Before It's Too Late

Chapter 1

🎵Suspended in the air

I hear myself breathing🎶

🎶Hanging by a thread

My heart is barely beating🎵

AVERY JACKSON COULDN'T FIND the words to describe the mixed emotions she felt when she read the message that popped on her boyfriend David's phone. She didn't know if her eyes were fast enough to have read it before the notification faded or if the heavens wanted her to read it. Her body froze, her heart stopped, and a heavy and painful pounding on her chest dominated. She gasped for air. Her whole body stiffened. It was like any second her head would explode. Every inch of her body trembled. Her stomach flipped with nausea. She covered her mouth with her hand to stop the vomit. When she heard the bathroom door unlock, she returned the phone to where David had left it before showering.

"Are you okay, babe? What's wrong?"  David asked. "You're trembling." His eyes widened.

"Ah... Um. I need to go to the bathroom. I think I have diarrhea." She bolted for the bathroom.

She locked the bathroom door and sat on the cold tiled floor,  leaning her trembling body against the wall. Her eyes welled up with tears.

She didn't know what to do. Should she confront him? Since when has this been happening? Who is she? How? Where? Why?

An intense piercing and poking sensation burned like hell in her head. Her brain asked all the different questions but failed to find answers to any of them. She pressed her chest slowly and hard, hoping her hand could lessen the pain, when she heard David from outside the door.

"Babe, are you okay?  How are you feeling? Do you need medicine?"

"I'm okay," she answered softly, hiding her silent cries.

"Do you want me to buy you an energy drink or something?"

"Yes, please... Thank you." Her voice crackled.

She burst into tears when she heard their main door shut. She shook her head multiple times, denying that David had cheated on her. Even though she knew in her heart it wasn't true, she hoped the message wasn't for him.

She quickly left the bathroom. David's phone wasn't where she had placed it a while ago. She tapped her forehead several times. Stupid Ave! No cheating bastard will leave his phone behind. Her feet started pacing. She had to think of something. Confronting him could be good or bad. How would she do it? Reality hit her. Her woman's instinct was activated. Were there signs? She had been so dumb, trusting, or in love.

How would she have known the signs?

There was no manual or a guide for her to know if he was cheating on her.

Maybe David is so good at hiding, she thought to herself. She started going back to the past days, weeks, and months. Then, on cue, her tears fell again. The same heaviness and poking in her chest intensified. But she had to brave the pains to find answers. Someone other than David might know.

Who else knows?

Self-pity struck her. Did people in the firm know? Was she the last one to know? These were just a few of the questions that popped into her mind. The unexplainable pain sucked all the strength in her. She wanted to confront him but was afraid she might be wrong. She felt the urge to call and ask, especially those in his inner circle. But she doubted they would tell her. If people who knew about it wanted her to know, at least someone should have mentioned it to her already.

"Oh, God! I'm so naïve and stupid! David is their boss. Their loyalty is with him, of course," she exclaimed.

She felt alone and pitiful. In times like this, she always ran to her family. But, this time, she wouldn't because she still wanted to protect David. Stupid as it may seem, she wanted him to be on her family's good side.

What was she thinking? She suddenly remembered when Shelly, her best friend, caught her fiance giving his secretary a "mouth-to-mouth" resuscitation inside his office. She'd wanted to smack Shelly when she lied to her parents to protect the guy's "respectable" image. Was she being Shelly right now? What should she do? She started doing personality analyses of each woman in the firm mentally. She couldn't seem to match anyone, any lady employee in particular. For years she had been working in the firm; most ladies there were still not the type to flirt. Their relationship was an open book in their workplace. Only a marriage certificate was missing to confirm how deep they were into it.

David had come into her life unexpectedly. He was someone who had been around for almost three years. A guy she knew, a colleague she had never noticed before. He was that someone she saw every day but never thought about. But after their unexpected lunch together, she realized the reason behind it. She knew then that he had a long-time girlfriend. Though he attracted most of the ladies around the firm, Avery never joined the "fan club," knowing he was "taken."

Avery had experienced many different firsts after meeting David. On their first lunch together, he told her, If your boyfriend doesn't come and look for you, he doesn't know what he's missing! It was the first time a guy had told her there was something in her. Her heart had skipped a beat. How he gazed at her in all their times together made her heart flutter. No one had ever made her feel that way.

"Babe, are you okay now?" David asked her.

"Better, I guess."

She realized he was already back. She watched him as he opened the bottle of energy drink. Then she focused on the cell phone he had placed on the bedside table. Even without her going near it, she could tell it was in silent mode, judging by how many times the notifications lit up on the screen.

"Here. Drink it, babe. Make sure you don't get dehydrated. Do you need anything else?"

What she needed was for him to be honest with her. "Nothing, thanks."

She gulped the drink without taking her sight off David. He was grinning as he grabbed his cell phone from the side table. She watched him as he sat in bed. He was so engrossed in what he was reading he didn't notice her eyes glued to him. A lump formed in her stomach. He had the same excitement and the sweetest smile on his face now that he'd had the morning he'd asked her to be his girlfriend. Except for this time, Avery was sure it wasn't for her. When her body started trembling again, she placed her hand over her heart.

She couldn't seem to breathe. 

Her breathing was becoming loud.

It was so loud that she had to cover her ears with her hands.

Then she couldn't seem to hear her heartbeat.

She felt as if her heart had stopped beating. She started pressing into her chest—everything around her blurred. Then there was total darkness and silence.

***