Toppled Over!

Chapter 10

Chapter 10

20th September

Carl

I slept forever, Jamie didn't wake me up last night for dinner as he thought its better I rest and dumped whatever he cooked this morning on my plate. It took me so long to eat, I'm not saying it wasn't good, just that the quantity was too much. I was looking forward to meeting Romie and hear my secret of the day. Jamie now dragged me to the beach to hang out with Calarie and her gang. I spent my time indoors writing some articles on the phone. I didn't want to encounter the beach yet. Jamie knocked on the door and I rushed to get it, because I was bored of sitting alone, but to my shock it was a man, neatly dressed in formals. He was taller than I was and muscular. His tie was perfect and his beard was well kept. He looked to be in his late 40's and seemed like a caretaker/waiter. His face was very familiar but I couldn't remember who he was or where I'd seen him. He had a minor startled expression for a few seconds which soon broke out into a smile, "Hello sir, you're food will arrive in a while" he said. "I don't think I ordered any food" I added.

"I was actually looking for someone else, maybe he ordered.", he suggested.

"Is it Jamie?", I asked.

"Yes, I'll just go monitor the cooking and I'll get you your food.", he said, pulling the door behind him and went.

I went back to the couch and called Jamie to ask about the food. He asked me to have it and that he'll be there before the food arrives, and he did. "Hey!" he said as he entered the room. He was severely tanned and winked at me as I raised my eyebrows. "Don't I look handsome?" he said, putting his hand on his neck and posing.

"Tanned" I said. "Blunt as ever!" he mumbled and sat on the chair. Just then, the food arrived and Jamie went to answer the door this time, he spoke a few lines and got the food in. Jamie said "They have a special offer where they serve 20 items on the 20th of every month. So here's the food." he said pushing the tray towards me and sitting on the other end. He counted it and it turned out to be 19, he was curious on what they had missed. I urged him to finish his food, and ask for it later on. Thankfully, this food wasn't a lot, it was just bite sized food which we finished in no time. I too had my share and was super full. Just as we moved the food, Calarie entered the room with two bowls of ice cream. This was the 20th dish. One vanilla and another chocolate. I loved chocolate and extended my hand for the chocolate ice cream but she ended up giving it to Jamie. I took the vanilla and stared down at it. "Do you want to switch?" Jamie asked, raising his eyebrow. (He knew I loved chocolate)

"Yes!" I said excitedly.

Just when we were going to switch bowls, Calarie spoke, "Carl, I requested for Vanilla for you! I thought you liked it! Please have a taste, I'm sure you'll develop a liking" she said and I didn't want to disappoint her and ate the ice cream. It wasn't as good as chocolate, but manageable. Jamie wanted me to accompany him to the beach, he tried convincing me. As he was talking, I suddenly remembered that Romie might be home and I wanted to meet her really badly. I hated being kept in suspense, so I needed her to finally break it out for me. I was thinking of what reason I could give and slip out of Jamie's upcoming plans, that's when he snapped right in front of my face, I almost got startled and came back to what he was talking about.

"Calarie, would you mind convincing him about it?" Jamie said.

"Uh, I'm sorry, what?", she sat upright. "I didn't quite get what you want me to do."

"Convince him!!" Jamie said pointing towards me. "Clearly, both of you haven't been paying attention to what I'm saying!" he said, throwing his hands in the air.

"So, I suggested we go back to the 'Toppled Towers' and have some fun swimming. Since, Carl can't bear the ocean, we'll have fun in the pool. Can we leave?" Jamie said. This was my chance to get back to the house.

"Yes, let's go!" I said excitedly.

"No, Carl, lets go surfing or something! I'm not coming to that house." Calarie said.

"Sorry Calarie, but I too want to go hang out at home."

"Okay fine then, you guys have fun, I'm leaving, bye." She got up and stomped out while saying this. 

Jamie and I then came back to the toppled towers. As soon as we reached, he got out of the car, took off his shirt and jumped into the pool, causing a huge splash. I told him that I was going to have some water, change and come back in some time, and he nodded.

I reach my room to see Romie waiting for me, her pink frock caught my eye again. "Hi" I said. "So, you're ready to hear a single part of my story?"

"Yes." I said, as I sat down. I motioned her to start off.

"My name is Romie Walo, this house has been an ancestral property and so is the nearby resort, it belonged to my parents. It was co-owned by another family friend. My parents aren't with me anymore. They're in the other world, the place I should've been too. I mean they're dead. They were killed when this place was on fire. I was only 6 when this happened. Don't ask me how I remember but this is it for today. Please process what I've told you today. I'll be back tomorrow."

She said this, got off the bed and walked out. I was emotionally upset and saddened to see that such a beautiful and happy girl had lost her parents at such a young age. Her story was similar to mine, I know I don't have parents, they either left me or are dead. Dr. Tom brought me up and has given me this life but he too passed away a few years ago. He said that I was almost dead when he found me, I have a bullet mark on my right shoulder, he said that someone had shot me I had blood all over my shirt. He didn't tell me anything more because he thought that I wasn't mentally strong enough then to hear more, and at that age, giving details would mean forcefully trying to awaken dead memories.

I sat on the bed, thinking about how life is so unpredictable. That's when I heard Jamie scream, "Carl, are you coming down??? Or are you building your own pool upstairs!?" I smiled and went downstairs and spent the evening swimming with Jamie. He continuously complimented me for my so called amazing swimming skills. He said that I swam like a silver fish. Jamie, I just look at him in awe of the kind of person he is. I feel lucky to have a friend like him, a person who cares for me, loves me and shares amazing memories with me.

We cleaned up and I cooked some bread toast, eggs and some soup he'd brought yesterday. We sat on the table watching some documentary on the laptop. Wi-Fi here was miraculously nice and everything worked well. We decided to sleep early today so we could go trekking the next day.