C H A P T E R 0 5
?If you're always trying to be normal, then you'll never know how amazing you can be.?
I went to the bathroom but there was no one.
I was about to leave when I heard some abnormal noises and I knew it was Olivia.
"Olivia?"
I heard a low groan from inside. I knocked on the door again.
"Olivia? You there?"
Nobody replied, instead I heard the toilet being flushed and the door cracked open. I immediately stepped back. Olivia tumbled out of the toilet.
I caught her before she could face plant herself on the floor.
"Jelly!" She shouted in my ear and I cringed at her loud voice.
"Don't shout. And my name is Julie, not Jelly."
I put her one arm around my neck and helped her out of the toilet.
"Where were you, July? I missed you a lot!" She said, clearly ignoring what I said to not shout. Her mouth reeked of alcohol and I stopped breathing for a while. "You know I played this dare and truth with Wimla. And I got this naughty dare to kiss a guy. And I enjoyyyyyyyyyyyyed it! Wimla was..."
Before she could continue, I slammed my hand on her mouth, her voice muffled by my hand.
"What did I say about not shouting?"
Instantly she stuck her gross, alcohol stained tongue out on my hand and I instantly released her mouth and her arm around me too.
She fell down, her face stamped on the toilet floor.
"Ow!" She hissed in pain as she sat up and rubbed her nose which was red. "Why did you do that, Julie?!" She yelled at me.
I sighed. "Sometimes I wish I had never met you."
She grabbed her head, not saying anything.
"Ow! My head hurts," She howled.
"Why did you drink? I told you not to. Now how are we going to get home?!" I yelled at her. She didn't say anything, still grabbing her head. She chuckled lowly at this. I glared at her head.
I hauled her up and dragged her out. The party was on in full swing. Lots of people were around, dancing and drinking. Wilma was nowhere to be seen.
"Wait!" She suddenly said. "Bobert had given me a dare," She said, putting a finger under her chin and appearing to be in deep thought.
"Bobert?" I scrunched up my eyebrows in confusion. "I think you mean Robert."
"Whateva," she suddenly perked up. "Yeah, I remember the dare. I had to ask a woman for some mother's milk," She said, looking around. She picked up an empty beer bottle and stalked away from me. I ran after her.
"Olivia! Wait up."
She went straight to a middle aged woman in an elegant party gown and tapped her shoulder. The woman turned around, annoyed at being disturbed. She was talking to her friends.
Before I could apologize, the woman started speaking. "What is it?" She snapped rudely. She looked at us up and down and I could tell that she was not very pleased at our appearance.
Olivia rested her arm on my shoulder. I hated being so small. Olivia was so tall, like a giraffe.
"Yo woman with the boob implants," she drawled and stuck out the empty bottle in front of her face. "Can I get some breast milk from you?"
My eyes widened. "I think you'd do the job. Your boobs are," she leaned closer to her boobs. "Sadly small. What happened? Did the surgery go wrong? Your-" her next words were muffled by my hand as I looked at the woman. She looked bright red, from anger or embarrassment, I couldn't tell.
"I'm so sorry, ma'am. She's drunk." I apologized. "Don't mind her, your boobs are um...fairly big." I muttered awkwardly, my cheeks feeling red hot from embarrassment.
Before she could yell at us, I tugged at Olivia's arm and dragged her away from there.
"How are we going to get home?" I wondered aloud.
"Hoooooooooome," Olivia drawled. "I hate hoooooooooome."
"What do you mean?" I asked. Liv never told me about her parents. Every time I asked, she would say that she was not close to them and didn't want to talk about it.
"I mean," Olivia looked at me. "That I hate home! Mainly because of my dad."
"Why?"
"He is a dick. You know he forced me to study law." She pouted. "I didn't want to."
"Why did he force you into it?" I asked, hoping she was kidding.
"My whole family is a family of lawyers. And they wanted me to continue the tradition," she said quickly and a little louder. "As if someone was going to give them a fucking prize for it."
"I'm sorry." I said. "But the good thing is that you rebelled." I said, grabbing her shoulders to keep her upright. She pushed me back, scrunching her nose up in disgust.
"You stink, Julie."
"What?" I asked in confusion and sniffed myself. I smelt pleasant, like strawberries. Then I sniffed her and recoiled back as I breathed the strong smell of alcohol. Her legs wobbled and she gripped my shoulder to steady herself.
"We need to get home. You know how to get there?" I asked, although knowing she doesn't.
"I can tell you the directions if you can drive." She offered.
I gulped. I didn't drive that well but I was the only sober one among us. "Do you think Wilma will help us?"
"I don't know. I think she will."
"Okay. Stay here, don't go anywhere. I'll find Wilma."
I saw Wilma's father talking to someone and I waited for them to finish off their conversation.
When he finally turned around and looked at me, I spoke up. "Um.." I didn't know who he was and I didn't even know his last name. "Hello, my friend is friends with Wilma, could you tell me where she is?"
"She has probably gone to sleep. May I help you?" He was kind. I could tell that.
"No...It's fine." Even though he looked kind, looks could be deceiving. I didn't want to hitch a ride with a complete stranger especially when I had a drunk woman to take care of. "Thank you."
He nodded and I made my way back to Olivia. Thankfully, she was still there in the same position. She looked up at me as I neared her.
"She's probably sleeping." I informed her.
"Looks like you'll be the one to drive."
"I'm not sure whether I'll be able to."
"Julie I think you could. Don't worry it's easy."
"Can't you drive?"
"My head is hurting like a bitch. Damn it! I shouldn't have had a drink. I'm sorry."
I sighed. "We should go."
"Yeah."
I helped her up. She leaned heavily on me. I put an arm around her waist and she put her hand on my shoulder as I pulled her up. She stumbled in her heels.
"Take them off. It will be easy to walk without them."
"No. I like those heels and no way will I walk around without any footwear." She said stubbornly.
We were in such a horrible situation where I doubted we'd even be able to reach home and she was more concerned about the five inch devils.
"Olivia, shut up. Take those damn heels off."
When she made no effort to take them off, I glared at her. "I'll let go of you. And maybe even leave you here alone. You don't want that, do you?"
We both knew I was not going to do such a thing but it was worth a try.
"Idiot." She murmured as she bent down and took it off and carried it in her hands. If I would have been her, I would have chucked them in a bin.
I saw the red lines on her feet. "Why do you wear them if they are so painful and uncomfortable?"
"I love them. And I don't have many heels. And they also make me look tall and sexy." She clutched her stomach.
"Are you okay?" I asked her.
She immediately let go of my hand and ran towards the washroom. I followed her and saw her puking her guts out in the toilet. Ew.
I looked away. I didn't know why but if someone puked in front of me I get a funny feeling in my stomach that makes me want to puke too.
After she threw up, she rinsed her mouth with water and tied her hair back.
"Don't puke in the car. It would be your loss as your car will be the one to get dirty but I don't want to cause an accident just because you puked in the car."
She didn't answer me as she fished for something in her purse.
"My eyesight is getting blurry." She whispered and popped mint flavored bubblegum in her mouth.
Thank God, at least her mouth wouldn't stink. "I hope you don't pass out."
I held her again and we made our way out of the bathroom.
The party was still going on, the loud music bursting my eardrums.
I dragged her out of the mansion and there were no guards at the gate this time.
"Uh...Where did you park your car?" I didn't remember where exactly but hopefully she did.
She lifted her head which was resting on my shoulder and scanned the area.
"I think I parked it somewhere there." She said, pointing to a number of cars that were parked along the street.
We hobbled towards it. I glanced at her wrist watch. It was almost midnight.
"Give me your car keys."
She took her purse and rummaged through it to find the key. After a good five minutes, during which I had lost hope of getting home tonight, she finally dangled the lovely keys in front of my eyes. I snatched it away from her hand and press the unlock button of the car.
In the distance, about five to six cars behind, I saw the headlights of Olivia's beautiful black car glow in the dark.
"Come on." I said, pulling her with me.
We were almost there at the car, when I saw two big, muscular men emerge from behind it.
It was dark. Nobody was around. All were partying in the mansion. A chill travelled up my spine which had nothing to do with the cold. I came to an abrupt stop and Olivia glanced at me and followed my line of sight. Both the men were stood in front of our car, staring at us.
"Julie, let's go back to the mansion," Olivia whispered in my ear. I nodded at her.
The shady men took a small step forward and I automatically took a small step back.
I didn't want to die tonight. I was so young. Just eighteen. Okay okay, turning nineteen in three months.
I turned around with difficulty as Olivia was leaning against me. I heard the footsteps of those two men getting closer.
It was then that I noticed three dark figures walking towards us from the front. They were dressed similarly to the two men behind us.
We were trapped.
Where were the guards when we needed them?!
They were very close now.
I felt Olivia's hands loosen around me. I held her tightly against me. She was going to pass out.
"Don't come near me," My voice was barely audible. "Stay away," I said a little louder, trying to sound threatening.
I took a step back.
One of the three took Olivia's hand and started pulling her towards him. I held on to her tightly.
I screamed for help but it was of no use, the loud music at the party drowned my cries for help. No one could listen to me even if I shouted at the top of my lungs. Nobody was even around to help me.
The man who had tried to push Olivia to him, successfully managed to do so. He was now holding an unconscious Olivia.
My hands tried to reach out for her again but I was pulled back. I screamed again, begging the men to let us go. I was so scared and so worried for Olivia. What were they going to do to her?
I felt strong arms imprison both of my hands behind my back and I tried to squirm out of their grasp in vain.
I had completely forgotten the two men behind me.
One of them was holding my arms with one hand and the other hand was clamped down on my mouth, muffling my screams. I saw the other one sprinkling some liquid from a bottle on a handkerchief.
My eyes widened when I saw him take a step towards me. I kicked the man behind me in his shin. He hissed in pain but didn't let go.
I watched helplessly as the man in front of me placed one of his hands behind my head and slammed the handkerchief on my nose with the other.
I held in my breath, knowing that if I took a whiff of the scent of the liquid on the handkerchief, it would be bad and I wouldn't be able to do anything. But again, what was I able to do now?
Thirty seconds passed and I still hadn't released my breath. My lungs fought for air and I felt that if I didn't breathe now, I would die. Either way I was going to die, so why not lengthen my life a bit. My mouth was blocked by the cloth so breathing through my mouth wasn't an option.
Not able to hold it anymore, I released the breath I had being holding and smelt the cloying scent of the liquid on the handkerchief. It was sickly sweet. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy, making me lose my concentration.
I felt my feet wobble and I was losing my balance. My eyesight was blurry and I couldn't concentrate. I blinked furiously to clear my vision but something was wrong. The smell was messing up with my thought process. It was knocking me out of my senses.
I heard low murmurs around me and felt someone lift me up. But I was not concerned about myself.
I was in someone's arms and I tried to get on my feet. I could see Olivia. Not clearly, but she was there. I tried to reach out to her but I heard a vehicle honk. Help!
I tried to shout but my dry throat could barely manage to get the words out.
"Help," I whispered.
A van pulled up in front of us and I was gently pushed in it. I was being kidnapped. I knew it. But I couldn't do anything about? it.
I immediately tried to get up but failed miserably. I couldn't walk and I couldn't see anything. My head began to throb a bit.
"What should we do about this girl?" I heard a man's voice ask someone. I saw Olivia in someone's arms too.
"Oli-Olivia," I stuttered.
"I think she's her friend. We shouldn't leave her like that," I heard a female voice answer the man. The voice seemed strangely familiar.
I felt someone's presence beside me and it was Olivia. I tried to touch her, to see if she was okay but I couldn't move.
"She should have been unconscious by now. Why has she not passed out?" The same familiar female voice demanded. Her voice sounded concerned.
"She's fighting the effect. She'll be out in no time."
"Okay."
I knew they were talking about me.
Who were these people? What did they want from me? Why me? I wondered. I just hoped we'd be safe.
I felt a weight on my whole body. Someone had put a soft and warm blanket on me.
"I'm so happy we have finally found her. My baby," I heard the female voice whisper, breaking down in the end.
That was all I heard before blackness took over everything. I couldn't hear anything further. I couldn't feel anything.