Away From The Ghosts Of Past!

ELENA

Today was one of the worst days of my past six months. I could handle a bunch of rich idiots, but that morning meeting with that psycho, it had me in a bitter mood all day.

How could he try to run over me with his damn car?

Joanna tried to talk to me about what I did to his car, but I refused to listen to her. And Steve... poor man was so shaken that he avoided coming anywhere near me the whole day.

I didn't care what Devon Sanders would do after this morning. I had something else to worry about that was unavoidable.

I sighed before I picked up my bag and walked out of the office building. On my way, I noticed a few things that needed to be done to keep this structure standing for some more decades.

I have already done a lot of work in the building, sometimes even at my personal expense.

But aren't the old buildings beautiful?! They stand for years and years, giving testimony of the history they have seen, and the great lives they have sheltered. They always remind me of my life's goal- be great enough that history will be forced to remember you for time immemorial!

Nearing my car, I noticed how much damage the poor thing had taken today. I was so furious in the morning that I didn't check its state.

Thank God, I didn't or I would have taken a U-turn to get that stupid frog again and demand compensation for ruining my car.

"Flapdoodle!", I muttered in annoyance before getting in the car.

I drove to my home only to face the inevitable.

Killing off the engine, I got out of the car. Locking it, I walked to the front door and then rang the bell. I didn't need to wait for more than a few seconds before I heard heavy footsteps approaching the door.

So he was waiting for me to return home.

I took a long breath, preparing myself. The door was opened, and I was welcomed by a deep, un appreciating scowl.

"I am home."

I face-palmed myself mentally for blurting out nonsense at the wrong time, something I tend to do whenever I tried avoiding complicated situations.

"I can see that." Dad replied dryly.

I stopped myself from blurting out another nonsense before I hurried to the stairs. I had taken just three steps when his commanding voice stopped me in my tracks.

"We need to talk Elena."

I released a breath before I turned. I was no coward to run away from the situation. I have handled many, and I could certainly handle my father too.

"Yes?"

He observed me for a long moment before he said, "Stop acting, Elena. I can see you scratching your thumb."

Dang, it!

"Look, dad. I don't care if he owned a Rolls Royce or a horse wagon. He gave me this!" I raised my palms to show him the scratches that began to heal.

"He is at fault and I had no other way to punish him." I shrugged my shoulders.

His patience finally broke as he glared at me dangerously.

"Elena! You cost him a bill of thousands of dollars for something he might not have done purposefully! Are you even serious?

He is Devon Sanders for God's sake, Elena! You CAN NOT crash into his car!"

"Erm... but I already did!"

Didn't he see that?

Dad rubbed his forehead in frustration. It pained me to see him like that, but I had nothing in my hands when it came to him.

"Dad-"

"Stop!" he showed me his palm when I tried to take a step in his way.

Looking up at me with disappointed eyes, he said, "People say you are a lucky man Oliver for having such a brave daughter. I wish I oculd relate to them Elena. But I don't!"

"Dad!"

"You think you are brave, you portray yourself as brave, and people believe it because they don't know anything. But I am your father, Elena. I have seen things that you don't even remember.

What you think is braveness is nothing but foolishness. You are a stubborn, hot-headed woman who doesn't care about the world. You are lost in your own dreamland and think that you will change the whole fucking world.

But wake up, princess! This is not your dream but reality. If you don't stop now, then you will also end up just like your mo-"

Tears welled up in my eyes but what stung was my scarred heart. It was taking his enormous words for years. I didn't know how much more it could take before it would explode.

"Why did you stop dad? Say it! SAY IT!" I yelled, not caring if the neighbours would get another episode at the Bells.

"Lower your voice, Elena!"

"I will not lower my damn voice when you are rubbing salt on my bleeding wounds! I am sick of hearing from you that I would end up just like my mother.

Yes, I may end up just like Harper Bell, and that day would be the best day of my life. Do you know why? Because I would end up doing what I believe in, what I like and am passionate about, unlike you, who don't even have enough courage to stand for the right!"

My chest constricted. The place I called my home felt claustrophobic. I dashed out of the front door ignoring his calls.

I got in the car before reversing it from the parking lot. Once on the road, I drove it fast, not knowing where I was going.

All I knew was that I needed to go away... away from the ghosts of the past.

*

*

*

TWO DAYS AGO

At odd hours late at night, when the world was tucked in bed, dreaming sweet dreams, a car left the smooth road. Taking a sharp left, it began running on the bumpy, cobbled road that many avoided.

The only light that guided it on that forbidding road was the light coming out of its headlight.

"Shouldn't we not use the headlights? People may spot us."

A man sitting in the passenger seat said, looking around in alert though he could barely see anything in the dark.

"And how am I suppose to drive on this difficult road? Are you going to sit on the car's bonnet with the torches in your mouth?" The driver took a jab at him.

The other man glared at him with displease. "No need to be so bitter, man!"

Silence followed after that for a few minutes before he again asked his friend.

"What have you decided? How are we going to do it this time? I don't want the last time to repeat itself. The half-burned bag almost exposed us."

The driver cringed at that memory.

"Right! Thank god we handled the situation on our own, or he..." Even that very thought terrified him.

After driving for fifteen more minutes, the driver hit the break before he killed the engine. They stepped out of the car with torches in their hands.

The man flashed the torch to look around him. They were in the middle of nowhere. No people came to this part of the old canal and thus, it was the perfect place to accomplish their mission.

They nodded at each other before they got on the work. Halfway through, they returned back to the car and opened the trunk. They pulled out a large black sack, but it was too heavy to be carried by only one of them.

They carried that sack to the pit they had dug near the canal. They threw that sack in it before they buried the pit with the marshy, foul-smelling soil.

By the time they were done, they were breathing hard as if they had run a marathon.

"Done!"

The other one nodded. "Let's go! I need a shower."

They got in the car, and the car sped off without wasting another minute. Once it drove far away, its sound faded before it disappeared completely. The place became eerily quiet again. The only sounds that held onto sanity were the chirping of crickets and that distinctive buzzing sound of the mosquitoes.

Not only five minutes later, a figure emerged out of the darkness. It walked calmly to the freshly buried pit as if it was taking a stroll in a park.

The scourge of mosquitoes and the stench coming from the stagnant dirty water of the canal didn't bother it at all.

That figure stopped near the pit finding its exact location even in the dark. Not wasting more time, that figure got onto its work in darkness. Digging that pit again, it found that black sack inside it.

Pulling that heavy weight out of the pit was a tiresome task. Heavy breaths now left the vapours from its mouth. That figure dragged that sack to a car, standing behind the unmannerly grown bushes.

It dragged it inside the car to place it in the leg space of the passenger seat. Then that figure got into the car and started the engine.

The car drove toward the city at a fast speed. It was careful to avoid any CCTV cameras on the road and the red lights.

Once inside the city, the car ran on the usually busy but now deserted road, one that was famous to have popular buildings.

Once the car neared its destination, that figure opened the passenger door. The car didn't slow down. As soon as it reached its exact location, that figure pushed the black sack out of the car, before the car sped away for nobody to locate again.