Natalie Farewell

Milly Curlingstone

Chapter 8~~ Milly Curlingstone

"Here. Grab a seat and I will be with you in a second," said Chris, he shot a smile before he turned and went around the corner.

Natalie was sitting in the back of the surf shop. Looking around, she saw many files neatly arranged on wooden, clearly homemade, shelves. She was sitting in an antique rocking chair that was placed in the corner of the small room.

She looked upwards lost in thought. Why, after dumping her in a basement and treating her with so much disrespect, would the man with the balaclava ask his assistants not to be too rough with Nat? How did he know her family so well? What was so important with her mother's necklace? She took a sip of the iced water she received when she was first led to the surf shop. She felt a sharp ache in her head, rubbing at her temples and eye lids with her fingers. She thought of her school bag and her sketch pad that the people had taken from her. Was she going to get it back?

Beside her, a glass-top desk sat and ran along the wall and stopped before the opening Chris had just walked out of. On the left of her, there was a cork board with many notices and many photos. She stood up to look at them, feeling nosy, but knew she couldn't help herself. All of them were classic photos of Chris's family. One of them had Chris in the middle as a child, a young female toddler holding his hand and, what looked like, his parents on the other side of him. She saw beach blonde hair on every single member of the family. Behind them was a beautiful green field with huge trees in the distance as well as a small house on the right of a picture.

Another picture caught her eye and she saw Chris at the beach, surfboard under his arm, and a girl by his side. She had beautiful sandy curly hair and a perfect blue triangle bikini. The sun shone over their faces causing them to squint.

Is that his girlfriend? Natalie thought to herself. She traced her fingers over the photo looking at it with curious eyes...

"That's Milly."

Natalie, clearly startled, snapped her arm back down to her side and felt her cheeks flutter rosy red.

"She was stunning wasn't she?" he said, not realising her embarrassment and handing her the ice pack. She gave him a nod to thank him. Nat hesitated.

"Yes." Nat paused, still looking at the photo. "What do you mean by 'was'?" She heard him take in a sharp breath and swallow hard.

"A few months after that photo was taken, which was about a year back, Milly was basically at the wrong place at the wrong time," he paused staring off into the distance, as though his mind took him back into the past, "What happened to her was horrible and she was just an innocent pedestrian. A man came up to her in a busy street and," he hesitated for the second time,"threw acid over her face and down her chest."

The colour flushed from Natalie's face and she couldn't help the tears coming to her eyes. She noticed Chris was the same. What happened next surprised both Chris and Natalie. She threw her arms around him with a comforting hug and pulled away when she realised how strange it was.

"I'm sorry," Nat said,"about your girlfriend. Is she alright now?"

"Milly isn't my girlfriend, we are close friends, although she wishes," he smirked a little, "and yeah she is doing fine. She stays at her parents place and she..." his face showed that he drifted off into his thoughts, like Nat did all the time. She just realised maybe she was invading his personal life, especially as she only just met the guy.

"Sorry," she said, "for so many questions."

"No, that's fine," he snapped out of thought and fixed his focus on Nat, "and are you alright?"

She just realised how terrible she must look and lifted the ice pack up to her lips letting it cool her face. "I'm sure I will be fine," she replied, although there was an edge to her voice.

"I should get going," said Natalie,"I need to head home and explain to my mum where I have been and..." suddenly she remembered Henry. She brought her hand to her mouth with wide eyes. How could she forget Henry? All the images ran through her mind of the last time they talked. His voice rang through her head, making her slightly nauseous.

'Is he free like the man said?' She thought to herself. Her heart beat quickened.

"Do you want to use the phone?" Chris asked her with a pleasant tone. Nat raised her head and looked at his face.

"Yes," she replied gratefully. "Thank you so so much!"

Natalie followed Chris out of the room towards the telephone held by the counter of the surf shop on Dashing Street.