CHAPTER TWO-BLACK MEMORIES

On a Friday afternoon,two months after her father became the C.E.O. All the board members and staffs of the company were gathered in the board room to celebrate their new achievement of landing a multi million dollar deal.The deal was landed by Mr gracias,the C.E.O. It was a life changing and betterment deal for him and the company.In celebration of this great achievement,Mr Steve,the company's sales director suggested they all go on all weekend getaway together to celebrate.

The whole board affirmed to his suggestion and everyone sounded excited and was looking forward to having a break.The expenses of the little getaway was sponsored by the company.It was scheduled to happen next weekend.The board room was filled with laughter,giggles and smirks. Mr gracias was happy and proud of himself.He was the youngest yet most competent amongst the board members, little did he know he was also hated by many.

The day ended, and it was time to go home. Employees were swimming the parking lot, trying to find their way home after a long day at the office.

Mr gracias had some paperwork to finish,so he decided to stay a bit longer. His secretary turned in the day's work and bed him farewell.

He was completely focused on his computer,with both hands dancing on the keyboard,when suddenly the sound of his ringtone jerked him back to reality.

He reached for his phone, which was on the desk beside his cup of whiskey. He glanced at the screen and a smile curved up his dark lips.

"Hey,babe! Mr gracias greeted, immediately he swiped answer on his phone screen.

"Where are you? it's already been an hour since you closed,why ain't you at home yet? A sweet little voice whispered at the other end of the call.

"I'm sorry my love! I had to finish up something quickly at the office. I will soon be on my way.I have great news for you bby.I will be home in a bit

"Okay honey! please be on your way soon,your food is getting cold already. I also have great news for you,seems like it's a news day for us all. I love you, can't wait to see you! Bye. Mrs gracias said and hung up immediately.

Mr gracias smiled at his phone for a moment, sighed softly and stood up gently from his chair. He headed towards the big window with a glass of whiskey in his hands.

He heaved another sigh as he sucked in some fresh air whilst loosening his tie with his Left hand.He stood motionlessly,just staring at the quiet scenery from the window.It was peaceful, obviously because he was the only one remaining in the office.He was about swirling back to his desk,when his grey irises darted on a familiar,tall, slender young lady putting on a red silky gown. He was bewildered because he thought he was the only one in the office. The lady was with a little boy, and they both sauntered from the office building into a brown car.

Mr gracias watched them keenly from his office window upstairs and realized it was his secretary.He wondered what she was still doing at the office after she leaving for over an hour.

He went back to his desk after the brown car drove away from the office environment.

He logged out of his computer, took his car key and placed the empty glass cup on his desk.He walked firmly from his office,after shutting it and proceeded towards the elevator.His office was on the top floor of the building. With his two hands in his pocket he walked towards the elevator,he was about entering the elevator when he heard noises coming from an office. He halted a bit and headed towards where the noise was coming from. It was coming from Mr Steve's office. Without knocking on Mr Steve's door,Mr gracias walked in abruptly.

The later walked in on Mr Frank,Mr Steve,Hannah,Donald and John,all members of the board having what seemed like a secret meeting in Mr Steve's office.

The former and later were all surprised seeing themselves.

"M.....mr gracias, good evening. I thought you've left already. I...erm....I just gathered a part of the board for us to talk about the next project, and how to let you handle it as well, because you're a great asset to the company. Mr Steve stammered through his visible lies.

The others were fidgeting in their sits and it was evident.

Mr gracias smiled faintly and said

"Thank you all for working with me towards achieving every win,I appreciate. Having meetings like this aren't nice, you should include everyone next time. I will be on my way now,I have somewhere important to go to.

Without waiting for their reaction or reply,he slammed the door and walked quickly into the elevator. In no time,he found himself in the parking lot,and entered into his black BMW.

He couldn't get his thoughts over everything that happened,as he drove home.

°~°

Back in the present

A car alighted in front of a small apartment at the outskirts of Life camp city. A light beige skinned tonnned young lady,with long thick blonde hair stepped out of the car and into the apartment.She sauntered with her obviously heavy luggages into the apartment.

Immediately she entered room 101 of the apartment building,she bounced into the sofa whilst releasing hot stream of tears from both eyes.

"You have to be strong,Aurora! You can't let them win. she whispered to herself before taking her phone out of her jacket.

She scrolled through her phone and dialed the number that had MJ saved with it.

"I have arrived safely. I'm in my apartment now. It's finally time to pay them back and retrieve all I have lost.

"You have to be careful Aurora,they are dangerous people,I don't want them hurting you. the masculine voice at the other end of the call replied.

"I have nothing to loose anymore,so I'm not holding back anything. I appreciate your help and everything,but allow me to fight this battle.My plan will be in full motion tomorrow. Aurora replied scornfully.

"You know that I have always been on your side. I'm just watching out for you. I'll see you in a week.stay safe! bye!

Aurora heaved a deep sigh before taking her luggages into the small bedroom of the apartment.She sulked her entire body on the mattress and the memories of how her father's corps was found and how her mother was killed,played in her head like it was just yesterday.

It was a Saturday morning and her mum was helping her dad with his suitcase so he wouldn't miss his flight,for his weekend getaway. She could remember vividly the smiles on their faces as they both talked about random things while packing his suitcase.As she watched them from their large bedroom windows,she wished silently for it to always be like this. It's been a week since her mother informed them about the baby she was expecting,and Aurora couldn't be happier.After they were done with breakfast,she and her mum accompanied her dad to the airport where he boarded a plane along side his colleagues from the office.They were scheduled to return on Monday morning,but unfortunately Mr gracias did not return with them.He was brutally murdered by an unknown person and thrown into the river.it took the cops three days to locate his corpse.That was the beginning of the end for Aurora.

~•~

"Good day class I am here to inform everyone of you that the principal has chosen ornament hall to participate in this year's annual international drama competition.The title of this year's drama is Romeo and Juliet. Try outs will begin tomorrow and I urge all of you audition! The tall bronze skinned man with beards said,with his hands entwined.

The atmosphere was filled with murmurs and laughter from different students.

Xavier closely scanned through the classroom and entire student with his eyes,and couldn't help but wonder why they were so happy about a dumb play. At his old school,they had a drama club that performed mid term and that was it. It wasn't anything special or so he thought. He was still lost in thought when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder.He swirled his head to the back to see who it was and he was greeted with bethzy's pretty face.

"A penny for your thoughts? Bethzy! my name is Bethzy.We didn't get the chance to officially introduce ourselves earlier.

"Xavier! nice to meet you bethzy and thank you for earlier.

"Nice name! I'm sorry for the little encounter that happened between you and my friend Lily earlier. She just hates when the spotlight is stolen from her,but she's usually nice.

"Spotlight?uhhhm okay! Xavier responded with a feign smile.

"You should totally audition for the play, it's a huge deal around here.Every year we get foreign students who come from different schools in different countries, and the principal picks a hall to team up with them and perform a play.The chosen hall gets to plan homecoming and the female lead of the play gets to become queen of home coming.This is the first time ornament hall gets to participate since forever that's why we're super excited.Are you a day or boarding student here?

"Woah that's huge! Audition? I'm bad at acting,but I'm thrilled to watch the play. So what role are you auditioning for? I'm a day student,what about you?

"You should totally try out,plus I think you're cute and the role will suit you. I'm a boarding student,so is Lily. I would have loved to play Juliet,but Lily wants to audition for that role so it's a no go area.

"Thank you for saying I'm cute. I think you shouldn't let anyone stop you from doing what you love, you know. Uhm,don't mind me asking but the girl sitting beside me has been gone for a while now,more than three classes, shouldn't we be worried? Xavier asked innocently.

"Araceli! Don't worry you will get to know her or not. She's a freak. She disappears mid classes and shows up with bruises. She has no friends and doesn't talk to anyone except her brother in flight hall.You should stay away from her. Have you chosen an after school activity yet?

"Wow, That's so sad.has anyone tried to talk to her to know what happened or how she substained thoes bruises?

"Ewwww,gross no one talks to her and you shouldn't too.I have to go now Xavier,I don't want Lily to come back and see us talking. I will see you after class.Bye! Bethzy said and blew a kiss to Xavier from where she was standing before going back to her seat.

"hmmmm,Bye! Xavier responded more like a whisper.

Xavier kept staring at Araceli's seat for a while and he felt pity for her.What could be wrong with her and how did she substain so many bruises.A million and one un answered questions kept popping in.He was still staring at her empty sit,when she walked back in and took her sit.Their eyes clocked yet again and he couldn't help but notice the dark sparkles in her eyes.She immediately looked away the moment their eyes clocked.Xavier felt something he couldn't explain whenever she was around. Was it pity? curiosity? or nervousness,he couldn't tell.