~Stranger~: :~ Discontinued
Zorom:
Mystery substance... :O Say no to drugs!
You introduce a new mystery every chapter. ;) Sooo muuuuch teeenssssiiiiooon! I mean, tension!
dark_jean:
All the mysteries would be unfolded later, hold on till then, Zorom.... ;) & thanks for the comments they keep me motivated.... 3yay
CHAPTER 8
It was pretty late at night. And somebody was knocking at the door.
Alexander Gates was shocked rather than surprised that somebody would pay a visit at this hour. He definitely did not have many friends in Silverdawn and of them; nobody knew that he would come back tonight.
Even he did not know about that until yesterday.
He opened the door and smiled.
“Well! Well! Well!” exclaimed Alex, warmly, scratching his head, apparently surprised at his visitor, “I wasn’t exactly expecting an after-arriving-surprise welcome.”
“Where the hell have you been?” snapped Deborah, glaring at him, “Move over.”
Alex moved over pretty much confused as Deborah marched into his apartment. His living room was disorganized as he had just started unpacking, but Deborah did not seem to care. She was scanning his apartment and then she started to check all his rooms one by one.
“What are you doing, Debbie?” asked Alex, very confused, “What are you looking for?”
“Cut the crap, Alex,” said Debbie, angrily, turning to him, “Where is Emily?”
Alex stared at her for a few moments, confused.
“Where is she?” yelled Debbie, angrily.
“How should I know?” replied Alex “Is this some trick question? I think April is still six months away.”
Debbie continued to stare at him for a long time. Alex was getting worried now.
“Six months?” whispered Debbie, looking at him, “Six months, Alex? Where the hell have you been, Alex?”
“What’s wrong, Debbie?” asked Alex, cautiously, “What has happened? Is Emily okay?”
Debbie swung her head impatiently and tears swelled in her eyes.
“Emily’s missing, Alex,” she said it finally.
Alex’s heart skipped a beat. “What?”
“Emily is missing. Nobody knows where she is.”
“But how can that be possible?” asked Alex, desperately, “She’s one of the Winters, for goodness’ sake, how the hell can she be missing?”
“The Winters’ are indicating that she ran away with you,” said Debbie.
“WHAT?”
“Sit down and let’s start from where you were for the last six months,” suggested Debbie, “Emily disappeared right about the same time too. Obviously they had to link them together.”
Both of them settled down. And Alex started to explain that he went to Mexico for his holiday and after that he was supposed to join his colleague in Venezuela for a project on a moon-worshipping ceremony of a very old tribe. He further described that after a month of his holiday, when he went to Venezuela, his colleague had already got a cue to a secretly arranged ceremony of the same tribe away from the crowd, in the depths of the forest where the moon shines upon a lake.
“Then we went there and were of course not allowed to gatecrash their ceremony beforehand. But Gerry was persistent and it took him almost two months to persuade the tribal chief to allow us to cover the ceremony,” said Alex, scratching his head now and then to remember what exactly had happened in the past six months, “Then the preparations for the ceremony had started and we had to stop ourselves from contacting the outer world as the tribal people did not want us to do that once we were in their confidence, see.”
“And what about your office? Did they know what you were doing?” asked Debbie.
“Yeah, they knew everything. We had informed them that we were going to cover this ceremony from an entirely different point of view,” informed Alex, “We also told them that we might not be able to be in contact for while and they understood completely. It is going to be our featured story in the next issue. Clearly, they didn’t want anyone else to know about it, I guess.”
Debbie did not say anything for a while. But Alex was very worried.
“What happened here after I left?” he asked, anxiously.
“Well! You told me you’d leave after that scandalous party at the Winters’,” started Debbie, “And then you vanished from the scene. I went to your office, so did many reporters I believe, but they said you were on holiday in Mexico.”
Alex did not say anything but continued to listen carefully.
“Emily was not going out publicly anymore, after that incident,” said Debbie, “I tried to reach her but she wouldn’t take my call. So, I thought of visiting the Winter Mansion, but I just didn’t have the guts. And then an assignment came up and I had to leave town for a few days.”
Debbie stopped and looked at Alex. He was completely distressed.
“But one night, I was at a party and my phone was in silent mode,” said Debbie and she got very nervous, “When I got back to my hotel, I saw twenty missed calls from Emily.”
“Goodness! Did you call her back?” asked Alex, very tensed.
“Of course, I did. But all my calls went to her voicemail box,” said Debbie, “I called her at home but Jeremiah said she had left home after the party. And one week after that, everybody started to notice her disappearance. And the Winters’ were suggesting that she left with you. Since, the two of you disappeared about the same time.”
“She was terribly upset at the party that night,” remembered Alex, not listening to Debbie, “She was so messed up as if something was eating her from inside. I’d asked her what was the problem, but, you know...she wasn’t in her sense as usual and Jack got his chance pull the trigger on us.”
“She had been upset much before that,” said Debbie, thinking, “She wanted to tell me something, but she didn’t want me to get involved in anyway. So, she wouldn’t tell me anything. I had asked Beth and even she said she was definitely worried about Emily. She said Emily was hiding something,”
“So? That must have something to do with Jack or Rosemary or both of them?” said Alex, angrily.
“Yeah, but Alex, we’ve much more problem to deal with. Since, she is not with you...” Debbie stopped and looked at him suspiciously, “Are you sure Emily is not with you Alex? Because Jack told me something, which...”
“No, Debbie! No! You know, she always looked at me as her friend and never more than that,” said Alex, miserably, “But I wish she had, at least I would have been able to take her away from that hell. I would have made her much happier. And how can you believe Jack after whatever he has done? Huh!”
“I’m so sorry, Alex,” said Debbie, “But...forget it! But if she’s not with you, this raises the question: where is she?”
“I hope she’s safe, wherever she is,” said Alex, resting his forehead on his palm.
“Trust me; I would give everything I have, to know that,” said Debbie, and many more negative thoughts started cramming her head.
dark_jean:
Shadowhaven Boulevard is the place where the wealthy people of Silverdawn try to outshine each other by showing off their richness. One of the residents was the Dubois family, especially known for their power-hungry and manipulative nature. When they had come to Silverdawn to expand their business, many had objected to their settlement there. But the then Governor, Rosemary Winter, had become good friends with the family, so nobody could actually voice their thoughts. Everybody in town knew about the growing relations between the two families, whose union was threatening the very base of Silverdawn city’s ruling system. Yet rumours were that Jack Winter and Melanie Dubois were on the verge of getting married soon. Nobody knew how soon as Jack’s position for the Governor would be endangered. With Emily Winter’s noble image in the society and her charity work knowing no bounds, it was difficult for the two families to unite.
Today, the Winter family was invited to the Dubois family mansion for an informal lunch. Faye Dubois had wanted them to come over at their place since the Jack announced his candidature for Silverdawn’s Governor position. But the most distressful things followed up with Emily’s escape with her lover. Faye wanted her daughter Melanie to entangle Jack in her love, but Emily always had been his distraction somehow. Still, Melanie, being Jack’s very close friend, knew there was nothing left in their marriage.
“Well! Jack, I must tell you with that charming approach of yours all the female votes will be yours this time,” said Faye, as all of them were dining in their house. The butler was moving around filling everybody’s glass of champagne.
Herbert Dubois nodded his head in agreement and said, “I agree, Jack. But it’s not only the female population but I was talking to my friends in the Royal Mile Club and they were extremely sympathetic towards you after what had happened.”
Jack smiled and exchanged gleeful looks with his grandmother.
“Every time we visit your place, I have noticed you always have the best news for us, Herbert,” said Rosemary, gladly, sipping from her glass.
“You seriously know how to keep your friends interested in you, Faye,” said Caroline, with little sarcasm and everybody laughed.
After that they started discussing about the changes which Jack might bring upon when he becomes the Governor. They finished their appetizer, Crab stuffed mushrooms, and the butler took the plates away.
“It was really good, Mrs. Dubois,” commented Reese, happily, “I’m usually not very fond of mushrooms. But this was really good.”
“Actually, Melanie made it by herself,” said Chad, “I told her you didn’t like mushrooms, but she was confident you’ll like it.”
“Really Melanie? I didn’t know you were such a good cook,” said Reese and smiled at Melanie.
“I know Jack likes crab-meat so I thought I’d try something new,” said Melanie Dubois, honestly, “I didn’t expect it to be so good, though.”
Jack grinned at her and said, “I’m glad that someone at least cares about what I like.”
Melanie patted gently on his shoulder. And Jack’s mobile phone vibrated in his pocket.
“Excuse me, its work,” said Jack and got off the table to take the call. Melanie looked a little disappointed but she smiled to herself.
Jack was actually very angry at his personal assistant. He had confirmed with her that he did not have any appointments that afternoon and wanted to have a peaceful lunch. But she had been calling him continuously for the last twenty minutes and he was constantly rejecting the call.
“What is it Cynthia?” asked Jack, rudely, “You know, I had asked you to handle this afternoon by yourself.”
“I’m very sorry to call you, sir,” apologized Cynthia, “But I have received a call which is very important for you.”
“Is it from the President of this country?” mocked Jack, sarcastically, “I don’t understand why you test your mind so much. It is becoming obvious that you are tired of your job.”
“I got a call from Mexico, sir. The person said he had information about your wife.”
Jack’s mind went blank. How was that possible?
“Fill me in,” he said and listened to his assistant for ten minutes without interrupting her. Rosemary was looking at Jack now and then. The expression on his face was worrying her. What could go wrong now?
“All right, I’m coming to office now,” said Jack hanging up the call.
He did not know what to say or what to do. His thoughts were cloudy. He went to his grandmother and whispered something in her ears. Faye and Herbert exchanged looks and thought what was happening. Melanie was staring at Jack hopefully.
Rosemary’s face became grim and turned graver with what Jack was telling her.
“Is everything all right, mother?” asked Caroline.
Rosemary silenced her and Faye, who was on the verge of saying something fell silent as well. Finally, Rosemary nodded as the people around her were dead silent.
“I’m extremely sorry for this, but something very serious has come up,” said Jack, buttoning his coat, “I have to leave now. Thank you so much for the appetizers, Mr. and Mrs. Dubois, but I guess I won’t be fortunate enough to stay behind for the main course.”
Everybody was surprised at this sudden departure of Jack. Caroline looked at her mother but knew she would not say anything. Faye and Herbert looked utterly shocked.
“What has happened, Jack?” asked Melanie, sadly.
“It’s very complicated, Melanie,” he said, “I’m sorry I have to leave like this, but I really have to look into something that has unexpectedly come up.”
“I understand,” said Melanie, miserably, “When will I see you again? You hardly are available nowadays.”
“Don’t worry, if everything goes right, I’ll be all over the news,” replied Jack, kissed Melanie’s cheek lightly, "I loved the crab, thank you, Melanie."
Then he left.
Zorom:
Melanie's so prettyful. :) I like Alex too. Yayyy for new characters! 3yay
Well, I...I've said this in, like, every post...but...teeenssiiiooon! I love your props, and wallpapers and everything, you must put loads of effort into them! :O
dark_jean:
THanks Zorom....I'm glad that you like the updates...and I believe you didn't recognize Melanie with her new skintone and hair colour...she's Bella Goth!!!! ;D
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