Chapter Two

The woman who stood before me was beautifully stunning. She had long red flaming hair that flowed in waves down to her breasts. The woman's eyes were a bright fiery red, and she aimed them right at me. The beautiful woman walked towards me, closing the brief gap between us, one step at a time. It was like I had turned to stone on the spot. As soon as she got within arm's reach she smiled the most heartwarming smile, showing a set of white teeth. I just stood there looking at her, lost in her beauty. Her face looked like they carved it from marble with no blemishes, no uneven skin tone, just beauty. Her dark rose lips had the perfect cupid's arrow I've ever seen. This woman looked like they created her from the gods themselves.

"Ellie?" she asked.

I'm taken aback when she speaks my name. Her voice was smooth and delicate with a hint of allure.

I gathered myself and answered. "Yes, that's me."

The woman gave another angelic smile. "You've grown so much." she said.

I immediately took a few steps back, which she noticed. I did not know who this woman was.

"There's no need to be afraid, Ellie." She gave a slight giggle. "I'm sorry if I'm scaring you." Her smile died and a stern stare replaced it.

"Who are you?" I asked. I noticed that my voice was not steady as it should have been.

"My name is not important right now." she replied. I could have listened to her voice all day.

I slowly found my voice. "Then I think we're done here." I said.

I was about to turn and walk away when she called out my name again with her seductive voice, "Ellie, please be careful."

I continued to walk away from the beautiful woman, ignoring her words, and quickly headed home.

As soon as I saw my house I nearly ran to the door but decided against it. My home was not big or fancy but it was ideal for me and my Dad, it was kinda' small but that's what I liked about it. It was just the two of us since my Mother died when I was young. Our house was in fact plain except for the beautiful rose designs on the glass windows and the door, the roof tiled in a dull grey colour. Some roofing slates were missing or badly discoloured. The building work was of red brick, but like the tiles on the roof, the brick had lost some of its colour. I crept by the window and peaked in and saw my dad sitting there with a cup of his favourite drink, tea. Seeing him sitting in the living room put an enormous smile on my face.

I opened the front door to see my Dad staring in my direction. Uh oh, I forgot that I was late getting home.

"And where have you been, young lady?" he asked. His tone wasn't angry, but very concerned.

My Dad gets worried about me easily. "Me and the girls lost track of time that's all." I lied.

My Dad wasn't stupid at all and he knew if I was lying, which was now. But he's one of them Dads that never pushes.

"Is that true?�� he stared at me while sitting in his chair. I did not dare move.

"Don't do it again." he asked.

"I won't, I promise, Dad." I replied. He went back to drinking his tea and reading something in the paper.

I left him in the living room while I ran upstairs and threw my bag in my room. I changed into my oversized lazy clothes, a large oversized T-shirt and some baggy pyjama bottoms. I wiped some of my make-up off with a wet wipe (I wasn't going anywhere else today anyway). I grabbed a quick snack from the fridge downstairs in the kitchen and sat lazily on the sofa watching TV.

"Are you watching anything?" I asked him.

"Watch what you want." he replied without moving his gaze from his paper.

I scanned through the boring channels, cooking shows and poorly acting soap operas with crappy plot lines flew across the screen. I finally settled for an action TV series that I only just caught the end of. My Dad put down the paper and entered the kitchen. As he opened the kitchen door, a familiar smell sneaked its way towards me I knew very well. I inhaled deeply as the succulent smell of garlic and basil shot towards me. Dad was making my favourite food, spaghetti and his famous (well, not famous) tomato sauce that I loved. Italian food was my favourite. I have always enjoyed it since I was a young.

"Smells good." I commented as I entered the kitchen.

"Yeah, I was in the mood for spaghetti, and I know it's your favourite." he replied.

"When's it ready?" I impatiently asked.

"It's nearly ready just a few more minutes," he replied, "so how was school then?"

My heart skipped a beat. "Yeah same as always." I said nonchalantly.

I expected him to say something else, or to ask more question, but luckily, he didn't. Dad searched the cupboards for the plates and knives and forks.

"Did you move the plates?" he asked.

"No, Dad. They are in there. Check the top." I replied.

I felt guilty, so I got on my tiptoes and felt my way around for the hidden plates. Finally, finding them, I grabbed two and took the knives and forks from my Dad and placed them onto the small kitchen table while he strained the spaghetti. I helped myself to the grated cheese in the fridge and placed it in the middle of the table. I pulled back the wooden chair and sat at the table, waiting. The delicious smells toyed with me while I sat. He dished the spaghetti onto two plates and topped it off with the garlic and basil tomato sauce. In less than a minute of it being in front of me, I forked mouthfuls of spaghetti straight into my mouth. Dad sat across the kitchen table from me, enjoying his meal. I was about to eat another mouthful when I noticed that the kitchen was silent. Normally the TV would play loud in the other room or Dad would talk (or more likely blabbing about something), but there was silence, and it was weird.

I broke the uncomfortable silence. "Dad?" He looked up from his plate to meet my eyes. "I met a woman outside school today." I told him about the creepy, yet beautiful woman.

He continued to listen. "She was an older woman and I've never seen her before in my life, she was very weird."

Slowly, I watched my Dad as he placed his fork to the side.

"Tell me a bit about her." he asked.

"Um ok, she had long red hair, very attractive, older than me, and she said that she knows me?" I answered, "she was beautiful Dad and I mean beautiful."

"Hm." he mumbled. "I've known no one like that, but If you ever see this woman again, please tell me." he asked.

I'm confused, but I agreed. "OK, but I don't think I'll see her again." but deep down I knew somehow I would.

"Is the first time you've seen her?" he asked.

"Yeah" I replied.

"Was that the reason you're late?"

"Yes, and no. But Dad, if I see her again I will tell you OK." I said reassuring him.

I scraped around my plate to finish the last few bites. With an empty plate, I took it over to the sink.

My Dad leaned to one side in his chair for his all-time favourite, his forehead kiss. I kissed his forehead to say thank you. (You're never too old to give your Dad a quick kiss, so don't judge) Something wasn't right, but I put it to the back of my mind. I headed upstairs to my bedroom and grabbed my laptop from my bedside table. The girls were usually online, and I needed to tell them about that strange woman. Why did I have such a crappy day today? I doubled clicked on the laptop's mouse pad, and I waited for one of them to pick up. Within a few seconds, my two best friends were on the screen side by side.

"Hi girls." I said.

"You all right, Ellie?" asked Lilly.

I repositioned my screen so they could see me better. Lilly was looking at some papers and Becky was in the middle of curling her hair.

"Yeah, I'm fine, but my Dad noticed something was up when I walked straight through the door." I said.

"God, he must have something like a sixth sense or something," Becky said while trying not to burn her fingers. "Did he say anything?"

"Well, not really, he just gave me that look." I replied.

"Oh, we all know that look." added Lilly.

"Yeah, my Dad gives me that look all the time." said Becky.

"Is there something else you're not telling us? You seem a little quite tonight and a bit agitated."

"Ah crap was I really that easy to read." I asked.

"Yes." they both said together.

"It's obvious, Ellie." said Becky.

I bit my lip to try to not look guilty, but that made it even worse. I couldn't keep anything from these girls.

I gave a deep sigh. "Fine, when I was on my way home I bumped into this woman, and she was a beautiful-looking woman, and I'm talking top model beauty. She said that she knew me, but I've never seen this woman in my life and I told my Dad about her. But he didn't know her either."

"Did she hurt you?" asked Becky.

"No, she didn't. She just stood there talking, but I speechless, I was kinda' star struck." I replied.

"Good, as least she didn't hurt you." said Lilly.

Becky and Lilly started chatting amongst themselves, Lilly commenting on Becky's hair and about techniques with curlers. I watched them as they talked amongst themselves, but I wasn't. I just sat there staring at the screen, ignoring everything around me. I could hear something calling out to me and I couldn't really make it out. Slowly, more voices piled on top of each other, making the cries unbearable. I placed my hands over my ears tightly to drown the harsh noise. The loud voices echoed each other and called out my name many times, but I tried to ignore them.

"Stop, stop it." I screamed.

The deafening calls gradually faded away, and in the background a clear voice called out to me. It was my Dad; he was calling my name. The room around me came into focus and I was lying on the floor, arms and legs fully tucked up to my chest.

I lifted my dizzy head to see his worried face staring intensely down at me. He bent down and scooped me up from the floor and carried me onto the bed. As soon as I tried to relax a sharp searing pain shot through my head, burning like fire. I tried my best to hide the pain.

"Are you all right, Ellie?" he quickly asked.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine" I lied through gritted teeth.

My mouth felt dry, and I didn't have the energy to speak anymore.

"What happened?" He asked.

I turned my head to one side to notice that the girls were still watching me on the laptop. Their eyes were wide open and full of horror. My Dad noticed the laptop and walked over. He said his quick goodbyes and switched it off.

"Ellie, are you going to tell me what happened or do we have go to the hospital?" he asked again.

I cleared my dry throat. "No!" I quickly said.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I don't know. I was talking to the girls, and I felt this pain in my head and that was it," I said, "how long was I out for?"

"Not long, I heard a bang from your bedroom and when I looked in you were lying on the floor." he said. "You scared the life out of me when I saw you curled up."

"I fell? I didn't feel it," I winced when I tried to sit up. "Oh, I will feel that in the morning." I said. "I'm fine though Dad."

"Ok, I think you need an early night, if something like this happens again you need to tell me right away. Understand?" he said.

"Yes." I answered him.

"Goodnight." he kissed me on the forehead and closed the door behind him.

I slowly climbed out and made myself ready for bed. I took off my pyjama bottoms and got back into bed. What was that about? Was I ill or maybe going crazy? Did I just have a breakdown? How the hell would I know? Anyway, time for sleep. I tried to get into a comfortable position but couldn't, something was bothering me but I couldn't put my finger on it. Today was one hell of a day and it pissed me off that crap like this was happening to me, and that weird woman didn't help at all. Who was she? Maybe she's an escaped mental patient, but what about the stuff she was saying to me? If I ever see her again, I must be very careful.