HIIIII! After satisfactory reviews-I will add the next chapter. Hope you liked it. I thought long and hard about completing the story. Finally, I said yes I will write a few chapters to see how it goes. If you like it tell me-if not-say something! Even give me hints on how to improve. Will appreciate it!
The wind is cool on her face and since it has swept across the lake, it is sweet-smelling and fresh. She inhales deeply and the memories flood her brain. She used to sit on the pier and ponder her future , sneakers inducing a ripple across the calm waters and fingers tapping against the wood. The world was a vast expanse of opportunity. Bigger than the little island she grew up in, farther than the ocean that surrounded it. She could lose herself in the blue of the sky and no one would be able to find her-least of all her mother. Eyes flutter close. Lips purse in concentration. She tries to bring forth the little idealistic girl. Searches for her in the woman's body. She is gone. Too many hindrances in the way, like clouds of bitter smog. There is hate, rancor, wrath and lust for power. It is all there, maybe not in its full capacity but present enough, waiting to be unleashed when she returns to her villainous persona. How did the scrawny girl with messy hair and knobby limbs come to be a terrorist? "It would make for an interesting biography!" She speaks the thought aloud. To hear her own voice over the sounds of the past that flitter around in her mind.
"I know a lot of people who would be interested in reading it." It startles her and she jumps slightly. Footfalls come closer until a shadow falls over her. Annabelle's back stiffens, chin aligns with the pier and her arms shift to rest rigidly by her side. "Sasha!" She mutters, keeping her voice and her gaze on the lake. Maybe she can draw some strength from the tranquil waves to calm the tumult inside her.
"A lot of people are wondering what you have been doing since you left!" She said conversationally in a sweet, deceptively concerned voice. However, years of terrorist activity had heightened her senses and her paranoia. The ability to read people and the situation in her career of crime had changed the way she viewed the world. Sasha isn't making an innocent enquiry.
'Better to face the enemy. There have been very few instances where enemies have been defeated by a cold shoulder.' Annabelle stands up and turns around.
Sasha meets her cool stare with a friendly, easy smile. Annabelle can feel the deception radiating from her stance. The interested glint in her eyes. There is a sly cunning carefully hidden. Annabelle can identify it so plainly because she perceived it in the mirror just this morning. Sasha came out here to find some dirt on her Fiancé's former girlfriend.
"Just doing stuff. Working on being a famous scientist." Says with deliberate vagueness. Annabelle has to be careful. Knowning her ownsef as she did-braging about her terrorist activities would be an unwanted risk.
"Really! So curing diseases, solving Global Warming-"
"Yes. All of them." Annabelle cuts in quickly. A sudden wave of movement behind Sasha. With a sinking feeling, Annabelle realizes that someone is trying to get her attention. 'Better see what the annoying jerk wants before he decides to meet Sasha-just to piss me off. '
"Wow. You are doing all of that!" There was a discernable high note of disbelief.
Annabelle narrows her eyes slightly, "Yes. Why not?"
"You were always smart, Annabelle." She says, the perpetual small smile returning to her lips. "But you never really played well with others. I admit I don't know much about being a scientist-"
'And yet you insist on talking like you do!' Annabelle thought uncharitably. Her haughty demeanor is beginning to grate on Annabelle's nerves.
"But isn't it kinda a group thing. And you are not exactly robot smart to solve Global Warming-when most scientists cannot even agree on its existence. So you're lying then. Guess you are Armadillo Annabelle again."
Annabelle cringes at the assault via her childhood name. It takes effort to restrain herself from punching the smirking face. "I am not lying." Features taut, tone lofty, "My work is amazing and past the comprehension of simple minds such as yourself."
It is for only a second that Sasha is stunned before- she bursts into laughter. It rang loud in Annabelle's ears. Sounding like more people had joined the mockery but it is all in her head-the voices of the past.
"Oh Annabelle. Still the same old wretched 10 year old. Do you have any plans on growing up? Or learning some maturity or humility."
Annabelle's expression grows stormy whilst her fingers curl into tight fists.
"Armadillo Annabelle –all prickly but not quite so sharp." The brittle edge of laughter in her words, carried on a hint of scorn. "And the long nose from telling lies and eating ants. You haven't changed at all."
Annabelle bristles, fury flashes like thunder in her eyes. "And you have!" She snarls. A snide upturn to her lips and her tone imbues a cutting sharpness that is meant to wound, "You have a career but all you want to do is play a wife stuck in an episode of Lost. How sad as that!"
"Better than living in regret." Sasha replies swiftly, as if the answer was poised on her lips.
Suddenly, realization filters through the roaring anger. The reason for Sasha's visit is so absurdly clear. She wanted to dangle her prize in front of Annabelle.
"David is the perfect guy. Kind, sweet and charming. You threw him away for no good reason other than your selfish vanity." Annabelle holds the harsh expression Sasha gives her with bright eyes and mouth slightly parted. Then, she laughs. A ruthless vacant sound.
"If you think David is so perfect-then you haven't had the blinders ripped off yet." Inwardly, she is glad for the aura of condescension and confidence that adds smoothness and a tart flavor to her ominous pitch.
Smiles thinly before releasing the tidbit that had been gnawing at her insides, "He cheated on me!"
"He did what!" Eyes widen in shock, lower lip trembles as Sasha tries to force more words out but cannot.
Annabelle squares her shoulders and turns her back against the stricken face. "It was the day before the wedding. I went to his room to discuss some wedding plans and-" Voice broke, "I found him with someone else."
The raw emotion in Annabelle's voice caused a stirring of sympathy inside Sasha. The bitterness and hurt at discovering her lover in another's arms. Sasha had dealt with some slimy boyfriends in the past. 'No wonder she has been acting so aloof.' Aloud, Sasha says in a conciliatory tone, "I am sorry Annabelle. I didn't know."
"Yes-" She sniffles, bringing her hand to her mouth-to hide the barest suggestion of a grin.
"But you were acting kind of like a bitch before the wedding. Did you ever think maybe you drove him away?"
Annabelle jerks around to face Sasha, the pure audacity of the words sends sizzling electric currents through her veins.
"I am not saying it is entirely your fault but-" She gave Annabelle a pointed look as if she was meant to know all her faults and understand. "From what your mother told me-You make it difficult for people to love you!"
Hands are squeezed into tight fists, nails dig into tender flesh. "You should ask my mother about all the things she has done to make people love her." Reacted with an acerbic tongue as she struggled to vanquish an excess of violent emotion. 'The nerve of the woman- telling other people I was difficult to love. The only love she ever had was for the idiot brother of mine. He was the most unworthy one of the two of us!'
Sasha took two steps back, clearly shocked by the sudden eruption from Annabelle. The intelligent terrorist she was-Annabelle changed her tactic from the defensive to the offensive. "Don't be so sure that David will not cheat on you too!" She spat venomously, with a scowl that implied unforgiving malice.
Sasha is rooted to the spot at the transformation in Annabelle. This girl-Sasha doesn't recognize her. There is something twisted and almost evil and it is electrified in her cobalt eyes. Fear ran cold down her spine. Warily, she says in a manner too subdued to be her own vivacious personality, "He will not cheat on me." Repeated the statement in a stronger timbre, backed by the conviction that is evident in her stance.
She hopes it would be enough to wipe the smug smirk from the brunette's face. Instead the vicious smirk, looking like it belongs there, deepens in intensity and sinisterly.
Annabelle directs the girl a glance tainted in pity, but it was a vapid caricature. Sasha had received them before from slimy boyfriends.
"Alas. Love is blind." Sighs with exaggerated effect as she cast a woeful look at the lake. Sasha folds her hands across her chest, preparing herself for the spiteful comment; an inkling of its forthcoming.
"In your case-it is incredibly stupid too!" Says with deadpans dryness. Fixing Sasha with a stare that is a perfect blend of patronizing, tilting towards contempt.
Sasha straightens her back, sudden determination telling her not to be bullied by Armadillo Annabelle of all people. "He loves me!" Sasha says forcefully, setting her jaw, "Maybe he didn't love you as much as you thought he did-so the error was yours not his!"
The long, chilling glare from Annabelle has enough potency to stop Sasha's heart in terror.
'Armadillo Annabelle. Armadillo Annabelle Annabelle Armadillo.' The name is repeated in a staccato rhythm in her head. There is no reason for Sasha to be afraid of the mousy girl from childhood. Though she may seem fearsome and threatening, it is merely a trick to appear stronger than she really is. Annabelle played all sorts of tricks on them when they were younger.
"You don't scare me! Annabelle" She tries to summon a brave and blasé smile filled with open disregard but it fails. She is left concentrating on a supercilious smirk, "I would rather be afraid of the Lady of the lake."
Annabelle chuckles in spite of herself and shifts her gaze to the water. A sudden breeze produced a small wave across its surface. "She gave you a terrible fright-didn't she?" Annabelle murmurs, a faraway glint entering her eyes. Annabelle usually hated visiting childhood memories but this was one she cherished.
'Annabelle is too smart for her own good.' Mother had stated more than once. Annabelle never realized how foreboding the statement was until a drowned victim washed up on the shore. Face bloated, skin blue green and shriveled-resembling sort of the pictures of mummies after they had been unwrapped.
A that age, Annabelle knew the difference between right and wrong, but the thing is- she didn't care-not when the most ardent desire possessing her little body was to teach her tormentors a lesson.
"We were not scared." Sasha snaps, making a face.
A knowing smile lifted Annabelle's lips, "I was told the screams that day shook the fruits from their branches." Eyes full of impish teasing.
Sasha threw her an ugly glare. "You were always a horrible person. Annabelle. No wonder David didn't love you." A wicked smirk crawls on Annabelle's face and appears to dance as she shortens the distance between them.
Annabelle brings her lips close to Sasha's ears and tauntingly whispers in a breathy, sultry voice "He kissed me once. Sasha. He will kiss me again. He has this habit of returning to old girlfriends."
Sasha tenses; the understated meaning in the words enters her ear and moves like a scaly snake to pierce her heart with fangs dripping in fear and poison. "He wouldn't!" Laying stress on each word. A tick started at the side of her unyielding jaw.
Up-close, Sasha noted how thick and dark Annabelle's lashes were. When they swept from her mouth to meet her hate-filled glower, the movement is almost delicate. It is her eyes that engender the racing of Sasha's heart and something solid to rise in her throat.
Annabelle's eyes were never this blue . Or silvered with this twisted, vicious darkness. Her eyes burn into Sasha, a lazar right through her head.
"I wish I could say that I care about your predicament." Spoken with abject coolness having an undercurrent of sarcasm, "But I don't. The mistake is yours to make." The chill washes over Sasha, goose bumps rise on her skin followed by a strange feeling of vulnerability. 'She is speaking in serpent tongues. David would never cheat on me.' It is hard to keep her faith in love when the vile woman is so close, infecting the breath between them with her foul mouth.
Annabelle moves away and Sasha resists the urge to sigh in relief. There is something off about Annabelle. The girl she knew did not exude confidence or such rigid self-control. Her walk is a measured, steady gait. Perfect posture. A certain sway to her hips.
Their first meeting did not give any indication of the creature waiting for her.
Ashen face. Dry skin. Too narrow features. Dark rimmed and slightly sunken eyes. They looked like shiny marbles shoved into sockets. Hair is thin and oily.
Now she is transformed- from being near the water. An idea formed in her head. Maybe Annabelle is the real Lady of the Lake.
Liquid dread descends her spine at the thought, despite its absurdity. But it was plain to see-in vivid clarity- Annabelle meant to ruin her wedding.
Sasha's eyes bore a hole into the girl's back, 'She returns to visit her watery grave or-take revenge.'