Ocean Depth 2021 ……
3:30pm …Janelle.I knelt by the side of my mother’s bed in the hospital ward, my fingers entwined by her side supporting my chin as I let tears roll freely down my face.Three months ago if someone had told me that I would be in an hospital in this exact position, hoping and praying that my mother doesn’t die because of lack of money, I would have laughed it off and called the person drunk.But here I am, my face a crying mess by the side of my dying mother’s bed.My phone began to ring, I sniffled in deeply, wiped my face and stood up, I walked a little bit away from her and picked up the call.“Diane,” I muttered as soon as I picked up the call.“There was another attack from these ridiculous Mafia guys yesternight, you’re in charge Janelle! How come you’re never here!” Diane retorted at the other end of the phone.My grip on the phone tightened and in the spur of that moment I felt like calling quit and telling her to leave me the hell alone, but I knew I definitely couldn’t do that.There was no hope that my Dad’s company would go back to normal and I would need my job to survive.“I’m sorry, I’ll be there tomorrow morning unfailingly” I replied calmly as against my frustrations, the line began to beep signalling that Diane had ended the call .I exhaled deeply, slowly tucked my phone in my back pocket, I took slow steady strides back to my mother’s bed, sat by her side and gently patted her hair.Her eyes slowly fluttered open and she looked up at me, my heart broke all over again, she feebly reached out and placed her hands on my cheeks using her thumb to caress it slowly.She has been on this hospital bed for two months and those two months has been draining for all of us, especially financially.“Don’t cry darling,” She tried to reassure but her attempt to comfort me seemed to make my heart ache more, her face looked pale and white like a ghost, unlike the usual lively and bubbly mother I know.“Janelle dear, we know that all things work together for good for that love him,” she added in a whisper, I nodded with shaky breath as I gently grabbed her hands and held it tightly in my hands.“Yes, yes, I know,” I whispered shaking my head continuously.I gently let go of her hands and placed my hands in her head caressing it slowly, at this point I need to act really fast, my mind began to wander to which friend I actually have that would borrow me the money I need in the next twenty four hours.But reality was that I was the rich friend in my circle and it would be difficult for any of them to come up with that money in twenty hours.“Peter,” I whispered as I gently took out my phone from my pocket,“Yes, yes Peter!”-“Babes, please I need your help”- I typed and clicked send immediately.Peter was my boyfriend, we have been dating for one year now with marriage in mind, he is the perfect person to help me now that everything is going south.-“Drop by the house, I need to speak to you also,”- he texted back almost immediately, I wanted to worry about what it is that he wanted to tell me, but I just knew he probably wanted to complain how distant I’ve been these past week, I just want my mother to be okay that’s all.Just then the door flung open and my father walked in, I turned off my phone screen and placed it in my pocket immediately as I turned back and walked back to my parents.“Still Dead ends,But I’m sure we’ll find something soon!” My Dad muttered as he leaned in closer to Mom and placed a small kiss on her forehead.“You’re going to be just fine sweetheart,”I stepped back folding my hands across my chest and stared at them, just fine?! How?! When?! The way it looked we are far from being fine and if I don’t hurry up and speak to Peter about the money, we very much won’t be fine.The doctor says that we have to perform a surgery within the next two days or she may not survive it and they still think we would be just fine?! How?!My parents actually own a big and thriving chains of hotels in the heart of the town, and in other locations in the country.But very rencently Dad made a bad investment and he was scammed of a whole lot of money.Sales and daily income dropped drastically, we fought and fought to stand but ended up being overthrown by the new guest house, suddenly everything changed, bills piled, debts piled.Asides the fact that we are trying to settle mother’s bill, debtors are breathing down our necks, and my salary as an Investigative Journalist did nothing in all these ocean of debts.“Dad, I…” I began, but my statement got cut off as Mom suddenly began to cough.“Take it easy” Dad said and he gently patted her back, but the cough suddenly became persistent, she grabbed her chest and blood began to come out of her nostrils as she coughed.My eyes widened in horror, I just stood still there completely lost on what to do, beads of sweats formed on my forehead as hot tears fell off my face.“Get the doctor!” Dad yelled, he raised her and placed her on his laps, I dashed out through the door immediately yelling my mind all over the place.“Mom!” I yelled but a nurse pulled me back and held me down, preventing me from following them any further..One hour Later ….I exhaled deeply as I stood in front of Peter’s Mansion, this was the best thing to do, this was the best thing I do, I thought as I made my way into the house.Immediately I got to the entrance I took out the access card that he had given to me and walked into the house.The living room was empty, but i didn’t stop, I made my way up towards his room.Right now I just wanted to fall into his arms and have him comfort me, I really need that, as I drew closer to the room I sensed something off but I really couldn’t place it.I heard sound coming from his room and the closer I got to his room the clearer I could hear the sounds, my grip on my bag tightened as I swallowed hard, slapping of flesh, whisperings, Moanings.Wait what ?! Moaning?!“You’re head over heels for me, only someone as Gullible as Janelle can’t see that,” A distinct feminine voice said and I could recognize it clearly.“No no,” I muttered shaking my my head repeatedly, with shaky hands I reached for the door knob and pushed the door open, my ears weren’t actually deceiving, I tried not admit it but the person my Fiancé was screwing Mercilessly was my best friend, my already broken heart dropped to the ground all over again.The tears I tried so hard to stop on my way here began to pour out again, more fiercely this time, I tried to stop crying in front of them but it just wasn’t working.His lousy promises echoed in my head as I stared at the both of them pleasure each other, still oblivious of my presence. How can he chose to hurt me this way, all I ever did was to love him and now this?!, it was more than infidelity now, this is my best friend involved deepening the pain.“Angela,” I whispered biting my lips to prevent myself from crying shamelessly in front of them as I pushed the door further and stepped in.The smell of their sweat and other bodily fluid filled the air and I wrinkled up my nose in disgust.“Janelle?!” Angela gasped in shock like she wasn’t expecting to see me here, wasn’t this their plan?! she pushed Peter off her, he had a small unremorseful smirk at the corner of his lips and it is very obvious that this was a carefully planned action from his end.A small streak of tears rolled
My eyes flung open wider as I sat up on the chair, my hands unconsciously reached for my eyes and I rubbed it slowly, I peered back into my phone partially expecting that it was just an hallucination, maybe I prayed too much for a miracle and now I’m starting to see things, my gaze hit my phone again and the message was still there, as boldly as ever.Without trying to draw my dad’s attention, I gently stood up from the chair and made my way outside, where exactly could this message come from, I haven’t told anyone of our desperate need for money asides Peter and Angela, or could it be one of them?! I couldn’t help but think of the possibility but I discarded it almost immediately, with what I saw and heard earlier, they definitely can’t be the one to help.As I made the way down the stairs, the more I thought about the text, the more baffled I became, why would a stranger want to help me in return for marriage, why me?! I know it’s common practice among rich people to find people w
Janelle.Next day …..8:00am ….I slowly walked into my office expecting the very worst, nobody suddenly ghosts work like that despite several calls from the big boss herself and goes scot free.My grip on my handbag tightened as I took further steps into the office, Every other staff greeted me excitedly, clearly happy to see me again after a long while, I forced a smile in return also, but nobody was really saying what I wanted to hear, would I lose my job or not?!.After the whole pleasantries with them I slowly turned around and made my way towards Diane’s office, as I approached her office, my heart was beating out of my chest but I still managed to hold my self in place. As soon as I got to her office, I placed a small knock on her door before pushing the door open and walking in.She was seated behind her laptop, her gaze slowly shifted from the laptop as she looked up at the door, I gently closed the door and took slow cautionary steps towards her, as soon as she saw it was m
"Either I'm incredibly fascinating or there's something on my face - care to share which one it is?" I heard his voice again, this time more cool and smooth.I held my lips close as I rolled my eyes, turned around and walked back to the small platform infront of the mirror.It was the very rude guy I bumped into at the hospital, even if I couldn’t recognize his face very well, his voice isn’t something I would forget in an hurry, although I remember his face quite well.“Are you stalking me?!” I asked as I stood on the platform and the lady attending to me came to adjust the dress on my body as usual, I lifted my gaze and looked at him through the window, the corner of his lips was curled in a small smile.“You look like you could use my help and some company,” He said, I rolled my eyes to the back of my head as I turned to look at the lady, she was now done and she stood back to hear my thoughts about the gown.“Is this how you allow strangers walk in on your customers rudely?!” I a
Saturday Morning Court Wedding day …Janelle.“Your man is here,” The makeup artist said to me with a beaming smile, I looked up at her a small smile at the corner of my lips trying to be Atleast half as excited as she was, as I should be, ofcourse it was my wedding day.She held my hands and assisted me with standing up, I flashed her a small smile trying to get a grip on myself, my man is here?! If only she knew that I had never set eyes on my man, I didn’t even know his name.I scoffed inwardly as I began to take slow and steady stride out of the room, I really couldn’t wait to see what manner of guy he was, she helped pick up the extension on my dress behind me as I walked out of the hotel room he lodged me in, My heartbeat accelerated as I walked into the elevator and we began our journey down, as soon as we got to the ground floor the door went open and I saw him, immediately I set my eyes on a man standing in the lobby facing the other way, I just knew it was him, he was very
“You know him?!” Adil asked turning to look at me, I nodded slowly my gaze still fixed on Enzo as he approached us.“Kind of,” I added in a whisper, immediately Enzo got to where we were his smile deepened as he stared at me.“Meant to be, is it not?!” He muttered his gaze fixed on me, as we stared at each other, Adil cleared his throat in an attempt to stop the intense staring, Enzo’s smile suddenly changed to a taunting one as he turned to look at Adil.“How does she look?! Does she look beautiful in the dress I chose for her?!” He asked, Adil’s eyes dimmed as he stared at him, I could feel anger oozing out of his members.“I know you to be emotionless about a lot of things, but leaving your wife to shop for her wedding dress alone?! That’s the peak!” He added, Adil’s nose flared and he suddenly step forward and closed the distance between them.“You have no right to speak to me like that! And stay the hell away from my wife,” Adil growled,“Ohh, you actually don’t feed me, so you
Adil.My grip on the steering tightened as I drove to the office.Never have I seen someone asides me stare at Tehilla so tenderly, it’s part of the reason I never hired a stay at home nanny for her and I took pain to bring her up myself, because I just felt like nobody would actually look after her the way I would.But with Janelle it was different, they might be strangers to each other but I just had a deep feeling of security, that my daughter was safe with her.The image of the both of them together earlier flashed through my eyes again, I felt bad for lying to her, but I still choose to take care of that in the future.My Phone began to ring, rudely intercepting my thoughts, I diverted my gaze to the phone holder in front of me, it was the only person I’ve had as a friend almost all my life, I gently swiped on the receiver and his voice came through.“Is this how we do it now?! You had a wedding and failed to invite me for it,” he said, I rolled my eyes to the back of my head as
Janelle.“Bella, I need you to look into this message that I got,” I muttered as forwarded the message and all of it details to her, she nodded slowly as her IPad beeped signalling that she had received the message.“I’m very aware that it would be a burner account, but there should be more, I need you to look into it very well, take your time please,” I said to her and she nodded slowly, I gently stood up from my seat walked up to the murderboard and pulled it out, I used a thumb pin to hold the printed copy of the message to the board, I turned to look at the rest of the team and I began my observation.We are four in number, including myself and It was our first team meeting after the whole drama that happened with my life, and if there’s no future cases of anymore drama, I’m back fully!.“They actually use market bombings to actually perpetrate bigger attrocities,” I muttered as I picked up my pencil, she nodded slowly staring at me with rapt attention, I pointed towards the board