Crystallized Truth

Chapter 9 - Dinner and Darkness

"Who do you think, you're?" Ashley gritted at the old native, speaking in fluent English.

Another person to order him and tell him what was meant to be done. Not even a bit, Ashley appreciated such guts. He was not going to bear the bullshit of this old man who was thinking himself a president, it seemed.

"They waited for you for years. Revenge is what they want and they won't let you go without final battle" The man said in his eerily cold voice, looking directly in Ashley eyes with his stoned gaze.

Ashley frowned, not understanding any of his words. He blinked and then realized this odd man was not ordering him but was actually not in his senses.

"Man, You're high. Go home." Ashley said waving his hand, dismissing the man with a careless look. He found him odd but now he knew this man was not in his senses.

"You have to be strong and united to fight them. You have to prove your innocence too. Be careful, who you trust and keep this with you" The man advised and stuffed the bottled vial, of smoky liquid, in Ashley's hand.

"What the heck!!" Ashley exclaimed at the audacity of man, he glared the man not understanding how to handle this madman.

The man said nothing and stared Ashley for a moment. Ashley shifted on his feet, unnerved by the stoned stare of him.

Surrounded by the sudden silence, the man walked away, leaving a boggled Ashley.

Ashley watched the man disappearing behind the trees and then looked at the flask. He raised his hand to throw it away but the swirling smoke in the vial captured his gaze in a hypnotic way. He stood amazed for a second and then taking a deep breath, he put the vial in the pocket of his long overcoat.

.

Seated on the marble floor of the hall, Ava was focused on typing the words on hologram. Halting her aching finger, she skimmed over the whole content. Satisfied, she swiped the sent, the hologram blinked into a smiley before fading away. She leaned on the sofa, placed behind her, and gave out a deep breath.

A smile came on her face when Amelia entered the hall and sat in front of her.

"Done?" Amelia asked passing her a freshly brewed cup of coffee.

"Deal is signed" Ava grinned, showing the popping up email as a hologram appeared again. It was a deal related to her orphanage firm.

"Cheers." Amelia raised her cup with a huge smile "I knew you will pull it off."

Ava smiled at her confidence in her and sipped on the coffee. Her mind suddenly wandering away from the deal, she just cracked, to the man who always finds his way to her dreams.

Archie, the man she was scared, she had developed feelings for, and the man who made her feel strange just by his mere presence. His gaze always creating havoc in her and his words twisting her heart, in a unique kind of way.

"Thinking about Archie?" Amelia asked when the silence prolonged more than necessary.

"I don't want him to be a wrong guy," Ava accepted, her head dropped in defeat. She was fighting herself from long and she had realized, forgetting Archie was not going to be easy.

"Don't think about him so much that it hurts you in the end," Amelia said reaching out to hold her hand. She knew it would cost Ava, the way she was thinking so much about Archie. She knew what Ava went through and she did not want the history to repeat itself.

Ava said nothing. Amelia was right but Ava was not able to control her mind either. That's what scared her, the loss of control over her own feelings, the reason she distanced herself from Archie, in the first place.