My stomach dipped with a bitter bile and I clutched my throat to keep me from puking right there on the floor. Everything happening here was already a complete mess, and I couldn't afford to create another.The heavens knew how bad I hated horror shows, how insanely paranoid I got at the slightest discomfort and it still chose to use my one weakness against me.Suddenly a horn blared thickly, the kind you’d hear during one of those fire emergencies. The lights stopped flickering and golden hues filled the room, rattling everyone. Even the ones who’d supposedly been having a peaceful nap, jerked up with eyebrows twitchin