by Maya Moss
“Where are you, Monica?” he asked her coldly.
“I know you are mad, but I really need to explain my actions to you. I promise after that I would leave you alone,” she pleaded with him.
“I am away from home,” Rick said as an excuse for not seeing her.
“I know, I am in the hotel’s bar. Please come for few moments.”
“Okay, wait for me.”
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Chapter 17
“Can’t you see how much I love you...” Monica’s Diary.
Rick walked into the resort’s night bar, and looked around for Monica. He had already called the police, and the detective had warned him to stay away from her until they arrived. Rick, however, felt sorry for her, especially after reading her diary, and wanted to have a final talk with the woman that he once liked.
He saw her sitting at a small table near the window, and approached her carefully. Rick could tell that she was watching him, although her face was well hidden in the shadows. Monica was dressed in a stylish black dress, which looked very out of place at this hour and at this bar. The rest of the clients were all middle age men, who were drowning their sorrows at the bottom of a glass of whisky.
“Hi, Rick,” she greeted him with a pretty and sweet smile. “I am so happy that you came to see me.”
“Monica,” Rick said seriously. “I came here only for one reason. I came to tell you that you have to stop what you are doing, and turn yourself in to the police.”
“Why?” she asked him, surprised. “I came here to be with you. Why are you sending me away?”
“Look, there is no us, and now that I think about it, there never was,” Rick said firmly, looking her directly in the eye. “You killed a man, Monica, and there is no going back for you now. You also attempted to kill Allison twice and escaped the police...”
“I did all that because I love you,” she cried out, moving forward and trying to take his hand. “I did it all for love, Rick. Why is it so hard to understand that?”
“You need help, Monica. What you are doing is not right, and you need to realize that. I think that you are delusional and unable to accept the reality. I am sorry, if I was the reason for you to lose it, but that is not an excuse for you to act like this.”
“What did I do to make you so disappointed in me?” she asked, as if being responsible for a murder was nothing to her.
“You killed a man!” Rick responded seriously. “You stalked me and my girlfriend, you tried to kill her too, and now you are running from the police. What is there to like here?”
“But, it was all for you!”
“I never asked you to do this, and would never accept it from you or from anyone else,” he replied. “Monica, I have called the police, and they are coming to take you. Please, do the right thing and go quietly.”
“You want to give me into the hands of the police? Why? So that you can be with that bitch who you brought here? I would never allow that.” She stood up, and walked closer to the glass doors that let into the garden. “I would never let her have you and be happy with you. If you are not going to be mine, you will not be anyone else’s.”
With those last words, Monica opened the door and ran into the white night. The police came through the other door seconds after, but they were unable to find her. She had once again disappeared.
“I told you to stay away from her,” Detective Martinez told Rick, once it became obvious that Monica would not be found tonight.
“I wanted to make her realize that what she did was wrong, and that the only way out was for her to let the police arrest her.” Rick singed sadly. “It did not work out as I intended. The moment she started realizing that I came down here only to bring her to the police, she was running away.”
“I understand your intentions, but the woman is unstable, and now is not the right time to try and reason with her,” the officer said. “Did she tell you something about her intentions?”
“No, all she talked about was that she loved me, and that she did it all for me,” Rick explained.
“That must be very hard for you to hear, but I do not think she meant it that way. The department’s shrink says that she is suffering from a nervous breakdown, caused by too many suppressed emotions. Her life had not been an easy one, and all that happened between you two made her lose it completely. According to the doctor, Monica is not completely responsible for her actions, although there is a fair chance that she is faking it all.”
“God,” Rick exclaimed. “Is that even possible?”
“Yes,” the detective confirmed. “There are multiple cases similar to this one. The criminal, for example, would choose to behave like a mad man or woman, so that he or she could do whatever they wanted, and then escape persecution.”
“I do not believe this to be Monica’s case,” Rick said sadly.
“I concur with you, but we should leave the professionals to decide,” Detective Martinez answered him. “Now, about you and your girlfriend. Are you staying here?”
“Yes, we booked the room for the weekend.”
“Okay, then I will leave two officers at the resort to watch out for Monica, and you be sure to call them as soon as you see her.”
“Thank you very much,” Rick said, and after exchanging phone numbers with the two officers, Rick returned to his room.
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Chapter 18
“It is always hard to forgive the person you love the most...” Monica’s Diary.
Allison was waiting for him in their room, uneasy and afraid of what Monica could do to him.
He told her everything that ever happened between him and Monica, underlining especially her unexpected reaction to the news. Rick told her then about the strange meeting he had had with Monica, and they laughed at how easily things could have turned a different way.
“She wanted to convince me that she is the only one for me. Monica insisted that I should leave you and go away with her. In her twisted mind, everything would be back to normal, if only I would accept the truth and admit that I love her,” Rick explained, still unable to conceive how an educated woman like Monica could believe in such delusions.
“I told her once again that between me and her there never would be anything else, but she seemed completely out of it. It was as if she did not hear what I was saying. Monica continued with her own agenda, describing all the things that we would do together, and all the success we would have.” Rick continued.
“After almost an hour of talking, she asked me to go with her right then, and I refused. I told her that I had called the police and that they were coming, and that she should turn herself in. But, it was like talking to a wall. All she heard was that I was not going with her, and that I had betrayed her.” Rick shook his head, reliving the events of the last hour.
“She started shouting and trashing everything around her, calling you names, and saying that she would get rid of you. Unfortunately, before the police arrived, she managed to escape through the veranda door. The resort’s security was supposed to keep her in until the police arrived, but the anger was giving her inhuman strength.”
“I am sorry, Rick...,” was all Allison could say.
Then Rick kissed her, slowly and deliberately, reminding Allison of all their previous kisses and giving her something more to hope for.
His eyes never closed, and Allison’s remained fixed on his long after the kiss was over. Rick gently swiped his hand through her hair, and tried to tug her up, closer to him. The shake of her head left him confused, but she already knew that what happened was not about her.
“It’s okay, I’m okay, and actually, we’re okay.” Walking away to remove his jacket.
Rick came close to her, glad that Allison managed to get herself under control. She was settled on the bed, watching some local news program with the sound down low. Rick came over and sat next to her, easily letting their thighs brush, their feet knock together. Rick h
ad gotten gradually more physical every morning they woke up in the same bed. Every time she rolled over and found Rick there, blocking her way; every time she woke up and he was already awake, watching her, the whites of his eyes picked out by the morning haze; every time she slid under the covers at night and Rick got in on the other side like it was expected, like it was something they've always done, Allison was a little more in love with him.
She tried not to show that she noticed when Rick turned to look at her, breath ghosting across her face. She really tried. The last few weeks she had been fighting for Rick, the way she had never fought for anything else in her life. But, no matter how much she liked him, Allison still felt unsure in her feelings towards the man. There was something scary in the way she felt about him. Rick was becoming an important part of her life, and Allison was scared that she might lose herself.
Monica and what she was doing had damaged Allison in a way she never imagined possible. Her behavior and sick reasons were making her uneasy and afraid to let her heart feel something. Allison knew that her connection to Rick was real and unique, but nevertheless, she doubted their future together.
Allison laid a hand against Rick’s cheek, thumb rubbing contemplatively across the mole next to his nose. Rick’s eyes slid closed involuntarily. He had not realized how worried he had been that Allison wouldn’t be able to sleep after all that happened.
Allison’s lips against his were a complete surprise. Rick jerked back, his eyes flying open.
“Allison...?”
She did not answer and chased him, pushed him down into the blankets, and followed quickly after, layering herself on top of him, a leg between his thighs, and hands wrapped around his biceps. She kissed Rick again, pressed at his lips with her tongue, and he almost gave in. Almost. He twisted his head to the side, and pulled free.
“We have a lot to talk about...” Rick said, panting loudly in the silent room.
Rick intended to tell Allison how he felt about her, and ask her to live with him. He knew that there were too many things to sort out, but now that Monica seemed to be almost in the hands of the police, he needed to think about the future.
Rick still did not know when for him future started to mean Allison. During the last few weeks, she had become for him an indispensable part of himself, someone he wanted close forever. He never talked about it, however, because Rick was still a little afraid of how Allison would react. He could see that she had feelings for him, but Rick was not sure if those feelings were strong enough to overcome everything.
He was also a little afraid. Monica and what she put him through would always remind him of the danger of coming too close to someone, to let her see your soul. Deep inside, Rick knew that Allison was different, and that there was no danger of her every behaving like Monica, but some primal part of him was still cautious and afraid to give her everything.
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Chapter 19
“Love is like war, you either win or lose everything...” Monica’s Diary.
The morning had another surprise for them, it had snowed overnight, and the hills were covered in thick powdery snow. Rick wanted them to continue their vacation as if nothing had happened, and Allison thought that it would be hard to pretend for too long.
After a few ski runs, they approached for the third time the chairlift, talking animatedly about the beauty of the day, and their plans for tomorrow. Neither of them saw Monica approaching from behind, and getting on the chairlift just behind them. They were up in the air when she spoke, pointing a gun at them.
“Rick, this is your last chance to choose me over her.”
Rick and Allison turned around, and stared right into the gun. Monica looked completely out of it. She was trembling and all flushed up, holding the gun with her right hand and supporting herself with the left one. Now Rick could see what the detective meant last night – Monica was not all there.
“I would do everything for you. I love you like no one else would ever love you...” she continued rambling.
“Monica,” Rick interrupted her. “Listen to me. What you are doing is not right. Please, let go of the gun and let us help you.”
“If you do not leave her, I will kill her. If I am not going to have you, no one is going to.” The woman spat the words as if they were venom in her mouth.
They were at the top of the hill now, and Rick tugged Allison down from the chairlift. Monica followed them, uncaring for all the people around them who were witnessing what was happening.
Rick did not do anything for a full thirty seconds. The three of them stood there, a frozen tableau in the evening shadows. Then Monica moved, a hand came up, the gun pointing at Allison...
Too late. Rick took a step towards her, but slipped on the snow and fell down.
“Monica, I – I need you to go. This is important,” he pleaded with her.
Monica’s face, there was no other way to describe it, collapsed, caved in on itself under the weight of her sorrow. She looked old, decrepit, her beauty unnaturally against the white of the snow.
“Stop,” Rick said calmly, his voice clogged with sadness. He did not know how he managed to keep himself steady as he pushed himself away from the ground, and reached towards Monica. She immediately drew her hand back once more, threatening.
“Monica, stop,” Rick said again. “I know you don’t want to do this – this isn’t the answer.”
Monica threw her arms out wide, demanding, “Why are you doing this then?” She looked broken open.
“Because I love Allison,” he said out loud, for everyone to hear. “But I would leave her for you, if you let her go.”
Rick wanted to calm her down long enough for the help to come. He knew that someone must have called the police, and it was only a matter of time for them to get there.
“You are lying,” Monica yelled at him, and shot at Allison. The bullet hit her in the arm, and small drops of bright red blood started falling on the white snow. Women started screaming, and Rick could see men approaching towards them, but all he could think of was Allison, and that she was hurt.
Rick stood between the two women, protecting Allison with his own body, and started walking towards Monica.
“Go on, then. Kill me too...” he said to the horrible woman who was slowly destroying his life.
Monica was surprised by his reaction, and was watching with sick fascination the blood painting the snow in red. Rick took advantage of her distracted state, and managed to wrestle the gun from her. Two men ran to help him and together they managed to restrain Monica.
“The police are coming,” one of them told Rick, and he thanked him for the help.
Once he was sure that Monica would not get away, Rick ran to Allison, who was sitting down and supported by two young women.
“Are you okay?” he asked her, desperation tangible in his voice.
“Yes, it’s nothing, just a scratch. Do not worry,” Allison smiled up at him.
*********************************
Allison was in the hospital, because even if she was deemed safe enough to travel, she still needed medical attention. The wound on her arm was already healing, but the local doctor was worried about her mental state, and was keeping her under 24 hour surveillance.
She was expecting Rick, and his knock on the door was immediately answered. Allison looked so fragile in the white sterile bed and unadorned room, her eyes were still red from the blow, and the look in them was a little bleary from the pain medicine.
“Hi, how are you tonight?” Rick asked, while sitting on her bed and taking her hand in his. “The nurse tells me you are a very good patient,” he tried for a joke.
“Everyone is great in here, and I already feel much better, but the doctor says it is for the best to stay here.” Allison tugged Rick towards her, and gently touched his lips with hers. “Now, I feel even better.”
“Tonight, everything is reminding me of you…”
“Don’t tell me
that you are turning into a sap?” They both laughed at that, and the awkward moment from before was quickly forgotten. “When I get out of here, I would make sure to stay always close, so that you would not need any reminder.”
“Close, Allison?! We do not live together… how is it going to work?” Rick expressed his own fears and doubts about their future together and waited, hoping against all hope, God to make it possible.
“As I told you before, Rick, nothing in the world would be able to stop me from being close to you.” Allison sat more comfortably in the bed, moving to the side, to allow enough free space for him to join her on the bed. “But, however, if you don’t…”
“No, it is not that. I simply cannot imagine how we will manage to make it work, that is all. Do you have something in mind?” He snuggled closer to her, and rested his head on her shoulder, inhaling her scent and closing his eyes.
He sighed contently, and embraced her shoulders with his hand, kissing the top of her head and keeping his lips there for few moments. “You can always move to my house, or I can move to yours. All I want is to be close to you.”
Allison’s dream was slowly becoming a reality, and all she had to do for it to happen be to pray to God and trust Rick. How differently things were working now… with Rick, she could have a family and a home, together with the man she was going to spend her life with.
Monica, on the other hand, wanted to change everything they were, and was running after a dream that would never become a reality. The realization took her back to Rick and the great impact he was having on her conscience and the way she looked at things.
It wasn’t that the thought of great adventures and distant places had lost its appeal. No! Simply now she saw that feeling for what it was – a fleeting infatuation.
“I would very much like that…” Lost in her own thoughts, she almost fell asleep right there in the hospital room, lying in Rick’s arms.
Everything was falling into place, and their lives were returning to their happy rhythm.
