I am unpacking my things inside my room when I hear a knock on the door. I look at my watch and notice that it is already 9:15 in the evening. The person knocking must be the staff that they have mentioned. I go to the door and looked at the peephole. Outside, I see four women. One of them wears the same outfit as the girl in the lobby while the other three behind hear are wearing white long sleeve collared polo, mid-thigh-length pencil skirts, black stockings, black leather shoes, and a shiny gold neckerchief. I open the door and they greet me while bowing, “Good Evening, Madame.”
I kinda get weirded out by the gesture.
“My name is Adel and I am here to deliver the ambrosia.” She tells me smiling.
Madame? Ms. Meyer? Madame? A sudden jolt makes me come back to my senses.Where am I? I look around me and I see myself at the lobby of The Passion Houseagain. What’s happening? It seems like a staff is talking to me. She looks familiar. It has taken a while for me to process what’s happening.Oh right.
Wow. It has been a while since I laugh with a stranger. I gather my composure and sit properly facing the counter.Even if he is a fan, maybe I should still guard myself up. However, I am also quite surprised with myself because, for some reason, I feel quite safe. I honestly did not feel like I have been attacked. I look at this man standing. Maybe that is because we are in a dream and nothing he does can harm me in reality. Maybe I also feel quite comforted by the fact that he says that he is my fan like he is assuring me that he believes in me. That he trusts me that all of those false claims against me are not true. It’s like I automatically put my guards down.But I should still look out for myself.
Stacey’s eyes start to swell as tears slowly fall on her face. I get dumbstruck. Panic starts to arise within me. Why is she crying? I quickly get off my seat and go near her, “Are you okay? Why are you crying?” Everyone at our table has also turn silent.Can anybody tell me what’s happening? I hold both of her arms so she can stand up properly. I feel her shake under my hands. She starts sobbing. With every tear from her eyes, I can feel all the weight that she has been carrying against my sudden departure. She can’t stop herself. After a while, she starts to wail like a child who has been lost but has now been finally found by her mom by a large crowd of people.
Harris just sits there listening to my story. He doesn’t even bulge; he doesn’t even judge; he does not give me an exaggerated reaction, too. He just sits there with a cigarette in his hands and he is staring at the sky full of stars as I do. I like it, this way, the way he listens with no judgment and bias, I have known I needed this. This might be the reason why I can’t open this up to my mom, or to anyone else. I might have known beforehand that I needed a Harris to open up to. “I couldn’t believe it at first,” I continued. “She’s the last person who I have known who can do that to me.” I notice that right now, I really want to cry but my body might have dried out of tears, I can only breathe out heavy sighs. I gulp more of my words. “You see, Harris, that issue has been a big deal with my company for weeks now. It all started when one of my critiques stumbled upon a less-read novel with a different title but the same content as mine. The Author’s notes of it have been di
Is this love? Oh. I know this isn’t love. But what is this feeling?In the darkness, I can feel how his lips touch mine. He’s kissing in a soft and slow motion, so gentle it warms my heart. It feels like he’s carefully handling something so precious that I actually feel so fragile in his arms. After a short while, he breaks the kiss and looks at me straight into my eyes. Pleading, wishing, as if he’s asking m for something only I can give. And under this flashing lights of Pink and Blue, and the wild beats of the bass, among the shouting crowd, towards his deep and brown hazel brown eyes and kindest smile, I give in.He has the brightest and manliest smile I have ever seen since. His perfect set of white teeth shows and he gets so shy to look at me as he looks away. It’s obvious that he is trying to not let it sho
What was that about?I feel a sudden churn in my stomach.That was weird.The elevator dings and I immediately enter it while trying to calm my nerves. I am still shaking.What was that about?The door closes.It was nothing, right?I look at the numbers on the elevator and hug myself. I have decided to focus on the changing numbers while massaging my arms to ground myself down. I breathe in.3...I breathe out.2...
I still haven’t digested what just happened.A black room.A woman.Did she die?Whispers.But what if my mom is still here?It seems like cold water has been dropped on me.She might still be inside the Casino.I run my fingers on my hair.But what if she has escaped?I stand up, tap on my pants, and make up my mind.I’m going back there to make sure.“Hey! There’s Amy!” I hear a voice behind me.I am about to turn around to face the door of the casino when I hear a woman shout my name. I turn around and a drunk Stacey walks up to me."We have been looking all over the place for you," She says as she clings to my arm for support."Let's go back there." She says as she drags me back to the crowd."Stacey," I face her and stand on my ground. We are now meters away from the door. "We have to leave now," I tell her
Shards of broken glass start flying everywhere and people run around in panic. I hear people shouting, screaming for help. Some are crying and are begging for their lives to be saved. Ting~ I wince at the ringing in my ears as I look around after the incident. I figure out that I am down, with my back on the floor. I sit down and meters in front of me lies a crying Stacey where Yohanne is reaching out to her to woo her. My first instinct tells me to stand up and go to the fallen chandelier. Harris. I take a step. Mom. People are in panic, some are crying, some are grieving. It is such a mess that people are actually running around and they do not know what they should do. Harris might be there. My vision adjusts to the mess. As my view of the chandelier gets clearer, I see the unknowing bodies of dead people lying under it. Imagine, an almost 7 foot tall and around 10 meters wide in d