Short story 1 - Dead Walls Lie (Sample 2) - unfinished

(Created August 2016)

I woke up just a little before 4 this Sunday morning. The outside world was still dark but a light chorus of birds could be heard from the distance. Though my bedroom window is always left slightly open, today my room feels sultry just like me. There's a calm silence all around. I have not been able to sleep now for so many nights, well, I've not been able to get a full nights sleep anyway. I lie straight on my back. The outside lights cause many shadows and silhouettes to bounce through my lace curtains and across my bedroom ceiling. The thoughts I have been pondering for several nights now come to the forefront of my foolish mind, am I in love??? With Ethan? Don't be silly Ava, I dismiss myself, 'in love... Right..!' In the past 10 years not a single relationship survived for more than 6 months and love, well it just never happened! As I start to sit up in bed I think about some of my so called relationships. There was Luke at Uni who could'nt keep it in his pants, not only with me but with my best mate, my room mate and all the girls on my halls of residence floor. Matthew also at Uni who had no time for me once I told him he will NOT be the next John Philip Kemble (his acting skills were dreadful till the day he graduated!). There was Micheal who thought I had serious commitment issues when I refused to have joint credit with him or put him onto any of my accounts, Eli who wanted to travel the world and expected me to wait for him (and also bank roll his so called 'One Man Soul Searching Adventure') while he discovered the purpose and meaning to life. Ryan wanted a WAG style, sexy, arm candy, size 0 'wifey' and not a 'career minded, large vocabulary using gal' as he put it in his own rather finesse style and then there was Andrew, a once proper gentleman who somehow got inspired by some fad new book/novel/guide, I'm really not sure what it was actually and wanted to add colour, a whole new take on our sex life. Well all I could say was that his definition 'of a whole new level', was on a whole new bloody level! But Ethan... Ethan is just so different. From the first moment we were introduced at the International Business Conference in Liverpool it was like speaking to a very old close friend. Since then we have always stayed in touch either by having lunches or dinners, calling, emailing or catching up on skype. When he and I got talking it was like speaking to an old friend and we could talk hours on end about anything and everything . He is such a diversed Individual. He loves listening to Tchaikovsky as well as Chet Baker but has still got his first Britney Spears cd and knows all the lyrics of 'Hit me baby one more time' by heart. Where we both have Hemmingway and Dickens in common, his rather silly but cute one liners on twitter can be extremely amusing. Where he is the proud owner of an original Sandro Botticelli as well as a Banksy, his fridge is covered with artwork from children around the world that have been positively affected by his charity work as he personally volunteers with so many charities not only in the UK but all around the world and has shared his wealth with many charities and organisations. He enjoys my home-made macaroni and cheese and I have high praise for his ploughmans lunch. He is always groomed to perfection for any occassion, with his smooth, light olive skin, his ever so neat but hipster style beard that frames his chiselled jaw perfectly, and the most beautiful intense hazel eyes I have ever seen with an abundance of swirls of browns, golds and tints of burnt orange. The only way I could describe his eyes are like polished majestic amber gems. Like myself he has worked very very hard to achieve what he has and is a calm, confident and successful Individual in all walks of life. So it was to my surprise that 10 days ago I received a note on my desk at work simply stating 'Once you get this note, ring me Ava. Ethan' I got behind my desk, pulled out my mobile and rang Ethan. 'Hiya Ethan, I got your message, is everything OK?' 'I'm leaving Ava, I'm going away for a while' 'Oh okay' I said. It wasn't anything new for me as Ethan would go to different countries for business or his charity work on a regular basis. I started to ask 'where...' but before I could finish Ethan cooly stated 'I love You Ava. I'm in love with you, I really love you. I'm leaving for Zimbabwe tonight to carry out some work in the Mondoro/Ngezi area. I'm going to be there for 12 days the most. Can I see you before I leave?' I was shocked to say the least. Yes I like Ethan, I like him very much and do feel an immense attraction towards him, but LOVE??? And his voice, Ethan's voice was clear, very matter of fact but somewhat, I don't know why, almost honeyed! It left me unnerved.'Ava...Ava...AVA are you there?' 'Yes,yes I'm here Ethan, erm, can I ring you back, Marjorie has just walked in. I'll ring you back in a bit ok? I disconnected the call before hearing his reply. I sat back into my chair not knowing what to think or say. I then got up and walked out of my office towards my secretary's desk. 'Marjorie who gave you the note to put on my desk?' 'What note Ava? she said in a surprised tone 'I've still got all your post here on my desk and no one has entered your office as of yet! I was just going to come in to discuss the appointments and meetings for today.' Marjorie had been my secretary ever since I took over Thompson, Morgan & King. She's competent, trustworthy and a dear friend and I know she would never lie to me. Without showing any show of concern I turned to walk back to my office. As I entered my office feeling slightly perplexed inside, my phone beeped. It was a message from Ethan,

'Give me your heart, Trust me with it,

Let me walk at your side,

Let me take over your mind,

I want you smiling with me,

I want to complete you, you help me be me,

Trust my love for you, Trust me, be with me,

Call me.'

I never went to see Ethan that day, I wasn't sure what I could have said to him. I ignored his calls for the rest of that day. Actually I have'nt even replied to any of his messages, voice messages or e-mails since. But I have missed him, I have missed him very much.