Chapter Fifty-one

Chapter Fifty-one


GOD, WAS I CURSED WITH THIS PLACE???

How come I did not only run into this place in my dreams but also in my reality? How didn’t I know that Brandonz also had a shopping mall?

I stared formidably at the big design of the name, sitting stately at the top of the building, staring down at everyone intimidatingly. It was not only annoying to be here but also traumatising as the memories of that night flushed through me anew. For a moment, I wanted to scream and run. I wanted to be far away from myself. I wanted to be anyone but Galena Fields.

Don’t get me wrong, this place was beautiful, astonishingly glamorous and intimidatingly luxurious - with emphasis on the “luxurious”. The building was made of reflective glass that reflected the beautiful pale blue sky above us and the surrounding, including the people going in and out of the mall. The beauty of this mall was just blinding - maybe, I needed glasses.

But first, how did we get here? What is it about this place that I don’t know?

I looked lost, confused and totally disoriented. I wanted to dash back into the car but my mom was already beside me, trudging me to follow her into the mall. She noticed my hesitance and half-dragged me towards the entrance of the shopping mall.

Everything looked weird and grim to me, and it felt like I was amongst ghosts, demons and trolls. To a point, I almost suspected my mom to be a part of these demons, glumly leading me to my doom. Why did she bring me here of all places? Greenland used to be her best shopping mall, yes Greenland was the name of this mall. So why the sudden change of choices? She was being suspicious.

As I followed her hesitantly, a step or so behind her, I felt like I was being watched by a pair of piercing eyes that could tear into my soul and strip me naked at one glance. The feeling was so intense and it felt so real that I subconsciously glanced over the direction from whence I felt the stares came from. These stares were particular. They seemed to be from someone I didn’t want them to be from at all - or at least, my subconscious felt alerted and uneasy with the stares she was getting.

As I glanced over the direction searchingly, I noticed a lot of people walking past that area casually, all minding their business. Nothing seemed suspicious at all, but just as I was about to turn away and focus on my steps, I noticed a pair of piercing grey eyes staring intently at me from the midst of the little flocks of people that walked past. He was just standing there, not moving or walking with any of them. They just whizzed past him as he stood there watching me. It almost felt like the memory of a dream - like I was only hallucinating, and when I swung my head fully to his direction, to confirm what I had seen, I stumbled upon something, bruising my ankle in the process.

“Watch your steps!” My mom shrieked in terror as I stumbled and had a terrible fall. I crouched and clasped my ankle with my hands, rubbing it, trying to salvage the pain I was feeling. I quickly turned my head again back to the direction where I had seen him, but he was not there, it seemed like he had disappeared into the elements, or back into the hind parts of my imaginations. Maybe he wasn’t even there, and it was only my imaginations playing tricks on me… maybe, because I wanted him here, somehow. Not really.

But if that wasn’t him… my hallucinations must’ve turned into something else, I might be needing a doctor, because I was certain the person I saw back there some minutes ago was no other person but Brandon. I must really be crazy to think he’d just show up here like one fictional man from one of my romance novels. Shit!

“Shit!” I cursed aloud, not even realising it.

“Are you hurt?” my mom asked concernedly, trying to support me back to my feet. I had totally forgotten she was even here. I thought I was in a world of my own, where only I and a certain annoying, enigmatic, possessive, entitled Brandon existed. All these for him? Yes! Indeedy.

“You can wait in the car while I…”

“In the car?” I interrupted with terror evident in my face and voice. I should wait in the car so a pair of grey eyes would appear behind me and send daggers into my soul, or worst still, Roland Bones? With his stupid, throaty, rotten laugh! God help me! I can walk!

“Yes, I’ll just do the shopping. You don’t have to stress.”

“No… I want to exercise. I was just beginning to enjoy this place. Not a stress at all.” I said as quickly as possible, trying to convince her.

“But you’re hurt baby…” she said with a sulky look on her face.

“I’m not. I was trying to kill the spider…uh..just there…” I lied pointing at a spot on the ground and she looked at me unbelievably.

“Galena…”

“Mom, I can walk. Trust me!” I said standing up abruptly, and though I felt so much pain on my pressured ankle, I tried as much as possible not to show it.

“Fine!” she breathed defeatedly, as she held my hand to support me while we walked.

* * * * *

“Mom, these are already too much. I’m not staying here forever.” I pouted as the clothes grew on the sales attendant’s shoulders unbearably.

“Just a little more. You can never tell how much you might be needing them.” She said with an assuring smile.

She started picking the baggy dresses and tops and jeans, and I was just, surprised, because it’s either she was trying so hard to please me or something had altered her thinking faculty, Mrs. Carla Fields that I knew and the very same that I left in Washington would never buy baggy clothes for me, even as a birthday gift. What was going on? What exactly was I missing?

“Mom, is everything okay?” I just wanted to confirm if this really was my mom or another dream of the desired mommy I wanted.

“Of course. Why?” She asked with a puzzled look on her face. Woman that look’s meant to be on my face, not yours! - cos I don’t understand what the hell is going on here.

“You’re sure mom? Why then are you getting baggy clothes for me?” I quizzed further, not sure this was my mom standing right there.

“Everything is fine - and you do love baggy clothes, so yeah, I’m getting them for you today.” she said dryly, giving nothing away with her expression. Mom can really be hideous sometimes.

“You are really unbelievable,” I said with a sarcastic chuckle as I watched her bemusedly, “it has never been a question of whether I liked it or not, it has always been what you wanted me putting on.” I narrowed my eyes at her, “so why the sudden change?” I quizzed with a lopsided grin that would not just leave my face, even though I wanted it to.

“Well, people change, and I think you’ll really be needing them soon.” she said with a matter-of-factly kind of look on her face which soon turned into that of regret at the realisation of her own words.

“What!?” I queried as her words finally dawned on me like the burst of a new day, teasing the grumpy, sleepy eyes.

She opened her mouth to say something with a horrified look on her face, but the words refused to form in her mouth. Just then, a call came into her phone, and she hurried off away from my presence, saying, “I have a call!”, while I watched her back until she disappeared behind the shelves.

And I’ll really be needing them soon? What did she mean by that? Why would I be needing them soon?

“It might be nothing serious and you’re the only one making a big deal out of it.” my subconscious chided, glaring at me from behind her half-moon glasses.

Well, oh well, whatever - I heaved.

The throbbing pain in my ankle soon returned to my consciousness, and I thought to find a place to sit whilst waiting for my mom to complete her never-ending call, but when I turned towards the opposite direction, I bumped into something hard face first. Or maybe not something, but someone who felt really hard in his chest area, well embossed and had a full embodiment of manliness. His charming body wash and fragrance enchanted my nose, almost deluding me, and I could swear it smelled familiar. Maybe from somewhere in my dreams or from the abysmal sequence of the realities of my long, long past… a place I’m not sure I fully remember, or maybe I do, but want to pinch myself and say it’s unreal.

I staggered back gently as I tried to find my balance after losing it as I bumped into this human, or god, I don’t know. Or maybe my illusions. But as I staggered, I could feel my feet slip away from its stance, and I closed my eyes, expecting another horrible fall, worse than the first, but soon I am suspended, caught in the firm grip of this human or whatever it is. Twice I have fallen today, the first was for Brandon, and the second, I have no idea who it is, but I know for sure it can’t be him, cos he would’ve rather let me fall than seize and trap me between the floor beneath and the heavens above, in the presence of all these people I guess must be watching.

As I gently flipped my eyes open to confirm where I was, I was met with piercing grey eyes, looking down intensely at me, piercing deep into my soul, searching me, knowing me. The same old grey eyes from earlier, that belonged to no other but the deadly Brandon, and I was here, caught in his very arms.

I screamed in terror and tried to jerk away from him, but we both lost our balance and crashed into the floor, and I don’t know how he did it, but he landed first instead of me, and I was atop him instead, crashing into the firmness of his well designed and sculpted body.

As I raised my head up, I was met with his deeply enchanting grey eyes staring right at me worriedly, and we were soon caught into the trance of a pair of grey eyes staring into a pair of hazel eyes, driving us into a wholly different world, where a scared little girl, was lying over in a dream and staring her nightmares in the face.

What was gonna happen now?