THE END

9. Anonymity

"Any last wishes?" Elijah shouts from behind me.

I've seen this scene play before me numerous times, but it's still stays the same traumatizing.

"Ple-please sp-spare my li-life....." The victim pleaded but all I could hear were the laughs of Elijah.

"A moment of silence please," as he says, the room becomes still "for this poor soul's intelligence."

And the room is full of laughter.

"Alice ! Come here and look." He forcefully turns me around and snatches my hands off my face. The mask which covers my mouth is left untouched.

"How should we kill him?" He pushes me forward so that I'm face-to-face with the injured guy. His nose is bleeding and there are bruises all over his face. His hair is sweaty and the bottom lip is torn.

I look away.

"Look. In. His. Eyes." Elijah commands with authority.

And I obey.

"I have children. Please don't kill me for them. My wife died few years ago. Think about them. Plea-" The victim's plea falls on deaf ears.

"Blah blah blah. Every single one says this. We're just delaying. Alice !" He shouts and I snap back at him.

"What was his crime?"

"That he came in my way." Elijah takes an apple from the basket on the table and sits on the only chair in this entire room. He takes a knife and peels the cover.

"That doesn't give you the right to kill him! The decision of life or death is taken by GODS. You, me, us, no one is god." I'm shouting now.

"We are gods, sweetheart. WE decide who lives. And I have certainly decided that it's about time he bids his pathetic life goodbye." He slows down as he peels more layers of the apple.

"I. AM. SATAN. HIMSELF." He yells as he throws the knife which passes straight through that person's heart.

"Poor guy didn't get to say his last wish." He says as he takes a bite of his apple.

I'm left utterly speechless as I try to process what I just witnessed.

Death. Painful Death.

"Oh don't worry, I'll kill your father even better than this. He'll feel each excruciating pain if you don't follow my lead." He whispers to me.

"Noted, sir." I nod.

-------------------------------------------------------------

The ball is pretty.....chaotic.

I parted ways with Elijah and Cassandra as soon as I entered the hall. I was on a mission, not to enjoy.

I need to find the guest list.

The hall is full. People are either dancing, talking or drinking.

All of which I'm not interested at the moment.

Due to the security protocols, weapons are not allowed inside which seems pretty reasonable to me. But not so much for Elijah.

"Spare a dance?" Someone asks me as they offer me their hand.

"Not today." I tightly smile.

"Well this ball doesn't happen everyday. Let's enjoy while it lasts." The man gives me a kind smile and something tells me I should take his hand.

That I should dance because I won't get another chance.

"If you insist." I take his hand as he guides me to the dance floor.

"So, what's your name ?" I ask the unknown man dressed in darkest shade of green I've ever seen.

"Wouldn't that be meaningless in a masquerade party where anonymity is the most essential ?" He spins me two times before my hand finally lands on his shoulder.

"That's true." I have to agree with this.

The song changes it's rhythm and turns into a rather slow song.

"This one's my favourite. " He smiles at me.

"Then let's make it worth it !" I return the smile more genuinely than before.

We dance for good two songs before we finally part ways.

"So you found someone new again? Has your dad not taught you to never speak to strangers?" Cassandra stands beside me and takes a sip of her wine.

"You don't get to say that when you've been away my entire childhood. And not to mention the job you signed me up for demands for me to talk to strangers." My words are more bitter than the wine she's drinking.

"That's enough bickering, ladies." Elijah grabs Cassandra by her waist.

"How's the plan going?" This question is pointed at me.

"I'm waiting till the party gets busy to steal the guestlist." I whisper back.

He just nods and takes Cassandra to the dance floor.

After 45-minutes, the hall is packed enough that no one sees it when I approach the entrance to the receptionist.

"Excuse me?" I ask the man there.

"How may I help you?" He turns his attention to me as he finally answers his previous question.

"I wanted to check if you could check if my boyfriend has arrived. The network here isn't supporting my phone." I say politely.

"I'm not sure if I can help with that. We're not allowed to share the guestlist to anyone." He answers but at the same time another person calls him from behind and his attention wanders for few minutes.

And its my time to shine.

I slowly grab the sheets on the desk which I assume is the guestlist and put it in my purse.

"Is there anything else I can help you with?" He finally asks back.

"I would really appreciate if you could hand me the guestlist again." I give a tight smile.

"Unfortunately I cannot help with that, ma'am. How about you tell the name and then I check it?" He asks.

I look around and point a particular man. "Oh he's here!" I beam.

"Oh I see. Well I hope your issue is sorte-" before he can complete,  he's dragged to another man.

"FINALLY." I take the list with me to the washroom.

While I scan through the files, I'm disappointed as I cannot find Aiden Harper in the list.

But I do find an unexpected name.

Caleb Ledger.

■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■
A/N

The chapter speaks for itself. And the dress I used for Adira was screaming for me to pick it.....thus, here we are !!

Future me: So you aren't gonna address the guestlist drama?

NOPE. I think I shouldn't mess with the timeliness I took FOREVER to make...... let them use their own brain.

Future me: Reasonable. I'm just anticipating THE END....

I SAW WHAT YOU DID THERE !!!!

Future me: You are tolerable now.... let's move to the next chapter.

AEY AEY SIR!!!

Stay tuned !!