Ch-38 ★Alive

[Aulaura]

Jay and I along with Beatrice boarded the next to flight to London. The flight passed by in brief interval of sleep and watching Jay, his hand tightly wrapped around on mine. I was afraid of letting go, thinking the moment his finger slip from mine, he will disappear and won’t ever return. Beatrice snored softly, her head against Jay’s arm.

            Suddenly, I feel like crying, it hurting all over inside. In places, I never knew I could feel pain. I don’t want him to see me like this. It’s like I’ve given up on him even before I’ve fought. I end running to the lavatory and crying until the airhostess had to drag me out.

            “Aura,” Jay whispers, leaning in to kiss me softly. He pulls away for a moment, his eyes staring at my wine red ones. “I’m sorry,”

            The plane soon lands and I’m once again surrounded by the damp smell of London. We drop Beatrice at her boarding school, promising her a visit to her grandparents aka my parents and her aunt, Samantha during winter break.

            Jay drives us to Grey mansion in silence. It’s a suffocating silence, the kind that chokes me over and over as a serpent coiling around my neck. A tear slips out the side of my eyes, I can’t contain it. The song I’m coming home comes on the radio.

            I laugh. “What a coincidence,”

Jay gives me a warm smiles. I see that we’re approaching the white pillared mansion. There is nervous lump in my throat. Anxiety and sadness are never a good combination.

“I don’t want go. Let’s run away and go somewhere far. It could be just the two of us and no one else,” I speak in a chocked voice, a sob threatening to escape again. “We can make our own little world,”

“Aura, we can’t” His eyes are sad. I know he’s probably blaming himself for my senseless outburst.

“Jay, please,” I’m literally begging him, my hands are folded in-front of my chests, tears splashing on my crinkled dress.

The car comes to abrupt halt, I jolt slightly forward in the seat, the belt cutting my waist. Grey mansion stands tall, the green grass cut to perfection. The night is beginning to fall as the sun plunges further down the horizon, just behind the white mansion.

“They miss you,” I don’t need to ask him who he means by they.“Especially your father. It’s killing him,”

“Won’t your parents miss you if you …” My words are left hanging in the cold air. Jay presses his lips against mine. They’re soft and warm like melted butter. My eyes flutter shut, as my fingers rise to brush the rough stubble tracing his jaw. Inside my chest, my heart painfully thumps against my rib-cage. A blissful sensation soars through my veins, curling my toes.

            “Jay,” I gasp, putting some distance between. “No,”

His dark eyes remorsefully study me.  “I’m doing this for myself. Aura, I can’t live with this guilt any longer,”

            I unravel myself from him. “Okay, fine.” My hands reach for the door handle. “Just promise, before you do anything reckless, you’ll go talk Cassidy. She’s my lawyer.”

            He’s about to open his mouth, ready to object. I press a hand to his lips. “No, you’ll go talk to her right now,” I removed my hand and sighed. “I’ll be home by ten. You’ve got until then,”

            By home, I meant Jay’s apartment. I didn’t think I needed to explain that to him.

Jay quirked an eyebrow. “You’re not spending the night with your family?”

            “I trust them not to turn themselves to the police,”

“Eventually, I’ll have to do it,”

            “When the times comes but not right now,” My nails were beginning to cut open the skin of my palms. I could feel the pain, as the skin broke- letting a small amount blood bled through my fingers.

            Jay gently stroked my cheek with the back of his hand, a blank expression on his face. I didn’t want to think about the storm whirling behind that mesmerizing face. 

            ✩★✩★✩

 [Jay]

Newbury Court House, London

                “It’s a dead end. There’s no way out of this,” A woman with red curls that reminded me of Beatrice’s ginger cat Stephanie, gave me a pitiful stare.

                Even Cassidy, Aura’s lawyer agreed that there was no hope left. I hadn’t come here with any hope either.

                She leaned forward on the desk, folding her arms upon the other. “You can’t expect me or as a matter of fact any lawyer to pull you out of this shit if you’re going to confess your crime. Why do want to do this? You have a pretty strong case even if Jake that’s the name of the Melody’s husband’s brother, right?” She waved her hand as names were not important.

                “Anyways, even if Jake takes this case to court he can’t prove anything. He’s a sole witness of the murder. The postpartum reports of Melody show that she had been tortured probably domestic violence. All of this will turn the case back on Jake. Plus it’s been what eight years since his death which further weakens the case. Jake can’t show the bank statements indicating that you were bribing him which will make him accountable for the crime as well,”

                Cassidy stood up, rather in thought, she half stumbled out the chair. “It doesn’t make sense,”

I sighed, honestly- I didn’t have the strength to carry on with this. “What doesn’t make sense?”

                “Xavier’s death isn’t registered. He doesn’t have a death certificate. Strange, isn’t it?”

She leaned over me, her arms pressed on either side of the armchair I sat on.  “There is a possibility that you have been fooled. Either way, the police can at no cost be involved in this. Because at every angle, you are guilty of a crime.”

“What the heck to do you mean by I’ve been ‘fooled’?”

She briefly glanced at the door. “I think Xavier is alive,”

I shake my head. This woman is insane. Hell! Why did Aura send me to meet her?  “No, I killed him with my own bloody hands. He wasn’t breathing. I checked.”

                She didn’t look convinced. “Whatever it is, things aren’t adding up.”

After a moment of silence, when I refused to reply or say anything. Cassidy sighed. “Don’t turn yourself in. Not until I’m sure Xavier is dead. I’ll ask a private investigator to locate him,” Only when I gave her an incredulous stare, did she add the next part.  “Or find his death in police records,”

                 “Tell me again, what reason was given for his death?”

“Sickness” I muttered.

                “And the police didn’t get suspicious about his beat up state,”

“They were never informed. I don’t know much. Jake handled everything because I wasn’t in the right mind at the time”

                “Figures,” Cassidy moved back from the chair. She brought a pen out of hiding from behind her ear and scribbled something on a file.

                “I don’t get it,” I thought she was going to add another impossible statement about all the dead people resurrecting from their tombs. “Why does Aulaura still love you?”

                Caught off-guard, I stared her- her plum hair falling over eyes, her lips askew expressing a clear distaste for me.

                I shrugged my shoulders, a humored smirk delighted my mouth. “No idea,”

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Note: The reason I updated so late was because I had a really bad writer's block for this story and I was scared that I might end killing everyone  so I held myself back for sometime and now I'm back with a dangerous, thrilling ending to MRIS.