She was his Cinderella, but was he her prince charming?
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❝ This is my son.❞ Stephanie repeated again after she was sure she had my whole attention now. I looked at the man beside her and couldn't help bu...
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Isabelle
The charred wood crumbled under my feet as I walked into the place that once was my workplace. The voices of laughter and memorable conversations that took place under this roof echoed into my ears while my teary vision took in the blackened state of the walls and burned furniture. My eyebrows furrowed deeper as the vision suddenly began to change and the voices were overlapped by new, yet familiar voices.
"Ella, sweetheart, get ready! Sean will be here to pick you up." A soothing voice called out, hearing which a tear rolled out from my left eye. A smoky figure began to appear in front of me. I couldn't see it clearly, but I know who it was. "Mom!" I called out in a whisper. My throat was blocked by heavy bile. I couldn't speak loudly, I wanted to. I wanted to call out to her. Instead, I raised my arm to touch her soft skin once again. But before I could do that, the smoky figure was being carried away by a gust of wind. My eyes widened and I desperately tried to reach out to her. "Mom!" I yelled but she was gone, again.
My hand clenched my chest to calm down my erratic beating heart and I tried to focus on my labored breathing. My eyes moved to the open window in my room that threw in the shine of the moon. The curtains swaying gently with the wind reminded me of my mother's hair. "I miss you!" I mumbled under my breath while reminiscing about the gentle smile that she gave me before flying away.
Getting out of my bed, I walked into the kitchen to get myself a glass of cold water. Normally after a bad dream, I have a cup of hot chocolate that I drink after cooling it down but my body was too tired to make some for myself. Wiping the sweat off of my forehead I walked towards the backyard to take a moment of fresh air. The dream right now was like a crack on the door of my past. Memories were beginning to flood my mind, memories that I wanted to bury deep inside my mind.
A long sigh escaped my lips when the cool air touched the sweat on my body giving me shivers which distracted me momentarily. As I was taking a sip of the cold water I heard a voice call me. Startled, I began to choke on my water. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to startle you." Vernon said while gently patting my back. "It's alright," I said after catching my breath. I rubbed my nose that was now tickling after being choked on water. "What are you doing so late at night?" He asked me. Vernon walked around me and sat down beside me on the bench. " Couldn't sleep." I simply replied. "I heard what happened," Vernon said. He leaned back and lifted his one leg to rest it on the bench while his body moved to face me. The moon now illuminated his left features. I suddenly noticed something under his eye. I squinted my eyes to take a better look at it. It looked like a brown line, but it was still a bit unclear. Before I could ask him more, he spoke. "So now what are you going to do?" He asked.
"About?" I asked, straightening my back. "Your job. The cafe is now burned down." He answered. "I don't know," I replied by taking a sip of my water as my throat was now burning. "I don't like repeating things but I hope you remember my offer from the morning." He said. My eyes squinted at him, why was he so adamant about me having that job? But then I remembered that Stephanie was the one who asked him. Of course, he will ask me because he loves his mother. "If you don't like to repeat things then why are you doing it now?" I asked.
