C5 Five

Elsa’s POV

I looked at the lady in horror and quickly made to walk out of the balcony space, but she held me back.

“Stay!” She ordered, I wanted to leave regardless but I remembered I was a worker here and it would get me fired. “Who are you?” She asked.

I could see her face now, she was breathtakingly beautiful, and her wavy black hair was thick and perfectly done.

I was never intimidated by beauty, and didn’t consider me the least bit vain but I had to admit she was very pretty.

“Rose, let her go,” Tyler said and I turned to look at him, how had I allowed myself to get enchanted with his handsome face and sexy aura? I had more control than this.

“I didn’t do a thing Ty! Who is she and when did she become a threat!” Rose asked him, there was no emotion but anger in her tone and I wondered if truly this was his fiancé, her reaction was rather put together.

“Don’t project your insecurities on me, Rose! Why are you out here when the party is going on in there?” Tyler asked her and I watched as he ran his hand through his hair, it was one of his habits. It was odd that in the heat of the moment, I still found it sexy.

“So you think I shouldn’t ask when I see a fucking maid with her mouth next to my fiancée!” The lady raged and I wondered why I hadn’t noticed the edgy look in her eyes, one that was similar to a bomb waiting to explode.

“I think you need to breathe, don’t act like a saint here Rose, I see all you do and I know of all the things you think you’re hiding, my only fault is I’m not discreet about them.” He responded and I didn’t know the emotions that clouded me but I concluded right there and then that he was a terrible person and so was I in this case.

I didn’t wait for the rest of the conversation, I hurried out of the room, wondering how I had let any of that happen.

“Are you okay?” Alonso asked me, concerned in his tone as I ran into the kitchen.

“Yeah, I will be.” I replied and poured myself into work, pushing off all that had happened that evening.

My mind was burdened with numerous thoughts and as I walked home from the bar, I was on my hundredth thought. I had caught a glimpse of Allison Nelson and not only was she beautiful, but she was also really sane.

Her perfect-looking hair coiffed in a regency style, she had floated around the room, gracefully collecting champagne flutes from the servers. I had avoided her area because who knows I may have broken a glass and inserted the shards in her eyes.

She was not the only person I had been avoiding, her beloved son had also been on my avoid list, I didn’t know what it had been on the balcony but it had messed with my receptive sense, and the goosebumps I had felt on my sleeves were unfathomable.

My phone dinged just as I made the turn on my street, it was the rehab center calling, I smiled before picking up.

“Elsa?” My mother's hoarse voice sounded from the other side of the line and it was a bittersweet feeling that consumed me.

“Mum,” I said softly, Anita Brown was a strong and hardworking woman, watching her break into something unrecognizable had almost driven me mad.

I had instead redirected that rage into getting into college, she had adopted alcohol and drugs as her coping mechanism, I never blamed her for anything because I understood how it felt to need something, a solace, in her case, a master.

“Elsa, why have you called now?” (but her phone rang, so who called who?) She asked, just as she always did. I had decided to put her in rehab when she had missed my graduation and I had returned to our home to find her laying sprawled on the ground, lifeless.

I had been scared that I had lost my only other relative but when the ambulance had come they said it was drug overuse. It hadn’t even been in the question to not take her for rehabilitation.

“I wanted to hear your voice, to know how you were doing. I’ve missed you” I added and there was quiet, I knew she loved me, she may be upset and fancies herself mad at me but I knew there was love still reserved for me.

“Elsa, this place is a hell hole, I hate it and what it does to me. I can control my drugs and I would just get me out of here, please.” She cried and I almost regretted calling her. It was these tears that brought pain into my heart and always made me wonder if there was a point in keeping her there.

“Mum, you know you have to be there till it’s okay to leave. It’s just four months left Mum, just a little more time,” I whispered and she was quiet. I knew we were back to silent treatment and she wouldn't respond to my calls the next time.

“As you wish,” she muttered and my heart shattered as the line went off. I closed the door behind me and a familiar feeling enveloped me, my hands went to my eyes and wiped away the tears that had escaped.

All problems had a beginning and the cause of this was an adulterous and vile person, there was only one person to blame and it was Allison Nelson.

********

I walked through the desolate streets and I felt my heart under my feet. It was cold and I had nothing over my shoulders, not blankets, not coats, just my fears and dreams.

The office building was down three blocks and I was almost there, I was almost at my new job. I walked faster but I didn’t seem to be moving from the spot, I turned to my side and there was no one there. I went forward a little more and this time I did move.

On my right, a silhouette of two people, a man and a woman stood and I tried to see who it was but it was shady and darker than it had been. I heard a screeching owl from my left and when I turned to look I saw it was my father.

“Elsa! It’s me! It's Daddy!” I wanted to run into his arms, but it took a large amount of restraint to remain in that position. I frowned at him and turned my back on him.

I immediately turned to go over to the man and woman but just as I was about to go a black cloak descended on me, preventing me from moving and I screamed.

I stood up sweating and panting, my teeth chattered and my hands went round my body in a protective pose. “They’re back” I whispered to no one in particular. I felt unhinged and alarmed, I had believed coming here would somehow make the nightmares stop but the same dream had begun again.

I had slept off in my work outfit, I reluctantly stood up, still unsteady on my feet, and went into the bathroom, taking my robe with me. I slid into the red silk robe one of my ex-boyfriends had gotten for me in my college days, I tightened it around my waist and went into my kitchen to make instant coffee.

I took my cup and headed to the balcony, I sat propped up on the Ikea seat I had recently invested in. I set up my laptop and made attempts to do work, I had an online class for business students, and I sold courses and had classes.

I received a message notification and I saw it was from an unknown number, it was two persons, my stalking ex-boyfriend Nick, or an assassin requesting my death. I preferred the latter.

It was an email from Sky’s bar, Mr Nelson was requesting a meeting of all staff. I stared at the screen for the longest time, unsure of which of my demons to begin with.

“The most attractive one definitely,” I said, allowing myself to think of Tyler Nelson’s breath two centimeters from my face.

It was the most attractive thought.