Hallucinations of an angel: chapter 8

a note from the author: i need to apologise yet again for putting up this chapter so late. I have been caught up in a tragedy for the past two days and i won’t mention about it now but later on. Thank u so much for reading this story. Please do catch up to the former chapters if you haven’t before reading this one. Thank you once again. I will try and be more regular about this story now. Its just their are so many ideas in your head and you don’t know how to or exactly how much to incorporate in one chapter and that is why i decided to keep my chapters a tat bit shorter from usual from now on. Let me know whether you like it or not. So, here we go.

‘Cordelia!’

Gerard roughly captured Cordelia in his arms and pulled her back. 

‘Cordelia! Oh my Jesus! What the hell were you about to do!’

He held Cordelia tightly, very close to him while looking at her intensely. The loud voice had woken Erika up. The very first sight that her eyes caught up with upon opening was Cordelia in Gerard’s arms. She was certainly not well aware of the situation which had caused the present scenario to occur but what did trigger was Erika’s fury.

‘Gerard!’

Her voice was an excruciating mix of anger and sorrow. She was completely unknown to the tears that were caressing her cheeks while she looked at them with an angry gaze.

‘Gerard! Explain yourself! What on earth is going on! Why is…’

Gerard pushed Cordelia away and at once took Erika in his arms, preventing her speech. He knew what this scenario was making Erika feel about him and Cordelia and he could not let this take a toll on Erika’s mental well being.

‘Gerard. Please let me go. Don’t do this to me.’

Erika was in no condition to let go of Gerard. He was her kryptonite. She was the most powerful with him and yet the most vulnerable with him as well.

‘Erika. I know what you are thinking but you need to think straight. What you saw was completely the opposite of what you perceived. Cordelia was about to wake you up not realising that she should not. I just arrived right on time to prevent her from doing so. She thought you were sick or something and got worried. She is naive Erika. Forgive her. And forgive me for waking you up like this.’

Erika knew that Gerard was speaking the truth but her heart still ached. Cordelia on the other hand looked at them with her chartreuse eyes glittering with jealousy. 

‘Gerard! The lord has asked for you.’

The butler came and took Gerard away. While leaving,Gerard had an eye contact with Cordelia, warning her to not even try and think of what she was about to do again. He hadn’t realised that the eye contact was very visible to Erika which had triggered within her head a scrimmage of conundrums. She perused Cordelia with a steady gaze, trying to comprehend the situation that had caused the stir.

‘Cordelia. What made you take such an irresponsible action if you may tell me.’

Cordelia had the least idea of how to respond the question. She stood up straight, delicately rectifying her messed up hair and then she looked Erika straight in the eye and then spoke a fragile and faint voice.

‘Gerard is my brother. He certainly is nothing but your servant. I believe he has already given you the explanation you required and there is nothing else to add to it. Well if i may take your leave my prized Barbelo.’

Barbelo. While Cordelia left her room, she could only hear the word Barbelo resonate in her ears. Something about it had made her curiosity catch fire. That word slipped out of Cordelia’s mouth, though it shouldn’t have. Erika woke up in her night robe and at once began running towards the library. She looked up the word in the dictionary but she couldn’t find anything. Encyclopaedias,the book of names and their meanings and at last the book of theology caught her eye and she began dwelling in it, absolutely unaware of the fact that she had been in the library for a couple of hours already. 

The book of theology presented her the true meaning of the word Barbelo, who was supposedly an angel. She was about to look up the details when the door flung open.

‘Erika!’

It was Gerard. Panting and sweating. Of course he had been looking for Erika and was dead worried about failing to do so.

‘Erika! Goodness Erika! What has gotten into you today. I was searching for you everywhere Goddamn place. If only i had met the maid first who had seen you entering the library, would i have not to go through all the trouble.’

Erika was expressionless. She was hardly interested in Gerard’s just ended adventure and she simply looked back into the book. This made Gerard rather curious. He walked up to her to see for himself as to what had the young lady amusingly engrossed. He stood behind her, trying his best not to bother Erika and took a sneaky look at the book. Barbelo.

Gerard was paralysed in severe shock. It had shifted the tangent he stood on by a complete three sixty degrees and his breath was gone. When he finally came back to senses, Erika was already through half of the information about the angel. This was not good. Gerard snatched away the book from Erika at once.

‘Gerard! What the hell! Give me my book back. I haven’t finished reading.’

‘Erika! I don’t think it’s a good idea to delay lunch time.’

‘To hell with lunch! Not until i complete reading.’

‘Erika!’

She tried her best to take back the book from Gerard but nothing worked.

‘Fine! No book and i don’t eat the lunch.’

She stood up and started walking away hurriedly towards her room. Gerard heaved a sigh of relief. Then he quickly and neatly tore the page about Barbelo and threw it in the fire place to burn away. His mind was in an unending and paradoxical dilemma. He was going through all the instances that could have occurred which made Erika aware of the word Barbelo and developed her interest in it. Whatever it was, Gerard now knew that this was definitely the beginning of the end.