Pulse Blogger: A valentine fiasco [Writer's contest 2]

This is an entry for the Pulse writer's contest by Aniuchi Adaobi Michelle. "...After having her shower, she made sure to put on an outfit without a hint of red. She didn't want to look like she was celebrating Val's day because she was not..."

"GRRRR!" "Grrrr!" "Grrrr!!" The alarm rang. It was nine in the morning. Cynthia had heard it ring and she wished she didn't; she just wanted to cover her ears with the pillow to block to the constant ringing. The alarm ringing reminded her of what today was and she didn't want to remember. If it was a regular alarm clock she would have flung it across the room but it was her mobile phone so she couldn't dare. She couldn't stay in bed either because she was already awake and there was no point tossing and turning on the bed.. So she grudgingly got up, stopped the alarm and went to wash up. On her way to the bathroom a bright red mark on the calender in the veranda attracted her attention so she went to see what it was. When she finally realized it was a reminder on her calender that today was the fourteenth, she hissed.

Everything in her damned house had to remind her it was Valentines day. Valentines day was highly overrated in her opinion. In fact, love was a hoax to her. If she had a choice, she wouldn't leave the confines of her home today to go anywhere. The thought of seeing all those love birds on the street with in their red heart outfits being all cute and lovey-dovey annoyed her. Valentine's day in a way just reminded her of her painful break-up a few months back but she didn't want to remember. She snapped out of her thoughts and continued heading towards the bathroom. She had to get ready in order for her to be able to buy her groceries today or she was going to be eating out till the next time she could shop.

After having her shower, she made sure to put on an outfit without a hint of red. She didn't want to look like she was celebrating Val's day because she was not. She looked in to her wardrobe for a dress and decided on a sleeveless black A-line dress with a denim jacket. She put them on and slipped on a pair of sneakers. In no time she was out of the house with her purse and went to her car. The Camry refused to start. After a few tries and tinkering with the engine with the little knowledge she had about cars, she closed the bonnet and locked her car. She was not about to start panicking. She had a lot of things to do today and she couldn't begin her day by getting frustrated. She brought out her phone from her purse and began scrolling through her phone contacts to check for a cab driver's number. She knew she should have one or two of their numbers, so she kept scrolling. Aha! She found it. She dialled his number and they made arrangements for him to come and pick her up in the next ten minutes so she waited for him in the lobby.

Finally he came and they left. After a long car ride, he dropped her at the mall and she paid him her fare. She proceeded to do her shopping. In an hour or so, she was done. She paid for the goods and left the mall with her bags. It took her quite a while before she found a taxi which she stopped to get in. She asked for the direction in which the cab was going, it was along her route so she got in. When she got in, she realized another person was in the cab. She didn't fancy sharing cabs with strangers but she did not want to stand outside waiting for long. Besides, the person was not complaining. So she settled in and closed the door. The cab started moving and when she had made herself comfortable she noticed the guy in the car examining her with close scrutiny. Then as if a light bulb lit in his head, he exclaimed, "Cynthia David is this you?" Cynthia was still trying to place the face. It was obvious this guy knew her and he knew her well because she had changed a lot from her school days and only someone who knew her well would know her despite all the changes. Then finally it clicked. He was her mortal enemy in high school. John Martins. He was always making her life miserable in class from flicking paper balls at the back of her head to the various pranks he played on her.

The last straw was when she realised he was the one replying all her love notes to Tito, a crush of hers then. In one of the responses she received it was said that Tito liked her too and he wanted to go on a date with her at a hangout lots of their school mates meet. So she dress up all pretty that day, put on lip gloss to have a feel of using make up because her mum would not let her use full make up and went there gingerly feeling very excited. When she got there, Tito was there alright but he didn't seem to be waiting for her as she thought. She thought he was just putting a show and decided to walk up to him and "reminded" him about their "supposed" date. Needless to say, the outcome was embarrassing and at the corner she could see John laughing so hard, obviously having the time of his life from the showdown of her public embarassment. She didn't need any writing on the wall to know that he was the brain behind this and it was the last straw for him. She was going to deal with him. So the series of pranks and paybacks began and till they graduated they remained enemies. It was this John of all people she had to share a taxi with. Val's just got more annoying. Since she was stuck with him here for the next hour or so she decide to made to make good use of it.

"Yes it is me John. You do seem to have shrunk in size, haven't you? You also look a lot older and uglier than you were in high school." She replied. John knew she was trying to spite him so he ignored the last two comments and said, "So you remembered me. That's nice." She felt a bit annoyed that he would try to play the nice guy. "How could I ever forget you? You made my high school days a nightmare remember?" At that John sincerely apologise for his errant behaviour those days but she wouldn't have any of it. He said it was because he liked her and was just vying for her attention but she couldn't believe it. She called hik all sorts of names refusing to accept his apology while he was trying to apologise. They kept on arguing and arguing that they didn't even notice when the cab driver had started taking a route different from the one that lead to their destination. When they finally noticed, they were along a bushy road with a lot of trees. It looked very spooky and it was not at all the route to their destination so they mentioned it to the driver thinking he had made a wrong turn. Rather than reverse and take the correct route, he increased his speed and yelled at them to shut up then locked the doors of the car.

That was when they realised they were in danger. Cynthia kept screaming and screaming. She kept shouting that she didn't want to die. On the other side of the car, John was totally confused and very quiet. Then he noticed Cynthia's purse. It had a detachable leather strap so he just took the purse from her and detached it. At that moment, she stopped screaming. So as not to give the cab driver a reason to suspect that they were up to anything, he signalled to her to keep screaming so as to keep the driver distracted which somehow she agreed to despite the fact that they were at loggerheads just a few minutes ago. So while she was screaming, the driver kept yelling at her to shut up and he paid no attention to John. Then John quickly swung the strap over his neck and kept pulling at it till the driver became weak and breathless. Meanwhile, Cynthia managed to pull the hand brake so that they didn't crash. With the driver being rendered almost unconscious by th cutting off of his oxygen supply, they shoved him out of the car, roughed him up a bit by John giving him a lot of blows, then tied him up and put him in the back seat of the cab. They reversed and looked for a way out of the spooky route he had taken. When they got to the main freeway the went to a police station to report the incident. The guy was placed in custody after they both wrote their statements. Soon enough they left the police station.

"We make a pretty good team" John said while they were waiting for a cab in front of the police station with her groceries. "Yea we do." She agreed. She suggested they exchanged digits which was totally unexpected by John which they did. Then he decided to push his luck further. He asked if they could meet up for dinner later to which she said she would let him know if she was up to it. A cab finally came and when she got in, she said a silent prayer for safety. On her way home, she thought about the events of the day. Maybe Valentine's day wasn't so bad. Maybe John was not as evil as she saw him. She was willing to give him a chance so she sent him a text saying "Yes i'd love to have dinner with u. So when you have all the details let me know". With that she focused on the road ahead eagerly waiting to get home.

 

NAME: Aniuchi Adaobi Michelle