Meredith had a half smile on her face as she stared at the bag that contained the cloth that she had purchased from the boutique... thankfully or rather not, her credit card had not maxed out, so they were able to put the dress up on a twelve-month instalment payment... "I must be crazy..." She muttered under her breath... it felt like she had made a crazy decision, but at the same time, she felt like it was worth it... Now she didn't have an excuse not to go. She had a dress and also a pair of shoes that had been given to her as a gift when she left high school... she had nowhere to wear them to all these years, and now she was finally going to... Meredith walked to the side of her table where the shoes were. It was still neatly put in the box that it had come with... she opened the box and took out the beautiful red heels... it was perfect... a bright smile appeared on her face as she stared at it... she placed it on the table before going to where the dress was... Meredith took out the dress and placed it close to her body... she had simply purchased it in her size and didn't bother putting it on... she was afraid that she would change her mind if she did... "Now, what should I do about my make-up..." She muttered under her breath... her heart raced in excitement as she thought about Brian... maybe this was it... she was finally going to meet the love of her life... he was the only one who was nice to her when everyone else ignored her... he was a gentleman and she liked him... If he asked her out then what? Would it be right to date him... what if he wanted to know more about her... the thought of him finding out about the life she had led up until that moment made her sad... "Let's worry about that later..." She muttered under her breath and decided to make a decision when the reason for the decision arose... he might not even like her and she was reading too much into his kindness... she didn't even know if he had a girlfriend or not...
The next day was a Friday and Meredith spent the entire day at work since she didn't have any classes... when she returned home she was completely exhausted but happy that her boss had granted her leave so she could work an extra shift the following day... that night, that bubbling feeling of excitement was in the pit of her stomach as she tried to go to sleep... maybe she would make new friends... she thought... having a friend that she could talk to wasn't a bad idea for the first time in her life... she sighed deeply and closed her eyes before drifting off to sleep and that night, she had the weirdest dream ever...
Meredith woke up late the following morning... it was almost noon when she did, but she wasn't alarmed when she did because the party wasn't starting until seven... she had decided to stay for just a few hours before leaving... a soft knock on her door caught her attention as she placed the dress neatly on her bed... she walked to the door and peeped through the small peephole she had made to see who it was... a slight smile appeared on her face when she saw who it was... she quickly unlocked her door and was met with her landlady who had a cigarette even though Meredith had told her multiple times to stop smoking one in front of her house... "took you long enough... here..." She muttered in an irritable tone and handed Meredith a lipstick... "Are you going on a date or something... I was shocked when my daughter told me you ask her for a lipstick..." The landlady shook her head as Meredith took the lipstick from her... "Thank you, ma'am..." She said sweetly, which made the older woman squint her eyes at Meredith... "You barely talk to anyone and now you are asking for favours... it must be a date then... you are such a mysterious young girl... have fun..." The woman said and turned away... Meredith closed the door and sighed deeply... her landlady might be annoying, but she was the only one who had been willing to take her in when she arrived at the city... she had accepted for her to pay half of the original rent money and was patient till Meredith had enough to pay her back... She was the only one Meredith could say she was kind of close within the entire neighbourhood... she was nosy but nice in her own way... she knew already that she would be the one to bring the lipstick even though she had asked Jane, her daughter for one...
Meredith checked the time and saw that it was almost three... she immediately started to get ready because it might take her a while to get to the address on the invitation... normally most people would have taken a taxi, but she couldn't afford that after paying for the dress... so she made sure to get ready on time so she could leave her house by four and get their by seven... when she wad done getting dress... she applied a bit of the red lipstick that was given to her... she stared at herself in the mirror for almost a minute staring at her reflection... it felt like she was staring at someone else... the dress looked so pretty on her but she felt like it was way out of her league... "No... I bought it with my money... it looks good on me..." She said firmly to assure herself which was followed by a nervous smile...
She sighed deeply and checked her watch again... she quickly picked up her purse when she saw that it was past four pm already...
But soon after leaving, Meredith's plans didn't go exactly as planned...
When she finally came down from the last bus, Meredith was a bit drained.. she had no idea it would take her this long to arrive... she had to take four buses to get to the closet bus stop to the address
The address was hard to locate and even after taking a bus, she had no choice but to hail a taxi because no other buses were going to that specific location... it felt like she was going to another town... it took the taxi over an hour to get there and by the time they arrived she had a deep frown on her face because of how much the fees were... she felt like she was being slapped across the face as she watched the taxi swipe her card... she would have to work a lot of extra shifts to get that back and she could already feel the exhaustion...
"I should have stayed home...Ii shouldn't have..." She muttered under her breath but trailed off when she finally stood in front of the house... "wow..." Meredith didn't even realise it when the words escaped her mouth... it was a mansion... she was standing right in front of a huge mansion... she had no idea he was this rich... yes he drove a nice car but... now she was more than hesitant to go in... what if the party were filled with rich kids... would they see her as some sort of peasant... How could she go back home after coming all this way... wouldn't he be disappointed if she didn't come... she turned to leave but stopped in her tracks... Meredith sighed deeply as she started to walk towards the house... if the place was too uncomfortable for her, then she was going to leave... she decided...
Meredith cleared her throat and took a deep breath to steady herself before she brought her hand up and pressed on the doorbell of the house... she waited for a few seconds and was about to press the doorbell once again. But before she could she heard a clicking sound and then the door was pushed open... it was Brian... her heart immediately skipped a bit as soon as her eyes fell on him... he was more handsome than ever... and that handsome smile was on his face.... yeah, all those stress was worth it... Brian was silent for a while as he stared at her...
"Wow... you look lovely, Meredith..." Brian said, and Meredith felt the butterflies in her tummy do a backflip...
"Come in.." Brian said and gestured for her to go in... he made way for her and a warm smile appeared on her face as she did, but the smile she had on her face soon dwindled...
Meredith knew immediately she walked in that something was off... the house was completely empty... wasn't it supposed to be a party... she was expecting loud music and everything, but there was none and also no one in sight... the house didn't even have a single furniture in sight... What was going on... her heart started to race in fear and she swallowed when she heard the clicking sound of the door... her heart dropped to her stomach as she slowly turned to look at the door and he was standing right there in front of the door... her warning signals went off immediately and that smile that would have made her giggle like a teenager in love made her feel sick when it appeared on his face... she had let her guard down and walked right into his trap... "I thought there was going to be a party..." Meredith said in a low voice and hated how she sounded in her own ear... she could taste it... that metallic taste of fear... she had filled at hiding her fear...
"No Meredith... there isn't going to be any party here today. I think we both know that already..." Brian replied and she immediately took a step back... yeah she was right! It was a f*cking trap... he started to walk towards and Meredith felt like throwing up... How the hell was she going to get out of this!