Replay Of Shades

01

ENID

"Ms. Allen, what happened to your leg?" I heard a certain familiar voice exclaim from behind me just as I was about to reach the door of my room while attempting but constantly failing to not limp as I walked.

And the voice just now belonged to my very sweet and caring housekeeper, Sarah. A lady in her forties who had stuck by me for three years now. Despite still thriving in health and beauty, she'd chosen not to remarry ever since her husband died nine years ago.

She must have heard my footsteps as I passed by the kitchen area as that was where her voice came from.

I slowly turned around to face her, shifting my weight to the other leg which wasn't hurting, before reluctantly revealing, "Uh, I came home late last night so you must not have seen me, I sprained my ankle at work- yesterday." My eyes gradually travelled to my bandaged ankle.

"Oh my!" Her voice was laced with concern. "How did that happen?" She was beginning to make her way towards me now.

I sucked in a breath at her question, and that moment, I saw Sarah raise an eyebrow before tilting her head to the side, having reached me just then. I knew that look. She must know I was about to lie about what actually happened.

How it happened! It was embarrassing to even think about it.

It was all that stuck-up bitch, Evelyn's fault. Believe me when I say that I wasn't the type to call people names but not when it comes to Evelyn.

So, it went like this. I decided to stay behind at work yesterday to get some work done after the others had left, only to sleep off hours later and to wake up at past eleven when everywhere had gotten dark and everyone on that floor already went home.

I stepped foot into the underground parking lot and that was the exact moment the lights chose to act up, somehow causing me to recall what Evelyn mentioned to me while we took the elevator together on the morning of that day about the underground parking lot, about something not being right about it.

She wouldn't say any more than that. I should have known what her true intention was, that she had only meant to scare me on purpose.

I suddenly began to imagine a looming presence behind me, and then I made the mistake of glancing back just before the lights flicked back off, and who else if not me would have mistaken their own shadow for a ghost as to start screaming and running like crazy down the parking lot?

Thinking also that my flying hair, which had somehow gotten wrapped about my neck while I was running, was a person's hand trying to strangle me had gotten me yelling even more.

Spraining my ankle had done just the job of putting me in check. It was a good thing no one but me was there to witness all of it.

Shaking off the embarrassing thought, I cleared my throat and smacked my lips, having come up with the perfect lie or so I thought, "I slipped. There was split coffee on the floor in my office, and I was in a hurry." I briefly recounted.

Her brows furrowed in confusion, "Split coffee? On the floor in your office?"

I batted my lashes.

"Ah!" I beat my palms together after a short while as if suddenly remembering, "I totally forgot. Did I say coffee? It was actually water." I sucked on my lower lip, hoping this time my lie was convincing enough.

"Do you think I'm not aware of the fact that you won't as much as take water in your office, let alone coffee as to have it split on the floor? You told me that yourself a while back." Her eyes were narrowed into slits.