Chapter 1
Returning of the Devil
Gale Fears
Istared at her, unable to believe my eyes. It couldn’t be. And yet, she stood in front of me, alive and well. For a minute, I wondered if this was all just figment of my imagination. That perhaps, this was just a nightmare. I pinched myself hard, to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. But she was here, her pale, flawless face within my reach. Her near-perfect, curvy, voluptuous body clad in the most expensive of dresses. Her light blue eyes looking into mine, her red lips pulled into a pout.
“Gale,” she purred. “Oh, how I have missed you!”
It was her voice. The same melodious voice. There was a time when just looking at her made me shiver with desire. Now, though, all that I felt was revulsion and hate.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I came back to you, Gale,” she said, frowning. “It was miserable. I was so horribly unhappy without you in my life. I couldn’t imagine a day without you anymore. So, I came back. Aren’t you pleased to see me?”
“We are over,” I said coldly. “There is nothing between us anymore. We have been over for five years now. I think it’s best that you leave.”
“Leave?” she said shrilly. “I will not leave! Not without saying what I came here to say.”
“I am not interested in anything you have to say,” I snapped.
“I care for you, Gale!” she cried. “How could you? How could you do this to me? Why are you hurting me like this?”
With each sentence, her voice rose higher and higher, and I threw a glance around the street. I could see some people poking their heads out of the windows, gazing outside. It was an old tactic of Stella’s. Screaming and shrieking so I would be forced to do as she said just to avoid creating a scene.
“I am not going to fall for your tricks again,” I said scathingly. “You can stay here and shout and scream all you want, but I am not going to change my mind. I want nothing to do with you, Stella.”
“Nothing?” she asked innocently. “But why? We were so in love, Gale. Don’t you remember? Don’t you remember how it all felt? The time we spent together? How madly in love we were. You couldn’t spend a single day away from me. I made you who you are, Gale. You were nothing but a drunk junkie who liked to party and sleep around. I made you who you are. I straightened you up, got you into law school, and supported you every step of the way. I know you don’t think much of me, but you owe me enough to at least listen to me,” she said, smirking.
She pushed me backward and walked inside the house, her stilettos clicking on the tiled floor. I followed her in, feeling disgusted with myself for ever being with someone like her.
“The place is the same as I remember,” she said, looking around my home. “But you removed all the pictures you had of us. That’s sad. I really liked the one of us at the beach. You looked so handsome in that one.”
“Why are you here, Stella?” I tried to maintain calm.
“I told you. I am back. I want to be with you again.”
She marched over to me, a smirk on her face and her head raised proudly. She stopped when she was only an inch away and leaned forward to whisper in my ear, “I love you, Gale.”
I instantly stepped back, the words triggering the avalanche of memories I kept repressed.
“I love you, Gale!” Stella shouted. “But you! You don’t care, do you?”
“Stella, I promise, you have got it all wrong!” I protested, but Stella didn’t seem to listen. She grabbed the vase lying next to her and threw it at me with full force. It hit the wall next to me and shattered, and Stella screamed again, “I love you, Gale! Why won’t you love me back?”
“But I do,” I whispered. “I love you, Stella. I don’t know what’s gotten into you all of a sudden.”
Another ornament shattered near my ear, which Stella had flung towards me. All I felt was confusion as I watched her sob. Just two minutes before, she had been whispering sweet nothings in my ear. I didn’t know what had happened to upset her so. But then again, I never knew. Anything could upset her; one minute, she would be happy, and the next minute, almost psychotic. I never understood her. I was always so on edge, thinking about everything I said at least ten times. And yet, I loved her. I had to be there for her.
“I love you, Stella,” I said, approaching her. “I love you so much.”
She just turned on me and screamed.
“I want nothing to do with you,” I said, glaring at her. “I need you to leave, or else.”
“Or else?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Or else I will call the guards,” I threatened. “I don’t care how much of fuss you make. You can scream and wake up the entire street. Make a scene. But get the hell out of my house.”
