It's Always You

Chapter 7

“Happy Birthday sweety pie..”

“Thank you Grandma..” Little Alana screamed out of excitement, her eyes scanning around anxiously for her gift.

“Where is my gif..” She stopped when her eyes landed on the small yet beautiful fish bowl beside her bed. “Wow! You got me a clown fish? Thank you grandpa.. Thank you so much grandma!! I love you both!” She squealed jumping on of her bed.

“Do you like it honey?”

“Yes Grandpa and I’m going to take him to Martin. We will decide together about what to name him..” She announced happily.

The old man let out a throaty laugh, “I hope your mom approves of him someday..” He murmured lowly.

“Darling, remember that you are talking to a six year old..” Her grandmother reminded him in a slightly stern tone.

“She wouldn’t understand, my love. Anyway, let’s get you out of your bed now..” He carried Alana near the bowl to feed the fish. They spent a good few minutes discussing how small and active the little fish was before they heard her parents’ voice.

“Papa.. See what grandpa and grandma have got me!!” She jumped onto her dad the moment he came in her close vicinity.

“Happy birthday baby girl and that’s a very cute little fish that you have got!!” He began to shower rain of kisses on her face making her giggle.

“Happy birthday Alana baby!!” Her mom joined in and placed a single peck on her cheek.

“Mama where is my present?”

“Honey, it’s not good manners to ask for presents, you know that..” Lara shook her head in disapproval but her voice didn’t sound serious like other normal days.

“Come on Lara, she is just a kid. Why don’t you both show her presents?” Her grandmother cut in before Lara could go on with her lecture.

With a dissatisfactory nod Lara went out of the room, Tony and Alana trailing behind her to the living hall where they had placed her present. Presents actually. There were many gift boxes neatly stacked on the couch, which included presents from Alana’s maternal grandparents and uncle. The entire morning hours went by with Alana, opening the presents one by one.

“Papa can I go meet Martin? He will be waiting for me in the woods..” She whispered when her mother went away to supervise the maids in the kitchen.

Her father patted on her shoulder in sympathy, “No honey, mama would be angry if you go there. Why don’t you be here and we can play with your new dollhouse?”

“No papa, I really have to go. I promised Marty to meet him at our usually spot. He would be heartbroken if I don’t go..” She pleaded with a little pout that surely undid her father’s heart.

He chuckled and let her out of his hold, “Alright but promise me you will be back by lunch..”

“I promise papa..” She assured him with her toothy grin and ran out of the house straight into the woods.

When she reached near the stream, to her disappointment there was no sign of Martin. She had expected him to be there first, waiting for her. She didn’t mind if he gave her a present or not, as long as he came to wish her.

Upon searching the place further, she heard a feeble music being played somewhere, not very far from there. Her heart right away told her it was Martin. A slow and contagious grin cracked on her lips knowingly.

“Martin, I know you are here..”

“Come out now..” She called out loud.

She could still hear the melody from afar. She kept following it and stopped only when she found Martin’s lunch basket. Her steps quickened and grabbed the basket in her hands, taking a peek into it. Her grin stretched wider when she found a note sticking on it.

Happy Birthday dear Violet!! May all your birthdays be full of love and laughter, and sunshine and rainbow. Got these cotton candies from the town especially for you. Hope you like them!!

She ran her eyes over the note several times before she huffed in frustration.

“Martin come out. You know I cannot read it..” She yelled out into the wood. “I need your help..”

“Besides I wouldn’t eat these without you..” She said picking up the two large packets of cotton candy from the basket.

“Alana, you should really learn to read..” She heard Martin shout back at her.

“I would, if you come out..” She replied.

The music suddenly stopped playing and out from the row of tall trees emerged Martin with both his hands behind his back. “Happy birthday princess!!”

“Thank you Marty!!” She responded promptly. “What do you have there?” She questioned, trying to look at whatever he was hiding from her.

He slowly brought his hands forward, revealing a coconut shell fiddle that he was holding. “I made this for you..” He shyly thrusted it in front of her.

The packs of cotton candy fell out of her grip as she gawked at the fiddle in amazement. “Did you make this Marty?”

“Yes.. with little help from my papa.. Do you like it?” He looked at her in anticipation and only got a slight nod as she was still lost in the beauty of his creation.

“Do you want me to play something for you?” He pulled her out of her admiration with a soft shake on her shoulder and once again she responded with a simple nod.

He smiled proudly and began to play the instrument. Alana hadn’t heard the song before but she believed she would never be able to get it out of her head ever. After all, the tune was so soothing and catchy to her ears.  

And just like that he changed the tune to the Happy birthday song, causing her to grin from ear to ear. When she thought the day couldn’t get any better, from out of nowhere he pulled out a teeny tiny cheese cake with a single candle on it.

“Where did that come from Marty?” Alana’s eyes bulged out of her socket in pure astonishment.

“Surprise!” Martin exclaimed as he gestured her to blow the candle before it melted on to the cake.

He pulled out a dummy knife and handed it to her to slice the cake. She followed his silent orders like an obedient child. It was like no one other than Martin could make Alana follow the orders without another word.

When he saw her fumble with the knife, he helped her holding her hands. Then he grabbed a small piece of the sugary delight to push it into her mouth, followed by Alana doing the same.

“Marty, it tastes yum? Did you make this too?” She asked anxiously.

“No dummy, my mama made it for you..” He shrugged way too proudly.

“I wish my mom was like yours, not hesitant to feed me sweets and desserts..” She pushed her lower lip which seemed like an over dramatic pout. “Would you like to exchange your mama with mine?” She questioned innocently with her doe like eyes as wide as humanly possible.

“No way..” He snapped impatiently. “Your mama is way too scary to begin with..” He added making Alana giggle at his openly rude comment. “Secondly, we are not allowed to exchange mamas even if I wanted to help you out..”

“You are right. That means I will have to sneak out my whole life to have candies and cakes. What would I do if not for you, Marty?” She whined and Martin’s lips stretched up into a smile of amusement.

“What am I here for, Violet? You don’t have to worry at all.. I will happily feed you with as much sweets as you could crave for the rest of your life..”

“Is that a promise, Marty?”

“I cross my heart..”

“Thank you so much..” She let out an exasperated sigh and placed a chaste kiss on his cheek which caused the little guy to shyly scratch the back of his head with a huge satisfactory smile. Alana was quick enough to turn her attention to the flock of birds in the sky and was oblivious to his sweet reaction beside her.

Just when they were enjoying the early afternoon scenery, Alana heard someone call her name in a gruff and cold tone. She froze on spot and immediately recognized the baritone voice.

“Sebastian?!” Alana’s body began to shiver and whimper from horror. She felt her flesh crawl over her bones with the simple presence of this person in front of her. She turned her head to look at Martin for the mental comfort that she was in desperate need for but shockingly, he wasn’t where he was seated just a few moments ago. She looked down at herself and found the sweet little six year old gone, replaced by the eighteen year old self.

A shiver ran down her spine when reality sank in. She wanted to run for her life. She knew what this monster, Sebastian was capable of but before she could react it was too late because the next thing she knew, she was thrown on the hard surface below her.

She winced as the back of her head hit the uneven ground badly. Her eyes widened in fear and horror when his vice like palm came in contact with her throat, blocking the air through it. Bitter fat tears slipped from the corner of her eyes as she struggled against his hold to free herself from his deathly grip.

“Please. Leave. Me..” She managed to plead though gritted teeth as she continued to claw at his arms.

The last thing she saw before her eyelids slowly shut were Sebastian’s vicious psychotic grin. She felt her life gradually sucked out of her and the only thing she could still sense around her was the repeated sound of the phone.

Phone!?

She gasped loudly as she jolted away from her nightmare. She breathed in and out as if she had been in a marathon.

“What a start to the day..” She mumbled as she shifted on her place to grab her phone from the bedside table that had been screaming for sometime now. She groaned when she read the name that flashed on the screen.

“What the hell do you want guys?” She dragged her palm over her face in irritation. She wasn’t a morning person since most of the time she fell asleep only after three or four in the morning and both her i***t friends knew it well, then why the hell did they call her so early in the morning?

“Happy birthday cupcakes..” She heard Mia and Audrey sing in chorus. They were annoyingly too loud for Alana that she had to drag her phone a few centimeter away from her ear.

It had totally slipped out of her mind that it was her birthday. Wait, is that why she had that nightmare earlier, she wondered. She wanted to scratch that. Not all of that dream was a nightmare, just the part where that psychotic bastard showed up was and the one with Martin was a sweet past memory that she would always cherish at her heart.

“Don’t tell me that you forgot your own f*****g birthday, Alana..” From the way Alana reacted to their call and the long silence that followed, Mia was sure that she had no sense of the day .

“I might have..” Alana admitted to them shamelessly.

“You are unbelievable, Alana..” Audrey groaned.

“Come on, it isn’t a big deal that you both are whining non-stop about it..” She scrunched up her nose in complete annoyance.

“Hell it is!! It is your special day after all. The day you were born into this world, the day you first..” Mia was rudely interrupted by Alana’s Tsk.

‘Yeah. Yeah whatever. I get it. Now will you stop annoying me any further?” She growled.

“Okay, Okay fine. How about we meet at Red Lion at six in the evening? Treat’s on me!!” Mia suggested in a persuasive manner and Alana rolled her eyes.

“I’m sorry that can’t happen since I have to work tonight..” She was glad it was Saturday and not Sunday, for she had a slim chance to excuse herself from going to the usual boring pub.

“Haha thank us later but we kind of got a day off from work for you.”

“What did you do, Audrey?”

“We.. might have gone to the store to seek Mrs.Dawson’s permission to let you loose for a day!!” Audrey filled in unsurely, scared to death that Alana might snap at them for what they did behind her back.

Alana gasped to that loudly. Her heart almost stopped beating beneath her ribcage as humongous waves of shock lashed out at her. It had been almost three months and till now she had done an amazing job in keeping the fact that she had been working with Zayn at the store without bothering to tell her friends.  

If they had gone to the store it meant they might be now aware of Zayn being her co-worker. However, from the way they were treating her, she was quite sure they hadn’t found it out yet, or maybe they didn’t want to yell at her on her birthday, that’s why they hadn’t brought it up yet.

“Hello you there?” Alana jerked up when Mia’s nagging voice was heard again.

“Yeah, Yeah I’m here. Who w-was there at the store?” She questioned nervously.

“Mrs.Dawson.. Who else?” Mia said in a duh tone which brought about a long sigh of relief from Alana’s lips.

“So, is the plan on? Are we good to go to Red Lion?” Mia asked once again.

“Are you two going to settle for any other answer than a yes?” Alana retorted cockily climbing out of her comfy bed.

“Hahaha smart girl..” Audrey joked. “So we will be at your place at five thirty. Please be ready.. Okay?”

“Okay..” She answered with a smile when she sensed their excitement even over the phone. She pulled away her phone to look at the screen when she got another call in waiting “Guys, my dad is calling. See you two later..”

“Bye birthday baby..” They once again sang in chorus as if they had rehearsed that as well.

The conversation with her parents was over in minutes. Her mom being the busy bee spent exactly just two minutes thirty four second with her. Not that Alana was complaining about it. On the brighter side, she was glad that her mom threw no questions about studies.  

The rest of the day went by in a blur and the only unusual thing that happened was the text messages that she received from Zayn, enquiring if she was doing Okay.

She quickly answered with ‘I have a bad headache.. Will be back to work on Monday. Sorry for ditching you at work..” Not wanting to tell him about her birthday

Smarty-pants: Don’t worry. Just take care..

Me: Thanks J

She threw her phone beside her carelessly and decided to settle with watching The 100 on Netflix. She was too drawn into the plot of the series that she couldn’t stop herself even after spending four hours straight in front of her laptop.

Finally at four in the afternoon she decided to take a relaxing aromatic bath. When she was out of the extremely tranquilizing bath it was already ten past five, which only meant she had just twenty five minutes to get ready before Audrey and Mia would start breathing under her neck.

However she didn’t panic like most of the humans in her place would have done since she knew she didn’t need more than five minutes to jump into a pair of blue ripped jeans, a yellow tops and a cardigan over it. She let her thick volume of hair that she had straightened the previous day, reach her waist in beautiful waves. She gave a finishing touch to her look by applying lip gloss on her almost dried lips.

“Jeez, I need to keep myself hydrated. These chapped lips are so unladylike..” She mumbled as she chucked down the water from her bottle.

Soon she heard the blaring horn of Audrey’s car and she rushed out of her flat before covering her face using a face mask.

“Really Alana, is that the best outfit that you have got in that huge closet of yours?” Mia’s displeased eyes ran over the length of Alana’s body.

“Do you want me to go back and never come out?” Alana c****d her brow at her friend.

Mia huffed and sank into the passenger seat since she knew she could never win an argument with Alana.

“Get in.. This would surely do..” Audrey gestures at her simple attire with a fake grin so that he wouldn’t have to wait for another one hour for the girls to doll up.

 The drive went by smoothly with Audrey and Mia gossiping about almost everyone in the campus before they decided to bring the one topic which they never seemed to get bored off, Zayn.

“I wish I had invited him to join us today..” Mia sighed sadly.

“Should we do it now?” Audrey suggested as his eyes eagerly darted to Mia for an answer.

“Nah Audrey, I remember him saying he is working in the evenings. So, there is no use inviting him when we know what his answer is going to be..” Even though her lips were uttering those words Alana knew her eyes were still formulating a way to invite Zayn.

Alana was grateful that he didn’t reveal where he worked to Mia. Then she wondered why Mia was so obsessed about him. Okay, she understood Zayn was freakishly handsome, smart and very well behaved guy in the whole campus. No doubt every girl would become a muddy puddle seeing him on her way and Mia was no exception but according to Alana, love happened not with mere looks like her friends claimed.

Oh really Ala, what about the little fluttery feeling in your tummy whenever Zayn came closer to you? Her fault-finding sub-consciousness mocked her.

What feeling are you talking about? I have no feelings for Zayn..

You are in denial..  The voice taunted her again.

“Stupid bitch..” Alana voiced out her thought before she decided to completely shut the annoying voice away. Her sudden outburst caused both her friends to snap their heads towards the back seat of the car.

“Whom are you talking about?” Mia checked around to find the person who had fallen prey to Alana’s anger.

“Uhmm.. It’s just a stupid mosquito that’s been trapped inside and it wouldn’t let me live in peace..” She lied.

“Do you want me to open the windows for you?”

“No No.. I’m fine..” She dismissed with a shake of her hands.

She spent the next forty five minutes’ drive gazing out of the window. Her mind drifted back to her dream from the morning. Her lips involuntarily split into a grin when she thought of Martin. The last time she saw him, he was just seven and Alana wondered how he would look now with his mesmerizing torsique blue eyes.

Where are you Marty?

Why haven’t you come to me yet?

Don’t you miss me like I miss you?

Or have you forgotten your promise to me?

Alana was pulled out of her reverie when Audrey chirped, “Here we are girls!!”

They made their way into the pub. Even from outside the door they could hear the heavy beats of the speaker blasting through the air and they could also feel the earth beneath them vibrating due to the loudness.

The place was awfully crowded to Alana’s liking. If given a choice she would have ran away but she knew she didn’t have that choice. She quietly grabbed a seat beside her friends who were for some reason very hyperactive lately.

“Let’s dance..” Mia announced, clapping her hands and dragging the other two to the center of the dance floor. Audrey didn’t waste another minute as he dived into the crowd, swaying his hips in accordance to the music.

“Come on Alana, show your moves to the world..” Mia was still holding Alana’s palms and began to pull her along with her moves.

Alana didn’t realize when she loosened up but when she did she was panting like a dog.

“I can’t do this anymore, Mia..” She said in between her labored breaths.

“Alright sweety, wait over there we will get something for us to drink..” Mia offered and pulled Audrey behind her.

Alana breathed in deeply as she walked to the empty seat across the dance floor. She had to walk all the way to the other side, slowing pushing everyone out of her way.

Right when she was about to grab a seat, she felt a pair of strong arms snake around her waist. The simple act instantly triggered the memory of that terrible night to flash in front of her eyes. She was beginning to hyperventilate but the events that happened next almost froze her body to complete stillness.

“Happy birthday, Violet..” She felt the person whispered against her ear and she felt something being placed on her palms. She quickly turned around to have a look at that person’s face but unfortunately he had it covered with a face mask like everyone in the pub. However, it didn’t take long for Alana to recognize those blue eyes in front of her. They were the same pair of blue eyes that she had been craving to see for all these years.

“Marty?”

She noticed the corner of his right eye cringe as though he was smirking at her, which was obscured by the mask. Before she could process her thoughts and lift her hand to remove that damn mask, he started to take slow steps backwards and within a nanosecond he vanished into the crowd.

“W-Wait, Marty.. Wait..” She stammered and began to walk mindlessly, being pushed around by the horde of teenagers. “Marty.. Marty..” She screamed at the top of her lungs.

“Whoa, whoa Alana, where are you going?” When she was about to exit the place she was suddenly dragged out of her trance by Mia who looked around with confusion filled eyes.

“Mia, I-I just saw him..” Alana stammered with lose of breath as well as words.

“Him? Who?” Mia’s eyes wandered all over the place in search for any familiar face.

“M-Martin..”

“Martin? Really? Where is he?” Audrey and Mia’s eyes shone together with excitement. They would do anything to see the person to whom the invincible Alana had lost her heart to.

“He was here a minute ago..” Alana murmured scanning the place.

“Are you sure it was Martin?”

“He was wearing a mask but I’m pretty sure it was him, Mia..”

“Do you mean he disappeared just like that? Did he not see you, by any chance?” Audrey walked in front of her and arched his eyebrows.

“He definitely saw me or else he wouldn’t have given me this..” She raised the present that she was holding against her chest like it was something precious. “I know he is here somewhere. I can feel still feel his presence..” She added searching around.

“So he remembered it is your birthday but then.. why did he just run away?”  Audrey asked scratching his goatee.

Alana seemed to be equally confused like the two of them. “I don’t know. Damn this is so confusing..” She wanted to pull out her hair in frustration but instead rubbed her temples to calm down.

“Do you want to go home?” Mia asked concernedly.

Though Alana wanted to go back home and bury her face into her pillow so that she could peacefully kill herself with overthinking, she decided to not ruin the day for her poor friends, “No guys let’s go inside and have those drinks that you got there..”

“Yay!!” Audrey screeched and hauled both the girls back inside.

“Don’t you wanna open it and see what’s inside? There might be a note or something inside..” Audrey suggested when he saw Alana staring at the present forever.

She nodded and impatiently began to rip off the wrapper, revealing a box.

“Open it..” Mia encouraged when Alana wasn’t making a move to open it.

Alana breathed in deeply before slowly opening the box and gasped at what she saw inside.

“Is that a violin?” Audrey queried peeping into the box.

“It’s a coconut shell fiddle.” She said without removing her intense gaze from it, “Marty gave me this when I turned six but I lost it near the stream one day. I remember crying for a whole week after losing it.”

Soon a smile crept on her lips when she saw Martin’s cute baby handwriting To my darling Violet

“Who is Violet?” Mia enquired.

“Marty used to call me that..” Alana answered Mia with a deep blush crawling from the base of her neck.

“Oh my God she is blushing..” Mia announced with an incredibly cocky grin.

Alana narrowed her eyes, “Shut up.. I’m not blushing..” She stated confidently.

“You are..” They both said in unison making her blush even more.  

A/N:

Hey guys!! Here is another chapter for you all. It look me so long to write this chapter but I hope I did not disappoint you.

Please drop your comments and predictions about what’s going to happen next. I would love to read them and also get some ideas from you guys.

I will also try to update more often than I’m doing right now.