Realizing that I wasn’t going to let it go, he opted for a compromise. “Okay, if someone had been following us they obviously aren’t now, but if they still are, I hope whoever it is enjoys the show.” Scooping me up into his arms, he pressed his lips to mine in a passionate embrace; one that I wished would last for an eternity, but instead ended entirely too soon. “Well, we had to make it worth their while, right?” he smirked, still holding me close to him.
“Uh-huh,” was all I could reply. Great, not only was I paranoid, now I could hardly walk.
****
In the shadows, at the exact location—down to the coordinate—where they told him she would be found, he waited for her. Lighting a cigarette, he checked his watch impatiently. It was nearly curfew, which meant that she should soon be within his sight. The hunter would have his prey. This amused him. It’d been just about the only amusement he’d experienced in the last several months. Slumping further down the wall, he wondered if she would come with him willingly or if she would need to be dealt with. He hated dealing with people; it left such a mess.
Finally, she emerged from the pub. Doing as he’d been instructed, he cautiously took a step out from his place of hiding within the shadows to engage her, quickly backtracking at the sight of someone else with her. Oh, great, a boyfriend, he thought. They didn’t say anything about there being a boyfriend.
With no other option but to remain hidden, he watched his new target. She was beautiful, he observed. Tall, dark-haired, with a nice figure—from what he could see of it. There wasn’t a single thing about her that screamed “killer”, making him wonder whether they’d completely lost their minds in their selection of her. When they had first informed him that she would be a “she”, he envisioned a woman with more girth and slightly more muscle. After all, she was the first woman they’d ever chosen.
His target turned down an alleyway with her boyfriend in tow. He couldn’t allow himself to lose sight of her. At all costs, he had to stick with her until his job was done; no matter what the outcome may be. With the cigarette still aflame between his lips, he leapt onto a fire escape, scaling the side of the building lining the alleyway. Along the edge of the roof he walked until he saw her further down the darkened street. Her boyfriend was clutching onto her in a passionate embrace almost as if it were the last time they would see each other. Who knows, depending on how his mission turned out, perhaps it would be.
Love. It was the dirtiest four letter word of them all. The dreadful emotion rendered a person weak and vulnerable, which was unacceptable to him. It was a hypocritical state of being. Not only did it instill immense pleasure, but it also served as a catalyst for excruciating pain and suffering. It was unexplainable, and he didn’t like the unexplained. Besides, nothing lasts forever, so why pursue an impossibility?
Quietly, from his vantage point, he observed the couple entering her apartment complex. Removing his cell phone from his pocket, he decided that he would approach her tomorrow. The boyfriend was too big a risk for him to take.
“Blake,” the response to his call rang into his ear.
“I’ve located Stevens and will make contact tomorrow,” he reported. Without waiting for a response, he shoved the cell phone back into the depths of his pocket, stomping the cigarette out on the roof. He wondered how long she would last.
****
The stars glittered above us from our haven on the rooftop of my apartment building. We weren’t supposed to be there, but we didn’t care. With the expert lock-picking skills I’d acquired during my teenage years of forgetting my house key paired with a bookend from my apartment, we were able to both prop and open the fire escape door nicely. It was our spot. A regular retreat used by us as a means of escape from the monotony of daily life.
The one positive aspect arising out of the mass exodus of the city had been revealed to us during the first clear night we visited our rooftop sanctuary. The barren city allotted for an uncompromised view of the night sky. There were no city lights remaining to compete with the natural luminescence of nature. It was in its uninhibited, natural state.
I held Chase tightly with my head on his chest just over his heart, running my hands through his hair. Most couples had a song to define their relationship, we had a star. And it was shining proudly over us as if realizing its significance. Our star was the last star comprising the handle of the Big Dipper and was chosen primarily because it was one of the few stars I knew I’d always be able to find. Chase tried explaining the constellations to me once but his lecture had been drowned out by my snoring.
“So, do you still feel like someone is watching you?” he asked.
I sat up to meet his eyes. “Yeah, but somehow it doesn’t seem as foreboding now.”
“I guess I need to try a little harder then,” he chuckled. “It’s getting late, we should probably go inside.”
“Party pooper.”
“Don’t blame me; blame our employers.”
“What? Are you telling me you can’t do your job on only a couple of hours of sleep?”
“It’s not me I’m worried about, it’s my patients. Would you want to see your surgeon yawning only a couple of minutes before he was scheduled to cut into your body?”
“Point noted.”
The flame from the candles bounced around my bedroom walls, creating a ballet of light that illuminated Chase’s bare torso. As we lay in my bed, I ran my fingers along the lines on his abdomen. He worked out obsessively when he wasn’t at the hospital, and it really paid off for him. My head rested on his broad shoulders while his hands caressed my back. It was a moment bathed in perfection. It was a moment I wished could last forever.
“Have I told you lately that I love you,” my futile attempt at singing brought a smile to his face.
“Ripping off Rod Stewart, are we now? Bravo.”
“Rod who? I thought it was an original.”
He laughed, moving his fingers up my back, tracing my spine until he reached my head, where he proceeded to stroke my hair.
“When are we going to move in together?” he asked curiously.
“My guess is that you’re enjoying this just as much as I am.”
“Immensely.”
Even though we’d been together for two years, the whole idea of the big “C”—
commitment for those brave enough to use the word—scared the hell out me. It wasn’t as if I imagined my life without Chase, because I didn’t. I was just afraid of the unknown. I’d never been married, nor had I ever lived with anyone I’d been in a relationship with, so the whole prospect was rather frightening.
“I don’t know. I was always taught that people should be married before they live together,” I asserted in an attempt to grab hold of the topic and steer it over a cliff.
“So… you want to get married?”
“No… no… oh, my God, no …. I mean… you mean... right now?”
He laughed. “Not this very second, but thanks for the confidence booster.”
“Chase, you know how I feel.”
“I know. You’re afraid of commitment, and I think that’s the most intriguing thing in the world because I’ve never met another woman who seemed to have that problem.” He rolled over to face me, cupping my cheek with his hand. “I also know that the majority of that issue stems from the loss of your family. Trust me Celaine, come hell or high water, I’m not going anywhere. I’m afraid you’re stuck with me.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
I leaned in to kiss him as he ran his finger tips from my neck down to my back, creating an electric tingling sensation through my body as he pulled me closer.
“Do you want me to stop?” he asked.
“Never.”
“Promise?”
“I promise.”
****
I opened my eyes. It was morning, and it was raining. Terrific.
“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll
never know, dear, how much I love you, please don’t take my sunshine away.” Chase kissed my cheek. “Good morning, beautiful,” he cheerfully greeted me.
“So, it’s all right for you to rip off songs but not me? That’s really unfair.”
“Hey, when you’re as suave as I am, you can make anything sound good.”
“What time is it?”
“It’s about time for the both of us to get up and get ready for work.” I groaned. “My sentiment exactly.”
“Well, it was good while it lasted,” I mused.
“Yes. Yes, it was.” At that moment, the alarm on my nightstand went off. Chase leaned over me to turn it off.
“What? No snooze button?” I teased.
“I have to pull a double shift and will be on-call after my shift for the rest of the week, so I’ll pretty much be M.I.A. for the next few days.”I gave him the best pathetic looking face I could. “Don’t look at me like that,” he smiled, turning his gaze to the ceiling, staring seemingly off into space.
“What is it?”
His gaze remained fixated on the ceiling as though he were in some sort of intense concentration. After a moment, he spoke. “How about you and I have dinner at Angelo’s on Saturday?”
“Angelo’s? What’s the occasion?”
“No occasion. I just figured we could use a change of pace from our normal routine.”
“It’s a nice thought, Chase. It really is. Isn’t it pretty expensive there? After two years, I think we’re well beyond having to impress each other. I don’t want you to spend that kind of money on…”
He put his index finger to my lips. “Don’t worry about the money. I have some extra funds lying around just itching to take my beautiful girlfriend out.”
“Well, when you put it that way.”
“Angelo’s on Saturday, then?”
“Consider my arm thoroughly twisted.”
Chapter Eight
The Proposition
It was pouring outside as I unfolded my umbrella, venturing out from the sanctity of the awning in front of my apartment building. Rain ranked right up there next to Christmas in my book of dislikes. Water splashed up from the sidewalk, saturating the inside of my heels while I trudged down the street, cursing myself for not having invested in a pair of galoshes. There was nothing like having cold, wet feet to start your day out right.
Shortly into my walk, I began experiencing the same sensation I felt the night before. There were eyes on me. I knew it. Although it seemed like a weird thing to think as there were several other people walking along the same drenched pavement. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling. It was more overpowering than it had been the night before. Unable to take the persistent paranoia, I spun around in an attempt to catch the culprit, nearly knocking over a clearly annoyed brunette in the process. She flashed me a dirty look and only scowled at my feeble apology.
Show yourself, you bastard, I thought to myself. Of course, there was no one there to reveal themselves. Everyone on the street seemed focused on reaching his or her own destination; they were concerned with their own lives, not mine. There was no one who seemed suspicious; no one who stood out. Beginning to feel as though I was becoming certifiable, I turned back around and walked down the sidewalk a little faster. The foreboding feeling continued to surround me.
As soon as I was safe inside my office, I unfolded my sopping wet umbrella hanging it on the hook behind my door. Either I was partially wet or the air was cranked unusually high today as my body shivered from the cold. No, I thought, it’s not the temperature, it’s that icy stare you felt following you in here. I shuddered at the thought.
I took out the black cardigan I kept in my desk drawer, slipping it on to warm up. Chase loved the fact that I chilled so easily as it made me cling to him like a human heating pad. He always got this cheesy grin on his face whenever I would wrap my arms around him trembling because the temperature had dropped a degree or two. Thinking of Chase and the night we’d spent together just a few short hours ago managed to pacify my uneasiness, making me feel slightly flushed in the process.
“Someone had a good night last night,” Veronica stood in my doorway, looking every bit the supermodel she always did, impeccably dressed with her dark hair framing her porcelain face. If it wasn’t for the fact that she swore like a sailor a person may actually believe that they were in the presence of an angel. “So, tell me about it. I want all the dirty details.”
“There’s not much to tell,” I said. “We went to the pub, then back to my apartment, and… we had a great night.”
“Wow. That’s…boring,” she said, arching her eyebrow. “I’m astoundingly disappointed in you, Celaine. The look you had pasted on your face when I walked through the door screamed pure, blissful ecstasy. I could have sworn you’d just gotten in after a passionate night of hot, steamy….” An elderly man walked into the bank, instantly whirling around to face us upon overhearing Veronica’s candor. He stared at her in disbelief, his jaw hanging slightly ajar. “Welcome, Sir.” Veronica didn’t miss a beat. “Is there anything I can do to assist you with your banking needs today?”
“No, Ma’am. Just going up there to the tellers.” The elderly gentlemen gestured to the teller booths at the far end of the bank. A red tint spread quickly across his face as he hurried toward the back of the building. Vulgar or not, she drove men of all ages absolutely insane.
“Veronica, you do realize that you’re a teller, right?” I asked.
“Details, details. Anyway, you’re banned from speaking to me until you come up with something good,” she said as she turned to leave my office.
“Wait, Veronica,” I called.
“Banned, I say.”
“No. Seriously.”
Feigning frustration at my request, she turned back around. “You do realize that I’m a teller, right?” she stated, pointing to herself.
“No fair using my lines against me. Seriously, have you ever felt like someone was watching you?” I was desperate to extinguish my paranoia.
“All the time. I just wheel around and kick them where the sun doesn’t shine. That usually solves the problem.”
“What if you wheeled around and no one was there?”
“You mean, like a ghost or something? Celaine, didn’t I tell you not to take those pills with alcohol… geez… kids these days.”
“Damn… that would explain the slurred speech and the soiling of myself. Really… Veronica.”
“Seriously? Well, if you want my opinion, I would say you’re probably being a little over imaginative as logic should tell you that, if there is no one there, there can’t possibly be anyone watching you.”
“That’s kind of what I thought.”
“Quit sweating it. If it happens again, call me up and I’ll take you to the place with the lovely padded rooms and the stylish white jackets.” She winked at me.
“Thanks, Veronica… I think.”
“Anytime.” Veronica walked back to the front of the bank, launching her daily assault at Travis on her way.
Ding. Ding. Ding. The tone sounded, startling me, causing the file I’d picked up from the corner of my desk to fall out my hands. In the middle of the lobby, a monitor methodically lowered down from the ceiling, turning on in its descent. Around the same time as the institution of the curfew it’d become mandatory for all public facilities to install these monitors. They were to be used, presumably, in the event of an attack or for evacuation notifications. In my opinion, President Brooks just wanted to have the undivided attention of his flock hanging on his every word. Simultaneously, everyone stood up to leave their respected posts in order to gather around the monitor. Seconds later, President Brooks came into view.
“My fellow Americans,” he began.
“How original,” I muttered. Veronica shot me an amused look.
“A horrible tragedy has befallen our country with the sudden death of one member of a rogue vigilante duo. For the past few years, this duo has heroical
ly charged themselves with the task of seeking and destroying what has become a very real threat to our country: The Man in Black. Unfortunately, it was during one such encounter recently that one of our country’s own superheroes met their fate…”
I rolled my eyes and headed back to my office.
“Celaine, aren’t you going to watch this?” Travis asked, shocked with my insubordination.
“Nope, I’ve had enough hot air for one day. I‘m beginning to break a sweat.”
Veronica giggled. President Brooks continued, “Our resolve remains strong, and our fight to make our country safe again will continue. We as The People will take down The Man in Black and right the injustice that has been brought upon us…”
I closed my office door.
The rain let up during the lunch hour, allowing the sun to peek out from behind the clouds. I decided to go out for lunch to take in the fresh, moist air—the one good thing about the rain. Taking my cardigan off, I headed out the door and walked down the street. My morning talk with Veronica had helped to set my mind at ease, for now. Everything she’d said made perfect sense. It’s funny how logic could bring you down to earth when your head was in the clouds.
There was a small diner adjacent to the bank. The atmosphere wasn’t great, but the food more than made up for that. It was a grease lover’s haven of saturated fat, and I both loved and loathed its proximity to me. Thankfully, the line wasn’t very long today, allowing me to walk directly up to the counter to order my usual turkey sandwich with soggy french fries. Taking my tray, I sat down in a booth in one corner of the diner.
As I sat down to eat, I took my phone out of my purse, revealing a missed call from Carrie, Chase’s mother. Shortly after we’d begun dating, I adopted Chase’s family as my own. They’d reminded me so much of what I‘d lost. Through them, I almost felt as though I’d reclaimed a part of what I’d lost at The Lakes. Chase’s sister, MaKayla, had the same mischievous nature about her as I remembered Jake having. She and I had hit it off right away. Like Chase, I couldn’t picture my life without any of them.
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