Apollo's 11

by Anna Collins

  "Can't you try and be a bit positive, Rick" Danny scolded him and handed me a bottle of soft drink, but I refused to take it, I was too busy being sad.

  "I can be but Robert Hudson can't be less cruel" Rick blurted out.

  "Well, he can be because now he has changed. He is totally mooning over Freya" Danny winked, picking up my face from the pillow.

  Both I and Rick looked at Danny with disbelief and then Rick laughed out loud "yes, and Queen Elizabeth is going to gift me the keys of Buckingham Palace" Rick teased.

  "Danny are you nuts? He broke my damn phone and you are saying that he is mooning over me?" I barked.

  "Sis, he is blind. He thinks that hatred is a form of love" Rick exclaimed, making a you-are-so-dumb face at Danny.

  "Will you two shut up? I can totally prove my point. Freya, when you were smiling and giggling while talking over the phone. He was jealous, jealous of the guy who can make you this happy and the rest is history" Danny said seriously explaining each of his words with hand gestures.

  "But I was talking to Kate and he told me that I don't even exist for him" I cut him off.

  "Ya,because he, himself doesn’tknow what you are to him. He is a very complex character but he is very passionate about you and I could see that in his eyes when he was kissing you. And that's what made my jaw fell open" said Danny.

  Danny's words took me into a deep thought. And the images of Robert's hypnotic blue eyes appeared in front of my eyes. Those eyes were holding so much of secret which I was dying to uncover.

  "Nonsense! Robert Hudson is a murderer he can't feel anything for anyone. Sis, you can't forget what he did to your life" Rick reached in front of me,fighting Danny.

  "Trust me, Rick, I can never forget what he did to me. He broke my dreams, my precious dreams and nothing in the world can compensate for that" I clutched on the pillow and my eyes were rigid with sadness and anger.

  "Guys lets change the topic. Emily invited us to her private party, you guys wanna come?" Danny asked.

  " ‘Us’ means? She doesn’teven know me! And she hates sis for obvious reasons. And how did you get so close to Emily?" Rick raised an eyebrow.

  I shook my head "Rick, they played shot and score- the home edition".

  Rick winked at Danny "way to go man!"

  O-M-G! Danny was blushing. I had never seen him like that before. "She had seen you at the pub and she doesn't hate Freya. Emily is a nice girl, she understood that Robert and Freya might have a thing, that's why Robert was never interested in her. As you guys are my friends she wants to know you better." Danny explained, encircling his arms over Rick's shoulder.

  "Ahaan, then she must really like you" Rick ticked Danny.

  "Ya sort of, who can resist me?" Danny laughed.

  "Good for her. No one deserves to be with a mean person like Robert Hudson" I blurted out in disgust.

  "Okay my erupting volcano, now calm down and get ready for the party, it's going to be a cool one," Danny said with excitement.

  "Tell Emily I said thanks for inviting me, but not feeling like partying now" I sighed.

  "Come Nah! Please! Otherwise, I will forcefully carry you. These muscles are not for show" Danny warned flaunting his fluffy arms.

  I smiled sadly.

  Tiny white lights were twinkling all over the green grasses at Emily's backyard pool side. Their reflections made the water look like it was made of glitters. It looked beautiful, but the people surrounding it snatched away the pureness of nature.

  I hated myself for making another emotional decision. I was feeling completely out of place by being surrounded by a bunch of rich, spoiled and half naked young people. On top of that, it was a pool party which gave them an open license to wear the skimpiest clothes possible. I had seen fewer pool parties taking place at night. But not to forget the fact that rich people could do anything that they wanted. Money talked like nothing else. Though Emily was being nice and sweet to me, she even hugged me and complimented my red knee length cotton dress and my side bun hair style. She told me I looked decent. I also told her that she was looking beautiful. Emily blushed and asked me if Danny would like her attire. Well, she was wearing a triangle bikini with glitter flowers shimmering on it. Her attire left little to the imagination, so there could be hardly any guy who would be able to turn their faces from that. "Yes, Danny is a guy after all" this was my reply. She smiled wildly and hugged me again. Fakeness!

  Robert

  For the first time in my life, I was letting my heart control my mind. And there I was struck in a so called high profile party. Did I do the correct thing by coming here? The loud music jamming my head made me raise this question to myself over and over again. I was here for a purpose. I was here to make it up to someone for my abrupt and unfair reaction.

  I felt hopeless for making such a move, but a part of me indicated that I had made the correct decision and that somehow brought me a bit of relief.

  "Hey Robert, thanks for coming. Wow, you look gorgeous in this navy blue shirt. But why do you always wear dark colors?" Emily scratched her forehead.

  "Because I like darkness" I replied coldly.

  "Good. I am glad that we can be cool after whatever happened to us" she said nervously.

  Nothing ever happened between us, what was she referring?

  "I know that you don't like me and I have decided to move on but don't worry this will not affect our business deal, I am ready to sell you my 30% shares whenever dad agrees to sell his too and I will keep poking him about it" Emily smiled.

  It was a bit uncomfortable, but thank God! She understood my situation and I was glad that she chose to move on. She would be happier with someone else. I couldn’t give anything to anyone except for darkness and pain.

  Maybe she didn’tcome, maybe I was just acting foolish I said to myself, making my way to the garden area which would lead me to the exit. Fewer people were here as the party had just started. I kept looking backward only to get a sight of her while my mind tried to aware me how stupid I was acting. This seemed nothing like Robert Hudson.

  Then I felt someone standing behind me before I could turn around to see who that person was, a rushed but gentle yet familiar feminine voice whispered "please don't move, let me hide behind your back" she held my arm.

  Normally I would have just walked away. But there was something in her voice that stopped me from moving.

  "Is hiding behind good looking gentlemen, your favorite hobby?" I teased.

  "Oh please, instead of a monster like you I would have preferred hiding behind a smelly dumpster" she stomped.

  Insulting tone, monster? Oh damn, she was Freya!

  "Freya? Why are you hiding?" I asked and tried to turn to her but she stopped me.

  "Don't turn, otherwise, the drunk guy will see me. I hate to say this, but you seemed a better choice than him" she said. I could hear the frown in her voice.

  "Drunk guy? Did he do anything to you? Are you all right?" I asked.

  "No need to show your fake concern, I am fine. He was flirting with me, I took out your anger on him and punched right on his face. As a result, he went furious and tried to touch me; I ran away and maybe he is following me" she explained in a voice filled with panic.

  Ignoring her protests I turned back, feeling the urgent need to see her.

  I was mesmerized by her simplicity, she was wearing red, the color of pain, but her presence only brought relief to my eyes.

  "As expected, the monster never listens to anyone," she squinted her eyes.

  I smiled, shaking my head and took a look at her to check for any bruises, thankfully there wasn't any.

  "Leave my hand. This place is filled with weirdoes" she jerked away, making a cute expression of irritation.

  Man! Was I acting weird?

  Shaking my head "Don't worry, you are with me. That guy will not come near us" I tried to reassure her, thinking that she might be scared.

  She smirked "yes yes you are the king of this world and no one w
ill dare to upset his majesty" making a mocking face at me.

  "Oh God, there he is!" she screamed, pointing towards a short guy in hipster attire. His highlighted hair and ragged clothes were giving me the creeps.

  Freya tried to run away but I stopped her by pulling her close to me. I encircled my right arm around her shoulder, protectively, gesturing her that she had no reason to be afraid. She was struggling but when I looked at her, she stopped at stared at me for a while. I loved how her spontaneous baby brown eyes got fixed at me. Having her trapped in the cage of my arms brought me an undefined sense of peace. I dig my nails into her soft skin, she gasped and that made her look even hotter. She was wearing red lipsticks, which was alluring me to her plump lips.

  "There you are, I have been looking for you for so long," said the creepy guy.

  "Why? You want another punch?" she yelled at him, crooking her forehead.

  "Calm down," I asked Freya.

  "And hey you, if you want that head on your shoulder then stay away from her. She might be beautiful, but she is not yours" I warned the guy, glaring at him with my fiery eyes.

  My single look made him shake like a leaf did during the time of a heavy storm, and he went away running.

  Freya wiggled away from my embrace "there was no need to throw your greatness at me, I could have easily tackled him" she stomped.

  "I saw how you tackled him" I smirked playfully.

  Again she was squinting her eyes at me, did she had any idea how cute she looked when she was angry and her nose was turning red too.

  "Listen Freya, I am not here to fight with you, wait for a second," I said calmly and took out a paper box from my pocket.

  "Here, this is for you" I smiled.

  Freya's eyes were raised to her forehead and she kept blinking as if she was trying to make sure if it was a dream or not. When she didn’tmove, I took her hand and made her hold the box.

  She looked at it "It's a new phone".

  "Yes, because I ‘killed' your old one. It's the latest model of iPhone, it is not available in the market yet and you are welcome" I winked.

  "But...you...umm" she was feeling a loss of words. I could understand, this was new for me as well.

  "It turned out that I overreacted, you weren’t speaking to someone on during your working period. It was during the lunch break, Gary informed me" I looked down, feeling a bit bothered to make an eye connection with her.

  "You...you mean to say that you are sorry?" she asked, still blinking her eyes with disbelief.

  "No! When did I say that? Don't assume things, I broke your phone and now bought you a new one, this is the endof this story now forget everything" I snapped quickly, turning a bit self-conscious and then walked away, unable to take in the oddness of the situation. This was me, not at all.

  Freya

  I wasn’t being able to take my eyes off from the shiny piece of phone, resting on my hand. Robert Hudson, the monster was actually trying to make up for his mistake. And he came to the party only to hand me over the phone and the happiest thing was he wasn’t going to fire me. Gary, the guy who was happy that I was going to get fired, actually did this for me; he informed Robert that I was talking to my friend during the lunchtime. God so many unusual things were happening. I felt my head spin a bit.

  "I was about to go and watch a romantic movie with Victoria, but this was even better. Ahh, the Knight and shining armor, who saved the damsel in distress" Rick's over dramatic way of teasing brought me back from the hazy cloud of thoughts.

  "Freya, we loved the show, though the ending was a bit predictable and may I say pre-planned" Danny added. Then he and Rick laughed and hi-fived each other.

  "Guys, all of this just went above my head, I have no idea what you guys are talking about. Are you drunk?" I tried to sniff them.

  "We are totally sober but are you blind?couldn’t you see how much he cares for you. He was trying to make it up to you, it was an unspoken sorry you dumbo" Danny hit on my head.

  "Ouch! but you are right, something in him has changed. His eyes, his protectiveness towards me and him calling me beautiful" I calculated.

  "Now you get it" Danny spoke.

  "O-M-G! I could totally hit a jackpot with it. If he likes me, then I can turn it into love and that will give me the chance to see what he is hiding and I will be able to get through my revenge plan. Danny, Rick, I will be able to live my dream. This is God's way of paying it back to me. Yes, Yes, Yes" I was jumping with joy.

  Danny frowned "but his feelings seem real."

  "Oh shut up, that doesn’tmatter an evil person like him should be punished. I am with you sis" Rick covered me as we hugged each other in excitement, ignoring the don't-act-like-a-child look of Danny.

  "Let's go home, we need to work out a plan for this, God this is going to be fun" Rick clapped his hands.

  "Freya, Rick think again, this might be dangerous. You are already aware of his anger. You will not be able to withstand the storm" Danny held my hand, trying to warn me.

  I smirked "don't worry Danny, I'm the storm and this time Robert Hudson will not be able to withstand me" I winked.

  In a different, dark corner of the world, Rebecca was looking intently at the sky, her only focus was at the seven stars which were standing in a line. She was chanting the name of devil, repeatedly. Her lips weren’t ready to rest and the other human necessities like hunger, sleep, etc. weren’t applicable to her.

  She wasn’t at peace; she felt powerless, which was unusual because she had been practicing black magic for over a decade. It gave her a long life and youth, but she had to sacrifice her family life for it. In fact, now she had no family, but Rebecca didn’t care about all these, her only motto was to please the devil and to gain the power which would enable her to rule over anything and anyone in this universe. Her rituals had been failing constantly, she even tried to do it in different places, like in the heart of the forest but yet something was falling short. Something was missing and she was unable to join the broken pieces of the puzzle. The desperate need of having those powers was killing her, each and every minute of her long life she felt nothing but restlessness.

  She looked again at the fire hexagon, those red flames said nothing. She had sacrificed so many lives to achieve the powers, but nothing was pleasing the devil. She started throwing her hands and legs in the air, like a mad woman.

  "Devil! don't punish me like this, show me the way to please you!" she screamed at the sky.

  Then all of a sudden the beams of fire produced a spark and some words appeared on the mud floor surrounding the fire hexagon, the words were written in blood. Rebecca looked at it with wide eyes, then read them aloud "you are not sacrificing the most precious thing of yours, the devil needs someone who is very close to you. Someone whom you gave birth to". Chills ran down to her spine after reading those words and trail of blood started to leak out from her eyes.

  "How can this happen? How?" she screamed again but this time, nothing came up, except for the never ending silence.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Freya

  I went near my wall cabinet and unlocked the safe with my key chain to take out a black file.

  ‘Robert Hudson' was written on top of it with a white marker. The file contained all the information I had found about him till now. Everything was stored as a detailed report, including the hazy images of the blood coated belts and hunters. This file would be the key to my success, it would make me famous and Kent would come begging at my feet to take me back on the job. But it was still incomplete, it had all the information but no solid proofs. Those hazy images would not serve as a proper proof; one could easily claim that they weren’t Robert's because he wasn’t holding them. The charm would be if I could get a video of Robert beating himself. This seemed impossible until last night, but now I had found a way to make the impossible to i-m-possible.

  I could easily uncover the secret by being Robert Hudson's girlfriend, everyone shared their intimate details wi
th their loved ones. And the girl who was capable of making Robert Hudson fall for her could do anything. I tried to boost up my own confidence level, I was entering in a dark alley, I needed all the confidence in the world for that.

  My friends thought that my earlier plan had flopped, but they had no idea that it was a huge success. I got to see something which no one had ever seen. My 1st step was done properly now I needed to take full advantage of the opportunity that God had bestowed upon me. I was so curious to know his secret, I could hardly wait to uncover it in front of the world.

  "But I don't know how to impress a guy, and don't ask me to wear those revealing dresses, I can't wear them. I can't afford to lose my dignity" I announced.

  "Dear, that step is over, you don't need to impress him by showing your curves, you need to make him confess his feelings" Rick stated.

  Thank God! no skimpy clothes, I sighed in relief.

  "And how will she do that, Mr. Expert?" Danny raised his eyebrow while arranging the cushion to make himself comfortable.

  "Umm..you can talk sweetly to him, compliment his looks" Rick suggested.

  "Bullshit!" I exclaimed, annoyingly.

  "Apparently, he is different. He didn’t fall for me because I praised him or complimented him. I only insult him and call him a monster, I mean, why would he fall for me?" I asked holding my head.

  "Haha, he likes you because you are not afraid, to tell the truth, I think you should remain like this only" Danny ran his hand over my head.

  "Then what about our mission?" Rick asked.

  "We need to come up with a solid plan for that" Danny suggested.

  "What? Are you in? I looked at him in disbelief.

  "Yes, I am how can I leave my friends alone when they need me?" he smiled.

  "Totally boring and useless day, nothing happened" I threw my laptop bag on the couch and sat down on the floor, holding my head.