Stuck With The Billionaire

Understood

Zayn Dawson

The lunatic had tried to convince me to follow her to a hidden location in the jungle. A hidden location. That wasn't all. She said I would have to be blindfolded. I had almost laughed out my soul. Like there was anything on earth that would make me follow her mental ass into a jungle BLINDFOLDED. She might as well slit my throat with a rough blade then and there.

After almost an hour of trying to convince me, she finally used her brain and tried something much more effective. She played on my ego. Luna called me a coward indirectly. She used sarcasm. She used every f*****g trick in the book. The only reason it worked was how it made me curious as to why she was trying so hard to make sure I followed her to this secret jungle location. So I agreed. But on one condition.

As we walked into the jungle, she guided me to where she wanted us to go holding one hand while I clutched a sharp-ass cutlass in the other hand. The weapon gave me comfort and safety in the darkness of the blindfold. The slightest sound of foul play and somebody's head was coming off clean.

We walked a while, jumping over shii, docking under shii, climbing on shii. At one time I could have sworn I walked on a concrete floor.

Finally, we stopped.

"We're here." She sounded overly dramatic. The sound of trumpets and a drum roll would have completed the whole setup.

"And here is?" I asked as she struggled with the blindfold. I grumbled impatiently. Nice job girl scout.

"Just shut up and hold still,” she replied irritatedly.

My mind tried to create images of the scene I was about to see any minute. It could be a kind of jungle cult. Maybe they were about to make me join. But then it might be an orgy. There's the possibility it was the kitchen where they took their unsuspecting victims to be boiled with spices. Whatever it was, my shiny cutlass gave me wicked confidence.

The blindfold came off and I instinctively looked towards where I guessed Luna stood. My eyes were still trying to adjust to the darkness. All I could see were shapes and blur.

"Where the f**k is this?" I yelled at her. My eyes had adjusted to see a small circle formed not far from us. The circle consisted of shirtless men and women. They were roughly about seven. A dim fire-cracked at the core of this circle. The smoke from this fire slithered purple through the air. It didn't smell like a normal mini-sized bonfire should.

There was something weirdly intoxicating about the scent.

"Where the f**k is this?!" I repeated in a loud tone.

She smiled coolly as she said, “Just breathe.”

Instinctively, I held my breath. I had breathed enough. I knew there was something off about the bonfire with its purple smoke. Thanks, lunatic. Y’all can keep your oxygen because I won't be needing it.

I held my breath relentlessly while Luna took her top off and joined the circle. She looked over at me disappointed.

“Breathe already you fool.” She was fed up with me. She sounded like she was fed up. I nodded my refusal as my face started turning pink.

A voice in my mind kept urging me to breathe. The voice told me how it was safe and completely normal to breathe. It went ahead to convince me that my mom would be so proud of me if I could just breathe but she wouldn’t give me my treat if I continued holding my breath.

At that point, I knew there was no use holding my breath. I was already under the influence of whatever f****d up s**t these junkies were getting high off. The voice in my head sounded so real. So sure of everything.

It was able to convince me to do what the others were doing.

Just take your shirt off and join em.

Yes like that. That’s it. Bingo!

I was sitting with the masked stranger staring into the flames. The purple smoke coming off the hearth was mesmerizing. I couldn't look away.

An old man walked up to us with a bowl. He was dressed in brown overalls with red markings on his face. He looked like a roaster that hadn’t pecked a seed of grain in two years. His bony face and bony hands celebrated their existence along with wrinkles the size of a USB cord.

He would stand in front of a person and hand the bowl over to this person. This masked person would then in turn drink from the bowl and give it back to the tall old man. The man would move slowly to the next.

I smiled to myself. Something about this old lanky man reminded me of a character in a popular animated cartoon but I couldn't quite remember. The voice in my head sounded smarter than me so I tried asking him. Just as he was about to tell me, the old man stood in front of me stretching the bowl.

“Who the f**k are you supposed to be?” I was mad he had distracted me from remembering the character he looked like. He laughed at my question exposing old rotten teeth.

“I am Rafiki,” he said with a grin.

My burst of laughter echoed through the jungle. The old bastard had said the name of the exact character he had reminded me about. He had said that was his name. The name of the same baboon he had a splitting resemblance with. I laughed harder.

I could see he wanted to talk but my bouts of laughter denied him the opening to speak. He waited patiently as I made sure I had my fill. Finally, my laugh dwindled to just mild giggles.

“What's so funny?”

“It's nothing really. It's just that you look like him.” Another burst of laughter followed. This time it didn't last long.

He looked at me puzzled. His confusion caused his brows to fold, giving him the perfect Rafiki-like expression.

Rafiki. I laughed hard. Some of the masked strangers that formed the circle laughed with me once they understood what I was saying. Even Luna the Lunatic was laughing.

After a while, it all subsided and he offered me the bowl.

“f**k off. Maybe Simba will be interested. Not me.” I stretched out, yawning. He looked at me impatiently at my demeanor then he looked at Luna. She didn't acknowledge his gaze of pure hate. He looked back at me seeing the lack of care in my eyes.

“Take a drink already boy,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Not if you had a gun to my head.”” I was enjoying this because of how cool the voice in my head sounded. There was nothing, absolutely nothing it didn’’t know.

“So be it. You'll die anyway if you don't drink it. You have been inhaling snake venom and chemicals for almost an hour now. This is an anti-venom. So be my guest. Just try not to die near the fire.”” He moved an inch before I grabbed at his leg holding only bone.

“You should have started with that,” I stuttered with a toothy grin.

**

Rafiki had completed his rounds and returned to his spot at the base of the circle. He had gone ahead to explain the anti-venom called Journey. According to him, Journey would take us on a soul-searching trip deep inside our minds.

I knew this was going to happen. I had a hunch. This type of weird native American s**t where they drink some f****d up concoction that gets them all unnaturally high was something I had seen in so many movies back home. I just didn't know I would be in that exact situation one day.

My heart raced at the idea of being incredibly high in a jungle surrounded by people in masks. One of them might be Count f*****g Dracula and I wouldn’t be the least bit wise about it.

Even the cool voice in my head had been scared and had abandoned me immediately it heard that I had taken the drink called Journey. It was that bad. I was that high and I didn't even realize it.

My heartbeat slammed hard against my chest. I tried to touch my chest just to feel how fast it was going. I couldn't find my chest anymore. I felt in panic at the spot I was sure my chest was but I couldn't feel anything at all. It was either my chest had up and left me for good or I was just so f*****g high and clueless about it.

The world began to spin for me. Faces came into my view then zoomed out to nothing. Masked faces. The masks were smiling at me. Some of the masks cried. One mask winked as they all followed the vortex spinning just above the night sky.

I was outside dressed in a leather jacket and tight blue jeans. I wanted to dress like a bad boy as I waited. I was waiting. But who was I waiting for?

Oh, yeah. I was waiting for her. The love of my life. I looked over at the shop across. Through the reflection of the glass, I could see a blurred version of my teenage self. My blonde hair was longer and made stylishly to impress girls.

I looked good. I was going to surprise her today. She'd better hurry up so we can have enough time to spend together.

A hand moved from behind me covering my eyes. Finally, she was here. I could smell her signature lavender scent. She looked at me smiling. Confusion etched my face. Why does the love of my life look familiar? Why does she look like someone that hates me at another time? What was going on?

Her kiss on my cheeks dropped my thoughts instantly. I was the teenage boy in love once again.

We walked down to the carnival holding hands. My driver had offered to take us the way but I enjoyed living it simple with her. She enjoyed the simplicity too.

We decided to try the House of Horror first. It was supposed to be hunted by Antionette and her parents. I had tried my best not to scream during the whole thing because they had managed to get me a couple of times even though I had practically rehearsed for this very moment. She held my hand the whole way, squeezing tight as she slowly reassured me it was going to be fine.

Next, we walked to the gift shop. The tiny man said all I had to do was throw the balls and knock a couple of toy bottles off a counter. It was just the type of thing I could do so I moved forward confidently like a knight in shiny armor. My first try was hopeless. I blamed it on the fact that I just started. First times are usually like that. My second attempt was much worse. Then the third. Fourth. Fifth. The tiny man was having a ball grinning at me, overjoyed. Then she stepped up and whispered something to me. I stepped back. We left there with half of the tiny man's stash of gifts. He had to beg us to just walk away.

We did not need the gifts so we just gave them out to the younger crowd. I felt so good being around her. It was impossible to feel any other way.

Finally, we walked into a photo booth. Before the countdown, I stole my first kiss from her. It felt so good I wanted more but she was shy. Once the picture flashed, she was smiling at me while I gave her my dumb cute boy stare.

I walked her home while I held her wrapped in my leather jacket. It was too cold already.

Gregory, my driver, trailed some distance away waiting to take me home before curfew.

We kissed again at her door before she walked in. She waved with a smile before disappearing finally.

I had no idea what had happened to me but I was back in the jungle. or was this somewhere else? What jungle?

I haven't seen her all through spring break. My parents had decided the mountains would be good for me and Hailey. We didn't protest. I was missing her badly. Skiing through the snow had been a good distraction. The cabin we had rented was highly expensive and it made our stay comfortable but there was no way I could truly be comfortable without her.

I grabbed my gears that afternoon. My mom had warned me not to go alone. She wanted me to wait for Brian. Well, f**k Brian. I went anyway. The mountain felt familiar and comforting as I moved through its icy hurdles. My mind was still on her trying to discern what she was doing at that moment. Probably thinking about me too. I hadn't seen the tree till I had smashed into it. Everything went dark. There were voices in the abyss. Voices; they were talking about me.

I was back in the jungle. Why was I thinking about Cara? Or was I seeing her? What was real and what wasn't? The jungle or-

I was in the car. My hair was cut low because of the accident. I wasn't smiling even though I knew I should. I knew there was a reason to be happy I was back. But what was it? I couldn't remember. My failed attempts at trying to remember only made my headache bad which in turn made me frustrated.

We got there and I came down. I hesitated but eventually, I walked in. Everyone stared at me. I couldn't recognize them. A girl with brown hair and innocent eyes stared at me. I looked away. I walked to the back of the class. I needed to be alone in my pain and frustration.

The girl with brown hair kept looking at me like I was going to explode any minute. Then she stood up and walked to me. It was Cara. But I couldn't remember her. Wait, was it Cara? Or the love of my life? Why can't I remember?!

I was back in the jungle. My head felt like it was splitting into two halves. Slowly, I started piecing my memories together. The younger me was me and the younger Cara was Cara. I knew her all this while. I just forgot everything after the accident. The doctors had told me it wasn't anything major. They had said I just have a temporal memory block. They failed to mention that I had lost some of the most treasured memories I've ever had. No wonder she hates me so much. Now I understood.

I looked around to see the masked people still in their circle. They were all lost to reality. I needed to find her. I needed to find Cara. I got up, threw on my shirt, and ran into the jungle.