To Be Me

EP.24:Alisa

Waking up to the blaring sound of his alarm, he quickly silenced it with one hit.

Holding his phone, he read the time.

"5pm."

Matthew had a little less than two hours left.

He got into the shower and washed up.

Coming out, he put on the same formal attire he did for the last two years. Wore the same watch. Applied the same scent.

Getting one last good look at himself in the mirror, he looked into his eyes.

The blue orbs looked empty.

Even to him, but that was no surprise. He had already gotten used to the empty space in his heart and life.

Straightening up, he took hold of his keys and left the room.

It shouldn't be very normal for a grown adult who was done with college years ago and had a well-paying job to still be living with his parents.

He had his own car and residential building, which he purchased before the incident.

After the incident, his mother insisted he come live at home with family until he had come to terms with his loss and was ready to enter back into the workforce and live alone.

He was basically just an unemployed, sad bum living with his parent while getting closer to his thirties.

Matthew planned on leaving after a year, but there was that incident with Emma, and he couldn't bare to leave his parents alone to deal with everything, so he stayed back to help out any way he could.

And it's always better when the family is together.

Leaving the house, he got into his car, which he had delivered at noon and drove off.

Mrs Blake watched her son's car fade into the distance from the kitchen window, holding tightly the mug in her hand, sick with worry and concern.

"It'll soon be time. He's going there again." She said in a low tone as her husband hugged her closely from behind.

"It'll be alright. He will be alright. Don't worry about him, my love. He's stronger than you think."

                              ***

Matthew soon arrived at a bakery to pick up his order.

It was the banana and strawberry cake he had requested for, earlier on.

Bringing out his wallet to pay, his attention was drawn to the television by the side.

"What the-?" His jaw almost dropped in shock.

Those were - Weren't those the pictures that were taken today? At the park? What exactly was going on?

Turning to the attendant, he asked, curiously gesturing to the breaking news.

"Do you know what's going on?"

The attendant nodded before she began speaking.

"Apparently, some big superstar was caught in a dating scandal and at the peak of her career too. It's not the first or second time this is happeningto her, but this one is getting a lot of attention as it was very unexpected and, in my opinion, the most realistic one of them all."

She quickly and skillfully packaged the small cake while speaking.

"The article, released alongside the pictures, stated that she had arranged for a secret meeting in the park today with him."

The bakery attendant paused for some seconds, put the neatly wrapped box into a purple floral gift bag, then continued while leaning forward, getting a better view of the tv.

"It's too bad for all these to happen to her today of all days. I mean, it's her birthday, for goodness sake! Couldn't they cut her some slack!! Gosh! If I were the one, I wouldn't be able to handle it as well as she is-"

She seemed more interested in the case. A lot more than Matthew expected, but his attention was diverted to the face displayed on the screen before him.

Why did she look so familiar? Like he had seen her before.

"Thank you." He politely cut her off taking the cake and heading straight for his car.

Getting in, he turned on the engine and drove off.

After a short while, he arrived at a beautiful duplex with glass railings.

Driving into the garage, he got out of the car holding the package and walked rather slowly to the living room.

Alisa had actually picked out the house without her knowledge. He had asked her opinion a lot without letting her catch onto his plans before he purchased the house. He wanted to surprise her with it.

This was the place they would've spent their lives together. Made a home. Raised beautiful children.

He chuckled lightly, imagining the look on her face when she would've seen the house, the decor, the furniture... But that was all it would ever be.

An imagination.

Looking at his phone, he realized that time was quickly approaching.

He made his way to the living area of the house. There was a long couch at one end facing the plasma television mounted on the wall and two other, smaller in size on opposite sides.

Slowly, he took off his shoes and socks and stepped on the soft rug, making his way to the small, round glass centre table.

Carefully taking the cake out of the box and placing it on a table, he sat down comfortably before it and began putting the candles.

Looking at his phone, it was almost time.

"6:59"

Closing his eyes, he clasped his hands together as though he was getting ready to say a prayer. A prayer that could never be answered.
He counted down the remaining seconds.
He wanted to be right on time.

The time he lost her forever.

"3, 2, 1... Happy birthday, Alisa."

A tear slowly made its way down his cheeks as he blew out the candles.

"Wish you were here."