Chapter 25

Dammit! Where is he? I can't find that old man anywhere! Ugh... my feet are killing me. It was not a good idea to walk around town, searching for somebody on heels. Fuck me dead!

Rebecca has spent her Thursday morning looking for the homeless old man who gave her the gem ring. She has tried the area where she last bumped into him, the nearby park, and the bus station where they originally met. There has been no sight of him. Rebecca couldn't sleep after what saw last night. It was an experience too bizarre and unexplainable, that she spent all night long thinking about it and trying to make sense of it. Hopefully to understand things better, she gets up early in the morning and beings to look for the old mysterious man to find out if he knows anything more about the ring.

After walking around at the bus station for a while, she sees a group of homeless people gathered around on a corner. She approaches them and asks if they know where the homeless man is.

"Hi! Good morning everybody! Excuse me but umm...would anybody know where a particular homeless guy is? He wears glasses, he has a white beard, he pretty much looks like Santa Claus. I saw him hanging around here a month ago. Do you any of you know whom I may be talking about?"

The homeless people laugh and try to shoo her away.

"Little girl. You just described every homeless guy in town. Please go away pretty rich girl. You look lost. This isn't a place for you."

Rebecca gets frustrated but leaves them alone. As she is about to give up and leave the neighborhood to go to work, in the corner of her eyes, she spots a man slowly approaching her from behind. She turns around and recognizes the man as the homeless Santa Claus, wearing the same exact clothing as last time. He is carrying a coffee cup and looks confused to see her there.

"Why hello there my friend. What brings you here this morning? Don't you have school?"

"H-Hi umm sir. N-No I don't have classes today. I do have work though. "

"Oh, I see. Hmm...perhaps you were looking for me?"

"Yes, sir. I need to ask you some questions."

"Oh, what kind of questions?"

"It's about the ring you gave me. I need to know everything you know about it. Where did you get it from? What does it mean or represent? I need to know the history behind it."

The homeless man sips his coffee and smiles at her.

"My my could it be? The ring...did it grant you a wish? Hmmm?"

"N-no. Don't be silly. I'm just...curious. That's all. It's a...pretty colorful ring. I wish to know more about it."

Both Rebecca and the old man look at the thing for a few seconds before facing each other again. The homeless man spits on the ground and clears his throat.

"Well Rebecca, as I already said, the ring belonged to a very special person in my life. After she passed, I kept this ring in memory of her. She told me the ring has been passed around in her family from generation to generation. The ring supposedly brought good luck and sometimes even granted wishes per family legend. Of course, she never truly believed those kind of fairytales but her mother and her grandmother apparently did. She was convinced that it wasn't nothing more than a childhood tale but her mother insisted otherwise. That's all I know about it my friend. The ring is pretty but it has been a burden for me to carry around after all these years. Believe me Rebecca, I tried everything but I never got it to work. Yes, even I was so desperate to try to see if the ring was truly magical, but nothing ever happened. Silly me."

The homeless man sips more of his coffee and stares at the puzzled Rebecca who is scratching her head and looking at the ring.

That's it? That's all he knows? Apparently it belonged to his wife or something. He said it grants wishes and brings good luck, but whatever I experienced last night...could that really be considered good luck? Did it really grant a wish? I do remember wishing to know more about that butterfly photo. Maybe the ring did grant me that wish. Should I tell him about this? I don't know why, but I have a feeling he knows more that he's not telling me. How the hell do I explain all of this to somebody else though?

Rebecca checks the time and realizes that's there's only twenty minutes until she has to clock in for work. She immediately orders a cab and gets ready to say goodbye to the homeless man.

"Going so soon lass?

"Yes sir. I need to be at work pretty soon.

"Hmm...alright then. You don't look ready though. Not at all."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Just look at yourself. You're a mess my dear friend. All that makeup and nice suit doesn't hide it. You look lost. Confused. Uncertain about something. It's like you just witness something traumatic. What's going on with you? All the questions about the ring and the fact you were here looking for me clearly says something, doesn't it?"

Rebecca hesitates to respond. She takes turns looking at herself on a nearby window, at the ring, and at the strange old man. The homeless man's words got to her pretty good. The homeless man finishes his coffee and crushes the cup. Her taxi shortly arrives and honks at her. She wipes away her sweat and gets ready to get inside the car but decides to approach the man once more. She whispers to his ears.

"Okay. I'm not sure why, but I feel like I could trust you. Are you sure we never met before?"

The man thinks about it for a second and shakes his head.

"Unlikely."

"Well, the ring... it did something last night. It did something truly...amazing. I want to tell you about it...because I have a feeling that you know more than you are telling me. Maybe you'll shed some light about what I experienced last night?"

"Perhaps. Who knows?" He answers intriguingly.

The two of them share a chuckle. The man takes out something from his pockets, writes something on a piece of paper, and gives it to her.

"We can meet there. Nobody will bother us there."

The homeless man walks away and waves goodbye to her. She gets inside the car and opens up the folded up note. There's an address and a strange 'M' shaped symbol on it. She realizes that it's the zodiac sign for Scorpio.

Everything just has to be so fucking creepy doesn't it? Ugh.

After barely beating the morning rush hour, Rebecca rushes through the lobby and elevator to clock in before her shift begins. With only a minute to spare, Rebecca brisk walks by the CEO's office and gets spooked upon hearing her name being called from the office. It was clearly Chloe's voice shouting her name.

"Rebecca! Get in here! We need to talk!"

Rebecca rolls her eyes and turns around to waalk into her office. Upon entering, she notices that Mayra is also inside the office with Chloe, sitting down. Mayra seems to have cried again and visibly looks upset and frustrated. Her face doesn't change at all upon seeing Rebecca walk inside. Chloe, who's smoking a cigarette, and wearing a blue blazer this morning, orders her to shut the door and take a seat. Rebecca obliges.

"Alright Rebecca now that you're here, let us proceed. Mayra has told me about what happened between you two yesterday. While I have already discussed with Ms. Flores the company's code of conduct, I felt the need to arrange a meeting with you two to further deliberate..."

Chloe stops in mid-sentence and begins laughing to herself. The laugh even causes her to develop a nasty cough for a minute or two. Mayra gets up to get Chloe a glass of water while Rebecca remains sitting there trying to figure out what's so funny. After Chloe drinks some water and her cough goes away, she finally continues the meeting.

"Sorry...I'm so sorry-But I couldn't help myself. When I was talking a minute ago, it reminded me about my damn high school principal. I sounded just like him! Oh god I can't believe it! Good ol' Principal Wells. Rest in peace my man. Rest in peace."

Chloe keeps chuckling to herself and drinking water at the same time. Both Rebecca and Mayra nervously laugh with her. Chloe slams her glass of water down on her desk and clears her throat.

"Anyways, let's cut to the chase. Mayra insulted you yesterday. She wants to apologize to you Rebecca. Mayra?"

"Yes m'am."

Mayra turns her chair to face Rebecca and tries her best to appear apologetic but Rebecca immediately recognizes the fakeness.

"Rebecca. I'm so so sorry about what I said to you. I didn't know what came over me. I've been just so stressed and...frustrated about my personal life lately that I took it on you. I'm sorry for the things I said. I didn't mean a single world of it! I hope you accept my apology."

Although Rebecca can sense the bullshit coming from her supervisor's mouth, she has more important things on her mind to even care about her. She will deal with Mayra later. Rebecca grabs Mayra by her hands and gets closer to her face. She looks straight into her eyes.

"Thank you...Mayra for apologizing to me. It means a lot to me. I forgive you. Let's just work together! Like it should be! I'm sure we can be really good friends later on!"

Rebecca can see the disgust on Mayra's face but she eventually nods her head and agrees with Rebecca.

"I'm so happy to hear that Rebecca. Let's just pretend that never happened and start over. If that's okay with you..."

"Of course it's okay with me Mayra."

They awkwardly shake hands and Mayra leaves the office to start her day. Rebecca also gets up to leave but gets interrupted by Chloe, who begins to cough pretty bad once again. This time, Rebecca gets her boss a glass of water and Chloe orders her to remain at her office.

"Damn bronchitis. It's killing me." Chloe says under her breath.

"Are you alright Mrs. Caulfield?"

"Hella fine Rebecca." Chloe says while smoking another cigarette.

"Can you keep this a secret?"

"Keep what a secret?"

" The fact that I'm smoking. Not just from the auditors and the corporate office, but from my family. William and my wife cannot know that I'm smoking again. They would lose their minds if they find out. Please don't tell them."

"Okay. I won't tell them at all. You have my word."

"That's good to hear. I hate myself for smoking again but things have just been too hectic here. I keep losing...well...look at me! Sorry for rambling on about myself and stuff you don't care about. So how are you? How's things? Do you like the company? The job position?"

"Oh no don't be sorry. You seem to be going through rather difficult times Mrs. Caulfield. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"I'm afraid all you can do for me is make my son happy. You're already doing that so keep it up."

Rebecca blushes and smiles.

"Thanks Mrs. Caulfield."

"Call me Chloe kiddo."

"Fine. Chloe...you said you were losing something. Losing what?"

"Business. My businesses aren't doing too well. Mayra is part of the reason why but ultimately, this past year has been nothing but horrible for me. Please keep these secrets as well. Max will go nuts if she finds out. I'm only telling you this because you are part of the company and can easily find out anyway by going into the company's files. However, nobody else, except for Mayra, knows that it's impacting my personal investments as well."

Rebecca gets taken back from these revelations. Chloe seems to be completely devastated or maybe even drunk. Chloe looks like herself, all lost and confused.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that Chloe. I hope things will get better for you and the family."

"They have to get better. I can't afford to fail. I have a family to support. I'm sure things will be fine no matter what, but I have my own personal goals and plans that I NEED to accomplish. My bronchitis isn't helping either. It's gotten pretty bad lately. I have a doctor's appointment later this week. I'm going in for a pulmonary function test and a CAT scan. I know shouldn't smoke or drink anymore but...my job is stressing me out!"

Chloe puts her cigarette out and drinks all of her water in one shot. She grabs another cigarette from her pocket but throws it out the window to stop herself from smoking it. She grabs her hair and stares at the computer screen.

Rebecca is unsure what to say to her and decides to leave her be but not before bringing up Mayra.

"Hey Chloe, I know this is none of my business, but if Mayra is causing too much problems, why not let her go?"

"Because I don't have anybody else to help me manage the finances. I've hired six different people for her position this year alone and none of them work out. Mayra has had some success in the past so that's why I'm still keeping her around. I just can't seem to find the perfect candidate. I also can't do it all by myself. I have a shitload of duties to do every single day. I would only stress myself out even more if I fired her now."

Chloe massages her head and tries to concentrate on her work, only to stare back at the cigarette she threw away.

"Well...maybe I can help you?" Rebecca suggests quietly.

Chloe shakes her head and doesn't even look at her and keeps staring at the computer screen.

"You don't have any experience nor any degree. I appreciate your help and concern, but I need someone who knows what they're doing. No offence. Anyways, don't worry about Mayra. That's my problem. I already disciplined her for her actions. If she insults again, let me know as soon as possible."

"Ok then. None taken. So...if you don't need to me for anything else, I'll start my day."

"Very well. I'll see you soon. Shut the door please after you leave."

Rebecca exits the room, grabs Chloe another glass of water, and shuts the door. She gets one last glimpse of Chloe putting her head down on her desk and sees her grabbing something from a drawer.

I kind feel bad for her. She looks so exhausted and upset. There has be something I can do to help me...I mean...help her regarding her money problems. I really need to gain her trust. I'm sure there's more stuff I can learn about her and Max Caulfield if I get closer to her. But how? What can I do?

As Rebecca makes her way to her cubicle, she bumps into Mayra who tries her best to control herself from lashing out.

"Rebecca, can you meet me at the small conference room right now? I need to talk to you one on one. Follow me."

Rebecca rolls her eyes but accepts.

What is it now?

The two of them step inside the conference room and they take seats. Mayra leads the conversation.

"Listen Rebecca. Let's just get a few things straight. I don't like you and you don't like me. My apology was sincere but everything else was bullshit. As much as I don't like it, we're co-workers. We just have to work together as best we can."

Rebecca cannot believe her ears. She wants nothing more but to slam Mayra's head on the desk and demand to know what's wrong with her.

"What do you mean I don't like you? When did I ever say that?"

"You didn't but I could tell by your body language and how you speak to me. It's been obvious since the moment we met."

"B-but-but!?"

"Oh just say it Rebecca. Anyways, my point is: Don't mess with me and I won't mess with you. We'll work together but we will never become friends. I'm sure you can live with that because I sure can. I know things about you that I don't think you would like others to find out. So just watch it, capiche?"

"Wait wait wait hold on. What do you mean by that?"

"I'm sure you know what I'm talking about."

"No, I have no idea. Enlighten me. Please."

"Nah. It will be more fun this way. Just remember, if you don't mess with me. I won't mess with you. See you at work."

Mayra winks at her before leaving the room and shutting the door, leaving the confused and startled Rebecca behind.

This fucking bitch. She's bluffing right? Of course she is! I'm sure of it! What could she possibly know about me? Dammit! I just want to choke her to death now. Ugh...take it easy Rebecca. She's not worth it. Just play her little game. You have more important things to deal with at this time. She's a nobody. Don't waste time on her yet. Just go with the flow...dammit I just wanna scream right now. I think I'm starting to hate her more than Max Caulfield! Holy shit, how is that possible!?

In the meantime, Rachel Caulfield is waiting for her mom to pick her from school. She waits outside the main gates with the other children at the pickup zone. It was a good day for her, she passed a math pop quiz, had a good lunch, and her friends and teachers have treated her normally again. It's like nothing ever happened. Although she's glad about that, she's also been worried for the bully she burnt. He has still not returned and nobody seems to know what happened to him. She looks at the spot where the bully and his friends usually hung out at but only his friends are there now. There has no been so sign or trace of him at all.

Maxine arrives shortly and picks her daughter up to take her home. It's another day at the house with just the two of them. William is at football practice and Chloe Caulfield is busy at her company. After a quick afternoon meal, they decide to play a game of UNO. They have fun for a while until Rachel suddenly remembers the bully kid and starts to feel guilty and worried. Max immediately realizes that her daughter's gorgeous smile has faded and asks if there's anything wrong with her.

"Hey Rachel, is something wrong?"

"Mom... I'm thinking about that kid that I wounded. He still hasn't returned to school. It's been a long time. Do you know what happened to him?"

Max stands up and turns away from Rachel. She goes to the kitchen and grabs a few things from the fridge. She responds to Rachel's questions while pouring herself and Rachel a drink.

"No, not at all my dear. The last thing I remember is visiting his parents at the hospital. I recall them saying they would transfer him to another school or something. I'm not sure why though. They said he was going to be fine after a few days."

Max returns with a glass of wine for herself and apple juice for her daughter.

"Well mom, the strange thing is that nobody seems to know about what happened to him. In fact, it's like he never existed. The teachers and even his friends don't seem to care about him and know about his whereabouts. It's pretty weird, don't you think?"

Max empties her wine glass and goes to the kitchen to grab the whole wine bottle. She puts the bottle aside and puts her hands on her daughter's shoulders.

"I don't think it's weird at all Rachel. He probably needed extra medical attention. Maybe his wound got worse? I wouldn't worry about it though. I'm sure I know why it's bothering you so much. You're feeling guilty right? Don't be. You only defended yourself. You taught him a lesson. He shouldn't have bullied you. Now everybody knows not to mess with you. So don't feel guilty. You didn't do anything wrong. Nothing wrong at all. Okay?"

Rachel finishes her juice and smiles at her mother, who is also smiling at her and caressing her hair. Her feelings of guilt and worry instantly disappear. She believes her mother's words 100% and forgets about the whole situation. They resume their game of UNO until Chloe finally arrives from work, just in time for dinner. Rachel notices that both of her parents are acting overly happy during dinner and she sees them going to their room, carrying a bottle of wine with them. Before they shut the door, she sees them kissing and whispering things to each other, which brings a smile to her face.

Chapter 26 preview:

Holy shit, where am I? This whole place is creepy and cold. I knew this guy was hiding something. Hmm...can I really go that far in time? This changes everything. Now I have the perfect way to execute my plans and climb the ladder to the top. This is where the fun begins!

Title: TBA

Author's comments: This is a long shot but if anybody would like to help me on this fic, PM me. I would like to finish this series quicker. I have no problem writing everything by myself but at this rate, this fic won't end until the end of the year.