Double Betrayal (Chapter Five)

Chapter Five
5th May 2004

As Allison walked towards the exit gate in the airport, she kept looking back at Ashley and Natasha. She could hardly believe her good fortune to have such forgiving and stupid friends, especially Ashley. She felt so wickedly delightful and relieved that she could hardly withstand the astonishing feelings that she was having. It all seemed like a dream. How could they still have forgiven her and treated her as their friend, after all she had done to them? Although ten years could be a long enough time for them to forgive her, but to do so completely in a split second seemed like a difficult feat to Allison. Have they truly forgiven her? Allison wondered as she boarded the plane. Even though Allison knew that her plans for real revenge had been set in motions, she couldn’t help but wonder about her two friends who had given her the happiest and saddest days in her youth. As she settled down in the plane, she began to remember the things that she had done in the past with her friends. No matter how happy or sad they might be; those memories were the best that Allison ever had in this life.

Allison was just eleven when her family moved into the neighborhood. On her first day of school, she was so nervous that she could feel her toes shivering with fear when she entered the classroom. When the teacher introduced her to the class, Allison could hardly dare to look up, but when she did, two bright smiles aimed straight at her and the owners of those smiles waved their hands and invited her to sit with them.

“Oh God! Thank you for the angels you sent!” Allison prayed silently and went willingly to sit beside them.

That was her first impression of Ashley and Natasha. They were kind and patient, very willing to listen and friendly to the core. When Allison discovered that the two of them lived near her, she was nearly over the moon with happiness! Both Ashley and Natasha got Allison to join in all their activities and walked her home that very first day. Allison was happy and glad of their instant friendship. She prayed that the two of them would continue to treat her that way. They did, and soon the three of them became the best of friends. Things were well from the start. Ashley and Natasha had never treated Allison as a newcomer, but as someone whom they seemed to always have around. Allison was overjoyed for she never had friends who treated her that well before. Ashley and Natasha would invite Allison to their houses, and they often had overnight stays at one another’s houses during their school holidays.

Over the years, Allison came to depend on Ashley and Natasha for almost everything. She knew that they would always be there for her. Thus, when they started caring less for her as they grew up and got interested in boys and fashion, she resented it. Allison came to realize that Ashley and Natasha were always closer to each other no matter how many years had passed. Allison kept comforting herself, knowing that she shouldn’t complain since her two friends who had grew up together would naturally be closer. However, she could not understand why Natasha was always more caring towards Ashley. Even during their teen years, Natasha would always rush to Ashley whenever she had good news or bad news, Allison would not be the first one to know, but the last. Allison knew that she was being unreasonable but she couldn’t help it, as she had looked up to Natasha like an older sister. Slowly, she began to resent Ashley with such intensity that it hurt to even see Ashley and Natasha together. Allison knew it was pure jealousy and that she should stop herself from doing that. But she just couldn’t seem to help it. She had always like Natasha more because she was more open and seemed to understand her better than Ashley ever did, even though she did not tell Allison all her secrets. Allison thus began to sabotage Ashley whenever she could and created quite a few misunderstandings between Natasha and Ashley. They never found out that it was Allison, who tried to wreak their friendship, but unfortunately, Allison’s plans never did succeed, and they always made up after awhile. As Allison’s plans failed one by one, she began to develop symptoms that she couldn’t explain. She would cry for no apparent reasons, would became very sad or angry over little things, and sometimes, she found that she don’t even feel anything. Things got so bad that Allison’s mother brought her to see a psychiatrist. It was then that she found out that she was suffering from depression. That was the beginning of her downward spiral of her life; things got worse from there. When her illness was known, Ashley and Natasha had visited her immediately.

“Ally Anderson! You get down here this very minute! Nat and Ash are here to see you.” Allison’s mum had shouted.

At that time, her mum could not understand the problem she had. She kept on believing that Allison was just trying to be difficult, no matter what the psychiatrist told her. She insisted that Allison was in her teens, the years where she would be difficult.

“Its okay, Mrs. Anderson. We will just go up to see Ally ourselves.” Ashley had said.

Allison felt a quick surge of resentment. ‘What right had she to come into my house and tell my mum that she wanted to come and look for me herself? She has no right to even talk to my mum!’

However, Allison knew that Natasha would be with Ashley and she tried her best to suppress her resentment for Ashley.

“Hey Ally! How are you feeling?” Natasha poked her head into Allison’s room.

Allison was thrilled that Natasha was the first one to greet her and she ran to give her a hug.

“Whoa! You miss me ah?” Natasha grinned and hugged Allison right back.

“Hello, Ally! We bought you some books. Maybe you will like to page through them sometimes.” Ashley said.

Allison glared at her but accepted the books because she did not want Natasha to know what she was feeling. Ashley looked mildly surprised at Allison’s hostility towards herself and sat down quietly when Natasha began to talk about her new puppy. Allison was happy that Ashley was keeping quiet, for she could listen to Natasha’s voice without interruption this way. Natasha noted Ashley’s silence after a while.

“Hey Ash! What’s wrong with your pretty voice tonight? Why aren’t you adding in your salt and pepper about my dear doggie?”
Allison felt an immediate urge to shove Ashley out of her room so that she could have Natasha’s attention to herself, but she repressed it, for she would push Natasha right out as well. Allison looked at Ashley and willed her not to say anything discriminating.

“Oh…nothing Nat. I was just thinking about something. I am sorry. What did you say?” Ashley said.

“Nah, it’s okay Ash. Do pay attention. Ally is the main character tonight!” Natasha grinned and turned back to Allison.

Allison felt happiness like she never feel before. ‘Natasha was finally noticing me instead of that self-serving Ashley!’ She goaded privately. They continued to talk and Ashley would occasionally add in something, but Allison made sure that Ashley understood that she did not want her to speak up.

When they were leaving, Allison did something really evil. She picked up the first book in the pile that they had brought and while Natasha was not looking, Allison pushed the book into Ashley’s hand and said,

“Take this dirty book with you,” she hissed, “You’ve touched it with your dirty hand. I don’t want it! I hate you! Don’t ever come near me again!”

And with that, she walked away and hugged Natasha goodbye, telling her loudly that she must come back to visit the next night. When she turned to watch Ashley walked out of the house, Allison felt a sense of victory when she saw tears glittering in her eyes.

After that night, both of them did not come back anymore. Allison was upset and began to really hate Ashley McAllister. She couldn’t help it, and she wish that Natasha would come soon. Her prayers were answered a few nights later when she spied Natasha walking up to her door one evening, and rushed down to meet her. But instead of greeting me, Natasha fixed an angry glare at Allison and said,

“I can’t believe that you said those hurtful things to Ash! She could understand that you are sick at the moment, but I couldn’t! I do not understand how you could have said such hateful things to her! Do you still consider her as your friend? Remember that she helped you a lot in the past Ally! How could you do that? She asked me not to come, but I had to! I must understand why you did that. It was so cruel!”

Allison remained silent. She knew that her mum was bounded to ask Natasha what was going on as Natasha had shouted at her in front of her mum. She was right and Natasha told her.

“Oh Ally, how could you do that? She’s your friend.” Allison’s mum fixed her a withering look and she felt an immediate sense of disgust.

“What do you all want me to do? Everything and everyone thinks that Ashley McAllister is the best! She is the angel and I am the devil! She snatched my friend, my grades and now, even my mother! What do you all want me to do? I wish I could kill her now! I want to kill, kill, and kill!” Allison screamed at them.

Natasha and Allison’s mother were stunned. Natasha backed away from Allison. She had never seen her behaving in such a manner before, and as Natasha later confessed to Ashley, she was scared. Natasha was seldom scared, but that night, Allison was pretty scary, screaming about killing Ashley. Although Allison said all that in one of her depressive mood, she had meant every word that night. Allison really did hated Ashley. However, nobody knew she was serious that night. Both Natasha and her mother thought that Allison was under the influence of her illness and did not know what she was saying. Allison let them believe that, for the alternative would have been unthinkable.

Allison went to apologize to Ashley sometimes after that confrontation with Natasha and told her that she was wrong. Allison claimed to be under the influence of her mental problems and tried to explain away her hostility. After that, Allison tried hard to win back the friendship she had lost and she succeeded quite easily after Ashley accepted the explanation and sort of forced Natasha to forgive Allison too. However, things were never the same again among the three of them, and slowly they continue to drift apart.

However, Allison thought wickedly as she glanced out of the plane at the pasting clouds, from that day onwards, she had began to plot her revenge on Ashley and her chance came when Ashley’s boyfriend, Ted, began to show interest in her. She seduced Ted and began to have an affair with him behind Ashley’s back. She constantly lured Ted into having sex with her so that Ted would not have any reasons to leave her. Allison recalled that things only began to fall apart when Natasha found out about them. Thus, Allison had begun to plan her ultimate revenge. She knew how much Ashley loved Ted, and also knew that Ashley would fall apart completely if Ted was to die. So, she plotted everything to perfection and carried out her plans on Ashley’s 21st birthday, just to make the incident more memorable to her.

“Excuse me madam, the plane’s approaching the airport now, could you please put on your seat belt?” An air stewardess woke Allison from her reflections.

After fastening her seat belt, she tried to refresh herself. She knew her husband would be waiting for her, and she couldn’t wait to fall into his arms and give him the sweetest hug she could ever give. True enough, Roy was waiting for her at the arrival gate. The moment Allison saw him; she just couldn’t help herself and ran up to hug him tight from the pure joy of her working plan and the pleasure of seeing him again. He was pleasantly surprised but he was concerned too.

“Did everything go well, my dear? Did they forgive you? Are you alright?” He frowned at his wife.

“Yes! Yes! Yes!” Allison said, jumping up and down, acting a bit out of her usual self as she secretly celebrated her pending victory. “Oh Roy! They were still as wonderful as before. They forgave me, Roy! And they told me that they were still my friends, and that they would come for a visit when the kids were let out for their holidays! Oh Roy! I just couldn’t believe it! After all these years, they never change. They were still the same old Ash and Nat! Oh Roy! I am so happy that I went back.” Allison babbled it all out in one breath.

“Oh Ally! I am glad that things worked out. I was so worried for you. I thought they might do something to hurt you back. But look at you! You are refreshed and well and happy! You are happy now right?” He quizzed.

“Yeah, I am, Roy. I am.” Allison beamed at him and then asked, “How’s Angus?”

“He is fine, my dear, he is waiting for his mummy to get home and give him a hug!” Roy grinned.

“Let’s go home Roy! I couldn’t wait to kiss my little boy!” Allison practically danced out of the airport as Roy grabbed her bags and followed her out of the airport, grinning like a happy little boy himself.