October 1, 2018
New York City,New York
"Happy October first, Olivia!" I shout to wake her up.
"Shhh, I'm hibernating," she rolls over in her bed.
"Good luck trying to explain that to the school, now wake up," I pull her from the bed as she groans.
"I already made waffles for breakfast," I tell her while carrying her down the stairs.
"Waffles are just pancakes with abs," she says.
"Strange theory, but I like it," I laugh.
I put a plate with a waffle on it in front of her.
"What's this?" I ask Olivia while looking at a piece of plain white paper with only one word typed on it.
The word is Thantophobia. Thantophobia is the fear of losing someone you love, but why is it typed on this piece of paper?
"How can you expect me to know what it is if you don't even know what it is?" She gives me a funny look.
"I don't know, I just figured maybe you and Connor have a special bond where you discuss strange phobias you share," I try to explain.
"Well, we don't," Olivia shoves a big bite of her waffle in to her mouth.
"Olivia you just put a fourth of that huge waffle in your mouth at one time. You're not human," I burst into laughter.
A knock on the door disturbs us from our fun.
I quickly open the front door to see that it is William Addington, the owner of Bonjour Amour who I interviewed for a college assignment. As soon as I open the door, a strong smell of gasoline overwhelms me. Where is it coming from? I quickly try to pull myself together to talk to William.
"Miss Aspen," is all he says.
"Mr. Addington," I respond.
"I think you know why I'm here," he folds his arms.
"I don't," I admit.
He pulls a magazine out of his business suit and holds it in front of my face. It's an article over Bonjour Amour, published into a very important magazine.
But the article isn't one I wrote. Everything is strictly negative, trashing the whole company and exposing it.
"Mr. Addington, why are you showing this to me? I did not write that," I truthfully admit.
"The whole country read this article! You know how much business this article cost me and it's only been published for one day!" He shouts.
"Mr. Addington, I did not write that!" I shout back.
"It's your God damn name, right here," he growls while pointing to the corner.
Sure enough it's my name, Harper Aspen.
I didn't look over my essay the day before I turned it in, I only handed in the printed paper I had Connor print off for me.
Connor!
He must have gone in and changed everything in my article to make it seem like I hated the company!
"I think there's a misunderstanding," I shake my head.
"No, Miss Aspen. This is all your fault and you're going to pay for it," he sticks his finger in my face before walking off.
I shut the door and lock it before calling Connor, in tears.
"Connor!" I shout into the phone once he picks up.
"What?" He confusedly asks.
"You changed my entire essay!" I continue to shout.
"Harper, it was for the best," he says innocently.
"How was it even published?" I try to control my anger.
"Your teacher emailed you saying the article was incredible and asking if it was okay if he published it. I emailed him back, agreeing," he explains.
"Connor how could you do this!?" I yell, but before I can say anything else, I see smoke everywhere outside.
"Olivia, Olivia where are you?!" I drop the phone on the ground to look for her.
"I'm in here!" She shouts from the living room.
The house is on fire. The beautiful house that Connor worked so hard for is going up in flames.
I pick the phone up off the ground.
"Connor call 911!" I say into the phone before sprinting to the front door with Olivia.
I open the front door but everything outside is already on fire.
"We have to find a different way out, it's okay baby," I try to keep her calm while moving to a different door.
But everywhere is on fire, how could this have happened? The gasoline. William Addington drenched the house in gasoline before lighting it on fire.
I run upstairs with Olivia. I grab a wet towel for her to cover face with so she doesn't inhale the smoke before running to the deck outside of our bedroom.
I look through the smoke and flames, only to see Courtney standing outside the burning house.
"Harper, I know Connor hates me and I've done so many horrible things. But please trust me, drop Olivia, I'll catch her!" She shouts to us.
"How can I trust you?" I tightly hold onto Olivia who is in tears.
"The flames are coming closer to you guys, I promise I'll catch her," her face looks honest.
"Harper please," Olivia begs me.
Thantophobia, thantophobia.
"Okay, on three. One, two," I begin.
"Three!" I shout while dropping Olivia down to the ground where Courtney catches her. I let out a sigh of relief, but now I have myself to worry about.
"Harper, you have to jump!" Courtney shouts.
I stand on the railing, the flames are now inches from me. The smoke is filling my lungs. Pieces falling off of the house keep hitting me, causing blood to pour down my skin.
I jump off the deck onto hard ground. The last thing I remember before everything went black is Courtney pulling my body away from the burning house.
YOU ARE READING
When Rich Meets Poor
Romance"Or you can pay me $15,000," he gives me a second option. "Hi, my names Harper and I'm your new nanny," I extend my hand for him to shake, which he doesn't. I quickly pull my hand away. Harper Aspen was majoring in journalism/creative writing...
