Guilty In Love ✔

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

  Quote of the day : You run, your fears keeps on following you, you stand to face your fears, you are gonna realize how strong you are by the end of the day.

    "Nora, I'm going over to the restroom," Ashley said getting up from the uncomfortable seat and picked up her purse. She had been seated there for almost an hour, while watching Nora and the store attendants go through series of clothes. She hated shopping, but she couldn't have said no to Nora, and moreover this was the only form of fun she could have since Chloe and Greg are both at work.

     "Okay be quick," Nora said not even sparing a glance at her. She started walking but stopped when she felt two footsteps following her. She turned back to behold one of the two bulky men that had been following her and Nora all day. She wanted to pull her hair out at seeing the guy, she had told Greg that it wasn't necessary to have bodyguards follow them about, but no, he wouldn't listen.

     "I'm just going over to the restroom," she said quietly.

      "Boss asked us to follow wherever you are going to," he deadpanned with that permanent scowl on his face. Its not like she had seen any of them smile, the two guys look a lot alike. They are actually brothers, the only difference was in their hair. One had blond hair, while the other had a dark hair, the one following her was the dark haired guy. They both had blue eyes, and they were both huge, they were all muscles and height.

      "Okay," she scoffed and continued walking with him closely behind her.

    When she got to the front of the ladies restroom, she turned back to face him with a scowl. "Are you going to follow me in?"

      "No, I will wait for you right here," he said still with his perfect scowl.

     "Do you have a name?" Ashley asked out of the blue. It was random, but she didn't like staying around people that she didn't know their names.

    "Of course yes," he said bluntly.

    "So, what is it? Your name?" She asked which resulted in a groan from him.

     "Cade."

      "Your brother's?"

    He groaned again. "Gage."

    "Okay Cade, I will be back," she said walking into the restroom. She went over to ease herself, once she was done and out she stood facing the mirror. She stared at her reflection and couldn't help the number of thoughts that went through her head.

   She wanted to get away from everything. She stared down at her left arm that was wrapped safely in the 'short arm cast,' she thought of the man that made it so, and she thought of what more he would do to her. He hadn't done anything lately. Maybe it was because she was in Greg's house, and maybe he wanted to stay low because of the police.

    She was scared all the same, she knew he had to be planning something. Her father was always planning even when he seemed not to be doing anything.

   She decided that what she needed now was a person to talk. A person who knew all about her misdeeds, a person who wouldn't judge, and that person was in the church. The priest.

     The church wasn't too far from here, she only needs to take a taxi and she would be there. One thing, she needed to go alone, how was she going to ditch Cade, and Nora. Thank goodness that her purse was with her, but then how will she evade Cade.

    There was no jumping for her, she had a broken wrist. Just as she was still pondering over this, an elderly woman came in hurriedly. The woman pulled off her brown trench coat and her scarf, she placed it on one of the mirror stall, then went into one of the toilets. A thought flashed through her mind.

  Ashley told herself not to but she couldn't help it, she did, sanity was more important than conscience to her right now. A few minutes later, she walked out of the restroom cladded in the trench coat and scarf. She walked past Cade gently who gave her a scrutinizing look, once she was out of the store she was finally able to breath.

    As she hailed a taxi, the only thoughts in her mind was the fact that she had done this before, wore somebody else's clothe to disguise. With these thoughts in her mind, she couldn't help but hate herself even more.

   "St. Mathews church," she said sharply.

   Her heart kept on tightening harder as she drew closer to the church, the memories she had being trying hard to push away kept on coming forward. She needed relieve badly. Immediately the  taxi pulled over at St. Mathews church she got down hurriedly after paying the fare.

  She walked into the church carefully, she knew she was safe there, no one could find her there, she needed peace even if it was going to be short lived. Her father wouldn't be able to find her also, even if he had been following her before, she felt he had been following her and Nora, thanks to the trench coat and the scarf, she was thankful and sorry towards the elderly lady.

  Ashley walked over to the confessional that she was now familiar with. The confessional was the modern type, it had two doors, one at the back from where the priest would come in, and another at the side which she didn't know the purpose of. There was also a step at the front where penitents would kneel on. It seemed like she was the first person there today as the church was quiet.  She knelt down on the step and tapped lightly on the wooden material, once she felt that a person had taken a seat at the other side she started talking.

      "Bless me father, for I have sinned. It has been a month since my last confession," she recited the normal prayer with a croaky voice.

      "It is you my daughter," she heard the now familiar priest voice say. She wondered how he could tell that she was the one. "Your voice is a lot more sadder and heavier than it sounded before, you seem to have a lot more in your mind now. This means you still haven't confessed yet to the one you wronged."

     "No, I haven't, I can't, its hard... Its so..."

     "It is, it must be. What you have committed my dear is a gravely sin, but as I said before, no sin is too big that the lord wouldn't forgive. He is a merciful God."

      "God is merciful, but humans aren't," she said thinking of what Greg would possibly do to her when he finds out.

      "Confessing and taking up the blame for what you did is something you will have to eventually do. Do remember that it is not only your life that was affected by what you did, there are four different lives involved in this."

     "I know," she said breaking into a sob. She heard the sound of a door opening at the other side, she wondered if the priest had decided to leave her kneeling there.

   She wanted to stand up too when she didn't hear any sound from inside the confessional for about five minutes, but she stopped when suddenly the side door flew open. She peered over to see who it was that opened the door, she saw the back view of the priest, he was in a white cloak. She began to wonder why the priest would come out of the confessional.

  She wondered no more when she saw the priest fall down flat on the floor, back first into a pull of his own blood. She stared in horror at the sight before her. The priest throat had been slashed opened with a knife. Blood was gushing out of the open wound, his white robe was now blood red. His eyes was wide open, but there was no fear in his eyes, she could tell that he didn't die a scared man.

   She began to hyperventilate when she realized the possibility that someone else was in the church with her, and that someone else must have killed the priest.

   Ashley moved away from the ghastly sight, crawling slowly, she was too weak to stand up. She stopped moving when she saw legs cladded in black boots stepping out of the confessional, she looked up gently, what she saw first was a short knife dripping with blood, the blood of the priest. She looked up further and came face to face with her worst nightmare. Before she could think of reacting his hand went around her face and she drifted off into oblivion.

    

     Chapter thirty nine.
Mary Aden.