Mistakenly Eaten

79. Why One Should Stay Away From The Dark

Althea smiled brightly and nimbly, as she patted Fiona, who finally dozed off to sleep.

She sighed in relief that the girl had finally slept and had stopped crying. Ever since, the whole debacle had happened, Fiona had been nothing but fidgety.

She had been crying, hassling and pacing restlessly all around the room, throughout the entire day,

She had been aggravated, stressed and obviously tensed thinking about Andrew’s confession/

Much wasn’t said between her and Althea but the latter understood that Fiona was weltered and garbled by Andrew’s little impetuous declaration of his love for Fiona.

Fiona, who had spent her entire life planning things and imagining scenarios with and for Garry, was then lugged and rendered to a spot where she had to recapitulate through her life choices and wonder if Andrew was worth giving a shot to.

She couldn’t profoundly discuss her inner thoughts with Althea, with the fear of being a little to crude towards the poor Andrew, that she had definitely dwindling in between her options.

She had spent the entire day, teetering from one end of the room to another and each time, Althea tried to initiate a conversation, the girl would simply turn her face around and declare that she didn’t want to talk at the moment. She had spared around five hours in the same dilemma, leaving Althea with nothing but exhaustion.

As Fiona felt languor taking over her, due to her over thinking, she decided to take some time off.

The dim yellow light of the sun that fell inside her room, made things even more indolent for her to accept the sign of the times, that she should simply take a nap and later on perhaps, decide and make a decision on what she wanted to do and how she was going to take care of Andrew.

Once Fiona was finally sleep, Althea tucked her tightly in to the bedsheets and made her way out of the bedroom.

She was taking a stroll towards her own chamber room but stopped in the midst of her footsteps, as the realization struck her that ever since the entire fiasco that happened in the morning, she didn’t get to appreciate and acknowledge, one person, for his celerity and acuity in the entire scenario, who immediately jumped in and saved Althea and her honor.

When Garry had slurred her name, Nicholas was the first man, not just in the house but in the entire world as well, who had jumped in immediately and defended Althea and her name.

He reprimanded Garry for his equivocal and louse language towards a woman.

Althea’s heart was definitely flattered and full of even more affection for Nicholas. She was definitely astonished that not just he expected her to be with him in a certain way and faked his solace towards her but he respect her as a woman and that alone, was enough to tell Althea that Nicholas was a highly respectable man and he would respect her with all his heart.

Involuntarily, her feet started dragging her towards Nicholas’s office and within a glimpse, she found herself standing right in front of that double mahogany door, from where Nicholas emerged out every evening, during the sun setting hour and would join Althea by the back terrace.

At first, she thought about going inside the office but then she changed her mind.

She knew that Nicholas came out of his office, around that time. So, she went ahead and stood in the back terrace, waiting for Nicholas to come and join her in.

She glanced inside, after every thirty to forty seconds, looking at the loggia, wondering when Nicholas would finally show up.

She fidgeted her fingers and bit her lower lip, as she looked towards the office door and then turned to look at the sun, that kept on getting lower and lower and the sky finally turned dark.

Althea sighed, losing all hopes and having her heart shattered.

She decided to check one final time and see if Nicholas was inside his office or not.

Walking towards the access flap, she knocked on it at first and didn’t hear any approval sound coming from inside, that usual did come whenever anybody would knock and Nicholas would ask for them to step inside.

She wondered if Nicholas had left for his room in the afternoon and thought that he also might have been exhausted, since she didn’t know what outcome came out of the little counsel that was set up in order to rectify Garry and his behavior.

She assumed that Nicholas must be tired and might have called it a night but at the same time, there was still an itch inside her heart and her mind that asked her to push open the door of his office at least once.

She bit her bottom lip, contemplating her choices.

She knew that opening up the door and going inside, without hearing a permission, was not the right thing to do but somehow, she also felt inquisitive and intrigued, wondering whether Nicholas could be inside the office and had his headphones on that didn’t allow him to hear the knock or might have made him lose track of time.

She gently creaked opened the door at first and saw that the light from the hallway, that was right outside the door, was illuminating the insides of the office.

Althea sensed that even the lights of the office were turned off.

It was her sign to go away that very instance but of course, a part of her was feeling deliriously rebellious.

Thence, she opened the door further, a bit more and slid inside the office, tip toeing her way towards the desk but before she could reach out further inside the office, something – perhaps someone, grabbed her wrist and pulled her back.

Althea's closed her eyes tightly, as something creeped out of nowhere in the dark and held her viciously. It acted as a reminder to her, whereby, she had wished to have listened to her mother's warning, back from when she was younger.

Monique always warned Althea, not to stay out too late when she was a teenager, or even when she became an adult.

She always told Althea, that monsters resided in the dark and crawled out of the void of luminosity, out of nowhere and grabbed, innocent and wandering little girls, especially the ones like Althea and oh! How badly had she wished, that she had listened to her mother and simply turned her back on the darkness that lurked in the room.

But no, you had to be an avassive little dora the explorer! You stupid dumb b***h!

Her insides screamed at her as a loud gasp escaped her mouth, the moment her back hit the wall and she knew that she had reached a point and moment of no escape.

Within a split moment of a second, the light switch, that rested next to her head on the panel on the wall, was hit vigorously, turning the lights of the room on.

Althea’s eyes widened, as she saw the tall and shrouding figure, holding her back.

-------------------------------

Who do you think it is?

Hey Guys - on a side note, any one of you wondering and worried if this story would get dark, then please don't.

All of this is just a part of a bigger and more fun, progressive side of the story :)

I will make sure that the story shall not turn dark at all.

In fact, what is about to come, would be enjoyed the most by you guys :)

Thank you for always reading and supporting my work <3