C H A I N E D. For life?

In torn denim jeans and a white crop top, Bella ran on the green bordered street maniacally with a werewolf-like dog chasing her. Her charcoal-textured hair whipped up and down like a famished dog wagging its tail.

She kept on slyly glancing at the dog to ‘check him out’.

Syrupy drool licked out of his huge mouth and fell like an opaque raindrop against the road. His black, velvety coat was lacquered with sparking droplets of sapphire paint that kept on triggering agitation on the dog’s skin. It’s sinewy build swapped forelegs and back legs painfully fast. The problem was, that he was coming too close.

Bella fumbled with breathing. She just couldn't remember how to breathe. She held her life up until the throat, trying to preserve it in the unluckiest situation.

With a bold spirit she sprung up and leaped into some fleshy bushes. She rolled and tumbled, zigzagging down a steep, smooth slope. After a horrible cramp lurked in her abdomen, she finally thumped to a halt against something sturdy.

“Ouch!” A masculine voice said.

“Yeah, ouch!”

She tried to get up. But she couldn’t.

For one, she realized that her back was partially clued to a guy’s back. And second she learnt that she was chained.

“Oh god, where am I?" She looked around. Sensing someone's presence she said, "Hey you vigilant killer, get me out of your unhygienic trap. Now.”

There was no reply.

“Killer. Aye you killer, answer me.”

“I am not a killer! And you put yourself into this!”

“How is that possible? I just toppled down the hill and landed here.”

“You, what?” He had smugness in his tone.

“Um, I mean when I seamlessly flowed down the hill like a cascading river.”

“Whatever you call it. So when you ‘cascaded’ down the hill, you accidentally got tucked into the chain which I was first comfortably and loosely belted with”

“Oh.” She day dreamed. Oh, no.”

“But why are you chained, in the first place?” He could feel her raising an eyebrow.

“Well-"

A young lady clad in a body fit black dress marched out of a tent, which Belle had barely taken into notice.

“I tied him.” The lady’s pupils dilated slightly when she saw Belle. 

Belle looked at her oddly familiar stare with invisible fear. 

“Oh I’m so glad someone is here! You see, I accidentally bumped into the chain. So, it would be really nice of you if you let me out, you know,” she faked her confidence, “pretty lady?” She added.

The woman looked at Belle and thought for a while.

“No I will not do that. Now, both of you will sit here quietly sometime more, till I unlock you’ll.” She advanced into the tent, whispering to herself, “Jesus send the right person, at the right time. Hopefully, things turn out to be well.”

The tent was not fantasytic but it was well-wooded, like the lady.

“Oh you duffer, what did you do ?”

“Calm it.”

“No tell me, why did she tie you in the first place. There has to be a valid reason.”

“Don’t go further into that. I’m not going to say a word about it.”

“Ok fine, but do anything to get me out of this chain.”

“Why me?”

“Cause it’s your mistake.”

“It’s not like I’m purposely stuck inside this okay, even I want to get out. But we can’t get out of this chain until somebody else unlocks us.”

“Oh gosh, why did this have to happen now!”

“Ah I see, someone’s becoming extremely impatient.”

“Yes, that’s cause I have to go for a date.”

“Ooh a date, really?”

“Yes a date, any problem?”

“None, but I was wondering who goes to a date by running on the street.”

“Um, running? Rubbish.” The guy was silent. “Shut up, just shut up."

The guy mentally giggled.

They both were silent for a while huddled in their own thoughts.

The lady in black dress came out of the tent, examined both of us correctly and then returned inside. 

“Ma’am please tell me go.”

“Some more time darling.”

“Why is your girlfriend so mean?”

He coughed. Then he laughed.

“No, no, no you got it wrong, she’s not my girlfriend.”

“Ok, a complicated relationship, I get.”

“No. She’s my cousin.”

“Well, that’s weird.” She said unbelievably.

“Everyone says that.”

“So how is your guy like?”

“So now you’re interested.”

“I’m an interactive man, and respect others.”

“Okay, so he is this shy person, who is really deep and smart. And otherwise, he looks like a model.”

“Better choice than what I expected.”

“Course.”

“What’s the time?”

“I don’t have a watch.”

“Wow, you are so darn useful. Let me use my phone.”

She tried to put her phone in the pocket, but then realized that her hand couldn’t reach it.

“What happened, hand's not reaching?”

“Oh no, very close. Just on the edge of my pocket.” She lied.

After putting some more efforts, she finally gave up.

“Haha, I told you. But there is one way to take out your phone.”

“What is it?”

“I put my hand in your pocket.”

“No, never.”

“Well, think about it.”

Suddenly, her phone started ringing.

“Oh, no.”

He smiled smugly.

“ It better be quick."

He slid his hand from the red, soft sand to her thigh and into the pocket to squeeze out her phone.

Her nerves jazzed up as she closed her eyes and could feel his touch. 

When his fingers wandered in the deep blankets of her pocket he could also feel a cold, thin metal.

“Here, I’ve kept the phone near your hand.”

“Yeah, thanks.” She said a bit more politely.

“And, I found a metal piece too inside your pocket.”

“Metal?”

“Yeah, thin and wiry.”

“Oh that’s a clip.” She said. “Oh the clip! Why didn’t I think of this before! This clip can unlock us. It’s a master key!”

“Oh dear, you are so quick witted.” He commented.

With coordination and noiselessness, they unlocked themselves from the chain’s slavery. 

“Yes, finally!” Belle said. “So are you gonna escape or stay here?”

He turned. First he took a look at her, down to up, taking her appearance in, and then answered.

 The moment he turned, Bella was transported to a completely different realm. He didn’t even hear him; just looked at every bit of him as if she as, as if-

“Tailor.” She said before she realized her words pelted out like lashing rainfall. Tailor was Bella’s ex-crush and the guy that she planned on asking out today.

They both were standing on the sloppy part of the hill.

Hearing that 'rare' word, the lady also peeped out from the tent. Tailor tried shushing Bella.

Hearing that word, the lady was sure that not only they wouldn't escape but 'something' would happen. She prepared herself for any emergencies.

“No, it’s Sam.”

“No you are Tailor.”

“I said it’s not. It’s simple Sam. Es- Ae-Em!”

“But how is that possible. You’re my ex-school mate, and and-” she swallowed. “You were suppose to meet me at Pizza Plaza. Today. Remember?”

“I’m sure it’s someone else.”

“But what about Tailor?”

“Tailor is dead.”

“What-t?”

Bella was sure that Tailor didn’t have a twin brother. This guy he just looked like Tailor. 

She looked around. The fancy tent. A fake sister. Chaining Tailor.

And fixated on a bark, she saw a camera.

‘Oh, now it makes sense. It’s a candid film. And he is not lying, just playing his character! Wow, thats impressive!’

“Uh, Sam?”

“Yes? He looked blankly.

“I’m Bella by the way.” 

“Tell me Bella.”

“I was wondering, if you know, you’d go on a date with me?”

The lady was downright surprised. She made emergency equipment handy if Incase she would require to hop in.

“A date?”

“Yes.”

“Do I even know you, we literally just met today. And, and what happened to your shy, deep, smart cum model guy?”

“Oh my god, I have to say. You are playing your character really well. But please, answer my question. I really need to know.”

“I don’t even know what you are talking about.”

“Please don't do this to me Tailor.” She said in an aggressively sad tone.

His chest was heaving heavily.

The lady galloped towards them.

“Do you have idea how much I love you.”

And there, he fainted.

“Ahh!” The lady said and held Tailor, or rather Sam, from falling.

She splashed rose water on him and made him wear an oxygen mask.

Belle had no idea what was going on. 

“Come on in with me Bella.”

Bella was surprised that the lady knew her name, but didn’t speak anything. She just did as she was told to.

The lady held his ‘brother’ and dragged him into the tent. When looked from the ‘slavery location', Bella thought that the dome shaped door was bordered with blue paint. Like the one she spilled on the dog not unintentionally. But now she saw the illusion from a closer aqauintence. It was tanglings of sea blue vines with undertones of woody ash.

The view inside was nothing like she’d expected.

There was a hole at the very top, sealed with a glitter-netted filter through which silvery sunlight drifted in. Arranged on shelves outcropped from long, scraggy stones were tiny wooden jars. They had sprinkles of herbs in them. Blue, choppy thorns, grey flowers, coriander spaghetti, murky honey, copious of different leaves and oddly satisfying accessorized veggies, all mesmerized her. To Belle, the tent smelled like a perfume shop with the air of forest charm.

There was a bed in the center, built from wooden but polished utensils. The lady meticulously made Sam lay on the supple-skinned bed.

“Ma’am, can you tell me what’s happening?”

“Yes sweetheart I will.”

The both sat on a cylindric bark knitted with delicate branches.

“He has a spilt personality disorder.” Bella felt awful. “The one that you talked to was not original Tailor, it was Sam.”

“Then when will Tailor come back?”

“Darling I don’t want to break your heart, but here’s the thing. Due to persistent effects of a traumatizing experience in high school, Tailor becomes Sam when he’s near a female.”

“Holy Jesus!” She said, “ Then is he Tailor with you?”she asked cautiously. 

“Yes. He needs to have a particular level of familiarity with that female in order to remain Tailor.”

“So, is all this herbal treatment for him? And what about circling him and me with a chain?"

“Yes, for herbal medicine. He was tied to a chain cause he couldn’t stand on one place. When you came, I got a feeling from you that you would spark up this situation with some glitter and ameliorate it. Which you did.”

“Really?” she looked confusingly happy.

“You increased Sam’s conversation length and intensity with a girl. You made him faint, which means, if worked on, his situation can be healed."

Bella heard quietly, dwelled in deep thoughts.

“But then what happened at the hill, why did he faint?”

“Well that was because ever since that experience, Sam has never dealt such kind of an intense situation with a girl.”

“Oh dear. I’m so sorry. Will he be okay?”

“He will, definitely. Though, I don’t know how much time will his emotional state take to cope up.”

“Does that mean I’ll have to be away from him?”

“You might have to, I’m afraid, if you are Bella.” Bella looked even more depressed. “But, you do not have to if you change temporarily from Bella to Belsen.”

“You mean, I’ll have to ‘She’s the Man’ the situation?”

“Yes, exactly, you'll have to 'man it up'”

“That’s going to be tough, but it’s a fabulous idea. I’ll do it. I’ll do it for Tailor.”

“That’s the spirit!”

“Also,I must say you’re such a great sister, who has practically devoted her entire life to her brother.”

“Oh no Belle dear, you got confused over there. I’m only Sam’s sister. But for Tailor, I’m his Mother. Maria.”

Bella’s jaw dropped.

Maria winked.