AADYA

2) Ignorance= regret

Stacey McGuire

The house was comfortingly warm on this cold snowy day as I sat near the hearthstone sipping a hot cup of Jasmine tea .

The past couple of days had been pretty rough on me .

Taking care of my sick flat mate .

Firing off Amelia Conner , who by the way was quiet a two faced psychopath which I didn't realize until finding my assistant with a broken arm .

Conveniently right after firing her off she came back at me with sweet revenge.

Well well little did I know that her sweet self and my boyfriend were having their own paradise of sins involving cheating , sex, lying.... I don't want to even think about the further details.

As if the universe felt my exhaustion and it just had to slap me in the face with a sudden snow storm just to its own amusement.

"HA!! IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE GOT!", is what I would like to scream from a roof top right now ...but ... I truly believe in not challenging my fate and karma .

So rather here I am relaxing finally hoping my peace continues through out this day .

" Well for this evening topping the breaking news reports is the sudden disappearance of well known social activist Alondra Steinfeld . Our reporter Sam is right near her house in Japan ,Osaka, where she was last seen and will be updating us about the incident ", sounded the TV in the living room room .

Oh okay one hour of peace that's the furthest so far I thought to myself .

I got up from my sweet spot and headed to the living room .

I see Emily, my flat mate sitting on the couch with an expressionless face staring at the news .
I have been really wondering what was wrong with her.  She has been like that since she came down from New York and went down with a cold . Staring blankly . The doctor did ask me to give her time and the talk to her about it .

"Emily , you should go up and complete your sleep it's not yet lunch time " , I sighed.

She didn't reply but continued staring at the screen .

" ... Upon this matter her roommates are as clueless as us . For a matter of fact they claimed she vanished into thin air right before she went to bathe.." the reporter stated .

Seriously how .. what's happening . I walked towards the TV and pulled out the plug , walking back to the couch I pulled Emily up.

" Come on you shouldn't ponder on such stuff" I whispered .

"Stacey ? " ,She muttered

"Hm?" , I hummed in reply

"Can we order in tonight ?", She asked

"Umm sure .." I replied .

I found her mood swings a bit tricky and weird to deal with .
One minute she is sitting in a corner staring into space and in the next she talks , craves and is all bubbly .

We climb upstairs to the attic room we share. Being an Interior designer , I am pretty proud of my first work which was this room.

A combination of cerulean blue and creamy white walls had a soothing effect on both of us, matching it up with burnt umber colored wooden furniture.

Heading straight to the king size bed I made Emily lie down . Opening the bedside drawer I placed her medicines on top and tucked her in .

' I'll be back with lunch in an hour " ,I said , kissing her forehead .

She nodded and closed her eyes sighing .
As I turned around I felt a cold chill creep up sending shivers through my whole body .
Looking to my right I seen the big set of sliding windows slightly open .

Narrowing my eyes I walked towards it .
The outside was completely white . Everything covered with snow .I have always hated winter. Since childhood mom used to scare me to sleep with legends of the snow women . I seriously hate scary tales .

Shutting the door ,as I was about to turn , something caught my attention.
Right outside by the section of trees . I couldn't quite describe it , it looked like a black silhouette of a kind but very .. distorted .

Hoping it was just my imagination I closed the curtains and went downstairs to prepare lunch ...

"Snow women don't exist ... Right?!" I laugh to myself.

_________

The grandfather clock dinged as the hands struck 6pm . Tapping away the final piece of work description , I shut the laptop.

I walked out of the study to check on Emily upstairs when the door bell went off .
Sighing I headed towards it , I checked through the peephole to find no one . Leaning side ways I looked through the window besides the door . But there was not a soul except for the harsh wind and white snow.

That's strange . As I started to head back , there was knock,  turning back curiously  l checked the peep hole , no one again!

Nodding to myself I left the door and as  I reached the staircase ... BANG ! , startled I stopped in my steps ... BANG ,
flinching I stared at the door as someone kept bashing against it with such great force that the windows rattled .

Fear settled in my stomach and mind . The sudden drop in temperature made it self known as the rhythmic banging continued .
BANG!........... BANG!...

I was confused about what was going on .. BANG! , snapping out of my daze I pulled out my phone to dial in the cops while running upstairs .

The temperature in the bedroom had dropped too as the cold air clung to my shivering body . Emily was sound asleep .

"Someone pick up the call please " I muttered a silent prayer .

"Hello?" The voice on the other side of the line answered.

He..hello .... Yes is this th.. the police?... I wanted to report that someone is actually banging very harshly at our door and when I looked out through the window there was no one .... I .. I don't know what's going on ..." I whisper yelled .

"Your name please" the voice asked.

" Stacey McGuire" I said breathing hard .

" Miss Stacey" the male voice said " it seems it's your turn" he said , a hint of mischief lacing his voice.

" Ex. . excuse me?!" I asked ,

" Et te ipsum visum somnio" he said , while the banging started to pick up pace .

"Wh..what ?" I asked checking the screen I seen the right number dialed in.. so who was this man and what language was he speaking .
I was utterly confused and the fear kept crawling making my breathing shallow .

" Listen I really need help right now .." I yelled

"Stacey?" I heard Emily as she sat up rubbing her eyes .

There was sudden laughter on the line as he hung up .

" Hello! No wait.... Please.... damn it  ! " I swore throwing my phone against the closet .

" Stacey?!!" Emily's voice laced with fear reached me .
I looked back at her small petrified form.

" What's wrong ? " I asked my voice shaking as her horrified expression scared the hell out of me .

Pointing a trembling finger towards the door her voice broke as she whimpered with fear

"Be .. behind you .."