Mistakenly Eaten

23. A recollection from the sad past

Althea sat by the edge of her bed, hugging herself tightly, trying her level best to not to be reminded of the time when she was nineteen, at her first adult party, where a group of boys tried to take advantage of her.

Had it not been for her mind, that had given her the opportunity to jump out of the window of the room, she only feared what could’ve happened.

She closed her eyes tightly, as looking aimlessly at the wall in front of her, made her see a projection of her own mind.

Flying blue lights, flashing people’s face in the dark, in that small living room, where people danced drunk, high and on coke, sweated and stuck up on each other.

She had just gotten a job at a local café as a barista and her colleague, had brought her to that party.

Taking her inside the small kitchen area, she offered her a pill and Althea knew right away what it was.

She shook her head at her friend, who scoffed, the taking the pill her own self.

“Okay for now, but trust me, you would be needing it by the end of the night.”

Althea didn’t say anything and only held her glass of wine, that she knew she needed because of how upset she was from choosing to get a job, instead of going to college.

Angelo had already left for college, around a year ago and had just come back a month ago, only to break up with her and tell her that he had met someone else. He was the only thing in her life, that made her feel a little less miserable but lately, with Angelo gone, she felt entirely broken.

She tried her best to hide her miserable state from her mother and always kept a head up in front of her.

All of her high school friends, left town the moment they got the opportunity and she got labeled as the loser, who stayed back and was doing nothing with her life.

“Hey!” she heard a guy call her out, from right behind her.

Startled she turned around to find an extremely handsome guy, tall and charming with his whitish toothy grin, with a slightly stubble grown around his face. the sharp cut on his face, underneath the dark lights, made him even more mysteriously good looking.

“Hi!” she replied back, not finding him dangerous at all.

“How’s it going? Down on your first pill yet?” he asked and Althea chuckled softly, simply shaking her head at him.

His eyes bulged out in surprise.

“Seriously? Everyone here is already on their fourth or fifth one.”

“Well, how many have you taken yet?” Althea asked, crossing her arms across her chest, that slightly lifted up her breasts, enumerating the deep crease of her breasts, even in the dim lights of the house.

The guy slowly darted his gaze low, checking Althea’s figure out. She wore a simple sun dress with spaghetti straps, leaving her arms bare and her tones thighs visible to everyone’s eyes.

He was definitely impressed with the way Althea looked and wondered if she would be down for a good time.

“Honestly, I haven’t taken any pill either. They make me puke.” He admitted, making Althea laugh softly.

“So, do you tell that to everyone else? Doesn’t that make you uncool?” Althea asked and he simply shrugged.

“Oh! It does that’s why I only tell it to those who admit to me that they haven’t taken any pills either.”

As he stood talking to Althea, someone pushed him from behind, making him collide his body in to hers, “Sorry! It’s bit too crowded. Do you mind dancing?” he told her and she nodded.

The two went towards the dance floor, where they were held up against each other and a bunch of other sweaty drunk heads but Althea didn’t mind it. She was out for a good time and to forget her worries and troubles.

“Hey! I would like if we could have some alone time. Do you mind coming to a room with me?”

He asked and Althea felt nervous. She didn’t know where things were going with that guy, whose name she didn’t even know but she was out there to try something outrageous and something not careful and something that she would usually do.

She nodded and he took her away with him, towards a bedroom.

“Why don’t you go in and I will get us some drinks.”

He offered and she nodded, stepping ahead and going towards the room.

Suddenly, she remembered her friend told her to keep on informing her about her whereabouts after every while in the party, so she went out towards the small pool area, to tell her colleague, who had brought her to the party but stopped when she found the very same guy who had offered to take her to the room, mixing something up in one of the beer bottles.

She became scared, standing still and frozen, whilst the guy also noticed her watching him do the dirty deed.

He kept the beer bottles away and approached Althea.

“I was just putting my medicine…” he tried to lousily explain things to her but Althea only brushed off his touch and walked back inside the house, whilst another guy stopped in front of her, preventing her from moving any further. He brought his finger up and closer to her forehead, pushing a single strand of her hair behind her ears.

“Hey! Relax, he was just putting some medicine in, so that you won’t be hurt.” He chuckled, making disgust and fear run through Althea’s veins.

She immediately pushed the guy away and rushed out in the corridor where two more guys hurdled her and prevented her from moving any further.

She looked around the tightly packed place and knew that there was no one who was going to listen to her.

Half of the people were having s*x in the open, so seeing the first closet escape she rushed towards it and climbed up the stairs, where five men rushed after her.

Tears began springing down her face, as she realized that they were all looking forward to take advantage of her.

She found the first door open and entered the room but before she could’ve closed the door, one of the guys’ brought his feet in between the door and its frame, preventing Althea from closing the door.

He pushed with force, making Althea go flying back and land on the bed. The five men entered the bedroom, but Althea was quick enough to get on top of her feet.

They all surrounded her, with one of them closing the door and locking it up.

She spared a glance around the room, as her fears began getting louder and her body began trembling, assuming that the worst might happen to her.

“We promise you, we will give you a good time.” They chuckled, as one of them stepped ahead and grabbed Althea’s arm but her instincts kicked in, giving her the window in which she kicked the guy in his groin and pushed him back. Her eyes darted right towards the open window and she immediately jumped right out of it.

She landed in a bunch of bushes, securing a bunch of injuries and abrasions over her skin.

The guys yelled at her, as they looked out through the window and a bunch of only drunk heads gathered around Althea, helping her stand up on her feet. Some women, called the men out for their lousy behavior and spit back at them and Althea’s colleague immediately came up towards her and helped her up, taking her out of the party but after that incident, Althea had never even dared to go to any such parties.

She never allowed any guy to get closer to her and that was one of the reasons why Angelo kept on taking advantage of her, over and over again because he was the only man, she ever trusted with her mind and body but she was grateful that Seb and Lur existed in her life and the two helped her stand on her ground.

They helped her realize that Angelo was a manipulator and she needed to get rid of him for good.

But her luck when it came to men sucked and the fear of getting used and manipulated always stayed in her mind.

She gasped, getting a hold of herself, as she was pulled back in to the present and the door of her room got knocked.

She sighed, “Come in!”

The door to the room opened up and Serena stuck her head inside the room, chiming slightly, as she made her way inside the room.

“Hey! How are you feeling now?” she asked but Althea didn’t bother to look up at her and simply remained still, looking ahead of her and holding her kneed up to her chest.

“Better!”

Serena gently walked towards Althea and stood by her side.

“Can I sit?”

Althea shrugged and Serena took that as her cue to sit down next to Althea.

“I am sorry for what happened at the beach today.” She began by speaking softly.

“Why are you sorry? You didn’t do anything wrong.” Althea simply scoffed and her cold tone was enough to let Serena know that she wasn’t much of a mood at the moment.

“Don’t be mad at Fiona either. She didn’t mean for you to get hurt.”

“Just like the last time?” Althea c****d and Fiona bit her tongue inside her mouth.

“Well, Fiona is a bit difficult to understand but once you understand the fact that she is in love with Garry and gets jealous to see any girl around him. you would understand her as well.”

“You know Fiona quite well.” Althea stated, reminding Serena that she was playing a character and she needed to be careful around Althea, even if she was there to give her some empathy.

“Oh, I just got a bit closer to her and she chats a lot. So, she just told me that she liked Garry was a bit jealous of you initially but I made her understand that you are not interested in Garry, right?”

Serena wanted to make sure on her own end that Althea was not interested in Garry and tried to play her bluff.

Althea shook her head in a negative manner.

“See, maybe Fiona also realized that and that’s why, she wanted to be friends with you and took you swimming. Sorry for what happened today. Fiona didn’t mean bad.”

Althea nodded, “That’s fine! besides, that’s not the worst that happened. I would’ve preferred dying instead of what happened and…”

“Nicholas wasn’t trying to take advantage of you, while all of us just stood and watched.” Serena admitted in a feeble voice.

“What do you mean?” she asked, confused and hazy.

Serena bit her bottom lip, “He actually saved you.”

“What?” shock took over Althea’s mind, as she straightened up her back and looked at Serena, with horror filled expression.

“Yeah! No one else could find you under water but he miraculously did and brought you out. You were unconscious, so he brought you back to consciousness by doing CPR on you and was giving you mouth to mouth when you woke up and thought that…”

Althea gasped in sheer shock and smacked her palm over her forehead.

“f**k!” she cried out loud.

She covered her face with her hands, that burned hot red with embarrassment.

Grabbing a pillow she smothered it over her face and screamed out loud.

“No! No! No!”

She screamed in sheer humiliation, as she realized that Nicholas was innocent all along and she had been assuming the worst of him. she had been disgusted by him when he was the one because of whom she was alive.

“It’s fine.” Serena laughed lightly, judging from Althea’s reaction and understanding that girl was quite embarrassed.

“No! how is it fine? I actually slapped the guy who saved my life. And I think he is quite high in moral then me. Because if it was for me, I would’ve thrown myself back in the ocean and let me die. But he didn’t even say a single word and instead, listened to all the s**t that blurted out loud. Oh my God! I am such an idiot.” She cried, pulling the pillow up against her face and Serena couldn’t help but laugh out a little.

“You are laughing?” Althea asked, giving Serena an obnoxious look that immediately made her shut up.

“I mean, it is kind of funny.” Serena shrugged, feeling a little guilty.

Althea sighed, throwing the pillow down on her lap and crossing her legs.

“What should I do? Should I simply go back and drown? Is the ocean level still high and the wave current the same as before?”

Serena simply smiled and patted Althea’s shoulder.

“It’s fine! what you did was slightly… actually quite stupid but it also showed us one thing.”

“What? That I shouldn’t be saved the next time, I am drowning?”

Serena shook her head, “Well, that too but mostly, that you are an innocent person and I am guessing that you must’ve went through some hard time in your life where someone might have tried to take advantage of you and that’s why, you immediately defended yourself this time. You almost did the right thing but in the wrong situation. The next time, someone is trying to take advantage of you, or even if you slightly feel that someone is trying to take advantage of you, you don’t stop yourself okay?”

Althea nodded back, smiling softly at Serena, who gently touched her face.

“I get it now why Fiona opened up to you so easily. You are really nice, kind and understanding woman. Thank you! Your children must be extremely lucky.”

Serena went completely silent and her silence was enough of a gesture to Althea, who realized that she might have spoken a little too much.

“I am sorry, I feel like, I shouldn’t have said what I did.”

Serena shook her head with a soft smile and squeezed Althea’s hand in her lap.

“It’s fine. You didn’t know any better.”

Althea shrugged, “I still should’ve known better than to assume things.”

Serena hummed, “Salva tells me that you are missing your mother quite a lot lately?”

Althea nodded, “We are extremely close. We still sleep together, till this date. She depends a lot on me and I am pretty sure that she misses me a lot. I even came without saying her a proper goodbye. I always imagined, celebrating the news of getting accept at The Chef’s Society with her and then spend the last few days before leaving with her to the most but I guess, life is not always what you expect it to be, right?”

Althea shrugged and Serena gulped hard, trying to swallow down her guilt.

She was obviously torn between the right and the wrong thing but her duties also told her to do the right thing and the girl was a straight and obvious cure to Nicholas’s state.

“You are right! And even though, I can not have children of my own, I believe that every other child I connect with is my own. So, until you are far away from your mother, consider me as hers.”

“Oh! You don’t want that.”

“What? Why?”

“You see, as much as we love each other, we are more like friends and we argue with one another like crazy.” Althea explained, making Serena laugh.

“Well, I love arguing as well.”

The two chuckled along each other and soon, Serena bid a good night to Althea, walking out of the room.

She was glad to have that talk with the girl and realized that she was not that much of a bad person and instead, she was actually very kind and sweet.

The poor girl was just beaten up a bit too much by her conditions but Serena had high hopes for her and only hoped that by the end of everything, Althea would have the heart and mind to understand their situation as well and instead, forgive them once she will find out, that they did everything only to protect Nicholas – who was about to change the course of the entire events.

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What do you think will Happen now?

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