Chapter 7: Chapter 7
"You've gotta dance like there's nobody watching, love like you'll never be hurt, sing like there's nobody listening, and live like it's heaven on earth." ― William W. Purkey
Twisting, turning and tossing between her sheets in her bed, Freya couldn't fall asleep: too much had happened recently. Eventually, at around one in the morning she drifted off.
She awoke and was tied to a chair. It was completely dark. It felt as if there was a spotlight on her. Hearing cackling, Echo glanced furtively around. It was pitch black, she couldn't see anything. As if appearing from nowhere, Julia Smithson and Robert Max Burton were directly in front of her. Each was holding their weapon of choice, their motive operandi. Smithson had a blunt knife, according to her it hurt more than a sharp knife. Burton had his gun. Both played a game of rock, paper, scissors- much to Echo's confusion. Julia won, scissors beats paper. Approaching her, Julia's knife glinted malevolently at her- as if it had it's own sentience.
Pain burst in her body, she had been stabbed in her abdomen and was bleeding profusely. The knife was removed, and she was stabbed again, and again. Repeatedly. Echo wondered how she was still alive. Robert had his turn now, he aimed his gun at her and BANG!
Echo woke up in her bed, screaming and sweating. Looking around, she realised it was just a dream, yet the pain felt so real. Glancing down, she noticed that her bed was covered in blood and she had abdominal cramps. 'Great,' she thought, 'now I've got my period.'. Getting out of bed, she changed her clothes, and placed her duvet and pyjamas in the washing machine. Coming back to her bed she checked the time. It was 04.27. Groaning, Freya knew she wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. So, of course, like any responsible adult, she decided to go on a run. At five am she was finally ready, after finding her fitness outfit, which was buried under an insane amount of slippers and clothes.
It was 14 degrees Celsius out- for most it was only slightly chilly, but for someone who lived in LA and thrived in 25 degrees Celsius, it was like being in Antarctica. Deciding she would warm up on her run, she left without her coat. Freya returned after twenty minutes; she wasn't that fit any more, and it was freezing. Returning back to her bungalow, she unlocked the door. She ate breakfast. Then she looked at the time again. It was only 5:40. Groaning, she mentally hit her head on the table.
She went back to bed, and took out Regency Buck, by Georgette Heyer. Best decision ever. Freya had forgotten how much she enjoyed Georgette Heyer's literary style. In the middle of the part where Judith met her cousin, her alarm went off, signalling it was now seven thirty. Placing a book mark in her book, Freya got out of bed and stretched. She then decided to go and have a shower. After that, Freya decided to better acquaint herself with the new neighbourhood she was in. Putting on a coat, she went out once more, to brave the cold.
This time, there were more people wandering about. There were some like her, walking by themselves, but with purpose- they had somewhere to be. Others were in groups, laughing and chatting. Freya wondered how they could be so cheery at this hour in the morning without some caffeine in their system. Deciding to buy a coffee frappe, she went to the nearest Costa and bought herself one. Sipping from her drink, she sat down at one of the tables. Deciding she might as well go on her Wattpad account; the witness program would never even know. Entering her username and password, she entered and she had a barrage of notifications. Over two hundred. This is what she got from being absent on Wattpad for a month, she mused. Responding to comments on the stories, she apparently read, when she was about seven years younger. She didn't even recollect the context. Additionally, some of them were just so rude, and she felt herself blush numerous times- she couldn't believe how stupid she was. Then some of them just made her laugh; the Wattpad community is just so vibrant, warming, friendly, unique, accepting.
Feeling guilty, Freya- she still struggled with thinking of herself as Freya- logged out of her Wattpad account. Praying that they hadn't noticed she went on her account. She then glanced around and took in her surroundings. The cafe was quite busy now, everyone coming in to get a coffee before work started, a muffin for breakfast, a bottle of water- apparently it was cheaper than the vending machine in work.
Eventually deciding she had enough of people watching, the most cliche meeting that had ever occurred in both Freya's and Echo's lifetimes happened. She bumped into another lady, who was carrying a mango and passion fruit ice-cooler. It spilled all over the floor. Instantly apologising, Freya grabbed some napkins and began to clean it up.
"I'm so, so sorry. Really sorry!" Freya kept repeating to her, whilst cleaning up the drink that was on the floor, "Let me pay you so you can get another one.".
The lady had dark blonde hair, bright green eyes, and had an amazing figure. Freya felt jealous, if only she had such great features- it wasn't that Freya was bad looking, it was just that she didn't have that supermodel figure that this lady had. This lady was also cleaning the floor and replied, in a thick Mancunian accent, "No worries doll. I wasn't watching where I was going. You don't need to apologise so much, it's fine!". Freya relaxed a bit, and said sorry once more.
The lady, who introduced herself as Sam, short for Samantha, "However," she said, "if you ever call me Samantha, there is a special place in my garden for you.".
Well that definitely wasn't ominous. "You mean as a scarecrow- sorry, won't work, birds are attracted to me," stated Freya, with a wide smirk on her face. Luckily for her, Sam appreciated her sense of humour.
"I can tell that you and I are going to get along," Sam replied, giggling.
Unfortunately, Sam had to run to work. She worked in MacDonalds, but she was in the middle of getting a degree in Linguistics. They exchanged numbers, and sent a WhatsApp to each other, to make sure they had the correct number.
The rest of the day was less eventful. Freya decided that she wanted to do a part time job, she still had a couple months before her job started, she wanted to get to know more people, and if she was bored after barley a day in Manchester, she would most definitely be bored if she had two months all by herself. So she started browsing online. Problem was, that most jobs wanted a six month commitment. Searching for a bit longer, she found a volunteering program, which was perfect for her- it didn't require long term commitment. They also gave them a discount card, which is certain shops, they had ten percent off. That was payment enough. Signing up, she instantly got an email- she was accepted. Freya would be coming in to their main building Sunday to Friday, and she would be doing an array of jobs. It was mostly with older people in old-age homes. She would be visiting the, with other volunteers. Provide entertainment. She would be calling up people to ask for donations for the organisation as a whole, and many other stuff. It would be hard work, yet Freya knew it would be extremely rewarding.
That evening, Freya received a text from Sam, she asked if she would like to go out on Sunday and get dinner together.
"Sure", she replied, "Where and what time?".
After organising the details, it seemed like Freya had something to look forward to.
Weekly Power Status
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