?Unattainable
Perfection?
©Eliza
Episode 12
***** 7:00AM.. ALEXA’S POV
Mumbling incoherent words, I roll on my comfy be-d trying to block out the bright sun rays blinding my eyes throu-gh the cracks of the curtains but failing miserably.
Giving up,I sit up groggily and lean against the headboard, ru-bbing the remnants of sleep from my eyes.
I gr0@nwhen I feel another headache coming on.
All because I’d cried myself to sleep last night.
Yep.
Right.
For no reason, Will’s words had strangely cut de-ep and it hurt much more than any form of ridicule I’ve ever faced over the years.
Speaking of Will, I still don’t know if my Father has managed to get the case reopened.
Shrugging the duvet away from my b©dy, I plant my feet on the floor.
gr-abbing my robe from the floor, I pu-ll it around my b©dy and head out.
I nee-d to talk to my dad.
When I reach the door to his room, I st©p when one of the maidservants coming out of the rooms.\
I furtw my brows.
A maid is never allowed into my Father’s room unless to clean up the room.
I make my way into the room, completely unprepared for the scene awaiting me.
There l@ya sick pale man who was completely healthy just few hours ago with a drip attached to his arm.
****
WILLIAM’S POV 8:00AM
“Who would want to hurt you my boy? Who? Oh my God”
mother sobs and despite the excruciating pain I’m In right now, my heart still breaks for her.
“Mother plea-se. I hate to see you cry”
I reach out t©uçh her face but then I wince immediately at the pain.
I’ve been injected with something supposed to act as painkillers but all I feel is numbness in every p@rt of my b©dy except for the occasional pain in my wound.
I feel drowsy as hell, my eyes feel heavy desperate to be closed so sleep can take over but I can’t.
How can I sleep when I’m still aware of the pain in my abd0m£n.
I don’t know how I’m still conscious after getting stabbe-d twice.
Maybe it’s because I’ve had far more worse injuries than this in the past and yet I survived every one of them.
“What did you get involved in Will?”
Richa-rd questions, bringing me out of my thoughts.
I got involved with a lying backstabbing bit-ch.
My mind screams but I don’t say it out loud.
“I told you alre-ady didn’t I? I don’t know
. I was weeding just like everyone else and these guys c@m£ up to me and before I knew it…”
I trail off letting them come to their own conclusions.
I wasn’t going to tell them about Alexa.
No.
Whatever’s going on is between Alexandra and I.
This fight was between us and I wasn’t going to involve them.
“St©p ma-king him talk too much can’t you see he’s hurt?”
Mother scolds my brother who just sighs tiredly.
“You should go. I don’t want you to get fired at your workplace because of me Richa-rd . Go. Mom,you too. I’ll be fine”
I tell them.
“You aren’t fine Will. You aren’t. They wouldn’t even let me bring you food!”
She protests and I sign.
“Mother”
I say as softly as I can taking her hands in mine.
“You trust me don’t you?”
“Of course I do son”
“Then trust me when I say I’m fine. I’m fine mother. I’m okay”
I f0rç£ out the words.
I’ll be okay.
But de-ep down, a p@rt of me knows my life has taken a drastic turn and I won’t ever be okay from today.
And the one person for this drastic turn will pay.
Dearly. I know I won’t be okay from hereby and so will Alexa’s fate.
ma-king my decision and feeling my thirst for revenge ignited, I sigh and shut my eyes as sleep finally overcomes me.
****
TWO WEEKS LATER
Alice strolls lazily into the kitchen just like she had been doing for the past two weeks since her husband fell sick.
And like every other day for two weeks, she had taken it upon herself to be in charge of preparing and serving Henry’s meals.
Two weeks was enough, she thought.
Two weeks was enough for a long wait.
Now was the time.
Today was the day for her to give her last straw and end everything.
By tonight, she was going to officially be the sole owner of the entire Wallace’s wealth.
Alice sm-irks satisfactorily as she gr-abs a bowl from the rack.
Scoping a reasonable amount of light soup, she pu-lls out the bottle which Eric had given her and poured everything into the soup,leaving no drop left and then stirs the soup.
Done,she hides the bottle in her br@ and heads back upstairs with the soup.
This much medicine was enough to finally kill Henry.
Today. At last.
*****
ALEXA’S POV.
I ru-b my palm against my father’s pale skin as he just stares at me.
Blankly. Like every other day for two weeks now.
Its been two weeks since he strangely fell sick and there’s been no improvement in his health whatsoever despite all the medicines we give to him precisely as we were instructed.
But instead of getting better,his health seems to be deteriorating each pas-sing day.
Alice wouldn’t even let me take him to a hospital. I haven’t Even gone to see William.
I sigh.
How do I tell him his case can’t be reopened since the person who ordered for his arrest is lying on a sickbe-d? My thoughts get interrupted when the door bur-st open and Alice steps in, with a bowl of soup.
A scowl etches on my face as she walks towards the be-d with a smile on her face.. A smile which is so damn fake and f0rç£d.
What exactly did my father see in this witch that he married her? Gah! Infuriating.
I step away when Alice takes my place and scoops some soup with a small spoon and takes it to my dad’s mouth.
I almost missed it.
But I didn’t.
I saw how my dad’s eyes fli-cked continuously from the spoon to me, hisl-ips pursed ti-ghtly.
My father kept staring at me, fl!çk!ng his eyes back and forth.
It was like he was trying to s£nd a message across with his eyes.
He had lost his ability to speak a week ago.
I stare at my father ha-rd .
He’s refusing to open his mouth to drink the soup.
It’s almost like he’s scared of drinking it.
His eyes keep fl!çk!ng, begging me with his eyes.
My father is tense.
Now that I recall, he becomes tense whenever Alice is around of late.
Like he’s scared of something.
He purses hisl-ips ti-ghter, outrightly refusing to drink the soup..I frown.
Something is not right. Walking back towards the be-d, I snatch the food from her and she turns scowling at me.
“I think my dad doesn’t want this soup”
I say
“How can you tell? Give it let me feed him!”
“No.”
If my guess is right and she’s been doing something to prevent my dad from getting better, I’ll find out.
“Alexandra give me the soup! Your father is hungry and I’m hungry too. I nee-d to feed him so i can eat also!”
The woman practically screams in my face.
“I said no. It’s clear dad doesn’t want to eat”
“St©p testing my patience girl else..!
“Else what?”
I challenge.
“Why? Is there some special ingredient in this soup”
I ask knowingly and I notice something flash in her eyes but it disappears before I could grasp it.
“What? Of course not.
. I just haven’t had time for myself since Henry fell sick and I really nee-d him to eat so i can prepare something for myself too”
I could see right throu-gh her flimsy lies.
Is that the best lie she could come up with?
“If you’re so hungry then drink this soup yourself”
I hold out the bowl to her.
“N..no”
she stammers.
“Oh it’s okay. Since it appears dad doesn’t want it,I’ll just prepare him something else. So go on. Eat”
I push the bowl into her hands.
“Uh..no… I…”
“Go on. Since you’re so hungry, eat it. I’m waiting”
I say and I see Alice gulp ha-rd as she tries desperately to cover the fear lingering in her eyes.
And there and then,my Suspicion was confirmed.
witch was trying to poison my father. Well,I’m going to make sure she drinks this entire soup
Episode 13
*** ALEXA’S POV
“Go on eat it Alice. It’s okay. Really”
I sm-irk as I watch her squirm in discomfort, gazing at the bowl of soup she prepared with her own two hands like it was some garbage.
“Won’t you drink it?”
“I said no! Leave it girl, don’t test my fv¢king patience!”
She finally snaps and I smile satisfactorily.
She’s definitely hiding something.
I watch in amusement as Alice lifts the bowl and drops it to the floor.
I jump back as the soup spills across the tiles, the bowl and spoon ma-king a cluttering noise as hits the floor as well.
Alice stares at me with murderous eyes before storming past me, practically pushing me aside.r0ûghly.
I jump over the mess on the floor to the other side where my father lay.. He stares at me with relief in his eyes, a small smile on hisl-ips.
“I’ll get you out of here dad.
Don’t worry
. I’ll make sure you get better”
I as-sure him and then stretch my hands towards his drawer near the be-d.
I pu-ll it open to reveal my father’s second phone.
Retrieving it, I switch it on and begin to search throu-gh his contacts.
Finding what I nee-d, I dial the number immediately.
It takes a while for my call to be answered.
“Hello, Wallace Charity hospital”
the voice answers.
“Hello, this is Alexandra Wallace, daughter of Henry Wallace”
I say
“Oh… Miss, good morning
. How may I be if help?”
“My father is very sick and I nee-d an ambulance to come fetch him at the Aston villa plea-se”
“Sure sure ma’am. An ambulance will arrive there ten minutes at most.”
“Thank you”
I hang up and sigh.
Benefit of owning a hospital.
“An ambulance will be here soon dad and I’ll get you treatment whether Alice likes it or not”
****
The police van finally st©ps in front of the blue painted semidetached house as two police officers alight, staring ahead at the house.. They had received an anonymous call,claiming that a house which belonged to one doctor Eric Brown had been producing bad odour believed to be a decaying b©dy which had gradually become unbearable for the neighbours
The same doctor who had been reported missing two weeks ago.
“Shall we?”
The first officer asks His colleague who nods in return.
Together they walk towards the house and st©p in front of the door when a faint smell hits them.
Both officers scrunch their nose in disgust but then walk further.
“Let’s break down the door. Who knows what we might find”
the second officer says to the other guy to which he agrees.
Together they break the door down and take one step into the house when they immediately jump back est the strong unplea-sant smell.
“fv¢k!!”
They both scream reaching into their pockets to retrieve handkerchiefs which they wasted no time in covering their noses with..
“Oh lord!”
“Come let’s go and get this done and over with”
Taking in a de-ep breath of fresh air, they venture back into the house only to be met with the most horrible scene a human eye could contain.
On the floor, beside the couch in the living room l@ya dead man who’s b©dy had rotten to the maximum.
So much so that,worms had evaded his b©dy crawling in and out of his eyes, nostrils, mouth and other p@rts.
Uncountable flies were buzzing over the b©dy.
And beside the b©dy l@yan empty wine glas-s, a tiny bottle and a bottle of half drank wine.
“Oh my God!”
Both exclaim at the gory sight.
No amount of preparation could have made them re-ady for such a dusturbing sight.
“The missing Eric brown has been laying here dead all along”
the second officer, Josh cringes.
His colleague just shakes His head.
“This looks like suicide Josh. And there’s been no evidence of struggle or anything”
“No, we can’t be so sure Greg, We have to make sure first. Call for a forensic personnel to arrive here and tape this entire area so that no one can come near the house”
Josh instructs and Greg quic-kly walks out to make the call.
***
THREE HOURS LATER.
Josh runs his f!ngersthrou-gh his hair, tugging at the roots in frustration.
“What do you mean there are no signs of any f!nger prints. Are you sure your c@m£ra and devices are working?”
He questions the forensic team who frown at him in return
“Detective, our devices are working just fine. We’ve done everything for the past three hours but we haven’t been able to capture any f!nger prints”
one of them answers.
“This can’t be. This is ridiculous! Even if this is really be suicide, we should at least find the dead man’s f!nger prints on the glas-s of wine, table or something but nothing! How is this possible? OK look, maybe it’s because it’s been two weeks but didn’t you at least notice any faint lines of f!nger prints?”.
“No detective. Everywhere is sp©tlessly clean”
“This is too good to be true. Does this mean he drank the wine without tou-ching the glas-s or he wore gloves?”
Josh questions sarcastically.
How could the entire house be so clean? Something was fishy.
Someone had cleaned the entire house so that nothing will be found.
“Detective, we found this though”
a female amongst the forensic team Interrupts his thoughts holding out a diamong earring.
Josh narrows his eyes infinitely.
“Ah. Earring? Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
He sm-irks.
“Someone was here. A woman to be precise. And we found a cell phone. The battery is dead though but we switched it on and managed to get a contact before the phone went off again. Here”
the Lady continues handing him a piece of paper.
“The last person he contacted was a female, two weeks ago. The number was sto-red un-der the name, Alice with a heart emoji attached. And also several umm, ro-mantic messages exchanged. I’m guessing this Alice lady was his lover”
“And I’m guessing this earring belongs to this lover as well”
Josh says, eyeing the earring. After much deliberation, he pu-lls out his phone and dials the number on the piece of paper he held.
****
Pacing Angrily in her room, Alice couldn’t fanthom why her ha-rd work had suddenly gone down the drain in a matter of seconds just because of that stupid girl she calls a step daughter.
Today was supposed to be her final b!ow so she had used all the poison only for her to lose it all.
Where the hell was she going to get another of the same poison from? And to think an ambulance had arrived to pick up Henry made her blood boil.
Alexa was a stumbling block in her path.
She felt like snapping someone’s n£¢k.
Ugh! Her phone suddenly chimes and without looking at the caller,she answers.
“What?”
She barks.
Silence.
“Who the fv¢k are you? And why are you calling if you won’t speak up?”
Silence.
“Idiot!”
Alice screams and hangs up, throwing the phone.
****
Josh stares at his phone.. Alice lady had hanged up.
Dammnit! She was so rude.
“Why did you call her without speaking sir?”
Greg asks
“Because I wanted to track her number to know her current location. And I got it”
Josh smiles.
“We are going to Aston Villa, that’s her current location. Greg, call for back up and ask them to wait for your command. We might never know if she’s the murderer or not. Come on!”
Josh ventures into the van while Greg trails behind speaking inyo his com phone, calling for reinf0rç£ments.
****
Alice rushes down the stairs, fixing her dress.
She was going to the hospital.
Maybe bribe a few nurses to finish off Henry.
But then there was a sudden knock and on impulse, she st©ps as one of the maids goes to answer the door.
Fear grips her when two police officers are ushered into the house.. what do they want?
“Good morning. I’m detective Josh and he’s my p@rtner, Greg Bans and We’ll like to see Alice plea-se”
Josh greets the maid showing her his badge.
“Uh oh. Madam Alice? Shes inside”
“Can you plea-se call her?”
“Okay sit”
the maid answers and both men sit down. An earring falls off from his pocket and the Maid sp©ts it, g@sping.
“Oh God! Madam’s earring! I found it!”
The maid, thinking the earring had been there all along bends to pick it.
“Your madam’s earring?”
“Yes yes. She lost it two weeks ago. she said itys made of diamonds. She fired one maid because of it. Oh thank God I found it! I’m going to give it to her. plea-se will you like anything?”
“Oh no we’re fine. Thank you”
The Maid nods and rushes upstairs. Both policemen turn to stare at each other.. Seeming they were thinking the same thing.. That earring belonged to the same Alice.. Hmm.
****
With fumbling f!ngers, Alice packs a few clothes into a small bag, gr-abs one of Henry’s cheque books at her disposal, gr-abs Henry’s gun as well and sprints out.
. Heading towards the backdoor.. She had to escape. How did her earring end up with the policemen? How? And that stupid maid! She just had to open her big mouth!…
“fv¢k!”
She curses, throwing her bag over her shoulders and heading out onto the compound after running throu-gh the backdoor. If the police were here, with her earring, specifically looking for her then it meant one thing.. Eric’s dead b©dy had been found and she was the main suspect.. Entering into one of the car, she sparks the car, shouting at the gateman to open the gate.. She nee-ded to escape.
****
They were still seated, waiting when they heard the sparking of a car. Alert, Greg and Josh jump to their feet rushing out of the mansion only to be met with the scene of a woman they presumed to be Alice sparking her car and driving out of the house.. If they were seated in the living room, how did she get out without them noticing? Unless… Unless she left throu-gh the backdoor.. Why would she leave throu-gh the backdoor? Both men stare at each other,thinking the same thing.
Springing into action, Josh begins to race towards the car.
While Greg called for the reinf0rç£ments to take position
“Close the gate! Close the gate!”
Josh shouts to the gateman.
Alice pu-lls our her gun, rolls down the window and shoots the gateman dead.
Alice steps on the accelerator,driving backwards, fast and ha-rd ma-king the back of the car hit the half opened gate ha-rd , the impact causing the gate to open wi-der.
“Greg! Back up! She’s escaping! Call for back up!”
Josh screams running.
With the way Alice was was driving, he couldn’t run to catch up so he did the only thing he could think of.
No one can drive a car with a punctured tyre.
pu-lling out his own gun, he aims at the front tyre of Alice’s car and then shoots the tyre twice.
Alice screams as she loses control of the steering wheel.
***
more action in the next episode.
I hope you liked this chapter.