Strictly Mysterious

Chapter 11

~ 8th March 2020 ~

Tears fall down Luba's face as she sits alone in her flat. Katya not being around was one of the worst things that's ever happened to her - in fact, it's definitely the worst. Out of all that could've possibly happened, this is what everything has come to? It almost seems like a cruel trick of fate, if fate is even worth believing in anymore.

Every time Luba closes her eyes, Katya's the only person she can see; thinking about her is absolute torture and thinking about anything else is near impossible. No matter how hard she tries, Luba simply can't hack the situation - she's past the point of struggling to cope, she just isn't coping. When things were happy, Luba was always the person to look after Kat. Whenever someone commented something nasty on Katya's Instagram, or sent her a disgusting message on twitter, Luba cared about her and gave her all the comfort she needed. But now, it's Luba who needs that care and support, and the one person who can give it to her is gone.

As her mind drifts back to when Katya was with her, Luba tears up even more. Almost clear as day, she can recall the first time they kissed. After a fall in rehearsal, Katya was doing all she could look after her - a feeling she'd kill to have back. Even after the long hours of dancing, Katya still managed to look painfully beautiful, as she always did. Luba would do anything if it meant Kat would spontaneously turn up...

And Luba blames no one but herself.

Suddenly, a very angry knock at the door startles her. She goes over and opens it, and is even more startled when an angry-looking Neil storms past her, clenching his fists, a fire in his eyes. Whatever has gotten into him, Luba had to admit to being slightly scared - Neil had been amazing with her, trying to keep her sane through the most difficult time of her life - seeing him so aggressive was worrying. Plus, Luba was hypersensitive to anything confrontational nowadays.

"Neil..? Why are you-"
"Where's Katya?" He cuts her off, his tone very short.

Luba does a double take. What does he mean? Why on earth would he ask her that question?

"If I knew that, she'd be home by now." She reasons.
"What about her diary? What did that say?"
"Nothing telling us where she might be.."
"Is that because you ripped out all the pages?! Nadiya heard you in the bathroom, what the fuck are you hiding?"

Her eyes widening, Luba gulps. Neil's eyes were terrifying her, she'd never seem him look so intense. He was right - Luba had ripped out some pages from the diary, but she was too fearful to explain herself. After all, Neil's rage was making her freeze, and she's never been a good talker when she's upset. And at the moment, it's unlikely that she could ever be more upset.

"Neil, you're scaring me.." she whispers.
"Where's Katya?!" Neil screams.
"I don't know!!"

Luba takes a few deep breaths as Neil composes himself. The moment Nadiya told him about the pages, he saw red; he was barely able to make it through that day of rehearsals without exploding. Now, all of his built up anger was rushing out. Of course, he didn't necessarily want to frighten Luba - but if she was hiding anything from them, he's not so sure that he could ever forgive that. Especially if it turned out that Katya had found herself in any trouble.

"Look.. do you know anything about Katya that we don't?" He asks.
Luba stays frozen. "...no."
"Then why the hell would you rip out pages from her diary?"
"Because.. because I thought it would be easier to rip out the pages that didn't mean anything. So the only pages in her diary would be the useful ones.." Luba explains. "Unfortunately, it turned out that none of the pages were useful.. it was mostly about her outfits and fashion stuff."

Neil takes a big sigh; he feels awful. Obviously, he knows that Luba wouldn't do anything to jeopardise bringing Katya home - she's so visibly damaged by the whole situation, she potentially needs Kat to come back more than anybody else does. That's besides her family, of course. Sitting down on the sofa, Neil rests his head in his hands, beginning to well up also.

Granted, the last thing he wants to do is make Luba out to be a villain, but maybe things would be easier if he had someone to blame. All of his love was going out to wherever Katya was; all of his compassion was going out to her family; all of his tears were landing on his pillow; but his anger couldn't go towards anything, so it's the only emotion weighing on his mind. Dealing with sadness is one thing, you can talk about it and people tend to look after you. But talking about anger is different, people are instantly weary of you and, ironically, it only makes him more angry.

"I'm sorry Luba.. "
Luba sits down next to him, placing her hand onto his back. "It's not your fault.. I know it sounds suspicious.."
"I should've known that you'd never hurt Katya.."

Luba's stomach flips. Hurt Katya... those aren't the words she wanted to hear. Nothing felt right without Kat there, the world was on a horrible tilt and no one knew what to do. Who would know what to do? In theory, the police should, but they aren't exactly helping. If only they had a lead, at least something to work towards. The diary was potentially their last hope.. what if nothing else was going to help..?

"I.. I'll go, I'm sorry.." Neil apologises again before standing up. "Where's the diary now..?"
"I uh.. I handed it into to the police.. I doubt it'll get us anywhere but it was worth a shot.."
"Okay.. thank you Luba.. I am sorry."

Giving her a quick peck on the cheek before leaving, Neil walks out of the door as he continues to tear up.

Once he was gone, Luba slouches down into her sofa and cries to herself. Undoubtedly, she's self destructing, nothing in the world could comfort her besides Katya being next to her.

The world really is cruel, and the only way Luba knows how to process that is through crying her sorrows away. But with that being said.. they've never gone away at all.