She left the house, dragging her bag behind her, hurrying. She was walking quickly to escape faster. She did not want to look back at the house. Her breath sound was louder than her steps, but her thoughts were the loudest.
“It was a mistake coming here in the first place." She thought while searching out for a number. “Ah, here you are." Her trembling hands finally managed to press the call button.
“Please Answer. Please, please," she spoke out loudly, closing her eyes as if she was trying to forget her surroundings, and suddenly the person on the other line answered, “Yes."
She sighed in relief at hearing this voice again and said;
“You are everything in my life."
------
Two days ago,
Sitting on the train, leaning her head on the window and looking at the green countryside. She let herself lost in her thoughts. It had been almost ten years, but it felt as if it were yesterday. Calm down; all will be fine… you are different now; you are stronger… She kept convincing herself by repeating these words to herself since she received her sister's letter.
The letter was not weird because it was a letter by post, but it was strange because it was from her sister.
“Tea or coffee, Madame? “ The train hostess cut her thoughts and asked with a warm smile.
“Just water, thanks."
She was so stressed about this trip, but she had to make it. I must. She reminded herself again while leaning back to the window and looking at the countryside she once walked away from. She recalled how she left this town and promised herself not to return to it again. Yet, she had to break this promise for her sister's sake.
The train finally reached its destination. She let out a huge breath while getting out from the train, as, finally, she was here, and finally, she would act, not think.
She took a taxi and gave him the address.
Meanwhile, she pulled out the letter from her bag, and she re-read it a million times. What I am doing… I believe I have lost my mind. She wondered.
“It was not easy for me to send you this letter. Please don't reply. He should not know about it. You have no idea what I am facing here… he reads all messages, emails and checks every move I make inside the house. It is a miracle that, finally, I managed to find a way to contact you.
Don't reply or send me anything, please. He should not know. Just come. I beg you."
She lost her sense of time as she kept reading these lines over and over.
“We have reached. Ma'am, excuse me."
She suddenly realized that the driver was talking to her. She folded the letter, placed it inside her bag, and said,
“Ah, sorry, so this is it?"
She looked at the building that obviously needed a total renovation. The windows of the building were either broken or mismatching with each other.
“But that is not possible; this building is miserable."
Saying so and then she looked at the driver.
“Yes, Ma'am, that is the building." The driver answered and started the engine again to be ready to move. Then he pointed out to the other side of the road up the hill.
“I was not allowed to enter the gate as the security refused. I asked you several times to get your name, but you did not reply." He placed his foot on the brake, waiting for her to get out so that he would move.
“Ah, apologies, I was just… Not important, will you please go back ..." She looked at his hand on the handbrake and asked.
The taxi driver interrupted her. “I am really in a hurry; I took your bag outside. It is on the street. All you need to do is pay and cross to the other side."
“What! No, I will not walk and cross the street, holding my bag, and with these high heels." She said.
“Remove the shoes, then." He answered carelessly.
On the road that led up to the highest hill in town, she stood, looking up to the narrow road. She looked down at her bag and thought, “I am lucky, you are not heavy," and she dragged it all the way up to her sister's house. When she reached the gate, she stopped and looked at the lavish property. “Not sure if a house is a proper word to use," she said so while looking at the mansion that her sister called a house. When the security gate got her name, he let her in immediately.
After she entered the gate, she found herself in a vast, beautiful garden. She walked under the long pergola through a long narrow road of stones. By the end of the road, she saw her sister and paused... “That is her; finally, we met. It is time, I guess." She whispered to herself.
Her sister ran to her and hugged her.
“No words, really nothing can express how grateful I am.... Nothing." Her sister hugged her tightly with her shaking body, and she was talking with wet eyes.
“Well, I only had to take a train, and here I am." She formed a smile, trying to make this awkward situation better. Then she moved away from her sister.
“Come inside; I will show you the house before he comes." Her sister said and wiped off her tears.
She paused, recalling the last time she spoke to her sister. It was a day before leaving the town when she decided to warn her sister. She remembered how she waited almost an hour before her sister agreed to meet her.
She had another gaze at what her sister called the house and then looked at her sister—"Yea, sure."
Although the house's outside facade stood alone with its remarkable architecture that was like no other in the whole world, the inside was a different story. It would make you feel as if you entered an ancient, enchanted medieval mansion.
The first hall, which was the entrance, was double-sized the flat she lived in. The floor was of the finest marble, and from the ceiling came down a big, lavishly ornate chandelier.
Her sister showed her the garden floor, and then she took her out to the backyard for their tea.
They sat on the patio overlooking the pond, avoiding eye contact and in awkwardly silent moments. Till her sister looked at her and broke the silence.
“I am sorry. I know it is… well, compared to what we did to you…"
She cut in, “I prefer not to talk about it."
She knew her sister did not mean to apologize; she only felt her sister was obliged to do so…
Another longer pause this time; it was she who decided to break the silence. She turned to her sister, still avoiding direct eye contact, and said, “Well, you look fine."
Her sister nodded,
“No, I am not. It all started after his Mom's death."
“Sorry, I did not know about his mother, when did..."
“He is not convinced!" Her sister immediately said.
“Convinced? Not sure what are you talking about? not convinced about what?"
“That is the problem. His mom was sick and spent her last three weeks at the hospital." Then her sister paused a little… before adding. “She passed away."
Her sister said this with hesitation and continued, "Since his mother's death, he tells me she is not dead. Whenever he comes to the house, he fights with me because I am ignoring his Mom. At supper, an additional plate has to be served. He even talks to her, I mean pretending he is talking to her… he is trying to convince me that she is there, but I cannot see her. I start feeling that I am losing my mind." Her sister went on. "It is too hard for him to lose her, I guess. He blames me for not talking to his mother, and he is convinced I am the sick person. He is planning to send me to a hospital… mental hospital." Her sister sipped from her glass of water and continued, "He loves someone else. He cannot divorce me, so sending me away is the best solution." Her sister spoke fast, as if she was trying to spell out everything as much as possible. As if she was trying to do so before something would happen and prevent her.
“Why cannot he divorce you?" she asked.
“It is the money. He needs my company; he cannot lose all. Once I am not in the picture, he would find a way to be with the woman he loves. He even… sent the girls away," her sister paused again. This time it seemed as if her sister was trying to remember something, and then she added, “To make it easier for him to hide my trace and start all over again."
“You know who this someone else is?"
"No." her sister said, and she looked around to see if the maid was close by and said, “I have doubts, though, but nothing for sure. Last week, I heard him talking over the phone with a woman. He has plans with her. Of course, after kicking me out from this house to the mental hospital. You know, by convincing the center of my illness. Me being unable to see his mother, and stuff."
“He cannot do this," she said so and placed the teacup on the table. “Come on… everybody around you knows that his Mom is dead. Your friends, neighbors, and even the maids here." She paused, looking at her sister, who was looking at her with tearing-up eyes.
“Well, he is threatening all, or so, not sure. The maid acts just like him. Pretending that his mother is here." Her sister said.
She looked at her sister, and doubts started to grow. “But why everyone around you wants to do so?"
Her sister came closer to her, and said, “Before sending you the letter, I heard him talking to someone, a lady, and…" Then her sister stopped when she heard her husband entering the garden.
“Aah, it is you!" Her brother-in-law looked tenderly at her, or what he preferred to call his 'old true love'.
