Can't lose you

.."Oh wow , been a while I got parcels. Thank you" .

Stace said, collecting the envelope. The lady walked out while Stace went on  to open it. A letter and some photos came rushing out on the desk and Stace was perplexed by what his eyes met. 

"What is it? " 

Walter asked, leaning forward out of curiosity. 

Stace's face revealed something was wrong and whatever it was, had so much to do with his heart.  He held up the pictures one after the other swiftly glancing at them, his heart raced fast . He reached  for the letter, opened it and read .

' I could blame you, but I can't. It's me, My life, My story, how it's always been. You putting an end to what we had hurt like hell, I thought I wouldn't survive, but no.. the pain wasn't anything like this.. these photos.. make me get it. Now it all makes sense. Your not wanting to go beyond just kisses , your mood swings , your lies.. but it's fine..  I am writing this letter to let you know that I am gone.. I quit working, and am heading back home. I never hope to see you again. And don't bother trying to find me, cause you won't ' 

He read the letter in a rush but got the message. Walter already had his hands on the photos and figured out what was going on. Soon Stace sprang up from his seat rushing out of the office leaving  Walter who was more focused on keeping the photos and letter safe. 

Stace rushed into the elevator and soon was downstairs . He hurried out the exit door and had his staff peeping and whispering . 

In the parking lot , he quickly got into his car, reached for his phone from his pocket , and tried calling her number, but it wouldn't connect. He left so many voice messages but no reply. His body temperature rose , he could feel his heartbeat in his head, his chest began to hurt.

"No no no.. please pick up, and let me explain, it's not what you think" 

He muttered as he dialed her number one more time.

"Damn it !" 

He yelled in frustration hitting on the horn . 

He started the engine and soon drove out . 

_____

"Where is she?" .

Dave heard someone speak as he got out of the bathroom with a towel tied round his waist. He was startled.

"How dare you? How dare you sneak into my apartment ?! You lunatic. You keep giving me enough grounds to sue you ! You had your dog hit me in the head and steal my car , I know you told him to do so. And now you are in my house asking silly questions !"   Dave retorted on seeing who it was.

"Obviously you are in a hurry. Gotten what you wanted right?" . Stace asked rather calmly.

"Dude, are you not listening to me?  Get the fu*k out of my house or I am so calling the cops !" 

Dave yelled.

"I was lost. Had given up. Tired. Hurting. Until she walked into my office for an interview. She was everything I needed to survive. Everything was going just fine, until you showed up out of nowhere like a snake that you are and now , she is gone. Because you lied to her"

"You really are out of your mind. First off, April is mine, and will forever be mine. You really thought you stood a chance? Because of your looks and a business you are starting up? Do you even know who She is? What made you believe you are anything she could be with or that you could be able to afford her, you can never, but I can and secondly, April and I have been together longer than your pretty boy brains could believe, it's normal for couples to fight, but like always, we'll settle it, we'll move on, we make love and forget, because we love each other! " 

Dave  replied to him .

"Hmm. You talk like the d*ck that you are. You see her like something you could buy from the mall . Look at you, Daddy's boy. Living off Daddy's bread crumbs .  You want to talk about money?  I am Money. But you fail to understand that April is a lot more and you want to take her away from me, you talk about love, you are too dumb to come to terms with what it truly means, you never loved her like she deserves but I do and will, and still you wouldn't let her. You are just a cunning devil " 

Stace replied, sitting comfortably, looking like he had got a fever.

"Dude, get the f*CK out of my chair" 

Dave warned moving paces towards him like he was ready for a physical brawl.

"Someone took her away from me once. It won't happen again. Where is she?" 

Stace asked again, as he got up from the chair heading towards him .

Dave grew mad as Stace got close enough to him .

"I won't repeat myself" 

Stace  warned . 

Dave rushed towards him punching him in the face. 

Confused, he saw that the punch had no effect on him .

"You threw the first punch , my turn" 

Stace told him with a smirk.

In a flash, Dave found himself back in his bathroom, he was on the fallen door which was now dented all over. On the floor in pain , he bled from his nostrils, he blinked his eyes in a bid to stabilize his sight . 

With a blurry vision, his eyes fell on Stace's hard fist as it approached him. He made a move to crawl away into the inner space of the bathroom but sooner than expected, he felt Stace's grip on his neck from behind, with his entire body feeling like he got run over by a truck , it was obvious he couldn't take any more.

"Stop.. just... stop.. I'll tell you everything .." 

He struggled to speak.

____

Pain, confusion, so many questions filled her head while she sat quietly in the back seat of the Lexus LX 570 MBS autobiography whose wheels seemed to be moving steadily on the lane . She looked lost, her eyes stared into an empty space and her face let anyone who cared to Know, realize that she had had a long night.

Her mom who was sitting beside her remained quiet, staring out her seat window . Having taken a left then a right turn, the vehicle soon approached a gate , almost like it sensed their presence, it opened up and they drove in. 

Without wasting time April got out and headed straight for the door.

The compound was large , workers in their uniforms paced about attending to their duties. The gardeners at their job, butterflies flapped their wings away from the petals avoiding the humans, birds chirping could be heard, the varieties of plants and flowers gave an outstanding beauty to the premises and anyone could have likened the place to Eden. However April wasn't intrigued by any of it as obviously she had spent her lifetime in there and it wasn't somewhere she wanted to be anymore , but how she felt it pointless to still be around Stace , she needed to heal and a change of environment would do the trick, even if it wasn't an environment that she fancied.

She got into the Mansion.

'Nothing's changed'  . She voiced in her head. 

Her eyes fell on the spaciousness of the room and the large paintings of her Dad and Mom that hung on the walls. She walked into the living room and beheld the presence of some senior staff standing next to each other, almost like they were there to welcome her back home .

She sighed , walking away . Her Mom who had been following behind her rolled her eyes while she waved her hands  at the workers to exit . 

"..and Mrs Smith finally decides to come get this old man " .

A masculine voice echoed from behind her. April's Mom smiled as she turned to see who she knew it was. Mr Smith; a man in his early fifties , his hair had lines of gray and black . A fine man who was tall and looked athletic. He was in a black colored sleeve shirt tucked in a gray colored trouser and had black leather shoes on . He spread his arms to embrace his wife with a warm smile. 

"Where is she?"  

He asked as he loosened his grip bringing his face to hers . Mrs Smith looked him deep in the eyes.

"She doesn't seem anywhere near" 

She replied .

____

Stepping into her room felt strange, she didn't much enjoy the feels it gave her. She just glanced at everything in there and tried hard not to remember . She came with no luggage, Mrs Smith had her leave it all behind, she tagged them "Out of taste" . She was only with herself. Not even a Phone, she didn't need it. She remembered throwing it out her window when she screamed the previous night from pain she felt in her heart. She sluggishly moved into the bathroom and walked past the shower cabin proceeding towards the wash basin. She just stood there, staring at her reflection in the mirror. She saw how sad she was, she felt deceived , fooled and used , she turned on the tap allowing the water to run into the bowl . She covered the outlet so the basin would fill up , and once it was , she lowered her head into it, shutting her eyes and allowing the water to ease her mind while she held her breath. After a while, she took her head out , her hair strands had glued onto her face from the wetness , her eyes met with the mirror again and she was startled, seeing her reflection in two as the other stood right behind her .

"You know, when I heard, I didn't really believe  so I had to come see for myself. And now that I see it's true, I wonder , why did you come back? You shouldn't have . I prefer to think that you are dead, Sister" 

The young lady spoke from behind her very calmly and in a spiteful tone. April, who by now had turned her face towards her , stood trying to recover from the shock while the other lady took a bite from  the apple she held in her hand having her eyes fixed on April.