22. Return to consciousness.

Jihha

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"....Jihha wake up already…..please I am begging you"

Another repetition of those words and I found myself laying somewhere while the bright rays of light pierced through my vision. My head kept spinning like those tea cups ride at the amusement parks and I was having a hard time determining that what I saw was the reality or is this a dream?

"Come on! You never drank that much to pass out! Wake up already!!!"

That voice was same as before and it belonged to one of the idiots.....my idiots...Sadaf! I tried to lift my head but every single thing was seem to be spinning and yet I was able to trace the outlines of Sadaf's red hair. Her hair was usually wavy but today they were straight. I let out a groan as I tried to sat up and that is when it came to me that I was passed out on the floor like a wasted alcoholic. Was this my 'celestial yet not so celestial' quarter life crisis point? Probably!

"Woah! Rise and shine....and yes I meant it in Kylie's tone!" the girl giggled while grabbing my forearm for the purpose of supporting me. I slowly sat up but I was still going through the phases of light-headedness. And yet that was not enough that a migraine like headache also hit me. I had no idea what Sadaf was saying but every single word was like a needle to my brain's flesh. "Sadaf....my dear tolerable friend! I may die from this headache but I just want you to know that NONE of your talking is INCREASING this ache of mine!". I knew my tone had particles of sarcasm but...oh well! She eventually broke into a wide grin before pulling me up on my toes and pushing me towards the couch while she ran towards the kitchen. I heard the fridge opening up so that means that she may be fetching me a glass of water.

Soon after, the sound of her heels became more audible and that is when I noticed the outfit she was wearing. A baby pink knee length dress in THAT famous strawberry pattern while the dress's lining and belt was the same kind of fabric in pale yellow color with daisies printed on it. She had the same pink platform heels on and there were many other....questionably bright yet pastel accessories. She looked like that one main character from the barbie movies. No shade to barbie, she is an icon but she looked like...human version of the feeling of euphoria.

"Here!" she exclaimed before handing me the glass of water and twirled lightly before crashing down on the couch besides me. "what?" she asked again in her normal voice. Even her normal voice was...pink? "HOW can ONE remain so...so....so incredibly-"

"So incredibly gloomy and depressed and old looking with a lack of color in their lives despite the fact that they are a multi- millionaire? I don't know! ask yourself!" Sadaf broke in my word and completed it while criticizing my style. "e-excuse ME! but-"

"you ARE excused!" woah... In this friendship, was I not the sarcastic best friend- I mean just an acquaintance!

"Haha! very funny! My style is exquisite! It represents class and elegance! Dominance and a-" and she stood up again, with her arms semi moving in the air like lazy waves and she said the next thing while mimicking some random Duke from some period drama, "dominance and a sense of authority! Responsibility is the crux of my style while my elegant yet dangerous aura is on display from the color schemes of my preference! Simply because they might be the colors of my soul! Dark, depressed, gloomy, miserable-"

"HEY!!!"

"- and monstrous! I am not a saint, thy should know!" when Sadaf finished her whole 'episode', I only had one thought in mind.....murder! I scoffed when she started to giggle and focused on he water. Suddenly, with a quick jump, Sadaf came back to her seat and I almost spilled the water all over me and the floor. This little bitc-

"And yet your royal highness was passed out on the floor like an alcoholic or maybe a drug addict! Seriously, I came to have a late lunch or tea with you and poof, I found out that you did not contact your secretarial staff but just told them that you were out for the day because you are sick and here I was! I stood 2 hours in the lift because it was denying my access to your penthouse! And-"

"2 hours?" I asked and my voice came out a little raspy. Wait...she said she wanted to have a late lunch or tea with me and that means she went to my office at around 3 pm or 4 pm. I quickly took a glance of the outside through the window in front of me and it was dark....the same kind of dark that was here when I came back home and ordered pizza.....wait! I struck a deal with Luka and I passed out here, in my bedroom. If she went to my office this late afternoon and then came here, waited for two hours then that means that I was out for two FREAKING hours??!?!?! Was all that I saw was-

"hey....you have gotten pale." Sadaf almost whispered before slowly rubbing my forearm. I felt her hand on my forehead and I plunged backwards. I yelped when I let the glass go. No nononono! Trecia can not be here and-

wait...

I caught a glimpse of worry on Sadaf's face when I flinched..... It was Sadaf and not..."Oh my God! I...I am going crazy." I whispered before straightening up. Slowly but surely all those horrible and dreadful memories rushed back to my and played slowly before my eyes. They were not detailed, thankfully, but they were still like a nightmare. "You- I-..uh...Jihha....you still have those scares?"

I just nodded before taking my head in my hands and closed my eyes tightly shut in an attempt to erase those awful scenes of past from my view. Gradually, I felt all those voices and pictures fading away. Instead, I felt physical warmth around me. At this point, I knew Sadaf had her arms wrapped around me. Sadaf was also one of the victims of Trecia's 'experiments'. She was the last one. Sadaf helped me escape the house's basement and that is how I reached the police station. Whatever happened at the station was....another story, and yet when Trecia tried to escape, she got caught and while she set the building on fire, Sadaf and everyone else managed to survive the fire. Everyone survived the fire because of the exit me and Sadaf found, but some lost their lives on the hospital bed, some due to trauma and some like us, who physically survived but are slowly being killed from THAT torment. At least, Sadaf is here...

"My poor child! Take a deep breath!". Was I crying? no! That stopped happening a while ago. Was I trembling? No as well....but was I hurting? Can a human ever forget? No.... maybe...Maybe I was hurting because my childhood, my purity, my innocence was taken away from me at the mere age of what? 10? 12? And yet the person who was massively responsible was someone who was my mother. Trecia was supposed to be my mom, my biggest supported, my savior, my best friend. But she turned out to be a monster, my biggest enemy, my culprit, an arch- fiend and yet she had no regrets. She loves the fact that she established fear among her victims but she is wrong. She, by mistake or not, made me her biggest downfall and whatever I am, it is because monsters like her showed me how brutal the real world is.

"Jihha?" Sadaf's voice snapped me back into focus. I sat up straight and looked at her. There was worry lacing her expression but that was not for me or our situation, I know that look and I know her next words. "Maybe you should let Trecia go now..." she asserted her point softly while fidgeting her thumbs. "Let her go?" I asked and I felt feeble notes of rage raising in the atmosphere. Sadaf hesitatingly gulped and nodded before softly saying, "i-I know that she is a monster but still she- she is your birth mother, she is your family and-"

I, on my reflex, stood up, "Families are not on the basis of blood! The feeling of love, affection and sympathy makes one a FAMILY! She had none of that! When my father was alive, he was my family, then my aunt and then my uncle, etc. TRECIA was, is and never WILL be anything closer to my family!" I said angrily and I knew my body temperature was rising but...I knew I was NOT wrong. How could Sadaf ask me to-

Her expression changed, it turned darker before she also raised to her feet. She was shorter than me and with heels, she was barely my height. "Look! The law was not able to see what we saw but that does not mean that you take revenge into your own hands! Ever since she last called you for money, you got her kidnapped and locked away far in an abandoned building's basement! You know that is illegal and-"

"I am taking revenge!"

"Is that why you traced Waline Tereberg? Is that why he is missing from the past 48 hours?!!?!?!" Sadaf spat out and my rage went blank...wait..

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"Wait.....Waline Tereberg is missing? How?!"