“Just a week dad!” I said thumping my right feet on the black and white coloured Hotelgenix tiles that emulsified into one another at the center of the room creating an image of our milky way. Talk about perfection. “Four extra days, nothing more”, I added with a small frown and pouted lips that made me feel like I was 12.
“Ugh, I didn’t bring enough clothes but let’s see” my dad said, helping himself with a Grey Shrimp Croquette then puckered at his laptop's screen as if concentrating on something, signaling an end of our conversation – at least, for that time.
“I’ll be at Borisova resort” I added walking back to my room to order an helicopter as well as request for a tour guide who was well versed in the South Slavic language as well as English.
**
Borisova ski resort was an epitome of the Bulgarian beauty with it’s snow teeming land that stretched seemingly till infinity like an unending whitish cotton clumps of land. To an edge of the land was a tall building, the main one I guess where all the office work was done – about three storeys tall with bright white spiky ornaments cutting up every edge till the top and an extension not as tall but at least, twice as wide and just as attractive – it housed the fanciest lodge I’d been in all my life.
I was in Borisova’s eating house when there was a little chaos after a speaker from where I didn’t know who spoke a few words in Bulgarian. I felt that was selfish but still, I was amused at everything.
“They said there’s to be a ski race, sir” my tour guide whom I realized was Mr. Sullivan spoke, the Bulgarian tongue messing with his accent.
“And what about it?” I retorted with keen interest.
“If you want to participate sir, you have to get changed in one of the lodges” he said pointing at the utterly beautiful building “You brought your ski apparatus sir, I’ll get them for you” he added and walked off, leaving me to myself… and the perfect snow world.
**
I was a part of the third group of contestants alongside five others – my competitors.
“There are huge, red pointers that show where to pass. Good luck!” my tour guide interpreted to me when it was my set's turn.
I skid to the starting point. Thunderous cheers from the spectators as well as whistles and other forms of celebrations filled the air with tension. I was on the fourth lane.
Drones flew towards us and stood almost directly over our heads beeping silently. Talk about fancy!
The five seconds we spent getting ready to take off was like an hour then the signal came – an earsplitting wave cut through the air. A gun had been shot, the race had begun!
A smirk of confidence spread through my lips and I was soon stirring at a violent velocity. I climbed towards the second position and left an ample gap between me and third. I and the person occupying the first position having our little informal race. The red pointers had come in handy and I followed them keenly not necessarily because I was scared of getting lost but rather because I abhorred losing. I was hungry… ravening for success!
I was closing in on the skier holding the golden position. I strained my eyes a little and saw a steep downward ramp from which skiers jump. The skier at my fore was about to do the needful, when he fell hard and coiled a few metres on the snow causing a whitish snow distortion – an aftereffect of the speed he was moving at causing him to groan. The drone above him started bleeding infrared.
I soon reached where he was and was about overtaking him when a feeling of guilt filled me up. I had to make sure the person was alright. I got where he was and stooped, they were groans of a female. I was certain help was on the way but in the meantime I had to do my best. I pulled her mask off her face for her to breath better.
She was beautiful, had a really long blonde hair. Her face had blushes on her dimpled cheeks thanks to the biting cold. Her eyes had a sparkly shade of caramel and her lips were red and swollen too from the cold. She had hurt her left knee really bad. She had gone snow-blind and didn't see a huge really dark rock that poked out of the snow. The medics soon arrived at where we were. and placed her on a stretcher – She was Maisie.
**
It was two days after visiting Borisova ski resort and my third day in the beautiful city of Sofia that I got a call. It came in when I was drying my hair after a boiling hot bath that Hotelgenix made possible and was getting prepared to visit Pod Lipite Tavern – one of the oldest restaurant in Sofia that created home Bulgarian dishes with ingredients sourced from the restaurant’s own meat and dairy farm through their traditional method.
I wasn’t a fan to phone calls especially from phone numbers I didn’t know but something urged me to pick it up still.
“Hello, Russell?” the voice was simply… flawless! It was a little high pitched, feminine, too and captivating but still, had an underneath tone of confidence.
“Hello? Who’re am I on to?” I responded. There was about a three seconds break.
“Maisie, I’m Maisie. We met at Borisova”
And the call continue for about two minutes more. By the time I hung up the phone, I felt less tense and gasped for air, lots of it. I had someone to take with me to Pod Lipite Tavern, and that person was Maisie.
**
Entering into the restaurant itself was like stepping back into the past with the stone walls, brick fireplace and wooden beams evoking a homely, countryside charm which erased all traces of busy modernity. I had booked a reservation with Maisie and had shared the spot with her via WhatsApp.
She was there, with her golden hair, unblemished confetti eyes, her tiny pointed nose, and pink lips that revealed a perfect set of white teeth when she smiled at me whilst twirling her fingers round her hair.
“I apologize for my late arrival, I got lost a little bit and what a beautiful dress you’ve got on” I stuttered with a little chuckle as I got warmly enveloped in her heavenly fragrance.
“Thanks for the compliment. It’s okay, I guess you’re a tourist here in Bulgaria” she said with her dulcet high pitched tone and that was all it took to get the conversation rolling.
She was a magnificent conversationalist with a high sense of humour, an excellent wit of sarcasm and an extraordinarily good listener whose face gave off how she felt while I spoke. She was perfect.
We spoke for hours about skiing, America, Bulgaria and other interests like chess and by the time we realized the snow had begun in earnest, she was like a long lost friend I had caught up with except that, I felt… butterflies inside me. Lots of them.
A sudden shock-wave and what sounded like a background choir marked the coming of an angel. After landing like a comet, a divine being with eyes like glass stood in my front. She look at me with her tanned eyes. It calmed my every fibre and made me feel drowsy.Her slender and muscular body glided in a careful manner and was covered in various markings. She carried a weapon of bright energy.I looked at her gentle face once more; a pained expression was visible. A halo suddenly flared brightly above her head, and consumed her. The angel was… Maisie and it was all a nightmare.**I woke up gagging on a cough. The winter was maliciously cold although the heater was working just as it should – but yet, I was sweating profusely.
My last three days in the South Eastern European State, Bulgaria were absorbing. My dad had struck an handsome deal and spent almost all his time either in the hot, aerated water of Hotelgenix’s spa or at the massage parlour giving his ol' skin a treat and rarely at a casino not too far from our hotel just to test if the “lucky necklace” my mum had given him once before his biggest contract signing was still potent.My last days were top notch fun. I visited parks and gardens. A museum also – with Maisie but finally, the day of my departure arrived and it was an emotional one.**The cold wintery breeze reduced the temperature of every thing – living or dead in Sofia and not even the heater in me and my dad’s rooms could save us. Snow had been falling for hours non-st
The birds cooed gaily not minding the whiter, foamier and more inviting snow that fell peacefully from the bluish sky.Perfection and high-spiritedness filled Fairford Overlook. Christmas flutes, fireworks and “Fairforders” teemed the streets – a few adults dressed in Santa's costumes while the kids that really did look like they had just arrived from the North Pole were dressed in green; Santa's elves, sharing gifts to all houses.Now! That was the kind of aura I loved waking up to meet after spending half my night wrapping gifts; a chevron necklace and a trinket dish for Madison, a Virtual Reality headset for Mason, a moonlight pyjamas for my mum and a wine subscription for my dad and even something for Sal, my best friend; a Phone Wooden Docking Station and AirPods leather case. It was a perfect Christmas but little did I know that it was to be a very horrible new year with tons of...**
Our home's entrance boomed through the air as I slammed it shut and hastened toward my room.“Where are your manners, Russell?” my mum’s thin voice said finding it’s way to the staircase where I was – a few steps left before getting to my room.“Sorry mum, evening!” I shouted back as I hastened to my room, locked myself in and slumped on my bed and ended up regretting it as a loose sock with blotches of different colours bounced off my bed and tried suffocating me with it's densely chummy stench as it landed directly on my nostrils.My throat went dry and itchy instantly, my head was heating up really fast as the hazy memories hidden behind time's facade of last winter began to unveil itself. I took an half empty bottle of water that I had left on my table last
So, as I pulled up in the garage, I could smell the pungent odour of problems brewing. Everywhere was unusually silent and as I got out of the car and slammed it's door, birds on the roof flew away in a rowdy flurry. Scared-y cats! Or do we still say bats?As I walked to the front door, I caught a face at the window peeking at me. It was Mason looking at me from above with eyes that screamed “doom!”. I rolled my eyes at him, got to the door and let myself in.**My dad wasn't back yet and that'd have been a good thing if mum wasn't going to snitch on me. She was still telling me about the things I should've done so that I could've gotten to school on time to prevent having detention but the sole thing I could conceive as she "ranted on" was... MAISIE!.
"I still don't get how you could've ever been with her bro" Sal said as he stuck his thumbs in the straps of his bag leaving room between his elbow and his abdomen. He kicked an empty can off the walk way as Mer interlocked her arms into his and caused a few bumps as she skipped a few times along with us.I sincerely didn't know either how I'd gotten together with Amaya. I never loved her because she'd always been way too fussy and awfully picky. She did almost whatever made her comfortable not minding others and that didn't still stop her from being a wimp. She was pained, pained that I wasn’t “hers” anymore and every single day made reality hit her more – she’d never get a chance with me, again. I was certain that I was accurate with my hypothesis because we'd grown almost together. We attended the same elementary school, high school and now, college.
A really long passage with small apartments, the size of two cubicles merged. From the petite or let's say trivial terrace, the third room on your left.Firmly held by old, red bricks bountifully garnished with cracks on its surface, a pallid ash gray door stood and on its other side, all her worth outside her homeland were kept. ALL.And there, behind the door with drapes drawn to prevent the incurs of the sun during the day- Just like a vamp will do, a small, portable plasma TV hung to the thinned walls, a stein with red, small cheap wine filled the air and a few inches from the cold dark walls, the soft thud of her heart reminded her that she was living as she lay on her single bed, curled up from the world outside and only peeking to know what was going out there through her TV.Life hadn't been always bad, in fact, it looked like it'd stored up the bad mo
The aura at home was so crisp and tense we could have an entrancing banquet of it and there will still be an ample amount of the "meal" left for Maisie. Our emotions flared when my mother began telling my dad how irresponsible I’d been by not picking up Mason and Madison and how I’d gotten detention. My mother had broken our deal, she’d snitched on me although she told me she wasn’t going to mention it, she broke my trust!I didn't plan on telling my parents that Maisie was coming over to hide till God-knows-when because she was wanted for the demise of a bully who'd come after her and even if I there was a slim chance of that happening before, it had been washed away.For the first time in a long time I was scared... No, panicking. The person I loved with all my life was wanted for murder, the person I had dated was probably assisting the pol