Falling Into Oblivion

Chapter Thirteen

MARCH 31ST, 2021

CASSIE

AN ALARM RINGS in my mind and I bite back a scream. What is Kaelem doing here? How did he know where we were? I'm not exactly thrilled he's here. I have no idea what this looks like to an outsider. To Kaelem it must look like I'm still being wishy-washy, indecisive, immature like I still want Arsen, but it's far from the truth. I clutch my abdomen, the pit of my stomach falling. If this was any other situation I would deny it but in this instant, him thinking I'm cheating is better than knowing what is truly going on here.

KAELEM

IT'S AS DARK as solitary confinement out here in the middle of absolutely no where; something I know a little too much about. The hell has she gotten herself into? And why on earth is she with the devil himself? There's no doubt in mind it's his truck, no one else has a bumper sticker on their truck saying 'watch out for the idiot behind me'. It's no surprise. Arsen always knows which button to press and how hard to press it to get someone rilled up. My point being, he knows how to piss people off and it goes without saying, strangers too.

"Cassandra, what are you doing here?" Her eyes are full of confusion as well as mine. I dart my gaze behind her where I see Arsen standing. "...and with Arsen?" I add. The small smile I had on my face fades and something flashes in her eyes. Confusion? Terror?

"Are you kidding me?" Arsen erupts from behind Cassandra. She flinches when he comes right up next to her ear.

He's annoyed I'm standing at this front porch but can you blame me? "Yeah, I'm quite the comedian." I pinch my lips and arch my brows, playing with sarcasm.

He hasn't put two and two together. He doesn't know I waited around the corner when he came to pick her up. Ready to follow her. Stalker much, you may think? Call it whatever you want. I'm protective and I have a sense of intuition. Six sense... Perhaps what others may call as a mother's intuition but men like me have it too. Men who give a damn about their girl. I had a bad feeling it was Arsen who interrupted the nice evening Cassandra had planned for us. She thought she was acting so chill about it all but she wasn't. She was acting wicked, weird. What was she trippin' bout? The poor girl kept forgetting about the food on the stove. She didn't even remember to eat. But I didn't say anything. I didn't want to cause her anymore grief than she probably felt inside. Instead, all I could think about doing was to talk about myself. Get her mind off whatever's going on here. In the pitch dark, one flash light, at eleven at night...

Dude, it's cold as balls out here!

I shove my hands in my beige suede winter jacket, shivering when a gust of wind seeps through my jacket.

"We don't have time for this." Arsen attempts to slam the door shut on my face but my fast reflexes, catch it on time. I don't know what she ever saw in this guy. Every time I see him, I battle the urge to recoil taking stock of that thin white film built up at the corner of his mouth. He reminds me of a pitbull terrier and not only for it's drooling problems, his attitude behavior too.

"What the hell Arsen." Cassandra scowls at him.

Arsen throws an accusatory finger in my face. "He's the one who was following us, weren't you Kaelem?"

"Dude, get your fingers our of my face before I break them." He quickly retracts his hand. He knows I don't ever falsely threaten. He can take my word for it. "And, Of course I did. I over heard your phone call with her. She said she didn't want to go back and then she was upset for the rest of the evening. What else was I suppose to do? Lay there and play dead? That might be your style but it ain't mine."

"But you came in with your mustang?" Cassandra answers as a matter of fact, peeling the blinds back, spotting my car further down the driveway.

"Yeah?" I wonder. What's she getting at?