The Last Victim #JustWriteIt

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

Dawn dropped on her bed feeling apprehension washing over her. Things were changing fast now. Her bubbling feelings for Jay were coming harder than usual and she would spend hours thinking about him if given a chance to. But apart from that, she knew that the ghost girl was annoying her too. She had just spent over about an hour over the phone with Dr. Sophie, with no such answer. It was bothering her worse than ever. Plus she was sure her parents suspected something was wrong. She did not want to give her feelings away.

She walked into her balcony and sat down and the easy-chair kept there. The balcony offered an exotic view of the scene below. There was lush greenery, punctuated with soft sweet flower which scented the environment. Pausing to look at the nearby plants for a while, Dawn relaxed in her chair and gaped up at the sky. It was cloudy today, apparently the storm clouds of the night before had not completely left the skies.

She sighed and closed her eyes, trying to ease her troubled thoughts. She was tired. Last night, she had not been able to sleep, partly owing to the thundering clouds outside and partly due to the nightmares and disturbing dreams she kept on having. She had spent half the night, sitting up on her bed, hands wrapped around her knees to prevent shivering. She knew her problem was getting worse and this uncanny place was not helping at all. She took in a deep breath and once more, plunged in the pensive of scattered thoughts that lay in her mind.

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Carmela finished the song and opened her eyes. Excitement shone from them as she surveyed her silent, spellbound audience. They were gaping at her. She waited for a big round of applause but it never came. Then realizing after a moment, that the people were not looking at her but behind her, she turned around to see what held their attention. She was just in time to see Gazelle finish her dance move and stood arms wide, large smile on her face, beautiful gray eyes sparkling and face glowing, balanced on the tip of her red dancing shoes. There was a huge round of applause, people whistled and some stood on their places to cheer them on.

Carmela could not help but feel a pang of venomous envy rising in her heart which she could hardly stifle. Nobody clapped when she finished. Why did it always had to Gazelle who would steal away Carmela's praise too, along with her own? Subsiding a strong desire to strangle this dark haired beauty before her with difficulty, she managed a small smile and bow to the howling crowd.

The rest of the evening passed like a whirlpool of fuzzy images, which, Carmela found she could not recall even a few days after the function. All she remembered was that Gazelle got the award (a gold medal and certificate) for the best dancer in the competition. She knew there would be uproar in her town when they got back. She however, was not chosen for any prize, though she got a mouldy certificate for being a good singer while Eloise Carter from Miami, took the award for the best singer.

When she exited the theatre, with a bouncing gleeful Gazelle by her side, Carmela could not remember any other emotion. She felt immense hatred towards her. The fire of jealously, once alight in a mortal man did not die down until it had what it wanted. This was the case with Carmela too. Trying to make sure she did not let any of the emotion on her face, she moved all the way from Metropolitan to her town's edge in a cab, enduring what seemed an endless tirade of Gazelle's nonsense chatter. Not even paying attention to what she was saying, Carmela's eyes only burned with one strong desire..... What was it? She knew the answer now.