The Never Happened

CHAPTER 6 : Demons

"So Ansel, what happened in there?" Rachel asked anxiously.

"I don't really know Rachel, I'm still trying to comprehend it. It's like this is the first piece of the puzzle we are trying to solve, yet it is the most crucial one." I don't know if Rachel was able to understand what I just said because she didn't react to it. Moreover even I was confused. Why would Jim?

After a minute she continued, "So, who is this Jim, huh? The one I met at the funeral?"

"Yah, he is an old friend. You must have heard of 'Ordilia'."

"That clothing brand? You won't believe how mad people are after it. To be honest, its overrated," she looked at me doubtfully with slight embarrassment tearing down her eyes, "Sorry, drifted from the topic. Continue."

"He is its owner." Her jaw dropped in awe. I never thought it was such a big deal though. He didn't even design the clothes, he just owned them.

I started again, gesturing Rachel to concentrate on the road, "When I walked in the reception, everything was spick and span, everything was in place just like it used to be when I used to visit Daire there. All seemed different, yet normal. It was like nothing had changed, as if all of this was just a joke. I wished that a cameraman would jump out of the curtains telling me that this was all a prank and that I had been fooled on America's biggest losers!"

Rachel glared at me and said, "Looking at the way you are tearing my seat covers, I can figure out, that obviously didn't happen." I immediately stopped messing with the smooth leather covers though the damage was done. I could see Rachel's lip twitching, she was trying her best not to smile though her efforts proved to be futile. I gave in with a grin and tried my best to keep calm.

"Rachel for that one minute I just felt that it's all going to be fine, that it is not going to be this living hell anymore. My happiness didn't last longer than the sight of a shooting star. As soon as I saw the yellow strips along Daire's office saying crime area, I walked back into reality. I wish those few seconds could just last forever, or at least till the time I don't figure out what I have to do."

Rachel gave me the most compassionate look but at the same time told me on a serious note, "If that would happen, you would never be able to figure out what you have to do, Ansel. Such moments will attract you, but all that they will do is make you weaker than before. If I pause time and give you a little while to figure all this out, you will not be able to. The human brain works better in chaos, confusion and pressure. So face it Ansel, it is not going to change, pause or rewind, this time is all you have to get back up on your feet and at the same time give peace to Daire's soul.... Such scenarios are like demons. They will call you as angels but will make you regret in the end...."

"I know Rachel. I was just too afraid to accept it, but I'm done whining."

There was a short silence, I was still trying to figure out what I had said. Was I actually over the sulking part so soon? Was this a good thing or a bad one? Or was I still in a dilemma and deceiving my own head by convincing myself that I was done? All I know is that I was angry and curious at the same time. If Jim had come to meet Daire that day, then why didn't he tell me so? Was he trying to hide something?

At this thought came into my head I remembered that I was narrating what happened in the office, to Rachel.

"So back to what happened in the office. As I went in I saw that the secretary Linsey was not on her desk, maybe she had gone for her lunch break. Lucky for me, the coast was clear. I walked into his office, everything was astonishingly clean. Not that it didn't use to be when I used to visit him, just that even after the murder which took place in his office itself, his office was so neat. I expected that the things would have been thrown here and there, shattered. And obviously the police couldn't have cleaned the mess, they were supposed to let the crime scene be as it was then." Rachel nodded as a gesture of agreement.