Chapter Ten

Loreen quietly sat at her table looking at the containers on it without actually seeing them. Her mind was far away, wondering what she had done to the gods to have a friend like Canya. She was a people person and making friends was not that difficult. However, Canya had been her friend for so long that she could be right to claim she knew and trusted Canya, even with her life. What she heard and saw this afternoon crushed her faith in her friend. She was heartbroken and thinking seemed to have been stopped for her.

Eddie had been nothing but good to Canya. He had shown her love no one Loreen knew had. He was gentle, kind, warmhearted and the nicest man she knew. He could never hurt someone, even those who meant him harm. His niceness had made people take advantage of him and this had always annoyed both Loreen and Canya. They had talked to him about it several times but when someone approached him in need of a fiddling help that needed not his attention, he helped. They at last gave up to let him be the nice person he was.

She could not understand why someone would want to kill such a person, especially someone who claimed to love him dearly. A tear dribbled down her right cheek. She lifted her thumb to dry her wet cheek but the tear could not stop trickling. She snorted before picking her phone to call Jack, the man she knew was Eddie's closest person.

After he had assured her that Eddie was fine, she heaved a long sigh of relief. Felicity she had never felt before descended upon her, lifting a load that had been too heavy to bear. This time, tears welled from her eyes, tears of joy. She sang a mirthful song before realizing that a confirmation from a phone was not enough. Like an arrow leaving a bowstring, she dashed out of her room, forgetting to even close her door.

As she ran along the pavements, she failed to notice the number of eyes that were glued on her. It did not occur to her that she was barefoot and what was covering her was a nightgown. When she had arrived in her house, because she wanted to rest, she had changed into a nightgown and removed her shoes to jump to her bed. Unfortunately, no sleep came even after trying for hours. 

Running towards the gate, what she wanted was to reach Eddie's place as soon as possible. It was about two kilometers from the institution, a considerable distance to cover at top speed. Considering what it was that motivated her and her being a sportsperson, that was a distance too little to tire her up.

She had just gone past the gate when her phone pealed making her stop. It was Jack who had called. He was going to her room. She had to tell him that she was out. Seeing Eddie was more important than anything he wanted to tell her. She did not even realize that she was in a miserable condition. She continued with her run towards Hill Valley.

Eddie loved it when his door was knocked when someone visited. She disregarded the rule as she twisted the knob on the door before getting in. Inside, she found Eddie and Jack sitting on sofas at a table talking and laughing as if they cared not about what was happening around them. When they saw her, they sized her up with weird looks making her wonder what was on her for them to look at her like that.

She lowered her eyes to look and she was shocked herself but the shock only lasted a few seconds. She was a sportsperson and sometimes she had to put on revealing outfit and several times she had to play barefoot. What concerned her was Eddie and seeing him look at her weirdly and apparently fine, she almost fell on the floor to show her joy.

"Eddie, you are fine?" She asked. The two fellows were still throwing those weird looks at her clearly desperate for an explanation.

"Why is everyone asking me why I am fine today?" Eddie frowned with a puzzled chuckle.

"She asked me to ask you." Jack defended himself.

"Eddie, you do not know how glad I am to see you. I really am." Loreen looked over seriously.

"What is going on, Loreen?" 

"It is a long story." 

"I have time but first, go to the guests' room and find anything appropriate." 

Loreen wanted to protest but upon seeing his eyes, she dashed to the room without question. She took a quick bath before changing to a loose blue dress. She then walked to the living room where she found Eddie had long decorated the table with three bottles and glasses.