Life, Death, and Strange Encounters

I woke up the next morning, having completely forgotten the events of last night. While I was taking a shower, it suddenly came back to me. I felt a cold jolt go through my stomach. Thoughts started running through my head at the speed of light, trying to arrange themselves into a coherent flow but failing miserably. What should I do? Should I confront him and ask him about it or should I just see if he would take on the topic himself?

Realizing that there really was very little I could do at that point, I decided to just see what Isaac thinks. I didn’t want to risk being totally embarrassed if he didn’t remember last night at all – the amount of alcohol he consumed certainly made that a possibility. If he did remember, I was sure that he would tell me. People are often bolder when drunk. Of course, I admitted that there was a small chance that he had just acted under the influence of alcohol, but I chose to ignore it for my sanity’s sake. My feelings were taking a toll on me and unfortunately, there was nothing I could do to stop liking him so much. The feelings had come over me like an explosion and although I was trying to tell myself that it was reckless and too early, I couldn’t make them disappear.

When I was finished with my morning routine, I headed off to eat breakfast. That was the moment I’d been dreading – seeing him. I opened the door to the dining room and saw him, Jane and Lucy, not to mention a few other people, already seated at the table. Isaac jumped up when he saw me coming. He seemed to be in a very happy mood and I could see he was genuinely joyous, not faking it. I put on a forced smile when I made my way towards the table. Isaac even pulled out a chair for me, so that I would be seated next to him on his right hand.

“Why are you so happy?” I whispered.

He smiled. “No reason. I’m just feeling extremely good.”

I nodded and tried to smile, so that he would not think something was wrong, but inside I was crushed. He didn’t remember anything, I was sure now. He would have made a small remark about it if he had any recollection of the events that had unfolded the night before.

During breakfast, Isaac was deep in conversation with a guy who sat across from him. I was silently trying to get Lucy’s attention who was sitting on Isaac’s left hand. I leaned on the back of the chair, so that I had a clear view of Lucy, since Isaac had leaned on the table while talking. I was subtly waving my hands in her direction and glaring at her intensely, so that she would feel my gaze and look up. She didn’t notice and I was forced to use my voice. I didn’t really want Isaac to hear but I didn’t have a choice. Where was the best friend-psychic bond when you needed it the most?

“Lucy!”

“What?”

“I need to talk to you when you’ve finished. It’s important.” She looked at me with questioning eyes. I looked pointedly at Isaac.

She nodded and said “I’m ready, let’s go.” I chuckled but followed her as we rose from our seats and made our way to my room.

Lucy sat on my bed and motioned for me to sit next to her. I just flung myself on the bed and put my head in her lap. When we needed some advice from each other or just had problems we needed to discuss we always sat like that. It made us feel safe.

“Honey, what’s wrong?” Lucy started to stroke my hair softly. I hadn’t even noticed I’d started crying.

“Do you remember what happened last night?”

I could feel her stare down at me. “Well, I remember playing truth or dare and I had to walk with my eyes closed… But after that everything’s blurry. I don’t really remember what happened then but somehow I woke up in Damien’s bed…”

My smile was watery. “You dared me to kiss Isaac.”

Lucy was utterly shocked. “I did? I’m sorry! I’m so stupid when I’m drunk. What happened?”

I sniffed. “Well, we did kiss and it turned into a make out session and then I told you guys I was tired and wanted to go to sleep and he offered to accompany me and then he kissed me again and said I was beautiful and-“

Lucy chuckled. “Slow down, darling.”

“Well… That’s about it, really. I woke up this morning, wondering if he would remember. but the way he acted at breakfast indicated that he was completely oblivious.”

My best friend sighed. “I don’t know what to say... Just wait and see. Last night was proof of his feelings towards you, don’t you think?”

I groaned. “I don’t know. Might have been a drunken mistake.”

“I don’t think so. But I’m telling you, let’s just wait and see what happens,” she said with the gentlest voice, trying to soothe my agony.

Sighing, I climbed under the covers. “I just want to sleep. Could you leave me, please, honey?”

She nodded. “Sure, I’ll come by later and see how you’re doing, okay?”

“Okay.”

Lucy stood up and left the room, closing the door behind her. Normally, I would have stood up and locked the door to be sure no one bothered me, but I was too tired and too depressed. Luckily, sleep came quickly and I soon forgot everything that had happened.

After a few hours had passed, I was gently awakened by a voice whispering into my ear. “Darling, wake up.”

I opened my eyes and squinted in the light. “Yes?” I croaked.

Isaac gave me a sympathetic smile. “How are you doing? Lucy told me you weren’t feeling well.”

I sighed and decided to play along with it. It was a good excuse. “Yeah, I have a terrible headache. I think I will stay in bed for the day and try to sleep it off.”

He nodded and stroked my cheek. “Sure thing, love. I’ll tell everyone not to bother you. But if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask.”

I smiled at him. He stood up and pulled the covers tightly over me, then left the room. With nothing better to do, I closed my eyes again and drifted off.

When I awoke the next time, it was dark outside. Had I only slept for a few hours until the evening? Somehow it seemed that I had slept much longer. I decided to go and find Lucy. The sleep had numbed the sadness in me a bit, but not completely.

I looked at my clothes that were wrinkled from sleeping in them. Frowning, I decided to change into my pyjamas that consisted of a black tank top and red silk pyjama bottoms. I combed my hair and pulled them into a messy bun.

Deciding to check if Lucy was in her room, I crossed the corridor and knocked on her door. She was there, fortunately and very surprised, but happy to see me.

“Darling! You’re up!” She beamed.

I nodded. “How long was I asleep?”

She chuckled. “You slept for the whole day yesterday and today, also. It’s already evening. Isaac had to go to London this morning, he’ll be back tomorrow. He told me to keep an eye on you. He seemed really worried about you.”

I sighed. “We’ll, that’s better than if he just didn’t give a fuck about me.”

Lucy frowned. “Don’t give up, I told you! Let’s wait and see what happens. Maybe he’s just as scared as you are?”

Shrugging, I told her I’d go back to sleep since Isaac wasn’t around and I still felt deprived of energy. She hugged me and told me to stop worrying too much. It was good advice, undoubtedly, but also very hard to achieve.

By next morning, it was quite evident that I couldn’t stay in bed any longer. I decided to face and accept the problem instead of just being depressed because of it. Sleep had cleared my mind and made me open to other ideas. Maybe Lucy was right? Maybe Isaac was just as scared as I was to confront the other about the events? I was desperately waiting for him to say something, but it was quite a big possibility that he was doing the exact same thing. I decided to just give him small hints and see where it goes from there. We hadn’t known each other for a long time. Maybe waiting a bit was the best thing to do, getting to know each other a little better. Rushing things might have had complications later on.

I was coming to terms with these thoughts as I was doing my morning routine. Soon I was ready to go hunt for food. My stomach was growling quite loudly, since I hadn’t actually eaten for two days. Who knew sleeping could make a person so hungry?

I didn’t make it further than the hallway, where I bumped into Isaac. He was more than happy to see me, or that’s what it seemed like. To be honest, I’d missed him for the two days I didn’t see him. Even my dreams were mostly of him, but I couldn’t remember them anymore. He smiled one of his heartbreakingly beautiful smiles and hugged me so tightly I thought I might suffocate.

“Uh… Need air…”

He let go of me, chuckling. “Sorry, love, I forgot you women are so fragile. How are you feeling? Is everything alright? I was worried about you, you know! When Lucy said you weren’t feeling well and wanted to sleep, I was really sad that you had fallen ill, especially because I had to go to London and couldn’t be with you. But I’m glad to see you’re okay now. I can’t let my favourite guest feel ill!”

I smiled at him. “Well, I’m moved that you were so worried about me, but I’m quite okay now, trust me. Your favourite guest hasn’t eaten for almost two days, let’s go and get some breakfast, why don’t we?”

My charming companion grinned and took my hand in his. We had just reached the end of the staircase, when my mobile phone rang. I had forgotten it was in my jacket pocket. I flipped it open and looked at the caller ID. It was Jonathan!

I stared at the ringing phone in shock for a few moments, before I remembered I was supposed to answer it.

“Hello?”

I was greeted by a velvety voice, smooth and melodic, but not as charming as Isaac’s. “Hello, Johanna. I heard you were in England, staying with my darling brother. Why didn’t you tell me you were planning on visiting?”

I shuttered. “I… Uh, to be honest, I kind of forgot.”

He chuckled. “I figured that much. But why don’t you tell my dear brother that I’ll be joining you in about… 5 minutes.”

“Really? You’re coming here?”

“Yes. See you in a few, darling. Come and meet me by the front door.” With that, he hung up. Strange man, why did he want to meet me? I didn’t think we were such good friends. Actually, I didn’t really like him, his appearance reminded me too much of Isaac, but his character was completely different and that was rather creepy at times. But… if he wanted me to meet him, I’d go.

Isaac had been patiently waiting for me to end the conversation, but now he seemed a bit worried. “Who called you? Who’s coming here?”

I smiled at him. “Don’t worry - it’s only your brother.”

…For some reason it seemed to make things worse. Isaac went really pale, even paler than usual, and stared at me with wide eyes. In a few moments, he snapped out of it.

“Um, I need to go talk to Damien. Would you be so kind and excuse me?”

I nodded. “Sure, I need to go meet Jonathan anyway.”

He gave me a small smile and raced back upstairs, probably going to look for Damien in his room. I walked through the lobby and stopped a few metres before the front door. In a few minutes, none other than Jonathan burst in. I was surprised to see that he didn’t have any luggage with him. It seemed that he was just visiting for a little while.

He came straight at me and put his arms around me in a long, tight hug. Since when was I such a good friend of his? I was starting to feel weird and tried to pull away. Fortunately, he got the point and let go of me.

“Hello, my darling.” I had already forgotten that look in his eyes and that ever present cocky smirk on his lips. Why did he give me such a weird feeling? Sure, I didn’t like any guy who was stuck up and full of himself, but Jonathan gave off a different vibe in addition to the usual cockiness. I didn’t trust him. The feeling he gave me was a bad one. Of course, I tried not to show it and smiled back.

“Hi! So, why did you come?”

He smirked. “I wanted to see you, darling.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Why? Don’t you have other girls to see?”

He chuckled. “Are you jealous? But don’t worry, you are special. They don’t mean anything to me, but you… You give me a new feeling.”

I mentally shuddered. “Uh, well… Great?”

He started to come closer to me and I instinctively started walking backwards. He reached out his hand and stroked my cheek. “What do you think love, would you go out with me?”

I was frozen into place. What game was he playing now? “I- I…”

Thankfully, Isaac appeared next to me, glaring at Jonathan. “What’s going on here?”

Jonathan sneered. “Why hello, dear brother. Johanna and I were just… making plans.”

“What plans!?”

“Plans that don’t concern you. So, if you don’t mind… Johanna, what do you think of my invitation?”

I looked horrified, to say the least. “I, um… Jonathan, honestly, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Anger flashed in his eyes. “Fine, but my invitation will still be standing. Don’t forget that. Now if you’ll excuse me…”

With that, he left, walking towards the bedrooms. He didn’t plan on leaving anytime soon, it seemed. That made me nervous. I let out a huge sigh.

Isaac cradled me in his arms. “Don’t worry about him, love. You don’t have to listen to him or do anything he wants you to do. If I could, I’d just kick him out, but he IS my brother. Sometimes I wonder why I’m such a good person to him…”

I giggled. “That’s because you ARE a good person. Come on, let’s go eat.”

After eating breakfast, I wanted to go swimming. Isaac couldn’t come, because he had to work. So I went by myself. I was all alone in the big pool, just fooling around.

After a few hours, I was starting to get tired and cold. I sighed and climbed out of the pool, walking into the changing room. After a long, hot shower I got dressed and made my way towards the exit. Suddenly, someone grabbed me from behind and pushed me against the wall. It was Jonathan. He had a strange gleam in his eyes and I was getting really nervous.

He lowered his head so that he was on eye level with me and too close for my liking. “Hello, love. What are you doing here, all alone? It isn’t safe…”

I pulled out of his grasp and ran down the hall, hoping that he wasn’t following me. Fortunately, he wasn’t and I was safe from him for the moment. I quickly ran up the stairs and went straight to Lucy’s room. I knocked on the door hurriedly and pushed it open.

Lucy was sitting on her bed. When she saw me, her look turned into a worried one and he jumped up. “Honey, what happened? You look shaken.”

I told her what had just happened and she hugged me. She then proceeded to make various threats towards Jonathan and gave a very detailed description of his sudden and painful death. She made me feel better and I even laughed a little. Just in case, I asked her to lock the door, which she did.

We just laid there on her bed and talked. I told her about my morning encounter with Jonathan.

“I’m telling you, there’s something weird about him.”

“You don’t say! He almost tried to rape you! Okay, well, maybe not that, but he definitely is a creep. PLEASE stay away from him, if you can. I’m worried about you.” Lucy gave me a look full of concern.

I shook my head in confusion. “I can’t understand what game he’s playing. Why is he suddenly so interested in me? I have a feeling he’s doing it just to piss off Isaac.”

Lucy nodded. “I think so too. We must keep an eye on him.”