Carter's Beloved

We Can’t Have Faith For Everybody

Madison P.O.V

The atmosphere in the room was heavy with tension. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and looked up at William Jr; Logan. His hair is stiff with gel and the smell of his terrible perfume is wafting through the room, killing everyone in its path.

He grins at me, and I look down, cutting into my food. I cannot handle this anymore, I tell myself moments away from breaking into a laugh. His behaviour is far from normal.

Today, Father surprised me by setting me up on a date with Logan Gray, aka the future owner of Clonic. I tried to get out of it by making an excuse, but Father wasn’t listening. Great, just another thing he controls in my life. I called Carter, but he didn’t pick up the phone.

On first glance, Logan might seem like an ordinary rich person but with no humbleness and is obsessed with himself. 1 hour with him and I realized how much attention he pays to others.

“So Melanie, what did you say your job was?” he asked carelessly while skimming through the menu. I shake my head and drink water to stop myself from laughing.

“My name is Madison and I’m a designer. I own the brand Winsor.” I inform him. He fixes his hair and looks back at me with a scowl.

“The brand with the ugly jeans? Hated those so last season.” He states in an irritated manner and uses his phone camera to look at his face. Logan looks at me with a questioning look and decides it’s better if he changes the topic.

“Anyway, I’ve got my wedding all planned out. I didn’t plan it to be with you.” He says while staring at the waitress serving the drinks. He winks and looks back at me with a nonchalant expression.

“Sure.” I reach out for the drink and sip nervously. I pretended not to notice the weird glances we received while walking inside a random middle class restaurant. This seemed odd because we could have gone to many places with higher budgets. Upon inquiring, I found out he had a “friend” in here he wanted to see.

“So, Madison Walker, what are your interests?” He smirks at the woman sitting near us, “I mean the things you do in your free time, your father told me you enjoyed painting.” Logan drinks his black coffee and puts it down immediately after burning his tongue.

The sky is a dull grey outside signaling rain. I wish I didn’t need to hang out with him, wait longer Mother, I’ll be there soon. The small shops outside are vacant, everyone seeming to go home before the heavy rains.

“I do, I’ve always thought about it as a superb way to relieve stress.” I explain while turning to look at him. Logan stares at me as if I was a stranger who turned up at his door. He dismisses it and caries on telling me about himself.

“I love competition. I love it so much that I compete with people lower than me,” he scoffs, “I win, but it’s not a victory I can take pride in. I recently started this bar, and within a month it became one of the most visited bars in the city. You should come sometime, but I doubt if you’ll like it.” I smile at him nodding and wait for lunch to finish so I can go back home.

In the corner of my eye, a black shadow stands still, staring directly at me. It blends in with the surroundings and sits down at a nearby bench holding a newspaper. He peeks over it from time to time to see if I noticed him, but I act oblivious.

“Did you know our parents dated for a while?” He asks loudly, as if trying to catch my attention. He looks at me with a curious expression while I stare at him. I have known that Father has dated many women but never thought he would make me marry someone who he had a past with.

Fortunately, after an hour of awkward laughs and conversations, he takes his leave. I gather up my things and walk out of the shop. A dark black cloud circles above me and I quickly run towards my car. By the time I reach it, my hair is completely wet and my shirt also has few wet spots.

I wear my seat belt and drive towards the cemetery. I had plan to visit Mother’s grave when I returned to the city, but I soon got busy with the never-ending things to do. I glance at the place the man sat, but it’s isolated.

I shake my head and take a turn. Soon, I arrive at the graveyard. Trees have been on each grave so that the dead person’s soul can grow into something new which benefits us.

I walk over to her grave and keep the bouquet there, which I bought for her. Her death came as a massive shock to me. She was on her way back home after a trip and her car smashed into a tree at night. It had been raining heavily that night and the next day, early morning.

Father wasn’t shocked at her death, but arranged everything in an instant. He waited for a week to tell me he was sending me overseas for higher education and when I disagreed he locked me in my room for a fortnight. Thinking about this incident makes me thing if he planned Mother’s death.

I walk around the tree and suddenly; I see a bunch of flowers kept at the foot of the trunk at the back. I pick it up and examine them carefully. Father hardly visits her grave, I doubt that he knows which graveyard she’s buried in.

I return to the company after the visit, reminding myself of the various things I need to complete. I keep my bag on the desk and lean back into my seat. The storm rages outside and I stare at the bunch of papers placed at my desk. 

I stand up, thinking to wash my face before I work, but as I cross the table set in the middle of my room, my eyes fall upon a small box. I stop on my way and pick it.

It’s an ordinary black box with something placed inside it. I suspiciously open it expecting a note from its sender but cannot find anything. Instead, I find an old metal watch. Upon further inception, I realize it belonged to my mother and is stained with dried blood.

I pull the object out of the hole only to realize, it's not food waste or a rock. It's a cloth bag with dried blood and the stench of a body rotting.