Revenge

Chapter 3 - Warning

Justin was standing where the two staircases leading down to the main room connected. Typical. Of course, he wouldn't enter through the main entrance like the rest of the town because he considered himself better than everyone else. He was glancing down at the crowd with a smug expression on his face, like everyone was supposed to bow down when he entered. To me he was the second most disgusting person I ever came across. He was very cunning, but no one noticed because he completely masked it with his charm. The town's people adored him and constantly praised him and how he helped his father run the town. I always thought it was all pretence. They weren't really blinded, but rather hiding behind his arrogance and selfishness because they themselves were too afraid to show their true nature. They were nobodies after all and would easily be condemned by society. Justin on the other hand was powerful and considered much higher in the society rank.

Justin made his way down the stairs, his posture pencil straight, nose held high walking directly towards me, a sly smile spreading across his face. "Riley! Beautiful as always. How are you this evening?" came his deep voice shamelessly flirting with me. He looked to my right where Jessica still stood and simply nodded with a curt "Jessica" acknowledging her presence. "I'm very well and thank you for the lovely compliment, although don't you think Jessica is just outshining everyone here tonight. She's beautiful" I stated waving off his comment. He raised his eyebrows and he's brown eyes turned so dark it almost looked black. Oops! Prince Charming looked angry...

Jessica's POV

Why'd she always have to bring me into this. I didn't even bother commenting because I knew I would only give her leverage to take the attention off herself and aim it towards me. Justin looked furious and I was avoiding his gaze like my life depended on it and for all I know it could be. I don't trust him. He was a very powerful man and seem to have developed a bad reputation from it. The town's people, of course didn't believe any rumours about him and hushed it up as best they could, but there was something off about him. He turned towards me adjusting the blazer of his black slim fit suit, a bit too slim for a 35-year-old man, and I could feel his cold gaze when he replied to Riley's comment dryly "Of course. Isn't Mark a lucky man..." I could feel the hair at the back of my neck stand up as he continued to stare at me. I started to feel uncomfortable and was relieved when I felt Riley take my hand as she steered me in the opposite direction shouting back over her shoulder "I'm sorry but Mark must be waiting. Enjoy the evening..." and hastily disappear between the crowd.

I waited until I couldn't see an inch of his black hair over the crowds until I whispered to Riley "I don't like him one bit". "I don't either. I just want to..." Riley said stopping halfway through her sentence frustrated and very upset. She looked like she was about to turn back and murder him on the spot which was understandable because the guy wouldn't leave her alone.

Justin was obsessed with her ever since she moved here about a year back. He sent her flowers and made flirty comments whenever he ran into her which was harmless at first until he started renovating her house without her permission. How he even had access to her apartment was a mystery. Since Riley had very few furniture and decorations in her apartment, Justin thought she couldn't afford it and wanted to buy her over by renovating her house. It backfired badly on him though. Riley was furious and banned him from setting foot near her apartment again. Riley never had company over. Even I who had become very close to her had only been there once and noticed how empty her house was. It was curious how she had everything she needed like a bed, living room suite, washer and dryer and other basic things which I assumed she brought with her from where she lived before as she didn't work. She didn't have pictures of any relatives or even parents for that matter and she didn't talk about herself much. It was a bit of a touchy subject for her and I didn't want to push. She was a mystery but loved by all nonetheless. I quickly turned around to see if Mark was somewhere nearby when everything went dark. Loud whispers started to erupt from all around the room as people began to grow curious about the sudden darkness. We had never experienced any power outages in our town and as far as everyone knew there was no special show planned, that would require a quick display of darkness, for the evening. I was frantically whisper shouting Riley's name trying to find out exactly where she was standing because I had my back turned to her when the power went out. When I didn't hear a reply, I started to move around trying to find her as I assumed she probably started walking around trying to find me.

Suddenly the whispers died out and it became deadly quiet. At first I thought everyone quieted down in the hopes that someone would perhaps speak up and take charge. It was a bit farfetched to expect an entire room full of people to be quiet when everyone must still be trying to find their partners and friends, but I needed something to calm my heart which was beating out of my chest. Then I noticed that I wasn't bumping into anyone any more. In fact, I was completely alone. I stretched out my arms to make sure no one was near me and even shouted "can anyone hear me!" in a hushed tone because honestly, I was a bit scared now and it felt like if I made any sudden movements or shout too loudly I might attract someone or, what I was really fearing, something lurking around. I was just beginning to feel silly when I felt a light breeze, as if someone abruptly moved behind me, confirming my deepest fear that someone, or something was behind me, something unnatural and for a moment I couldn't move, afraid of what I may find if I turned around. I could hear my heartbeat accelerating loudly and frantically in my chest and every hair on my body stood up. I was breaking into a cold sweat as the room started to turn colder. I opened my mouth as I was slowly starting to turn around to speak, eyes fully shut, when a voice shouted "Leave, leave now!" and my whole body froze.