Frozen in Time by Radia Al Rashid (the speed reading book .TXT) 📖

want to say one more thing, I will never see you ever again! and no, I’m not at all guilty to make you suffer for 3 years if that’s the truth. You deserved the suffering and guess what? You deserve even more suffering cos Annabelle Gaston you still are a full-blown psychopath. People do offer you jobs but when they find out how dangerous of a crazy person you really are, they let you go. Do not you try to make me feel guilty and miserable by your so not true shitty stories. GET A LIFE.” I abruptly walk away from her leaving her speechless for a while.

 Richard’s POV

I can feel Eve’s hidden unease while talking to me with a fake smile. I just get to the cake to see its grandness as described by Mel when the unexpected inquisition starts.

“Do you think Evelyn is pretty?” Melissa suddenly asks me sending me off guard.

“What? Why would you ask?”

“You were kind of looking at her like she was someone special or something.”

“You serious? This is totally not logical!”

“Rich, have you known her even before I’ve introduced her with you?”

“Yes. What difference does that even make? I don’t understand.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that when I’ve first told you about her?”

“I didn’t know it was the same Evelyn. Come on, Melissa, it’s not even a big deal.”

“Is it not? Richard, why don’t you understand that we are in a relationship and we are supposed to share stuff with each other?” she throws her hands up in frustration.

“I’m sorry but I thought it wasn’t something you would be interested to know.” I feel a bit guilty now.

“Were you guys together?” she straight cuts to the chase.

“W-hat! Nope, we didn’t even date. We were neighbors, get it?”

“Neighbors who find each other attractive type of neighbors?”

“Why would that even matter?”

“Richard! You always want to keep a little too much space between us. I’ve been literally begging you to move in together but no, you’re too adamant.”

“Moving in together is a huge step, Melissa. We’re only dating for seven months.” I try to reason with her.

“Seven months seems some kind of joke to you, huh? Sloan and Kev moved in only within four months.”

“What the heck does their relationship have to do with ours?” I feel annoyed.

“O wow! You actually don’t love me, right? You’re still in love with someone from your past, presumably Evelyn Walker.”

“It’s not like that, Mel. Listen to me, moving in together is a big step and I wanna be 100% sure about it before jumping right in.”

“What is there to be sure about? I feel sorry for myself and that’s exactly why I keep telling people that we moved in together.”

“You do? Why? This doesn’t even make any sense.”

“I feel a bit of comfort by telling the lie.” She starts tearing up.

“Oh no! come on, Mel, you just don’t stress over it now. There was no relationship between Evelyn and me. for your record, we didn’t even start dating, alright? It’s just a little awkward to face each other after all these years, nothing more. Please, don’t freak out.” I hold her hand.

“Alright! You promise we’re fine?”

“I promise.”

“Love you.” She grins and hugs me.

Then I see one unbelievable person walking angrily before us. ANNA? How?

“Hey Mel, do you know her?” I frown at the psychotic lady.

“What? Who? Yeah, she’s Anna. Such a sweetheart.”

“What? How do you even know her?”

“She’s Sloan’s neighbor and really cool one. You won’t believe what... but wait, why do you ask?”

“I used to know her and as far as I can remember she was a full-blown psychopath, not some cool one.” I can feel my anger trembling my voice a little.

“No! you cannot be mean to such a nice person. Think it over, maybe you don’t know this Anna. You must be misunderstanding somewhere. Anyway, let me go say hi to her.” She amusingly moves towards the creature.

It’s gonna be bad.

 

Chapter Fifteen

 

Evelyn’s POV

“Hey!” Aron nears me with a drink in his hand, “Want one?”

“No, thanks. I can’t really handle alcohol. A little childish, I know.”

“Nah! It’s alright.” He smiles.

“Your sister and her husband make such an adorable couple.” I grin at the couple dancing serenely.

“I know! They are so sweet. So, why are you standing here all alone?” he casually pumps his brows.

“Nothing, it’s just I met Anna after so long. You know, it wasn’t so easy going.” I shrug.

“Oh! Well, I was also very much surprised seeing her here but then I came to know she’s Sloan’s neighbor slash good friend. You okay? She didn’t pull off some crazy quarrels, did she?”

“She tried her best to pick a fight, trust me.” I nervously smile, “I guess, I got lucky that it didn’t turn out to be that bad.”

“Shit! I’m sorry, I really didn’t know it would happen.”

“No, don’t be sorry. It’s definitely not your fault. It’s funny how my life suddenly seems to be frozen in the past time zone.”

“Have you talked with Richard?”

“O yeah! That went more normal than I expected. No worries.”

“Cool!” he smiles.

The conversation is becoming more and more awkward with lots of nodding and smiling and nothing meaningful to say.”

“He and his girlfriend seem like quite a happy couple. I’m glad they are doing so well.” I break the silence after standing like mannequins for a while.

“Yeah! They are compatible, that’s it.” He shrugs.

“Do you not think they’re doing well as a couple?” I have that tiny bit of meanness in my heart that wants to hear otherwise.

“Um, can’t say much, really. Richard was saying the other day how Melissa always rants about moving in together. So, I kinda assumed it’s not all free of troubles. You know, couples do have their troubles, no couple is perfect.” He smiles.

“Uh-huh! But they already moved in together.”

“What? When?” he looks surprised.

“I don’t know, Melissa told me so when we first met.”

“First met? Who talks about moving in with boyfriend on a first meeting?” he laughs.

“I don’t know but she actually said it.” I chuckle with a tinge of confusion.

“But Richard told me they haven’t yet. guess none of us knows what is the truth.” He shrugs.

“Hm! Leave it then.”

Why would Melissa lie about that? This is strange!

After having the conversation with Aron, I don’t feel the friendly vibe coming from Melissa anymore. Instead, her insecurities seem to resurface on her very face every time I look at her, maybe because of me being a human. It’s natural.

Everyone is still occupied with dancing and drinking or gossiping but all of a sudden, I start having those old ass syndromes slowly creeping in. first my head spins once or twice. Then the real struggle comes into play. I cannot move my head from one side to another as if it suddenly weighed hundred pounds heavier. My breathing becomes faster and needless to mention, my right arm starts to tremble on its own. I become so freaked out at this that all I want right now is go home and hide inside my apartment. I cannot let all the people here see the nasty behaviors I’ve been fearing throughout the past years. I shift my weight from my right foot to the left. I can feel the vision getting blurry. I am on the edge of losing my sense when a shrill scream cuts through my ear drums. Thank God something happened to keep me sane for a little while.

“O my God! what happened to her? Didn’t anyone see anything happening over here? Why isn’t she breathing? Mel, wake up!” Sloan practically yells at this point.

All the eyes in the living room turn towards upstairs.

“Somebody, help! Come up here.” She implores.

In reply, Richard rushes to the staircase followed by Aron and Kevin. Two other guys are seen joining them. I stand there with bunch of questions in my head. What could possibly happen to her? It’s not been long since I saw her right here laughing and talking with Anna and others. What on earth is going to happen here tonight! My palms start sweating as my entire body trembles with a full-blown electric shock.

“She is not breathing, GODDAMNIT!” Richard’s voice floats in from upstairs. A lot of the people hanging around the living room already joined them there but I do not seem to move any of my limbs. Like a light-struck deer, I keep standing in the middle of the room.

After what seemed like a thousand years, the ambulance arrives. While others are busy with Melissa’s body to be situated inside the ambulance, Aron comes over to me,

“Evelyn, is it yours?” he holds up my bracelet in front of my eyes.

“Y-yeah! But how did you get it?” my eyes widen.

“We found it just beside Melissa’s body. Maybe you unconsciously dropped it there.” He shrugs.

“Wait! What? My bracelet? There…how?”

“I don’t know. Here, take it. I need to go with Richard.”

“What happened to her?” I can feel my eyes brimming with tears.

“She has been murdered. This is insane!” he doesn’t halt to let me say anything in reply.

MURDER! What? Why? Who did that? Why did my bracelet have to be there? I cannot remember dropping it anywhere! What is happening? O God! help me. can it be Anna? Could she murder someone to take revenge on me! she must’ve taken my bracelet somehow while engaging me in that damn argument so that later, she could plot me into this twisted murder. O my God! what do I do now!

Tears are rolling down my cheeks as I stand right there like a complete sculpture. my nostrils are trickled and I reach out to find blood oozing from my nose. I abruptly grab a tissue to hide it when I can feel a hand on my arm,

“Evelyn, you are feeling sick. You should get back home.” The knee-weakening voice does not require me to turn around to see the face.

“R-Richard! how did it happen? Where is Anna? My bracelet…it was there but trust me, I didn’t do a thing, I swear to God!” I burst into tears.

“I 1000% trust you, Eve. You don’t worry about it. Nothing that happened tonight has been your fault. Although others are a bit dubious seeing your bracelet there which was actually used to scar Mel’s wrist.” He gulps and his voice trails off a bit, “Look at me, I trust you no matter what anybody else has to say. Now, go home. You’re feeling extremely sick, I can see it.” I can see tears in the corner of his eyes. I feel horrible though I have no hand in Melissa’s death.

“I’m so sorry Richard, I really am. She was a good soul.”

In reply he nods and gives me a tight-lipped smile.

I look at the bracelet, it still has the specks of blood on it. I wince with pain and disgust. I quickly get out of the party without looking back at the grieving people behind me. the delightful party from a while back suddenly becomes a crypt of some kind. I feel so terrible and awful. Sniffing and weeping I wait for the uber to arrive.

“Hey, are you the girl with that bracelet?” a female voice calls out beside me.

“I-I didn’t do anything, really! I don’t even know how the bracelet got there.” I swallow the lump in