ECHOES OF YOU

Chapter Twelve

In the couple of days that followed, I kept convincing Kelvin to throw parties at his place. I knew Nathan would be there and I’d probably get time to talk to him. But every time we did this, he was never around. I’d see pictures of him and Sheila on their social media accounts. They seemed happy and way too close. I knew as long as he knew I was going to be there he would find a way to avoid me. Then I had an idea, we would throw a surprise party, but no one would know so he wouldn’t get a heads up and run like he always did. He had some explaining to do and I wasn’t going to let him off that easily.

And as I thought, it worked. But I was in for a big surprise. He was there with Sheila and they were all cuddled up having the time of their lives.

“Well, I didn’t know that you two had gotten this close,”

“It’s not like we were doing anything wrong,” Sheila snapped at me.

“I am not complaining about it, you two deserve each other anyway,”

“You know what, Sheila let’s just leave. There’s no point in arguing with her anyway,” Nathan said as he led her to his room.

“Oh, why don’t you stay, it’s just a party, no need to be left out now,”

“It’s not like we were invited anyway, so why should we stay?” Nathan said as he gripped her hand.

Seeing him hold her hand made my blood boil. And the fact that they were going to be locked in the same room together for the entire night didn’t make me feel any better.

“No one was, it was a surprise party. It is good if you stayed, you know be a good host,”

“Well, I see your boyfriend is doing a good job at that. I don’t need to be a third wheel to a party that isn’t mine. So, if you would excuse us, we’ll be upstairs. Enjoy your party.” He said as he led her to his room.
I couldn’t handle it anymore and something inside me just snapped. I pushed Sheila out of the way, grabbed him, and dragged him to the nearest room I could find. It was dark and we could hardly see anything. But I didn’t have the time to look for the lights.

“Why are you doing this, and with my best friend for that matter,”

“You are one to talk huh,”

“You never told me he was your brother, how was I to know,”

“You just don’t get it. It’s not even about him being my brother,”

“Then what’s it about? You getting even with me,”

“Why would I even do that? It’s not like we were together or anything, we were just friends,”

“So, what’s it about? You don’t want to give me an explanation you ignore my calls my text messages and you even go as far as to avoid me. Do you how that fucking hurts. Constantly overthinking where I went wrong and how I can make it right. While my best friend and the only person who gets me, the only person who sees me for me, the only person who has seen my demons and still decided to stay are out here having the time of their lives together as I end up breaking down over and over. Do you even understand how that feels?” By now I could not hold my tears anymore.

“Wow, way to make yourself the victim. How do you think I felt when right after I’d told you I’d pursue you I find out you already have another guy? I felt used Leila, or maybe I was right, you were just using me. You wanted me as a distraction and when you got the popularity, I was no longer useful. So, I wasn’t going to stay to see all that,” he turned to leave, “oh and nothing is going on between Sheila and me. If you’d paid more attention, you’d have realized that your best friend was not interested in guys.”

And that was something else I wasn’t aware of. It felt like I was an outsider. How could I have missed that? But before I could deal with that, I wasn’t done with him yet. I held his hand before he could leave. Just then the lights came on. Sheila stood at the door looking at something past us. This room was full of pictures of me. It was a darkroom. By the look on Nathan’s face, it was not his. These pictures dated even before the accident.

“What the hell is going on here,” Sheila took the words right out of my mouth.

“I’ve never seen this room here before,” Nathan said as he looked around.

“Someone has been stalking you for quite a while I see,” Sheila added.

“But who could it be,” I asked.

“That’s an obvious question. You’re just too blind to see it,” Sheila said. I wasn’t too blind to see it, I was just scared of the answer. And just at the right time, he walked in.

He was shocked to see us there. He was even speechless. There was no way he was going to get himself out of it.

“Mind explaining what’s all this,” I asked.
“It’s not what it looks like,”

“What does it look like then,” by now I was fuming and scared at the same time.

“Let me explain,”

“Wow Kelvin, you’re a lot of things but been a stalker that’s got to be on top of the list,” I could tell Nathan was mad just from his tone.

Standing in that room just made me feel sick. I stormed out without thinking. I ran downstairs and grabbed Kelvin’s car keys. After what he’d done, I didn’t mind taking his car for a late-night drive, let’s hope he’d find it in a better condition in the morning.

I was so mad that driving didn’t seem to scare me as much. At the moment my body was being fueled by anger in me. I was dating a stalker. How did I even end up like this? It was so a frustrating letter did not even think straight.  I was crying and my eyes were filled with tears. I could hardly see. The tears made my sight blurry. Then I heard a bang. The next minute the car was in the air rolling over and over. And when it finally stopped, I didn’t have the energy to fight. This time I decided to let go. And it was all pitch black.