A Strange Reader

Chapter - 31

"Bella, come here", I called her.

"Mom, please. I'm not gonna come anywhere. Now tell me what's happening, okay?" She answered.

"I know, what I'm gonna tell you now might seem strange and even foolish to you. But trust me Bella, I'm not lying.

You met with an accident at the James Street and lost your memory.
Your dad is no more. Try to recollect everything, Bella.

Think of 'Estelle Parker', who was one of your readers.
She isn't a human, but died a month back in the hands of her father, Mr. Sebastian.

You made efforts to search for her dad, who lost his mental balance and ran away from the hospital."

"Mom, enough of your lies. Please!
For God's sake, tell me the truth now. You didn't hesitate to even make me a memory loss patient.

Anyways, Estelle is a ghost according to you, isn't it?
Fine, I'll call her now and put the call on speaker. Listen to her voice, mom", she answered.

This reply of hers caused me pain and hurt.

"Bella, wait! Estelle isn't her actual name.
She's Jennifer Parker. Ask her about this name", I told.

Bella's POV :

I don't understand why mom's doing this.
Anyways, let me prove and catch hold of her lies red-handed.
I made a call to Estelle.

"Hey Estelle! What're you doing?" I asked.

"Nothing much. Just idle and bored, Bella. What about you?" She asked me.

"Can you meet me now? Actually, I need to talk to you urgently and it's really important."

"Yeah sure! I'll be there at the Adams Avenue then."

"No, not Adams Avenue this time.
Hmmm, let's meet near the Simplicity Parlor, James Street", I told and disconnected her call.

"Mom, I know there's something between you and Estelle's mom.
I also know that Estelle is involved in it too.
But this doesn't mean she's a ghost. You're not gonna tell me, right?
Fine, I'm myself gonna get things clarified. Bye mom", I told and left.

As I reached, I saw Estelle and shook hands with her.

"I'm sorry for having asked you to come urgently", I apologized.

"That's completely okay for me. Don't worry Bella, tell me what's it", she comforted me.

"Actually..." I told and stopped, as I saw mom on the opposite side of the road. The sight wasn't that clear, yet I could make out it was mom.

"Estelle, I know that our first meet was unexpected. But there's some other relation too, which is probably why we're here now", I told and as I tried to take a look at mom, I could see that she was running.
I didn't understand why.

"Okay, I'll get back to you soon, Estelle. I'm sorry, but I need to go. My mom is in trouble and I can't leave her alone", I told her and ran to reach mom.