In The Darkest Hour

Part One - Chapter Thirteen: Being Scared

“Are you okay?” Gerard asked looking at Isla concerned, he didn’t know what it was but she had been a little jumpy the past week and he couldn’t help but be worried about her; he didn’t like to see anyone upset.

Isla blinked looking up at Gerard, she nodded her head a little nervous while trying to focus on what she was doing; it had been a week since she had started getting messages from R and still she had no idea about who could be behind it.

“Isla,” Gerard murmured stopping Isla from making lunch, he was a little worried that she’d cut off her fingers since it was clear that she wasn’t focused on what she was doing; he had thought that she would talk to him about what was bothering her.

“What’s wrong?” Gerard asked softly, he didn’t like the fact that she had been so quiet recently when things were starting to look up; he stood next to her while peeking at Milan who was happily messing around in his high chair.

Isla chewed on her lip, she couldn’t believe that she was letting what R said get to her; it was someone obviously trying to wind her up and upset her.

“It’s nothing… just me being silly,” Isla dismissed gently with a shake of her head, she had no idea why the messages were bothering her so much but R seemed to know so much about her and it scared her.

Gerard stared at Isla and shook his head, he didn’t believe that for a moment and wanted to find out what was going on; she had been so good to him in the past few months and he didn’t know what he would do to thank her.

“It’s obviously not nothing, you’re upset,” Gerard replied taking Isla’s hand and leading her to sit down, he wasn’t going to let this go and he wanted to support her like she did with him.

Isla swallowed nervously, she couldn’t tell him about the messages without telling him that she had been sacked from her last job for being framed for Isabel’s murder.

“Seriously Gerard… it’s nothing, I’m just having a bad day,” Isla responded trying to get him to forget about it, she could never tell him what was going on and she feared what would happen if R told him.

Gerard frowned, he didn’t know why Isla was trying to push him away and he wished that he could do something to cheer her up; he hated the idea that something had upset her and she wouldn’t tell him what.

“You know that you can talk to me about anything,” Gerard murmured brushing his fingers through Isla’s hair, she was one of his best friends right now and he wanted to do something to make her feel better.

Isla felt tears burn her eyes knowing that when he discovered the truth that he would throw her out; she might not have been guilty but no one knew the truth and they wouldn’t until the investigation had revealed that Sharon was responsible for Isabel’s death.

“I know… it’s just that time of the month,” Isla lied softly, she knew that it was wrong to use it as an excuse but she doubted that Gerard would continue to push her for answers if she said it.

Gerard wrinkled his nose a little before he nodded his head, he didn’t really want to know that and he hoped that Isla would be her normal cheerful self soon; he looked at her one more time before getting to his feet and moving to continue with lunch.

Isla watched him go, she had no idea who to turn to and she was so scared about what would happen; she doubted that Montserrat had anyway to stop R from contacting her and threatening her.

***

Isla sat quietly looking through the messages that she had received from R, she swallowed thickly as she felt her eyes burn with tears; she had no idea what to do and she wished it would all just stop.

Flicking through the messages, Isla wondered why R hadn’t made any demands, the person behind this clearly wanted to frighten her but she didn’t understand why; she wished that she could prove to the person behind the messages that she hadn’t done anything wrong.

Isla swallowed as her laptop made a bing, she slowly looked at the side of her email to see that she had a new massage in her inbox; her stomach churned at what might lay inside.

Slowly opened her inbox, Isla moved to read the message that had arrived; she already recognised the email address as the one that R used to message her.

“Murderer,”

Isla felt sick wishing that it would stop, if R had managed to find her email it made her wonder how much longer it would be before she started getting phone calls and she wouldn’t be able to hide what was happening.

A second message quickly appeared and Isla hesitated for a moment before she moved to read it, her hands shook as she read the message and she couldn’t take her eyes off of it.

“It should be you not Isabel in that grave, R,”

Isla clapped a hand over her mouth, tears trailed down her face as she stared wondering what she had done to deserve this; she wished that the truth would come out about what had happened, this wasn’t her fault and she didn’t deserve this.

Gerard might not have any idea about what was going on but someone did and Isla had a feeling that they weren’t going to stop; she feared what R might be capable of, if they really wanted to hurt her.

Isla wiped her face on her sleeve as she closed the message, she felt sick and she had no one to turn to; she didn’t know who she could tell about this without her secret being revealed.

“Isla… I need to talk to you about next month,” Gerard called stepping into the bedroom, he had just gotten an important call and he knew that he had to tell Isla; it was something that he had been expecting.

Isla slammed her laptop shut and looked at Gerard, she took a deep breath wanting to try and calm her nerves; she hadn’t been expecting him to come down to her bedroom.

“Is everything okay?” Gerard asked spotting that Isla had been crying, he didn’t completely believe that this was all over her time of the month; something was going on but he didn’t want to keep pushing in case it was something too private.

“Fine… I was watching a sad movie on my laptop,” Isla lied feeling horrid, she felt her stomach turn at what she had read and she didn’t want Gerard to see the messages that she was getting.

Gerard stared at Isla, he wanted her to talk to him and he wished she would stop lying; he hated that something was upsetting her when she was such a wonderful person.

“Okay… Isabel’s parents and siblings are coming to visit on the 18th,” Gerard continued not wanting to upset Isla further, he would wait until she came to him and told him what was going on.

Gerard was a little nervous about seeing Isabel’s parents and siblings, he knew he hadn’t been in the best condition when he had last seen them at her funeral.

“Isabel’s parents and siblings…” Isla breathed feeling sick, it was one thing to be here with Gerard trying to help him recover but to meet Isabel’s family was another.

“Just Shakira, Tonino… I don’t think that any of the others could make it,” Gerard replied recalling that Isabel had come from a big family, William Mebarak had nine children and he’d been forced to bury two of them before their time.

Isla was silent, she had no idea how she was going to cope with having Isabel’s family visiting but she was going to have to find a way to deal with it; she couldn’t let anyone discover what was going on.