TILL MY SECOND LIFE

CHAPTER:4

The night was chilly the snow fell scattering all over the landscape covering everything up. The winds blew, cold and chilly. Everyone was closing their doors shutting the cold night off and seeking warmth in the bosom of their loved ones. A silhouette of a man walked through the alleys of the dark streets, his head bowed, the black leather overcoat he was wearing made him look even more mysterious than he actually was. He walked past the well -lit homes, brilliant and homely apartments that were lovely. He wished he too had a place to call home, where there was someone waiting for him. Maybe a child of his own, a wife, a parent or even a relative or a friend. There was none of those. His life, he has been walking through years and ages waiting for her. She promised she would come back, she had promised him she would come back for him, but it has been long and she was nowhere to be seen, she was nowhere close to the earth or close to his touch or sight. She was beyond his rich and it made him feel empty and yearning for her. He  walked into the streets casually, waiting for anyone who was not willing to be merciful with him to knock him dead. He watched the trailer approaching, its headlights shone bright and blinding. He closed his eyes, a loud blast split the silent night sky. The atmosphere that was humid and peaceful was now filled with the scent of blood and fuel. Metals crushed and scrapped against each other emitting sparks, the fuel tanks burst open painting the tarmac floor. Screams, agonizing yells and cries dismissed silence from existence. He waited for pain, there was no pain. No pain, no collision, no nothing just his breathe and a blast that made the atmosphere tremble. The scent of burning flesh filled the air overtaking the screams and cries that were there before. He opened his eyes, he was not in the middle of the road … no he was standing beside a beggar holding a carton box with crooked writings. salvation is free!the man snorted and chuckled bitterly I lost my salvation, I lost it while looking for salvation. I didn’t notice I already had it. He glanced back at the five cars that had collided with the track getting consumed in blazing fire “Hell is worse than that!”he walked away, his head low and mind travelling miles and miles beyond his reach.
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The night was bustle, Avalyn made her way out of the building. She was done for the night, now she would rest and start all over again tomorrow. She sighed and stretched. He had sent Haddon home early; he too was human and needed some time for himself and his personal life. She walked into the basement and got into the car. She started the engine but the car was not working. She started it again and again but it wouldn’t barge. She slammed her fist on the steering wheel.
“Must you frustrate me as well? I am frustrated enough, not you too” she yelled slamming the steering wheel, the car honked loudly. she inhaled deeply and stepped out of the car slamming the door shut. she dragged her coat around her tiredly and threw her purse over her shoulder. She sighted deeply and exhaled tiredly.
“We can take the sub way home Avalyn, don’t let this world frustrate you more” she dragged her feet out of the building past the beautiful buildings and gardens. She made her way through the back street and turned into an allay that was the short cut to the sub way station. Her life was tiring, working day in, day out. It was exhausting, but she knew what suffering was, she knew how it feels to sleep without food in her stomach, or a blanket or shoes on her feet. She knew well how lice can frustrate someone, or how bad not taking a bath can be. She has felt it all, that is why she was working against the harsh economy to keep herself alive, she did not want to feel that kind of pain and frustration. She had, had the taste of the bitter world but it seemed like the bitterness was not going to walk away from her any time soon. It was not going to happen, she suffered from scrutiny, people frustrated her, as an idol they expected her to be angelic in everything. Not to make a mistake, or do anything that would be seen as out of line. There were those who envied her and wanted her dead, there were those who wanted to have her life as theirs. You wouldn’t survive a minute!she dragged herself along, a shadow crossed the alley and disappeared into the dark. Then another, then another … Avalyn did not realize or see anything she was engrossed in her thoughts to see anything or even hear a thing. Something hit the back of her neck, she whimpered and winced in pain her heart beating erratically. Her face turned horrific, she could see three shadows behind her, she would be dead in any minute. There is no way she would handle three men on her own no matter how strong she was. She looked ahead, it was dark, how would she make it like this? The closed her eyes and prayed silently, she wouldn’t die today even if she was tired of the life she was living. A descend death at least, would make her life a little worthy. she turned and made a run, and the three were determined to steal her life away from her. They followed suit. King sat at the rail of the river cutting through the city, the subway was two hundred meters ahead. He would take it tonight for the first time, maybe if he tries to be human, he will forget what all the guilt that was weighing him down. But it was hard, if only she would show up and walk him to the end of the road, he would be happy. Years had flown quickly but she was nowhere to be seen. Should he walk back to the underworld maybe? But he would be rejected anyway, heavens above and hell below hated him for who he was. Would he continue to roam in this horrible world forever?he watched the water flow continuously, the sky was dark. Thunder rumbled in the south and lighting made the river water shine brilliantly a minute later, the rain came pouring hard. He jumped off the rails heading to the subway but then he stopped, his ear caught a noise, a desperate cry that made his eyes go wide. No, what was he thinking? It was not the first desperate cry he had heard, there were many more he has heard before but he had never bothered to go see what was happening if he had no role to play in the matter. He ignored the cry, but it came again.
“Please, help me… you must help me please …
He stopped, turned scanning the surrounding like an eagle but his eyes caught nothing. There was nothing, he walked ahead but the cry came again …
“Please … help me…
please … help me…
he turned and followed the sound quickly, his strides were long, and the determination he had surprised him as well. He had no time to think of who he was, what he should do or what he would never do. He just ran and ran and stopped when he saw a woman running to him. She was scared and confused, she looked helpless. He could not see her face through the pouring rain, but he could tell how scared she was. He stepped forward, three shadows emerged from behind carrying baseball buts. She looked back at the three men and back at him. She was confused, her heart ached from the confusion and frustration burning her soul to ashes. He stepped forward, the men didn’t seem to be intimidated by his presence. Did they think he was also there to harm her? They were wrong but she seemed she was holding to the same idea as well. She squatted hugging her knees trembling in fear. She closed her eyes, if doom was here. Then she wouldn’t want to see how four men snatched her life away. King stepped forward, walking past the lady who was hopelessly squatting in the rain. The three men watched him, he smirked. How he missed doing this. He grabbed the first man by the neck snapped his shoulder and dislocated it backwards, the bat he was holding ended up hitting the man next to him. He swept the other off his feet, his face slamming into the concrete floor hard and rough. He yelped in pain. The other one tried to hit him only to get his knee knocked hard until his leg turned backwards. He finally tied them together and dumped them in the trash can nearby. Three armed men against one woman who had no weapon was unfair anyway. He walked hack to the lady who was weeping silently. He tapped her shoulder and squatted in front of her. She looked up slowly, fearful and confused.
“Are you OK?”
“Thank you” she said slowly trying to hold a sob chocking her. She swallowed bitterly.
“You should get home quickly; it is pouring badly. Don’t walk in the dark alone” he tapped her shoulder reassuringly and walked off. Avalyn stared at the wet ground for a moment the stood up. She spotted a necklace on the ground, she picked it up, it had a cross as a pendant. It was not hers, maybe the man… He was gone! Was he a ghost? He was there a moment ago …
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“Hello, how is your vacation going?” “Oh, sweetheart, how are you doing?” Avalyn rolled her eyes wiping her wet hair.
“Am not fine, I would have died today …
“What? Why?”She sighed
“My red beetle broke down again, I had to walk myself to the subway. Some men attacked me. Gladly some ghost came to save me”
“Ghost?”
“It was definitely a ghost; he fought the men and stashed them into a recycling bin. He then asked me to get home but dropped his necklace. When I turned to give it to him, he had disappeared into thin air”
“Wow, was he cute?”
“Come on Lacey, it was pouring like crazy I didn’t see his face. I bet he didn’t see mine either”
“You were lucky to be saved by Mr. Ghost. Anyway, so did you shoot the first episode of the movie”Avalyn walked over to the microwave and pulled out a bowl of noodles. She sat on the table and dug in.
"Granny collapsed so I had to postpone it to Monday.”
“Who is the male lead?”
“I heard it is some cute guy from a movie; THE DEVIL’S QUEEN. I haven’t watched the series though, I have been hell busy these days”“I watched it, the guy is a piece of cake, I searched for him online but there was nothing about him. People know him as King somebody …
“I will see him tomorrow then I will tell you about him. How are you doing over there?”
“Just fine I will be back next week, I can’t wait to see your best friend,I have really missed you”
“I miss you more sweetheart”
OK, I am so happy to hear from you girl. Take care of yourself out there, take care of yourself darling I know you overwork yourself but be easy on yourself, OK?”
“I heard you girl, take care too”
“Goodnight sweety”
“Night”
Avalyn sighed placing the phone on the table. She turned to her noodles and dug in; she was hungry …she had three cups of americano the whole day. That was a big meal for her, but not her stomach. She finished cleared the table and went to bed. Since she was a little kid, she has seen all the black shades of life, she had gone hungry, been flogged, been rejected and hated by people. Today it was scary, it was like she had reached the end of the world. She saw darkness around her, she was hopeless, helpless, but then he showed up. He came like an angle in darkness, he protected her and asked her
…are you okay?he was the first person to ever ask her that. No one really cared if she was OK, as long as she was a celebrity everyone assumed she lived in a paradise. But… life sucks …when you are alone, stranded in a dark alley situated in a foreign country. Where everyone speaks a foreign language, walks in an alienated manner, smiles like the devil himself, walks like a robot word distinguished with hyphens and long comas that you can’t make out if it is a sentence or a mere phrase. And the weather is undefined, the architecture of life and trends is a completely new version … and everything looks strange and wild … it is completely strange … you want to run but your feet are as heavy as lead, you want to cry but your eyes are so very dry like scales of a crocodile, you want to scream but nothing within you is ready to accompany you in your helplessness. That is how it felt!
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Kingsley sat on the sofa his clothes dripping wet, the floor was flooded with water but he didn’t bother. He stared through the window at the pouring rain and his mind disappeared into the mist. His left eye slowly turned red, he blinked rapidly and sighed. He had never helped anyone, he always walked past as if he was deaf, or blind or he was in an entirely different world. But her cry reminded him of her, her cry reminded him of the sad memories. The tragic life he had lived before that scarred his heart to date. He himself was surprised when his feet led him to her, he was surprised when he got enraged at the three men, he was enraged when she cried helplessly, he was very pissed when she had hugged herself with hopelessness. It was a pure surprise, when he asked her if she was OK. He didn’t know her, but she bothered him. Her helpless cry bothered him, why?He left the living room walked past the corridor into the bedroom. He had money, he lived in a mansion, he owned businesses and everything every human desires but he had no comfort, or happiness or peace.
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Avalyn rushed out of the house, she dumped her purse at the back seat and jumped into the passenger seat. Haddon stepped on the gas speeding towards the city center. The car pulled over in front of the towering building.
“Haddon? The press is on my neck lately hurry get into the basement parking. They almost sent me to my ancestors Friday night”
“Sent you to your ancestors?”
“Brenda’s fans tried to attack me; I think the news of I replacing her in the upcoming drama spread rapidly. I can’t believe I have created an arsenal of enemies”
“Too bad” Haddon pulled into the basement parking.
“Great, time to see out Mr. Flint” Haddon followed quickly, they took the lift to the twentieth floor. The office ladies working around giggled and murmured silently. Some disliked Avalyn and others loved her. Just a handful
“Did you talk to granny?”
“I did, she is holding up well, Rose was at the hospital the whole night”
“If the shooting ends quickly I will go check up on her before I go back to work” she sighed flipping her hair and walked into the room at the end of the hallway.
“Hello, thanks for the patience. I hope I haven’t kept you for long”
“Relax, we just arrived” Mr. Flint said “The others are here, Peter, Mose, Adrielle and Nancy. We are heading to the old mansion in the south; the Skyline villa. It belongs to Mr. Kingsley Soren…
“The male lead?”
“Exactly, he was kind enough to let us use it for free, but under the condition that we should not tamper with anything or leave it dirty. We are doing our make - up in the van on our way there, as soon as we arrive, we are diving into the costumes and let the show begin. Good thing your beloved director is punctual the crew arrived there beforehand so everything is set!”
“That is good, we should get moving. Haddon, tag along I might need your help” she said following the three outside, Flint followed a short moment. “Of course, I was going to follow you”
“I must remind you nevertheless” Avalyn laughed at his grumpiness and followed suit. The ride to the southern mansion was smooth, Mose and Adrielle took the chance to help Avalyn with her make – up. She scrolled on her phone to keep herself busy. As always roomers after roomers flew online as if it was a duty for them to be there.
‘she is such a cheat, how dare she steal Brenda’s role? She is not even that pretty’
‘she is pretty, but ugly at heart’
‘must she scoop the benefits of all the top agencies, how greedy’
‘maybe she was enchanted by the male lead’
‘I heard he is a piece of cake’
‘from a movie, THE DEVIL’S QUEEN’
Avalyn sighed and ditched the phone in her purse, her life was a mess already, adding more shit will make it worse. The mansion was huge, the garden was vast fitting the description of the castle of the Valiant Kingdom. It was much smaller; it wouldn’t probably be as big as the Valiant castle. They entered the compound, the driveway was kept clean, the flowers in the courtyard and the garden were beautiful. The house itself was expensively varnished, with a touch of white and gold. Avalyn stepped out as soon as the car was parked at the courtyard. She drooled over the magnificent house and swallowed loudly. The other crew members in the van could not help it either, it was a sight worth witnessing.
“This house is dope, I feel like I have travelled back to those days when king Osbert was ruling” Peter said staring up at the house.
“The balcony reminds me of Romeo and Juliet” Adrielle who was the most emotional said wiping her tearing eyes.
“What do you think Haddon?”
“It is magnificent”
“C’mon guys we have to get going you can admire the house later” Mr. Flint commanded leading the way to the house, everyone followed. Kingsley watched through the window the black van driving into the compound, he didn’t like visitors but anyway it was going to be useful. The house was always cleaned, the gardens and the compounds cleaned. Then it would be shut for weeks until he was tired of the outside world and shut himself. He was about to walk away when he suddenly saw a very elegant woman step out of the car, her eyes sparkled as she looked up at the mansion. She tapped the man in black beside her and pointed back at the mansion, she smiled beautifully and his mind travelled miles away. she had her smile!He watched her approach, her face too looked like hers!Her eyes, those gray calm eyes that were as secretive as hers. She had her hair too as dark as the night. She flipped her hair, and smiled at the lady beside her … why did she resemble that woman?He walked back to the sofa and sat down, the crew walked in exchanging greetings casually with. Kingsley had his eyes on the sophisticated woman who was busy talking to a certain crew member. Her eyes flew towards him for a second then she continued to talk to the others. The ladies around were giggling and whispering about him, some even tried to flirt with him. He didn’t have time for that, someone more interesting was standing before him. A lady who reminded him of the one very important being in his life, not only that, but she also looked like her very much. She finally approached him and stretched out her hand.
“Hello, how are you Mr. Kingsley Soren?”He took her slender hand and shook it, his eyes holding hers that didn’t waver. Unlike the other women who would blush and shy away, she smiled politely at him and didn’t look away.
“Hello, and who is this?”
“Avalyn … Avalyn Salvadora
Salvation! Again!
He smiled politely pulling his hand away. “What a beautiful name you got, I have heard a lot about you. That is in the field of acting of course, I don’t flatter people"
“You certainly don’t look like the kind who flatters people anyway” she sat on the sofa next to his relaxing her shoulders.
“I heard you write too”
“It is my passion, I have written a lot. Read any?”
“How many books have you written so far?”Avalyn was surprised that this Greek god sitting beside her was so interested in her writing. Wow, at least he noticed her books unlike the critics out there.
“Well, six, am working on my seventh one right now”
“Can you name them?”
“Sure, the first one is called, THE MAZE TO FORTUNE, then there is, THE SOUR HONEY, THE LANDLORD OF WEALTH, THE LITTLE SALVINA DASYA, THE SLEEPLESS GIANT, MAYBE WE DON’T KNOW and now am working on the sixth; OSBERT IS A KIND MAN!”His heart knocked his ribs hard, he suddenly looked at her as if he had seen an angle descending from the heavens. He almost smiled, but he didn’t want to, it wasn’t right. Would a smile make him feel any better? But he smiled anyway.
“Wonderful books, could you tell me what they are about? I might sponsor you”
“Don’t be so kind, I might mistake you for Osbert” she giggled at his darkening face and waved her teasing off
“Alright, The Maze of Fortune, is about a little girl born in a poor family, she was abandoned by her parents and she had to fight for her survival. She suffers big time but at the end she will manage to build her life. Then her parents will come back claiming that she was their child, the internet and everyone else will judge her for being rich and leaving her parents in poverty. But they don’t want to ask or know the story behind it. It ends tragically, the girl will reject her parents just as they did. Sell her wealth and decide to travel to another country to live there. But then the plane crushes and she died together with her wealth” King watched her talking, she flipped her hair innocently moving her hands in air as she explained the storyline.
“What a beautiful story, what inspired with the story” he leaned back watching her intently. She smiled again “life, just how life is. Happy endings only exist in fictions”
“Not all fictions have a happy ending” he suggested. “Like Romeo and Juliet, also like Osbert and Salvina”
“Well … those are not fictions, they are real”
“How do you know?”she sat back and thought for some time “Because, when I read that novel, it feels real and it gets me very sad. I always wish I had my eyes wide open and be there those years back so I could tell king Osbert what to do and expose the devil incarnates. It is just a wish anyway.” He smiled briefly “that is a beautiful wish”
“Hello there” Flint interrupted walking over to the two “I see you are getting along well. I was afraid you wouldn’t”
“Why wouldn’t we get along?” Kingsley asked casually.
“You definitely don’t know Avalyn so well, she is a pain in the ass”
“You shouldn’t speak ill of me when am around, Mr. Flint, at least spare my ears the shame”
“Ears don’t feel ashamed” Mr. Flint teased
“As per your interaction, I don’t think miss Avalyn is a pain in the ass”
“Am her boss, at least I have an excuse to my unruliness” he boasted but Kingsley was unfazed “Alright, you should put on your costumes now. We should get started already”