Guess what? Life happened.

Chapter 20

We parked two blocks away from our destination – not wanting the guards to discover us. With my heart in my hands, I ventured in the snowy night with a boy I didn’t trust to bring down the boy I gave all my trust to.

A shiver ran through my skin as barking resonated from a distance. The stone cold silence didn’t do anything to dismiss my already ruffled nerves. My hands were shaking but it wasn’t because of the cold that was raging outside. I plunged them deeper in my pockets to warm them but nothing happened. I watched the distance between me and my ex-boyfriend closed with each heavy steps I took.

My heart wasn’t ready for this. I still had time to abort this impossible mission and crawled back in my warm bed. No one would know what I almost did. No one would know how drastically my life almost changed.

Jake lightly squeezed my arms. “Relax, I got this under control. Just trust me.”  

That was the problem. I didn’t, couldn’t trust him. Not after being betrayed so many times.

We finally reached the wall that surrounded the mansion. I tilted my head back, taking in what I was about to do. If I continued down that path I would abash my own self. I will no longer be the same girl. Was I ready?

“It’s now or never, Nikkie.”

Screw my life. It had only brought me heartache so why stay in it?

“Ok, let’s do this.” I answered confidently.

Jake squatted down so I could get on him then he rose slightly so I could reach the edge of the wall. I held on to it and pulled myself up. I could see miles and miles from up here. Every house was twinkling with Christmas lights. I forgot that Christmas was only two weeks away. Too bad I won’t be here to dwell on all my Christmas past. I will be starting a new life.

 It didn’t take long for Jake to join me. He dropped the duffel bag first then, together we jumped down on the grass. Unlike Jake, I didn’t have a graceful landing. It was like in the movies where I landed on my two feet, instead I fell flat on my face – taking a mouthful of grass and snow in the process. I spat in out but the foul taste refused to leave.

“Nikkie, now is not the time for a nap.” Jake’s whisper was as loud as a lion’s roar in the silent night.

“Be quiet, dumbass.”

He patiently waited for me to get up but he didn’t bother masking his annoyed look. I walked straight towards the side with Ken’s bedroom, ignoring Jake completely. I looked up at the closed window. There wasn’t any light coming out of the room which could means he’s either not here or he’s sleeping.

I went to open the kitchen’s backdoor which I never remember seeing lock but as it was my luck, they chose today of all days to lock it.

Now what? I was certainly not going to walk through the front door and announce to Ella that I was about to put her employers’ son’s bedroom in flame for cheating on me with my best friend.

I was about to call it quit when Jake pushed me to the side.

“Allow me.” He took something from the bags’ pocket then began to pick the lock with it. Why didn’t I think of that?

After about half a minute, I heard a clicking sound then the door opened.

“This is not your first time doing this, is it?” I asked him as he held the door opened for me.

He smirked knowingly at me, ushering me in before he closed the door. Before we could go in further, I heard footsteps coming our way. While my mind was going on overdrive thinking of the many torturous outcomes if I was caught, my body stayed frozen on the spot. The door was opening when he pulled on my sweater and dragged me to him behind the counter.

I stayed on my knees, ready to make a break for it if we were discovered. My heartbeat became frantic, the blood was roaring so loud in my ear that I thought everyone else in the room could hear it.

Jake tapped me on my forearm. Once my eyes were on him, he tilted his head in the direction of the door leading to the living room left ajar. Quietly, we slipped out of the kitchen. I hurried up the stairs without as much as a glance to the ultramodern decorations that used to leave me breathless every time my eyes felt on them. I had one goal in mind. I didn’t have time for reminiscences especially after what happened the last time I was here.

I knock lightly on the door then joined Jake behind a corner.

“You expect that to work? That won’t prove anything, I was next to you and I didn’t hear anything.”

“Fine, you do it.”

I took his place in the corner, unfortunately landing at eye level with a picture of Ken. He was younger in it but his eyes were still warning mischievousness to anyone who came close. I heard a loud knocking on the door then Jake came running next to me.

“Happy?” I said between my teeth.

“Shhh.” He slammed my mouth shut with his hand. I sent him a glare but he didn’t budge.

When nobody came out of the room to answer the knock, Jake and I came out of the corner and crept inside the room. It took a few seconds before my eyes could adjust to the darkness. As I walked closer to the bed, someone moved. I instantly backed away.

I didn’t expect this. I thought he would be alone but he wasn’t. The person who moved had long hair so it couldn’t be Ken. Was it Roxie? She was after all his girlfriend now.

Just the thought of them together increased my temperature to the point where my blood was boiling for revenge.

I took the bag from Jake and put on a pair of leather gloves to not leave any imprints in the house.  He followed my lead and we both part ways, taking over different sides of the room.

I turned on the lighter and watched the little flame dance in my hands. I was mesmerized by this simple light that could barely lit a centimeter of the room enough for me to see my hands but was enough to reduce this entire mansion into ashes. I pushed it closer to the curtains and watched it spread. I felt the heat rising up my skin as I stood with such proximity to the red flames.

“Nikkie, let’s go” whispered Jake from the other side.

I turned to see red flames crawling up the walls, engulfing the posters and picture frames. The smell of burned papers already filled my nostrils. As I was stepping out of the door, something caught my eyes. Sitting on the bedside table was a framed picture of Ken and me. I gave it to him on our first week anniversary. I was ecstatic at the idea of me always being next to him even when he was sleeping and I wasn’t physically in the room. I went back for it. I wanted to keep as a memory but I remembered that I needed to cut all ties with this life.

I took the picture out of the frame, lit it on fire then, I threw at the foot of the bed causing the covers to caught on fire. When I was finally out of the room, the heat was already suffocating. Beads of sweats were forming on my forehead and I was coughing like crazy. They must have been really out of it to still be sleeping. Jake wiped the door knob clean then slammed it shut to wake the sleeping lovers up.

High-pitch screams invaded the house by the time we reached the front door. Jake and I was climbing back the wall by the time people were alerted of the fire. I threw a quick glance behind before dropping myself on the other side.

In that quick second, my eyes had caught a glimpse of the girl who I assumed was in bed with Ken. It wasn’t Roxie. The girl who was sporting a simple white t-shirt in the freezing weather was blonde.

I guess what they said was right – once a cheater, always a cheater. However, while I was running towards the truck to leave my life out of this city, I couldn’t help the aching in my heart for her. I knew what she did was wrong but no one deserved to have their trust violated like this. At least she’ll have a pinch of the pain she caused me and hopefully be a better friend to whoever decided to offer her their friendship.