Chapter 36 "Run! Celene, Run!!"
Celene's POV
As we arrived at the orphanage, it became completely clear to me... I had figured one thing out... Cole was an extremist! He lived right at the edge of every spectrum. It was either freezing cold or boiling hot. Either inhumanly silent or absolutely fucking loud.
There was never an in-between.
He either wasn’t interested at all, or he was INVESTED!! I had to pick my jaw up from the floor as I watched men and women in black-and-white steward uniforms pile out rows and rows of bunk beds from one of the trucks and begin to assemble them.
Even the reverend mother at the orphanage couldn’t believe what was happening. Her eyes kept bulging as she looked at us and then over to the large trailers that were getting parked. They wasn’t even a big enough parking space for them.
"It's alright my darlings, don't bother figuring out how to park them, our parking lot as a whole would not fit these huge trailers, let’s get them set up on the field instead." She said with a broad smile on her face.
She was a petite woman of about sixty whom I had come to love immensely. She hugged Maria and me, while Cole refused to come out of his car, more content to give orders from there.
I realised as i watched him cunningly look through the windshield at the reverend mother, Rose and I, that he was uncomfortable.
"I think Rich, tall and handsome is hiding from the reverend mother." Maria said with a giggle as she pulled me away from the earshot of the reverend mother.
"I dont know... he looks more uncomfortable than anything else to be here." I said, stealing a look back at the black car he was in.
"He probably just wants to fo...forget it. Let's get started..." phew! Thank God I caught myself before i told Maria about Cole following me. He had not denied or accepted anything, but I knew it was him. I just knew it! Wait... was this his plan, let me know it was him without enough evidence to prove it?
Maria strolled away, giving subtle orders amd conversing with some of the servers.
Alone, I stole another look at him through the windshield...realising that this had to be a different car, because I could never see the person inside the car all those times when I was sure I was being followed.
Oh well, I didn’t mind that he was in the car... if he decided to come along withoutprior notice, he might as well make himself scarce.
As we exchanged pleasantries and discussed what I had brought, the assembled bunk beds and new clothes were moved into the orphanage.
Then came metal beams that were apparently meant for a small stage where my mum’s picture would be mounted with a banner. Fucking Cole Ryder...
It was all so crazy, and it made me immensely emotional to think of the time and effort he had put into making something that was so important to me a success.
I heard the shrill cry of alarm and sounds of people rushing toward me before I even understood why.
"Fuck!!! Cee, run!"
"Celene?!" Runnn"
"Dock to the side, ma'am. It's coming..."
"Celene!!!"
I turned just in time to see one of the iron beams from the bunks had dislodged and was falling right in my direction.
I tried to move my body from the spot, tried and failed to pull myself from the fear that gripped me and left me immobile, but I couldn’t. Would it, by some stroke of luck, miss me if I stood completely still?
"Celene!!!!" I knew that voice. Maria... but i couldn't move my body to respond to her. I couldn’t move... I couldn’t do anything.
I said a quick apology to every movie character I had ever shouted at to 'Run' when they found themselves in situations like this. Now I was in it, I could not bring my feet to move. The screaming voices in the background only made me more panicked, rooting me to the spot.
Was this how people died? So random, so strange.
I closed my eyes, preparing for the impact, waiting and praying it would not hurt too much.