1 Upheavals

Life was so unpredictable. One moment it takes you to the pinnacles of success, the next instant you come crashing down hard. That was how Jess felt at the end of such an eventful day.

It all began like any other day for Jess. She got up late due to working late till the wee hours in the morning tying up loose ends in the final chapters of her latest book. She was like that always, whenever inspiration strikes she becomes so wrapped up in the story, she rarely noticed the time.

At 26, Jess was blessed with pale blonde hair and light blue eyes accompanied by a heart shaped face and a lovely figure beckoning passersby for a second glance. But not only did she had beauty, she had the brains to compliment it too for she was an internationally renowned bestselling author. Readers were drawn to her wit and charm with the splendid sense of humor she depicts in her stories, a complete contrast to the reclusive reality of her existence.

She rarely interacts with others, all the publicity being handled solely by her publishing firm and barely had a handful of people she calls friends.

She was a complete mystery and people were intrigued by her.

Being a recluse with the book finished before the deadline months away, Jess found herself at loose ends as the morning dragged on. She decided to spent the day cleaning house, a task which she neglected the past few days as she was so engrossed in the book. She started from the bedroom as she made her way downstairs to the kitchen and then on to the living room.

It was when she was arranging the bookshelves in the living room that her cellphone rang distracting her attention from the task at hand.

"Hello David" Jess said as she held the cellphone to her ear.

"Hey Jess, so how is my favorite author this day?" This was David's usual way of greeting her. He was the editor of her publishing firm and one of the handful of people Jess considers a friend.

"Tired as bones and dirty as a rat. I spent the entire day spring cleaning the house." Jess replied truthfully.

"Don't tell me you finished the book?" David asked.

"Yes its finished, packed and will be there at your table by tomorrow morning" Jess countered.

"That's my girl, that's why you are my favorite author. You never give me a chance to pester you for the deadline unlike other authors I know" he remarked. "So this means you are free tonight, so how about joining me for dinner?"

"What's the occasion??" Jess asked

"We are celebrating my dear and its your treat" he replied.

"Celebrating what? And why is it my treat when you're the one who is inviting?" Jess was genuinely puzzled. David sounded so mysterious.

"I have news for you. Your book has been offered a movie contract from none other than Fox Entertainment Group and the firm's attorneys are sealing the deal as we speak. All they need now is a signature from you and we are good to go. So if that doesn't call for a celebration then what does ?" David was excited. Signing the deal with one of Hollywood's most noteworthy entertainment group was going to be one of the greatest achievements of their publishing firm.

"Oh my God I can't believe this. Are you serious?" Jess exclaimed. She never imagined that something like this could happen to her. She was dumbfounded and happy beyond words.

"Yes I'm serious and yes its true. So tonight 8 pm sharp I'll see you at our usual place. Be there OK"

"OK I'll be there" Jess replied as she hung up.

She spend the better part of the day in a good mood as she completed the task at hand. By evening she was dressed and ready with an hour to spare before the appointed time. So she browsed through her emails in the laptop, a second task she neglected the past few days. The first few were from her readers appreciating her works and queries of the sort, some were from publishing firms asking her to join and some were just spam messages. She quickly went through these, answering queries here and there, deleting spam messages when suddenly she found an email from quite an unexpected source. As she read its contents, she became ghostly white as demons from a past long forgotten reach out their claws, taunting and twisting her inside out.