Ghost of the not so Christmas past

Scarlett only needed three things in her life: her phone, her laptop, and coffee. Anything else was a luxury she was happy to afford, if she did that is. You could always find these things in her vicinity. It was, therefore, no wonder that her phone and laptop were on her bed when she woke up. That was the upside of living alone in a one-bedroom apartment with a queen-size bed.

She glanced at the time on her phone. The light was too much for her but the glaring 10.30 AM digital clock on the screen was the bigger evil.

"Dang!, I'm so late!"

She had overslept again. She jolted from her bed. She was going to be late for the weekly developers meeting. Not that anyone expected her to be on time anyway. She grabbed the coffee mug that sat on its permanent place on her nightstand and headed to the kitchen. She started the coffee maker and left her coffee to cool off.

She hated Thursdays. Thursdays meant that she had to go to the office by 11.00 AM for the weekly meeting. And that meant that she had to wake up earlier than her usual time, noon.

She quickly fumbled around her apartment trying to get ready as fast as she could. She threw on a blue dress with black leggings. Normally she would take time to dress up and do some makeup up but today she did not have the time. In thirty minutes, she was already out the door, her coffee, phone, laptop and a jacket in hand. She got to her car and drove off into the busy streets.

She could see her office building as she approached, the big letters MACE TECH written on the front. She was a software engineer in one of the busiest tech companies in the region. She had been working there for 2 years now.

Being a software engineer meant that she got to work from anywhere she wanted, anytime she wanted. The only catch was that she had to be physically present for the Thursday weekly meeting. The only time anyone was excused was when they had travelled for work or was on official leave.

Scarlett was quite happy with this arrangement. Except for the weekly meeting, which she would gladly give anything to have it scrapped off her schedule.

As soon as she arrived at the parking lot, she picked up her essentials and fled to the elevator. It seemed to be slower today. She looked at her phone, it was now 11.30. She was officially late for the meeting. She noticed a couple of notifications on her phone too but she decided to check them after the meeting.

She finally reached her office floor. When she got off the elevator, she bumped into someone and mumbled a quick sorry without bothering to see who it was. Today was not turning out to be a good day.

She placed the stuff she had carried on the open space table she used anytime she was here. She then walked across the room towards the boardroom where the meeting was.

She opened the door slowly and walked to the only empty spot at the table with fake modesty.

"Nice of you to join us, Ms Gray!"  said the guy who was standing in the front, in the middle of a presentation. He said it with a smirk and one would tell that he was half-joking. He was a tall guy, with blue eyes. He was wearing a navy blue suit that matched with his skin tone.

Scarlett just glared at him and settled down. "I will get you Declan!"  She thought to herself. She was going to save her remarks for later when there was no audience.

The meeting went on as usual. Guys reported on their projects, raised any issues they had come across and confirmed whether they were still on schedule or not. There were still a few guys waiting to report before it was her turn, so she decided to check on her notifications.

As she had expected, there were a few unimportant messages. Three WhatsApp texts from her workgroup. Two others from her friend, Lou, asking if she had plans for the weekend. She scoffed at this. That girl never knows when to stop, does she? There were a few social media updates that she wasn't keen enough to read before dismissing. Then the final notification caught her attention. It was a text message from a strange number. She rarely got messages from a strange number. She clicked on it.

"Hi, Amy..."

She froze.

This morning she thought that the worst thing that could happen today was coming late to the meeting. Little did she know that worse things were waiting for her.

She did not need to read the rest of the text to know who it was. That text only meant one thing. That her past had come to haunt her. A past that she had carefully hidden away for the past 6 years.

A past she would rather keep locked in a dark room and throw the key into a black hole.

**********

Scarlett had been living a simple life for the past few years. It was just her, her work, her friends (whom she could count on one hand), and her small apartment. It had always felt complete yet one text from the last person she expected to hear from was enough to remind her just how much incomplete her life actually was.

"Miss Gray, miss Gray, SCARLETT!" She was brought back to the present when she heard her name. She had spaced off, her mind was miles away and she had not realised that it was her turn to give an update on what she had been working on.

It was Declan who had called out her name.

"Um, uh, sorry Dec, I spaced off for a second there"

"I know, I was about to throw this notepad at you, are you ready to give us your update"

"Well, y-yes, y-yeah, right away" She stuttered as she got up from her chair.

Scarlett had never been a shy girl and she had never had issues speaking in front of people, but today her usual poise was gone. She could feel her hands shaking as she was preparing her presentation.

"Morning team?"

"It is past noon Scarl..." Dec corrected.

"Thank you,  Dec, for the correction, Good afternoon team?"

The rest of the guys responded indifferently.

Declan was a bit taken aback that Scarlett had not retorted in any way. That was his second shot of the day and she had just been silent. It was so unlike her.

"During the past week, I have been working on the finance project. I mainly worked on... " She went on to explain the rest of the work she had done. Lucky for her she did not have any major issues that needed to be discussed and her audience did not have any question. The last thing she needed was debating with her colleagues. Presenting updates close to the lunch break had its perks after all.

After her presentation, the rest of the meeting went on without a hitch or her attention. The only thing that was in her mind was that text. What was she going to do now? Should she reply? She could just pretend that she didn't get the text in the first place.

"That is it for today. Good work team, see you next week." She heard Declan's closing remarks as the guys began packing up to leave.

"Hey, what are you doing after this?" One of the girls approached her.

Before she could reply, the girl continued, "We are all gonna grab lunch at UncleMugen's cafe, wanna join?"

"Sorry, Mia. Not today, I have something I need to do." On a normal Thursday, attending the team lunch at their favourite cafe would have been the perfect end to her day. But there was nothing normal about this Thursday, nothing at all.

"Cool, see ya around," Mia said with a big smile as she walked towards the group that was exiting the boardroom.

Scarlett stood from her chair and walked towards the window. She could see the city below her, people walking on the streets, some seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere while others walked slowly in groups as they chatted away, it was a beautiful view. This city had become her new home. It was far from perfect but she had managed to find her place. The place where she belonged. A place where she made her own decisions.

"You okay? You look like you have seen a ghost" Declan asked as he stood beside her. She had not realised that he had not left with the rest of the team.

"Hi Dec"

She may not have seen a ghost but she had definitely received a text from one.

"So what's up?" Declan had been one of the first friends she had made since she moved into the city. He was also the head of her department.

"This view is amazing" that was all she could say. She couldn't tell Declan about the text yet. As close as they were, she had never told him about her family. The topic had come up a few times but she always found a way to play around it. Declan must have known she was trying to avoid the topic because he never asked her about it directly.

"Yes it is, but that is not an answer am looking for"

"I am fine Dec"

"Are you? Then why did you turn pale in the meeting? and on top of that, you were stuttering during your presentation."

There was silence for a minute or so. Scarlett knew that she couldn't get out of this without a convincing excuse.

"I received a text from someone I did not expect" She finally answered. She was hoping that he wouldn't press her for more details.

"Did someone die?"

"What? No, I was invited to my...," She decided to hide some details to avoid the long conversation she was inevitably going to have with him. "a friend's wedding. I did not know she was getting married so that is why I got shocked." She felt guilty for not telling him the entire truth. She was going to tell him at some point but now was definitely not the right time.

"An old friend? What so shocking about that?" Dec looked at her with a questioning look.

"Well I just did not expect to hear from her at all"

"You had a fallout with her or something?"

"You could say that..."

"So, when is the mystery wedding"

"Next weekend"

"Are you gonna attend?"

"I don't know yet, I am still letting it all settle in"

"Look Scarl, I know you well, and I know that you are hiding something from me but I won't ask what it is. If you need to talk, you know where to find me, okay?"

Declan placed his arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. She looked at him with a feigned smile. He smiled back at her and she could tell that he had a million questions to ask her. He let out a sigh and began to walk out of the room.

"You are a good person Scarl, I know you will make the right decision," he said from the door as he left.

The right decision? What was the right decision in this situation? That text had changed everything.

She looked out the window again but this time she couldn't see the view, her mind had travelled back in time to six years ago. The last day she had seen her family. She missed them, she missed her mother's cooking. She missed her sister, Victoria. Vic was only 2 years younger than her. And she missed her dad, well, for the most part anyway.

She couldn't believe that Vic was getting married. Clearly, a lot of things had changed. The sister she remembered could not commit to anything. When she was young, Vic could cry her heart out whenever she needed a new toy and when her parents got it for her, she could play with it for only a few days before tossing it away.  And this had continued in school, she could join clubs, be enthusiastic for a few weeks and then get bored and quit. Now she was getting married? As in wedding, rings, stay with someone forever, married, at 22 no less. Scarlett let out a sigh.

ring ring

Scarlett was scared to pick up her phone. What if her mum had decided to call her after not getting a reply? What would she say?

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***