Finding Tasha

Chapter 5: Monster

Tic Toc Tic Toc, Tasha counted the minutes while staring at the big TV screen, even after waiting for so long, the long hand had still not reached twelve, she still had about thirty minutes before it was ten. With her hands over her belly, she groaned as she rolled around on the bed, about to pull her hair out from frustration. She later resorted to taking out her anger on her pillow. Pretending it was Lucas, she punched the hell out of it as she called it all sort of names.

Feeling tired, she stopped and glared unhappily at the pillow which was now an eyesore to her. However, her stomach wouldn't stop grumbling, and she could swear she had never stayed that late without eating.

Finally, the long hand landed on twelve and she hastily rushed to her feet. She was just about to dash out when.. 'Make sure you walk as silently as you can' of course it was her brain reminding her of Lucas's earlier warnings, with that she changed her mind and made her way to the kitchen on her tiptoes. When she was sure he wasn't anywhere in sight, she heaved a sigh of relief before walking to the stove.

Her stomach grumbled once again, and she silently chided it as if it could hear her before checking if the gas was still on. She looked around for the noodles she was about preparing earlier but couldn't find it. Assuming that Lucas must have disposed of it, she decided to pick another one from the rack and was about to when a slight breeze wafted a sensuous aroma into her nose. She traced the source with her eyes till it landed on a thermoflask that was sitting on the counter. On it was a yellow sticker, which she picked up before reading the contents.

'The next time you leave your food half prepared, I am throwing it in the GARBAGE.' she could already imagine the displeased expression he had on as he wrote it.

However, at the bottom was 'Yours Dearly, Lucas' clearly, his intention was to spite her.

Smirking evilly, she angrily tore the paper into shreds and was about to throw it in the waste bin, but stopped halfway, She changed her mind and dipped it inside the pocket of her shorts instead. She was afraid that Lucas might get mad at her again if he sees it in the waste bin. She was really fearful of him now.

As soon as she opened the thermoflask, what first greeted her sight was braised beef, and it immediately made her displeasure fade away. A bright light flickered in her eyes and she gulped hungrily, in the second layer were steaming hot noodles garnished with different ingredients.

Seeing that, she smiled and didn't bother to open the rest as she immediately arranged the flask back before carrying it to the dining room.

She pulled out a seat and settled herself on it before arranging the delicacies on the table in front of her. When the food hit her taste buds, her image of Lucas instantly changed, and she couldn't help but commend his cooling skills. She could have sworn right there that that was the best food she had tasted in her entire lifetime. Immediately, she dived in and soon finished it in huge gulps.

Unknown to her, Lucas has been watching her on his laptop from his study and his eyes expression shifted from disdain, shock to surprise as he watched the ungirly manner she ate. He watched as she skipped merrily to the kitchen and washed the dishes while singing.

Her voice sounded croaked in the middle of her song, but that didn't stop her, after what seemed like forever she finally finished what she was doing. She rested her back on the counter as she stared into the distance, and he faintly noticed her wipe her eyes, at first he thought something must have entered her eyes, but then he saw tears streaming down her face. Her back slid down, and she sat on the floor with her head in her knees. He didn't have to be told to know she was crying.

Lucas immediately became nervous, it wasn't like he had never seen a girl cry but seeing Tasha cry like this invoked a different feeling in him. He felt the need to protect her since she looked so frail and tiny, and he doubted she had ever even been cared for all her life.

He suddenly thought of something and picked up the land phone before dialing a number. Tasha was still crying when a loud noise broke the silence, and she immediately jolted to her feet, scared. She realized it was just the land phone ringing and she calmed down.

Anxiously, she immediately wiped her tears as she stood up. She vaguely remembered Lucas telling her it was another way of communication, instead of having to see her face he would rather call, and he stressed that she must always answer.

Knowing it was Lucas calling, she picked the call and brought the phone to her ear. Trying her best to sound as normal as possible she cleared her throat before muttering a simple 'Hi' as she was still clueless about what to say to him.

There was no response from his end, and she wondered if he had called her by mistake, she was at a loss to what to do. She wanted to hang up but was afraid it might infuriate him, so she did nothing. Right when she was about to lose it, she heard his voice say...

"I thought I told you to pack your hair in a bun" puzzled by what he meant, she couldn't find any words to respond. It took her a while to realize he was talking about her hair, she realized it must have fallen earlier when she was dancing, But how did he know?

' Oh My God!' she exclaimed as she looked up only to see the CCTV camera staring right at her. Smiling stiffly, she tried to hide her embarrassment when she discovered he must have been watching her all this while.

Thinking about how she had gotten a little emotional earlier, she shuddered as a faint blush crept on her face. She couldn't help but cough out of embarrassment and wanted nothing more than to smash the phone on Lucas's face right at that moment. Luckily for her, Lucas didn't waste any more of her time and hung up the phone as soon as he made his point clear.

Labelling him a pervert in her mind, she packed her hair with a rubber and quickly arranged the plates, before rushing back to room not wanting to waste another minute.On getting to her room, she carefully looked around, to be sure there were no cameras and did the same for her bathroom, only after assuring there were none around did she finally sigh in relief. Bored and not knowing what to do, she lied down on her back as she stared at the ceiling. She wondered how the hell she was going to survive, living in this hell.

One year, 365 days! She suddenly wasn't sure if she could make it out alive anymore.