Struggle!

Chapter 3

My breathing hitched. This was the question I had been dreading ever since I had let out the name Ben in front of Peter. But he deserved to know what hit him today. He had the right to question, to accuse me for this terrible phase he was going through.

I lifted my head slightly off his shoulder and looked at him. I read a grim expression on his face. His brown eyes were oozing concern and anxiety. The look, alone, made me talk and let it all out again after a year and a half. I took him back to when I was eight, to the day my fate changed appallingly.

I sat on the couch waiting for the phone to ring. It was Christmas Eve and I was waiting for my mother to call. As the clock ticked a soothing lullaby, I found myself drifting off into a calm sleep resting my head on the side arm of the sofa. 

The loud call from the phone placed on the mantelpiece which was decked in bells and candles for the occasion. I carefully jumped on the footstool and reached the telephone. ‘Momma’, I cried ‘You are late!’ I was disappointed that I had been left alone at home while my mother and father had to run off for an errand. I fingered the purple velvet stockings hanging from the white marble as I heard my mother sigh in reply. ‘Sorry honey, we are on our way back. Did you finish your dinner?’ she cooed soothingly. ‘Mhmm’, I replied glancing at my half-finished plate of mac and cheese. ‘I’m waiting momma, please come home soon’

I hung up after my mother assured me that they’ll be coming home in an hour. 

Raking my fork through my plate I toyed with my food for a while before finally stretching on the couch and dozing off into an uneasy sleep. 

‘Princess…princess…’ somebody was whispering in my ear. I opened my groggily and saw a tall, lean figure kneeling beside my couch. ‘GRANDPA!’ I yelled. But before I could leap into his arms I noticed that his shoulders were drooped, something wasn’t right. In my haze, I had failed to notice the wailing of a pitiful siren in the background and it was right there when my grandfather told me the most horrifying news ever. My little heart seemed to have been squeezed by a clenched fist and had shattered into a million pieces on registering the words ‘Your mother and father met an accident; they can never come to you now.’

I had been retelling this memory which had been etched so deep in my mind that no matter how hard I tried to block it, the memory flooded back in powerfully. There was a lingering silence while Peter allowed me to recompose myself. ‘I am so sorry’ he responded. I shrugged. He had known that I was an orphan since I first met him but he had never heard the first-hand account of my story and this had been only the beginning of my suffering. Jess was still in a world far off, mourning the death of May and perhaps wondering where the others were. I continued…

My grand-father took me to his home in Pittsburgh and nurtured me till I was 12 before he, too, ended up drilled deep underground, failing to keep up with his heart after a stroke. I had never felt more alone and stranded in my life. I knew no one. I had no one. I was a pre-teen girl with no one to take me in. Too grieved to register what had been going on and how, I found myself in the care of a foster mother in Pittsburgh. She was one of the nicest ladies I had ever known. Life was hard for me adjusting in a home completely different from mine, not being the spoilt kid anymore, but it was bearable. 

After a year, when I thought that I had had enough turns in my life to last a lifetime, I learnt that my foster mother was moving to Canada and I had to leave her. I was moved to another home. And my custody was handed over to another young lady. Karen. A woman with a good heart which was though, often over-ruled by greed. Karen had piercing blues eyes that gave her a sharp but determined look and strawberry blonde hair which fell in ripples just below her shoulders. Though she was no match to my previous mothers, but things were working out well. We stayed out of each other’s way. I tried my best to keep a good record in school so that she could not complain and punish me in one of her wild tempers. That is what I feared her the most for; her temper. If I did anything wrong, she’d yell at me and then lock me in my room for the whole day without any food.  

Karen was in her mid-30s but still she had an unnatural attraction for men. So, I was used to her boyfriends coming over almost every day, but none of them lasted more than a week.  This is why it was very shocking for me to learn about a business man Karen had met in one of her office parties. Karen finally seemed to have broken her record of changing boyfriends because it had been two months since they met and were still dating. I had never met the new guy as he never came into our neighborhood but instead Karen used to come home late at night all drunk in a limo driven by a uniformed chauffeur. I instantly knew that the luxury and riches were the magnet which made Karen stick to this guy for so long.

One evening as I sat huddled in front of the fireplace struggling with my homework, Karen came over to me and sat on the armchair beside the mantelpiece. I noticed her bubbling with excitement, sheen of blush adorning her bony cheeks . ‘Alene, I told you about the guy I am dating now, didn’t I? He is coming over for dinner. We might get engaged soon!’ she said breathlessly. I gasped, ‘Mom…’ but I found myself at a shortage of words. Karen ignored my reaction and continued, ‘He wants to meet you too, so please, please be good and don’t mess it up. I really like him.’

I never thought of myself as a bad mannered child, but still I tried my best at making a good impression for Karen’s sake. I was hoping that her obsession with getting engaged was temporary. I preened myself up for the VIP guest, putting on a short dress Karen once owned. It had pretty flowers printed all over a beige base it and it clung to my waist with a belt which I had tied into a knot at the back. 

Karen, on the other hand, looked ravishing. She was dressed in low V-neck silk dress that clung to every curve of her body. The dress seemed inappropriately short on her and the spaghetti straps exposed her pale collarbones. I could hear her clanking around in her 5 inches high stilettos setting up the table for the dinner.   

Precisely at eight, the doorbell rang and I ran to the window to examine our guest. Karen had let him in but I still stood gawking outside the window mesmerized by his ride. It was a striking red colored Aston Martin one 77. Just as I was about to throw the curtain down I could see neighbors getting out of their homes to get a better look at the beast which was a rare find in our poor neighborhood.

Sighing, I walked down the stairs, careful not to make a lot of noise. Karen had taken the guest into the living room and was sitting in the crook of his arm staring at him with an oddly disoriented expression on her face. I cleared my throat to announce my presence. Karen jumped up from the sofa and the man beside her stood up and turned. He was a man presumably in his mid-40s but he was definitely very handsome. Hazel eyes and supported a uniquely mowed goatee on his wrinkled face. He was very intimidating and I could tell that he had Karen wrapped around his finger! He stretched out his hand for mine and I reflexively placed my hand into his. Instead of a simple shake he pulled my hand closer to who his mouth and planted a kiss on the back of my hands which sent shivers of discomfort down my spine. When he spoke, his voice was velvety smooth and steady, but it also oozed a warning that he was a man no one ever should mess with,

‘Nice to meet you pretty Alene, my name is Ben’. 

This was the first time I had met him and if I had known what he would do to my life, I would have picked up a cutting knife from the dining table and plunged it in his heart.

AN: Hey guys, this is certainly not one of my favourite chapters.. but I had to give a little history :) So please put up with this.. consider it as the calmness before the storm hits Alene's life ;P

I wasn't able to reach the number of votes I wanted to but I'm still glad with all the support my readers gave :)

The picture in the multimedia part.. yup.. you guessed right.. It is Ben!

Soo.. any ideas about what is going to happen next?? Do you like Ben? Well, Peter is listening to Alene's story.. stay tuned so that you don't miss the best ... or rather the worst part!!! 

Please do vote for the story or give your comments if you don't like it.. Don't be a silent reader!