white(4)

El marath thabe7ny...I'm literally sick, god. I can do nothing but lay on the sofa. my family is travelling next week and this is when I wish I wasn't married. I wish I can go with them, summer is so boring here. and marriage is not really perfect if you ask me. *sigh*

they say: * a perfect writer can make an emperor weep*, hope you guys enjoy this part;**

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I poured the gravy carefully on top of Enola's special chicken and potato dish and put it down with the rest of the dishes on the big, wooden dining table. The strong odors of the cheese, garlic and curry made my stomach growl louder. I hadn't eaten all day and I couldn’t wait any longer.

We gathered around the dining table noisily and started reciting our prayers together, it was some sort of a tradition here to pray, and connect with each other through the food. Food was a symbol of love and care in this family that I belonged to now.

"Hey, Iris, your mother told me that you worked at that pink house in town" I stuffed more grilled potato in my mouth and shoved it down my throat with a big swig of lemon juice.

"What pink house?" she frowned. Iris was Enola's younger daughter and she used to work at houses to pay her college funds.

"Donna carina's house" Enola answered her.

"Oh, yeah that house was creepy" she made a face.

"Creepy? Why?!" I bit my lower lip in confusion.

She looked around the table, examining the curious faces, including the kids, fortunately for me they were distracted. "How do you know about that house Nessa? I thought you hated going to town"

" um, actually they're kinda my friends. Alex and his cousin Jon" I admitted.

" Nessa, I don't know about Jon, but you don’t want to be friends with Alex" she warned.

"And …why is that?!" Although he wasn’t really my friend, I felt defensive towards him.

"He's not really nice" she said. "And people say that he was cursed and his mother was a…sorceress" she was whispering by now.

"A what?" my eyes bulged out and my body became hotter. "And you believe this shit?!"

"Well, I've seen the mother, she looked normal" she shrugged. "But that house looks different and people talk, anyway how did you meet him Nessa?"

"He's the man who saved me" my stomach did a back flip as I muttered the words.
When I got home that night I was unnaturally and utterly exhausted, I brushed my teeth, combed my long hair hastily and put on my long, white night gown. I climbed into bed and covered my body with the sheets. The bed sheets were soft and welcoming as ever, I buried my face against the soft, fluffy pillow and sighed heavily before I fell to the darkness of that other world I rarely visited.

I struggled to wake up but couldn’t, the dream held me too tightly in its coils. It was the same dream I had a few days ago, same white bed, same pain. I couldn’t breathe or move, the pain hurt so much that it felt real. And Alex was there. He was wearing a white lab coat and was staring at me while I was moaning and screaming with agony and he didn’t do anything to stop it.

I was really dazed when I woke up first thing in the morning. I took a quick shower and spent longer than usual in front of my little closet. I wasn’t really obsessed about the way I looked. We all dressed the same in this island, especially in the village, since we lived near the beach and the weather was always so sunny. But this once it was different, I wanted to impress Jon since he was coming today as I promised him to bake him cookies. And Alex might come along with him. I wanted to impress Alex too.

I finally decided on an orange embroidered shirt and my same old jeans. I braided my hair and wrapped a colorful scarf around my head. I knew the permanent scar on my face would be showing fully with my hair away from my face but I just didn't care.

When I reached the scent shop it was already opened which meant that Wendy was already there.

I entered the shop, and to my surprise Wendy wasn’t alone, Jon's cheerful face appeared next to her's. "Good morning Wendy, Jon" I greeted them.

"Morning, you look good" Jon smiled that dazzling smile of his.

"Yes you look good" Wendy chuckled. I shot her a hard glance.

"Thank you Jon, you're… early!" I muttered excitedly.

"You're late" he laughed. " Nessa it's 10"

"I don’t come early on Saturdays"

"Oh, um. So can I steal you now?"

"I don’t think so, I have to be at least here for two hours" I said apologetically. His face fell with disappointment.

"You know Nessa I can manage alone" Wendy smiled at me.

"You sure?" I asked her.

"Oh please, go!" She ordered. I laughed.

"Thank you" I mouthed the words silently.

I took Jon around the village and showed him my favorite places, including my former happy place. He wasn’t amazed by the beauty, he sounded as if he had seen much better than this in his life.

"Nice" he said.

"Nice? This is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen!"

"Ok ok, calm down" he grinned.

"You're mean!" I laughed.

He looked away and continued walking to the beautiful, glistening turquoise sea. I followed him and he turned around, facing me now.

"Breathtaking" he said.

My mouth opened involuntarily to say nothing in particular but he answered my thoughts. "Your eyes. They remind me of the beach, they are a different shade of blue obviously; hyacinth-blue, but they are so deep that’s why they remind me of the beach" he blushed.

I laughed. "That was so poetic, thanks, I guess"

"Yeah" he grinned.

We then walked along the beach and talked a lot. Jon was an easy person to be around, I enjoyed every second of being with him, I didn’t even feel self conscious with that hideous, big scar on my face and he didn’t seem to notice how ugly it looked. Instead he admired my eyes.


When we went to my house to bake the cookies I was already starving, we ate olives and drank water because that was the only thing in the kitchen that was ready without cooking.

"How's Alex?" I asked him.

"He's fine" he said with his mouth full of olives.

"wh-why didn’t he come along with you?" I hesitated.

" you want him to come with me?" he asked.

" I don’t care" I lied.

He smiled. "Aren’t they ready yet?"

"Oh, they'll take long" I grinned. "Sorry!" I looked apologetically at the oven.

"That's okay because it means I'll enjoy more of you" he said and laughed at the way he said it.

"You're definitely a poet, I'm sure of it!" I laughed along with him.


In the upcoming days we became closer, we'd meet every day and spend the entire day with each other, and I enjoyed it a lot, I didn’t want this simple friendship to end.


One day after I finished work, I closed the shop and headed home. Jon had promised me that he would come by for dinner tonight. It was seven pm and I was very tired, I had a long day and I didn’t have the time to cook a decent meal.
I changed my clothes quickly to a more comfy shirt and pants, washed my face and headed to the kitchen. He was there.

"How did you get in?" I asked him. I wasn’t surprised, I was just happy.

"The door was open" he said, smiling.

"I brought something, thought you’d be hungry"

"Oh I am, thanks Jon!" I put down two plates on the little, wooden table along with two forks and knives.

We talked a lot while we ate, as usual. I loved talking to Jon a lot, he was a good listener and a good well, speaker.

"I heard something very strange about Donna Carina's house, and…Alex" I said, finally deciding on telling him.

He looked up in surprise. "What did you hear?"

"That…that he was cursed and" I broke off hesitantly. " and that his mother is a...sorceress"

His face turned red, he looked utterly angry. "That's plain bullshit Nessa"

"I'm…sorry, I know it's not true" I looked away in shame.

"It's okay, people talk a lot when you're different" he sighed.

He was silent for a minute before he spoke"You probably need to sleep now, I'll see you tomorrow Ness" he put his fork down

"No!" I almost screamed. "Don’t leave, please. I don’t really sleep early, I barely sleep"

" it's okay Nessa I should go" he stood up.


Suddenly my eyes filled with huge, warm tears when I realized that he was gone without even looking at me in the eye.