CHAPTER 6 – IT’S TRUE


Is it like sweltering in here or is it just me?” Tatum sighed fanning herself hurriedly as she practically stuck her head out the passenger window
“It’s not that hot” Christina smiled looking across at Tatum
“Well I feel like I'm going to instantly combust any second” Tatum laughed as her temperature swelled
She blinked quickly, her eyes going a little hazy.
“Why don’t we pull over at the gas station and get you a drink?” Alika announced from the backseat
Christina agreed and pulled over into the gas station.
“You want me to go in?” Alika inquired
“Na it’s cool” Tatum replied opening the door.
She stepped out of the car, her feet touched the ground, yet her legs collapsed form underneath her as everything around her went pitch black.

~ 20 MINUTES LATER ~

Tatum’s eyes slowly opened, her head hurt, her legs hurt, her back hurt – in fact pretty much everything hurt. The plain white walls of the hospital were unknown to her.
“What am I doing here?” Tatum muttered, her voice barely auditable
“At the hospital, you collapsed at the Gas station” Alika responded from the chair beside the bed
“Why? What happened?”
“We don’t know, the doctors are running tests they’ll be back any minute”
“God, its probably just heat exhaustion” Tatum sighed trying to sit up
“Lie you ass back down Tatum, you’re not going anywhere” Alika declared pushing Tatum back down
“Miss Lee?” a doctor questioned walking into the room
“Yeah?” Tatum said apprehensively
“Perhaps you could excuse us?” the doctor said turning to Alika
Alika smiled, stood up and left the room, closing the door behind us.

“Miss Lee, are you on any medication at the moment?”
“What kind of medication?”
“For metal illnesses” the doctor replied slowly
“Uh, no” Tatum said practically laughing
“Why I'm asking is because we got the blood results back, there was a fair amount of the Valium based medication Diazepam, which is generally a calming agent, and traces of Morphine and a concentrated form of Helicon, the sleeping drug”
“What are you trying to say? I take all that?”
“Not necessarily, but it is only something can be got on prescriptions, usually for schizophrenic patients”
“What the hell are you implying? I'm not schitzo thank you very much, your tests must be wrong, it was just heat exhaustion” Tatum hissed flipping her legs over the side of the bed
“Miss Lee please, if it is your medication, you need to stop taking it in the amounts you are and –“
“Look it’s not mine okay? I don’t know what your on about”
“Then if they’re not yours perhaps you should be looking at how they got into your blood stream because I assure you they are there Miss Lee”
“Thank you, I’ll take that into consideration” Tatum said, brushing the doctor off.
Tatum couldn’t help but laugh to herself, she always knew public health was screwy, but to actually make the assumption she had schizophrenic medication in her blood was just beyond a joke.

~ THE NEXT MORNING ~

Chastity starred down at her answering machine, AJ had been ringing all yesterday and all through the night, but Chastity couldn’t bring herself to talk to him. The phone rung again and his name flashed across the caller ID, she sat and watched, praying that he would just tier and hand up. The answering machine ran through its message, and beeped loudly.
“Chas? Come on, I know you’re there, please just pick up the phone, I cant say what I need to ay to this machine. Please just pick up *sigh* I'm not sure what to think, maybe I rushed things, maybe it was all my fault, but please just talk to me, just pick up please Chastity please” he sighed loudly, unsure of what to say next.
Chastity waited silently, scared if she made a noise he’d hear.
“Okay so, just call me” he finished before hanging up
She closed her eyes releasing two small tears. She couldn’t ring him, how could she ever tell him that she was completely petrified of marriage when it seemed it was what he wanted.

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

Brian rubbed his tired eyes, he’d been in his studio, down in the basement of his house all night, but with help from a friend the tape was ready. He took another sip of water and ran his hands through his unwashed hair. He yawned loudly his entire body screaming for sleep, but he had to deliver this tape before he could think about anything else.

He grabbed the tape into his hands and shoved it into the pocket of his slightly baggy jeans. He ran up the wooden stairs and grabbed his keys from the phone table before shooting out of the front door.

~ 10 MINUTES LATER ~

“Dallas, here boy” Bianca whistled as the small pug ran down the beach
Her curly hair whipped around in the breeze as she shaded her eyes from the sun.

It was the middle of the day, so there was hardly anyone around which suited Bianca fine. Nick had left this morning and gone up to LA for a few days to see his family, leaving Bianca blissfully alone. She flopped down onto the soft sand as the pug darted around her legs yapping playfully.

Brian knocked on the door, no response came. He tried the handle, the door was locked. He walked around the side path and looked down onto the beach. In the distance he could see a familiar figure sitting in the sand. He ran down the hill, his shoes digging deeply into the sand.

“Bianca” he muttered puffing a little
“Oh hey Bri” Bianca replied looking up from her position
“Arora’s not home?”
“Na, she’s out as normal. Brian sit down, I need to tell you something” Bianca announced patting the sand beside her
She pushed her hair back behind her ears as he sat down next to her.

“I wasn’t there when you and Arora broke up, but I was there for the aftermath, it hurt her Brian, and I'm sure you know that, but what you might not know is that it changed her too. She’s not the same anymore Brian, I wish you could just see that. I always believed that you and Arora were good for each other, but nothing lasts forever. She’s not the Arora you know anymore Brian, in fact I don’t think I even know who she is anymore, so please just walk away because you’ll only end up getting hurt. It pains me to say this because she’s is and will always be my best friend, but nothing good is going to come and –“
“Bianca, I know you’re just looking out for two friends and I'm aware Arora probably wont listen to me, but this” he said pulling the tape form his pocket “is everything I need to say”
“She wont listen”
“Maybe not, but I just needed it to be said, for my own sanity, so will you please give it to her”
“Of course”
“Thanks Bianca”

~ AT THE SAME TIME ~

The window slipped easily open, as the musically man pulled himself in the bedroom window. Broad daylight was a little too risky for his liking, but this guy was paying him enough money to try and break into Fort Knox. He looked around the room, then unfolded the map of the house. He stood in Arora’s room – perfect. He darted over to the dressing table and opened the top draw, as he expected it was an underwear draw, like most. He fingered through it, looking for anything hidden underneath – nothing. He tried the next draw down – still nothing. Working his way through the entire set of draws and the trinket boxes set up on the dressing table he still came out empty handed.

“Come on girl, where’s the goods” he mumbled to himself. He fingered through the bookcase, nothing. A notebook lay in the top draw of the bedside table. He opened to find just a bunch of song lyrics nothing he could really use. He sat down onto her bed, his eyes searching around the room. They were for some reason drawn down. He lifted up the duvet and peered underneath the bed. There tucked in between the base and the mattress was a hard covered notebook. He smiled to himself as he pulled it out flipped to a page and began to read,
I guess you could say it’s been a year of change, of learning perhaps. It’s been one year since Tatum decided to leave the band, she’s doing great now, on the cover of magazines, we watch her religiously every Thursday night, 7:30 pm, the show she’s on has had great success, it’s what I would call a cross between Sex In The City & Dawson’s Creek, younger than Sex In The City, but more “mature” than Dawson’s Creek. We talk all the time still, nothing in that respect has changed. I don’t know what happened between her and Kevin, but as far as I'm aware, there’s no longer anything there, I think maybe he was upset she decided to move on, she’s now living in LA.

“Bingo, it seems I have her diary” he laughed to himself slipping the book into his backpack.

Bianca unlocked the front door allowing Dallas to run in ahead of her. She closed it behind her, the wind catching it and slamming it shut.

He looked up from his position on the bed.
“Shit” he muttered realizing someone was in the house. He slipped behind the door, hoping it wasn’t Arora back.

Bianca strolled down the hallway past Arora’s door and into her own bedroom. She ran her fingers through her hair, trying her best to undo a knot that had appeared.

He opened the door quietly, listening for any sounds.

“Dallas, come here” Bianca called from her bedroom
The small dog ran down the hallway, without even noticing the strange head peeking from behind another door.

He slipped into the hallway and light footed it down into the lounge and across to the front door. He opened it quietly and casually walked out it, closing it softly behind him.

~ THAT NIGHT ~

Arora walked in the door, in her hands dangling her gym bag.
“Have fun?” Bianca questioned from the lounge
“Uhuh” Arora casually responded
“Arora, do yourself a favor, listen to this tape” Bianca announced walking out into the entrance and handing Arora the tape Brian had given her
“What is it?” Arora inquired
“Just listen to it” Bianca sighed
Arora shrugged and made her way towards her bedroom. She opened the door, flicked on the light and closed the door behind her.
She slipped the tape into her stereo, sat down onto her bed and pushed play on the remote. The tape was silent for a few seconds before a voice began.

Arora, it’s Brian, please don’t push stop, just listen to me, I know that your angry and that your upset, but even if you don’t want to believe what I have to say, at least listen, because I cant go on any longer without getting this all off my chest. This isn’t about impressing you or begging you to come back, it’s just about been honest and letting it all out. I can never really find the words I want to express how I really feel about everything, so I doing this the best way I know how, through a song. Rose this one is for you

The tape again went silent before a soft melody started up.

(Okay yeah I know this is the “burger king” song, but I heard and felt just 100% that is fitted perfectly so yeah….)

Even the lover, make a mistake sometimes. Like any other, fall out and loose his mind and I'm sorry for the things I did for your teardrops over words I said. Can you forgive me and open your heart once again? It’s true, I mean it, from the bottom of my heart, yeah it’s true, without you I would fall apart. Whatever happens I know that I was wrong, oh yeah. Can you believe me? Maybe your faith is gone, oh yeah, but I love you, and I always will so I wonder if you want me still, can you believe me and open your heart once again? It’s true, I mean it, from the bottom of my heart, yeah it’s true, without you I would fall apart. I’d do anything to make it up to you, so please understand and open your heart once again……. It’s true, I mean it, from the bottom of my heart, yeah it’s true, without you I would fall apart…… It’s true, I mean it, from the bottom of my heart, yeah it’s true, without you I would fall apart……Rose it’s true.

The music stopped as tears fell softly from Arora’s eyes.

Please Arora, all I'm asking is that you hear me out, and that you tell me how you’re feeling, I’ll be home all night, if you can find it in your heart.



Chapter 7
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