Chapter Five
There was a knock on the door that woke her up, glancing at her bedside clock it was already close to 10 in the morning. After yesterday’s ordeal Connie was hoping to stay in bed for a little while longer. She wished she had not locked the door this morning she didn’t want to leave her bed. The knock persisted and dragging herself off the bed, Connie went to unlock her bedroom door expecting to see her mom.
She murmured as she opened the door ‘Mom couldn’t you…….’ She never got the chance to finish because standing at the doorway was her mother and stepdad. She was not expecting to see both of them at her door so she had not bothered to cover up, wearing only her panties and vest that did nothing to hide the outline of her round firm breasts Connie froze with embarrassment.
‘Honey, next time wear something descent when you are answering the door. Sorry if we woke you up there is something we need to ask you urgently can you come downstairs. Just cover yourself and come we will be waiting for you in the sitting room’, Lora said quickly uncomfortable with seeing her daughter wearing so little in front of her husband.
‘Do you always go to bed dressed like this Connie?’James asked gazing at her up and down a smile slowly forming on the corner of his mouth.
Noticing her husband’s expression, “James, that is very inappropriate of you to ask your daughter,’ Lora said sternly as she pulled James away.
Embarrassed that he had been caught, James turned and followed Lora without saying anything, Meanwhile, Connie slammed the door of her bedroom in disgust over James’s remark.
FEW minutes later Connie appeared in the sitting room freshened up and well dressed. Before she left her room she told herself she was not going to give her stepdad the satisfaction of embarrassing her, it was enough that he had insulted her last night but today she was going to pretend as if nothing had happened earlier. Quickly joining them in the sitting room Connie sat on the couch opposite her mother looking relaxed.
‘We called you here because something has come to our attention. Connie, what happened yesterday night, did you attend a party at Trish’s place like you said?’ James asked her casually.
A lot of things had happened last night some she wished had never taken place. It was James’s question that made her uncomfortable. What if Nick had tracked her down, how much has he told them while she was sleeping. She didn’t know how to answer that.
Taking advantage of Connie’s silence her mother interjected.
‘James, I thought we agreed that I will be the one doing the asking,’ Lora said obviously offended by her husband’s question and Connie knew her mother was still angry with James’s behavior earlier.
Turning to her daughter Lora had a stern look on her face and she asked in a firm voice
‘Connie, you heard your dad, we want to ascertain exactly where you were last night because while you were sleeping someone came by and we are not happy at all with what we heard, since when have you started lying?
The words of her mother made her nervous and she knew it had to be Nick, he has found her and how will she explain to her parents when they had already concluded that she was lying.
‘Don’t look so nervous, we are waiting to hear your side of the story.’ James asked.
‘Mom please you have to believe me, I have no idea what that guy is talking about. He just came from nowhere and started asking me about his brother whom I ___________’ Connie never got a chance to finish.
‘Hold on, you are not making any sense at all. Which guy did what?’ James asked obviously confused.
Connie delayed in answering the question as she contemplated on how to explain her side in a way that her parents would understand.
‘Well?’ James demanded
Connie looked from him to her mother and the expression on their faces made her eyelids twinge and fighting back the tears she snapped ‘I will not go through another episode of being called a liar, you of all people must have my back not side with a stranger whom you hardly know. You know what I am done with your questions.’ She stood up determined to walk out on them
Astonished Lora could not believe what she was hearing from her daughter.
‘You will not walk out while we are still talking to you Connie especially when your friend is missing’ Lora retorted
Connie looked confused for a moment, she wasn’t sure she had heard her mother right. Slowly she turned to look at her hoping her mother would repeat what she had just said and instead Lora asked quietly. ‘First of all who is this guy you are referring to, is he your boyfriend?
Connie was not hoping for that question, her attention had been brought back by the news of her missing friend. In a calm but bored voice she said ‘I don’t know how much he told you but he is not my boyfriend and that is what I have been trying to tell you all along’
With a stern face James said ‘Well, well, well wonders never cease to happen. Were you expecting your boyfriend here this morning?’
‘Of course not! I don’t know how he found my address but I never gave it to him’ Connie cried.
‘So he is your boyfriend after all. Didn’t I tell you Lora but you did not believe me. What will you say now, huh? James asked shaking his head
Lora frowned at James before she began pacing up and down, she was becoming wound up by the whole situation and turning to her daughter she asked ‘We will talk about this issue of your boyfriend later, you know how we feel about you dating someone whom we don’t know but for now I want to talk about Emma, does she also have a boyfriend?’
Connie found it highly inappropriate for her mother to probe her about her friend’s private life. She too was becoming incensed with her parents playing detective on her. She was suddenly feeling hungry and was desperate to be excused from their presence. Trying to keep her calm she replied ‘Mum that is absurd. I will not divulge anything about Emma’s love life. If you don’t mind excusing me my stomach is now complaining’
Before they could stop her she stormed out of the living room to the kitchen.
‘Lora what did I tell you in the first place, you should have at least allowed me to handle this situation my own way see now how things have turned out, your daughter does not even know the seriousness of this matter she is busy thinking about her boyfriend.’ James growled.
Raising both her hands Lora reply angrily ‘Stop it James you were here the whole time we were talking to her, why didn’t you handle it differently then…huh.. just because you have balls does that make you wise? I am tired of you point your finger of accusation whenever things don’t go your way. What is this daughter your daughter talk, isn’t she your daughter too?’
James gazed at his wife gape mouthed in astonishment, this was the first time Lora had raised her voice at him and in that moment words to answer her eluded him.
‘Answer me dammit! Have your voice suddenly gone awol.’ Lora screamed as she walked towards the kitchen her temper almost reaching the roof.
Could this be true that I have a friend who is missing, but who? What if she had not heard her mother right when she mentioned it surely she should have repeated it if it was true.’ Connie thought to herself as she poured herself a fresh cup of coffee, oblivious of the storm that was on the way.
Seeing his wife storming away from him like that James decided it was best to make amends. He quickly followed her and he caught up with her before she was out of the living room. He reached for her hand but she snatched it away as she kept on walking angry, not to be dissuaded he tried again and this time she stopped and he could feel her body slightly trembling but he forced her to turn to face him.With a sheepish look he slowly pulled her close to him, cupping her face in his hands he murmured apologetically ‘Lora, I must admit maybe in my speech I was out of line and I am really sorry. I hope you can see from Connie’s expression that she is not telling us the whole truth, there is something she is holding back. Let us not forget that these teenage girls are at a stage they want to experiment. Now that she has mentioned a guy let us not rule out the possibility that they met up with guys and probably her friend decided to go and shake up so
Chapter Seven‘Hello’‘Hi, you took so long to pick your phone, I was about to hang up is everything ok that side? Connie asked curiously trying to sound as normal as she could.‘Sorry about that Connie, we are in the middle of breakfast and my phone was on the couch. If you can hold on for a second, let me excuse myself.’ Trish said as she rose up from the table munching on her sandwich.Her mother gave her a disapproving look and she just shrugged her shoulders apologetically. Trish knew that her action was going to get her into trouble, even before she was out of earshot her mother was already complaining.‘Ben, you see what I am always talking about, your daughter knows the rules of the table yet she brought her phone to the table setting a bad example to her younger siblings.’ Annie grimaced.‘Annie, please let us enjoy this wonderful breakfast in peace.&r
Two hours later, Connie was sitting in Trish’s car as they drove to Fica club which was located on the outskirts of the city about fifteen minutes drive from the park. They stopped for some takeaways as both the girls had not had a proper breakfast that morning, they tried Emma’s phone again to no avail. With it being a weekend afternoon, they had a bit of trouble finding a parking slot when they got to the place. Trish eventually parked near the far end of the street.Walking back to the club, they noticed how different the club looked during the day without all the blazing lights on the neon signs. There was dead silence coming from the club and on closer inspection they noticed that the front entrance was also locked. Disappointed, they decided to walk around the building and just as they turned the corner the double doors in the alley suddenly opened and one drunken looking guy came out staggering.Quickly the girls walked towa
It was almost thirty minutes later when Pete finally emerged holding two large black bags. The big guy looked dangerous with his broad shoulders and muscled arms that made Connie react with fear when she saw him coming but Trish’s face was lit with excitement.‘Finally you are here, for a moment I was beginning to think you had forgotten about us.’ Trish said with a huge grin on her face.Dropping the garbage bags to unlock the door Pete barked, ‘Shut up young lady! Do not mistake my kindness for sympathy I am not your friend. Now get out of here and don’t ever show your faces in this place in the afternoon again or you will live to regret it.’ he spoke as he half shoved the two girls out.Connie looked at Trish’s stunned face and without another word she began to run and Trish followed close behind her, out of breath the two girls only stopped when they reached the car. Letting out a huge sigh of relief Connie beg
Emma turned to Connie with a surprised look on her face hoping for some intervention but Connie just shrugged her shoulders with a questioning look on her face.‘That’s enough! Are you guys ganging up on me now? Fine, you can kiss my ass goodbye for all I care.’ Emma scowled as she started walking away.‘Hahaha….there she goes without even apologizing. Go on go who cares’ Trish scoffed.Emma stopped suddenly Trish’s words infuriated her. She walked back and stood in front of her.‘You are very funny do you know that? If there is someone who is supposed to be angry it has to be me. You girls excluded me in your today’s plan but now you are acting as if I am the one who did something wrong. Look here Trish, since when have you ever been concerned about where I spend my night Trish? Emma glared‘Since the day you brought your mother here and caused havoc for Connie.&r
Chapter ElevenTrish woke up feeling grumpy, yesterday she ended up cancelling her plans to go to the club. Their conversation with the girls dragged on into the night and by the time it was over it was around 9.00pm in the evening. Her mother was furious because not only had she missed dinner but it was her second night in a row coming home late. She decided to go jogging it always made her feel better afterwards.‘You should have seen the way Stuart kept looking at her, too bad she is older than you,’ Lora chuckled.Connie began to laugh looking at her brotherThe four of them were sitting on the breakfast table having breakfast.‘Come on mum, I was looking at her for other reasons than what you are implying,’ Stuart pointed out obviously offended.‘Son, it is perfectly ok to look at beautiful women and desire them. That young lady is beautiful and if I were you I would go for her forget about the
Two weeks later Connie confronted Emma, she was upset that her mother had somehow found out about Emma supposedly missing incident and had called her house threatening to sue her parents for false assertion against her. Emma was just as shocked as she was when she told her the fiasco but assured her that she had nothing to do with the truth coming out and but promised to intervene.‘MOM, do you have any idea of the rift your actions almost caused in that family?’ Emma cried trying to knock some sense into her mother who was deliberately ignoring her plea for her to go to apologies to the Bradwell’s. It had turned out that even though Connie had suggested to drop the matter when Emma had suggested to ask her mother if she was at the Bradwells to which all the girls agreed Trish had other ideas. Apparently a few days ago she had told her brother about the incident and her brother decided to tell their
The first time she heard her daughter mention his name it gave her a fright. Her heart was gripped with fear after so many years. This was not happening she thought, after all so many years have lapsed and James was supposed to be living on the other side of the world not in her current city. She wasn’t satisfied until one day out of curiosity she followed her daughter to James’s neighbourhood and indeed it turned out that her past was now in her present town. Pamela was now married to a rich husband and had a new family and to imagine losing it all was too hard for her to bear. She found solace in the fact that there was no way he would tell it was her now that she was going with a new name and under new looks.When Annie called her three days back with the gossip at first she was alarmed, in her fear she thought that maybe he had discovered her and was using that false story to lure her out. Pamela called the wife first wanting to estab