Prologue
THE door seemed on the verge of breaking off its hinges, based on how hard Alexandrine’s landlord knocked on the rusty old door. Before she unlocked it, Alexandrine paused, glancing at the calendar hanging near her study table.
“What kind of lame excuse should I tell her?” she whispered to herself, before opening the doorway widely.
An expected yell from the landlord assaulted Alexandrine’s ears - “The rent! It’s already past the due date for this apartment! Where is your payment?!“, the landlord screamed at the top of her lungs whilst pointing the burned, pungent cigarette toward her.
Alexandrine coughed before she replied, giving herself a precious few more seconds to think of an excuse before resorting to “Apologies for not replying to your calls Martha, I promise that I will pay the rent this week”.
Martha heaved a sigh heavily before she replied to Alexandrine. Jamming her right hand into her hip, with her left hand pointing in Alexandrine’s face, Martha opened her mouth to continue her rant.
However, before Martha had the chance to continue her phone rang loudly. Glancing at the phone with an irritated look on her face, Martha sneered back towards Alexandrine barking “You are very lucky! I will get back to you next week. Do not forget that you have to pay your rent by Saturday next week, or else I will kick your ass out of my house!” Martha screamed, as she turned and marched back out the door and away.
Alexandrine exhaled in relief as she watched Martha disappear from her sight. She slammed closed the front door and reached for her phone in her pocket. As she was looking through her phone for her best friend’s number, Alexandrine sat on her wooden chair, before suddenly exclaiming “Bingo!” as she found Trinity’s number.
Trinity’s phone rang but Trinity didn’t pick up the call. Alexandrine finally decided to cut the call, and released a disappointed heavy sigh as she looked out her window. Alexandrine noticed the looming dark clouds in the sky, whilst considering making her way to Trinity’s house unannounced to ask for help.
Alexandrine didn’t have enough money to pay cover bills or rent, having recently lost her part-time job. She desperately needed to find a new income source to cover her living cost needs. Trinity and Alexandrine had been close friends since childhood, with Trinity and Trinity’s family helping her a lot over the years, through thick and thin.
Trinity’s family helped Alexandrine since her parents died. If not for their support (especially Trinity’s mother), Alexandrine would have been raised in an orphanage. Without the help of Trinity’s family, Alexandrine would have never survived the harsh world.
Tragically, Alexandrine lost her parents in her early teen years. This was a traumatic life event that Alexandrine desperately wanted to forget, yet she was able to retain her sense of faith and hope in life in spite of the challenges stacked against her.
Alexandrine stood up and gathered herself together to try Trinity again. However, before she could dial Trinity’s number again, an unexpected message appeared on the phone. Without hesitation, Alexandrine quickly opened the message and read it carefully. “She’s back!” Alexandrine exclaimed with relief.
Finally, after the long weeks of working and waiting during vacation from school, unable to see her long-time friend, Alexandrine could finally see her friend again. Alexandrine was excited, even though it was quite expected since the new semester was always going to begin the next week.
Alexandrine hastily walked out of her room and called Trinity again. This time her best friend accepted the call. “You didn’t tell me that you are back!” she huffed at Trinity, unable to hide her feelings.
While still on the call, Alexandrine prepared to leave her apartment, tossing her wallet and keys into a tote bag. Alexandrine heard Trinity laugh, replying “Don’t you know what a surprise is?” with a sarcastic tone. “If you had just come with us, then you would have seen the beautiful skyscrapers of New York yourself!“.
Alexandrine quickly looked around her spacious room to see if she forgot to bring anything. Once she was satisfied she had everything she needed, Alexandrine walked out and locked her apartment room, then walked into the aisle of the apartment building, swiftly making her way to the elevator. “Just come quickly, I bought you some things!” added Trinity with excitement.
“Don’t worry. I am already on my way!” Alexandrine replied, whilst putting her door keys back into her bag. Trinity went on “Ugh! You do not know how much I missed you! I took some amazing photos of NYC with my polaroid, I’ll even give you some of them!“.
Inside the elevator, Alexandrine pressed the button for the ground floor repeatedly, hoping to somehow speed up the process. Alexandrine smiled at how her friend missed her so much because she also felt the same.
Alexandrine zipped up her tote bag before asking “So how was New York anyway? Was it beautif...” she managed to say before the line was suddenly cut off.
Alexandrine looked at her phone and noticed the signal was poor, probably due to being in an elevator. She looked at the elevator’s buttons to see which floor she was on. With frustration, Alexandrine slid her phone inside her pocket and impatiently waited for the elevator door to open on the ground level.
Whilst waiting, Alexandrine heard a soft voice from behind her say “The signal here is not so good”, stunning her out of her distracted thoughts. Alexandrine spun around to see who was talking, but was caught off guard by an angelic and innocent face standing in front of her. There in the elevator with her stood a woman with long golden hair and enchanting blue eyes.
Despite the strange woman’s undeniable beauty, Alexandrine felt a chill run up her spine. The way the woman was dressed in a long vintage white dress and white ballet shoes reminded her of.. a certain white lady.
Alexandrine furrowed her eyebrows, trying to recollect the events leading up to this encounter. “This can’t be real, it doesn’t add up. I’m sure no one else was with me in the elevator when I went inside” Alexandrine murmured quietly to herself.
Alexandrine was certain that no one else was inside the elevator at any point, since she didn’t hear or see any sign of anyone else. A question popped into her head “Maybe the beautiful woman was already inside the elevator when I came in?“, she wondered with skepticism. As if knowing what Alexandrine was thinking, the beautiful woman smiled innocently and asked her “Why? Is there something wrong?“.
Before Alexandrine could reply, the elevator opened at the ground floor at long last. Alexandrine turned her back to the strange woman and walked out of the elevator without saying a word. Before she opened the main door of the apartment building to leave, Alexandrine’s curiosity kicked in causing her to look back towards the lobby inside, hoping to catch another glance of the woman.
Alexandrine expected the woman to be in the lobby, considering they got off at the same time. However, to her great surprise, the beautiful woman was nowhere in sight! Alexandrine looked around the main lobby, thinking it’s surely impossible to lose sight of the woman, since the lobby wasn’t exactly spacious.
Alexandrine gulped and caressed her arms nervously. “Maybe she just went somewhere..” Alexandrine whispered to herself before pursing her lips tightly and rushing out of the building.
STANDING in front of a sturdy house, Alexandrine pressed the doorbell. While waiting for the door to open, Alexandrine couldn’t help but feel troubled about what happened back in the apartment building. Alexandrine wondered to herself “Was I experiencing hallucinations or was the woman real?“.
At that moment, a cold breeze fondled her body causing Alexandrine to shiver. “What the hell!” she blurted out nervously whilst hearing an eerie howling noise from afar. Alexandrine’s eyes darted nervously around her surroundings.
Trinity’s house was in a quiet and remote location, allowing Alexandrine to hear the wind in the trees as they swayed, and the tiniestchirps from insects as they sang their nightly chorus. Due to the remoteness of Trinity’s house, Alexandrine had to ride a jeepney from her village to the seaside, ride in a canoe to arrive on the island, then walk for 15 mins before reaching the mansion her best friend lived in.
Alexandrine heard another distant howling noise just as the front door abruptly opened widely, revealing a man standing in the doorway in front of her. Looking at Alexandrine with an unsettling expression, the man held a beer in one hand whilst holding a raw bloody chicken with the other.
Alexandrine held back from gagging as she tried not to notice the blood oozing out of the chicken, dripping from the animal’s body onto the floor. The man glared, locking eyes with Alexandrine as he waited for her to enter the house. “My younger sister is waiting for you” the deep voice boomed from the man as he stared.
Without hesitating, she quickly entered the room. Alexandrine felt the eyes of the man in his twenties on her, still looking at her intently which made her feel awkward. Alexandrine furrowed her eyes and gazed back at the man’s face without breaking eye contact.
It had been a while since Alexandrine saw Trinity’s brother. She couldn’t help being in awe of how Javier’s physique and face had changed after only a year not seeing each other. Alexandrine realized with embarrassment she was looking at the man far too long, so she asked “Where is Trinity?” to Javier, hoping to break the tension.
“She’s in her room” the monotonous reply came from Javier, as he walked away, leaving her alone at the entrance of the house. “He’s probably telling the truth, bad habits never die do they?” Alexandrine murmured under her breath as she quickly walked up the grandiose spiral staircase to her friend’s room.
Once she was on the second level, Alexandrine marveled at how intricate the architectural design of the mansion was, from the elegant and clean tile pattern design on the floor to the paintings by famous artists hanging on the walls.
After reaching the top of the stairs two hallways appeared on both of Alexandrine’s sides. As far as she could remember, Trinity’s room was down the right hallway. She hurriedly rushed down the right hallway and knocked on the wooden bedroom door.
“Trinity! Are you there? I’m coming inside now” Alexandrine announced with excitement. She held the doorknob tightly and opened it.
But to her surprise, a man that she had dismissed from her memory was lying in the bed. Alexandrine felt her hands turn cold as the memory of... him flashed through her mind. Her heart beat like a drum, fast and hard as she gazed at the man’s face.
The man was sleeping peacefully, resting his hand on the top of his head. Alexandrine again cast her eyes to the man’s face and looked keenly at the long dark eyelashes which added to the man’s alluring face. The man’s fair complexion and dark flowing hair caused all those who witnessed his grandeur to draw comparisons to the mighty Greek gods of old.
With a shock, Alexandrine suddenly noticed the man move and sluggishly opened his eyes, settling on her. She felt her stomach churning as the man locked eyes on Alexandrine, leaving her stunned. “Roya, it’s good to see you again”, the man said groggily, grinning.
Beyond a doubt, she slammed the door and marched away from the room.
