BEAUTY & THE DARK PRINCE

Episode 15

Maria keeps peering at me waiting for me to start talking. I take a deep breath and glance at her assuring eyes. I give her all the details of the dreadful night including all the words exchanged between Chad and I and I make sure not to leave out anything.

“Do you think he is the one who called the ambulance?” Maria muses.

“I don’t know and I don’t care.. what I know is he shot me!”

“Well then you need to tell the police everything...you cannot hide from him forever.. he needs to be put behind bars where he rightfully belongs,” she grumbles.

“No! I can’t do that...if he gets arrested he will lose his job and no company would ever hire him after that not with a criminal record,” I hang my head down in anticipation of Maria's growling reaction.

“You are joking right? He should have thought about that before doing what he did. You almost died Tyra...I do not expect you to feel sorry for him let alone to protect him,”

I clear my throat and dart my eyes from left to right like someone faced with a difficult decision to make.

“Well I didn’t die...I’m alive aren’t I? I honestly don’t think Chad meant to shoot me. It was a mistake he was just trying to scare me. He thought I was cheating on him and that kind of disturbed him mentally. You can try to understand that right?”

“No! Absolutely not...Only a sociopath would accuse someone of cheating without actual proof. He didn’t see you kissing Ayden neither did he see you holding hands with him...All you did was dance with him and offer him a ride home.. that’s all very innocent…a normal person would have seen that.”

“Yes but you know how Chad is... he was merely angered by the fact that I allowed another man to touch me. That on it’s own is enough betrayal to him and his big ego.”

“Listen Tyra! I'm not going to stand here and listen to you defending and justifying your sick boyfriend who almost killed you. You are clearly not yet fully recovered you need time to rest and then maybe you can be able to think straight. I will give you time to do just that...for now let me just call it a night," she rambles.

She disappears into the corridor only for a brief moment and then she strides back into the living room. My eyes widen…as I silently scream "what now??"

"Please make sure you don’t stay up too late you need to rest on a proper bed and not on the couch,” she covers me with a fleece blanket and bends to give me a quick peck on the cheek before walking away.

Even when she is angry at me she still shows me love and care. She is the best, I can't ignore that...

****

Its 7am in the morning and I'm making my way back home from my daily thirty minutes walk when I spot Chad’s car parked across from my house.

I start sprinting towards the house hoping to be quick enough to get inside the house and slam the door shut before he follows me. I was kidding myself, he was watching me like a hawk and never moved his eyes from me. He spots me as I make a run for it and he quickly leaps out of the car.

“Tyra! Please wait,” he shouts as he runs after me. I fumble for the keys under the flower vase but because I'm shaking I drop them to the ground while trying to insert them on the door lock. By the time I bend down to pick them up Chad is almost gaining on me.

I steadily unlock the door and slip inside the house. I try to slam the door shut but Chad is already there and he pushes the door to force it open. “Get away from me or I will call the cops,” I threaten.

“Please let me in I just need to explain myself I promise I won’t hurt you,” he pleads.

I keep pushing the door forward to close it and he keeps pushing it backwards to open it. He over powers me and lets himself in.

I flinch as I slowly take a few steps back with my hands raised to the height of my chest gesturing him to stop and not come any closer.

“Say what you came to say and leave,” I grouch.

“Tyra…I'm glad to see you are doing okay," there is a genuine expression on his face but I'm too angry to regard it.

"That's rich…coming from the guy who kidnapped me and tried to kill me," I spit as I glare at him.

"Tyra...I was deeply hurt when I saw you having fun with another man and I exploded when I saw him hop in the car that I bought you. It was too much for me to handle,” he taps the side of his forehead with his two fingers.

“Oh and so you thought I deserved to die for that?”

“No... I didn’t mean to shoot you.. I was just trying to scare you but because I'm a terrible shooter I ended up shooting you while aiming for the trees that were near you. I panicked when I realised I shot you. I rushed to your side and held you in my arms as I ruefully apologized but you couldn’t hear me.. you had already passed out." He pauses and takes a few steps forward to close the gap between us but I move away.

"Tyra…I immediately called the ambulance and I never left your side until I heard the ambulance approaching. You have no idea how cut up I have been ever since then. My head has been pounding from wondering if you are alive or if I killed you. I was never going to forgive myself if you ended up dead,” he sniffles.