The Impostor, A Love Story

by Tiffany Carmouche

  “Bradley, I’m here.”

  “Nicole, keep talking.” I rustled in the tree.

  “Bradley, over here.”

  He began walking in closer, “Nicole.” The sound of an angel. He pushed away the branches where I lay trembling amongst the pine needles.

  “Let me get you to the truck.” He pulled me out of the brush.

  “We have to hurry.” I whispered. He put me in the truck and turned the heat on full blast.

  “Where is your stuff?”

  “On the floor of my room downstairs. In the first room.” My breath carried the words.

  “I’ll be right back.” He ran to the house. The heat felt so good. My teeth chattered. It became impossible to hold my body still. I waited.

  Where was he? I put my hands to the heater vent one more time. Where was he? Maybe I should go in. My head gently hit the back of the seat. So warm. So warm.

  Then something—something big—jolted the whole truck. My head jerked back. I locked the doors. I was still shaking. I could barely move my hands away from the heater much less get out of the car and become a hero. Then a face peeked into the truck.

  “Aaaaahh,” I screamed with all my might.

  “Let me in. Nicole, let me in,” Brad’s voice pleaded.

  “Oh my god, Brad.” He had put the suitcase in the back of the truck. I unlocked the door.

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I thought I was being careful . . . I thought . . .” I started hyperventilating.

  “Shh, it’s okay now. You are safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He started to change the gear so we could drive away quickly.

  “Oh my god, my purse. I need to go back. My purse, my purse is by the closet. I have everything in there—my driver’s license and all, and—oh my god, my address book is still in the house. If he gets that, he will have the address to everyone I love. Bradley, I’m sorry, I have to go in there. My parents’ new number and new address is in there. I need to get it.”

  I continued babbling. “And there is a stack of fake IDs with his aliases on them. If we get them, it will help the police. I called them but they haven’t gotten here yet.”

  “I’ll run in. Where are they?”

  “I don’t want to be out here alone. I feel stronger, let me go with you. It will go faster because I know where to look.” He pulled the truck behind some trees to hide it just in case Steve came home. The snow gently fell, kissing our faces ever-so-slightly as we made our way toward the house.

  “Isn’t this your car, Nicole?” He searched around to make sure there was no sign of Steve returning.

  “Yeah, it is. I finally paid it off, and now it isn’t working.”

  “What happened?”

  “It was working fine this morning.”

  “Let me see your keys. I don’t want to have to come back here. Let’s see if we can get it started quickly so we can bring your car with us now.” He took the keys and opened the hood.

  “Nikki, come here.” I walked over to the engine. “Look at this. He must have disconnected your battery.” Brad reconnected the cables. “Try starting the car.”

  I got into the car and turned the switch. It started right up.

  “Perfect. Turn it off.” He closed the hood. “Nicole, Steve disconnected this. This was deliberate. He wanted you be stuck here. We’ve got to hurry.”

  We entered the front door and made our way through the hallway. “I want to grab Jessica’s picture, it’s on her dresser.” I ducked into her room and gasped, running to the mutilated pieces of the carousel horse’s body. I fell to my knees. I touched the broken pieces, splintering my hand.

  “Nicole, we have to get out of here. That wasn’t an accident. He used an ax to destroy that thing.”

  I couldn’t bear to move. I had allowed it to be destroyed.

  “Dylan gave me this carousel. It played our first dance.”

  “We have got to get out of here fast,” he repeated. “Where is your purse?”

  “In the closet.”

  “Which room is yours?” He pulled me up, and we entered my room. Feathers were scattered throughout the room from the winter coat that was sliced up by some kind of knife. There was no sign of my purse.

  “My purse, he must have my purse.” I opened the drawer to get my birth certificate and the other important papers I needed to get the car title changed into my name. “They’re gone! And my address book, it’s not here! Maybe they are in his room.” I said in between breaths.

  “Nicole we better go.”

  “The ID’s!” I started up the stairs. “We have to get them for the police. They are in his room.”

  We heard tires crush the snow on their way down the driveway. I froze. Our cars were out front. There was no way to escape.

  “Shit, let’s go!” He took my hand, and we made it to the door of the laundry room. He opened the door, and we were overwhelmed by the blood—so much blood all over the sink, as if he tried to clean up after a murder.

  I screamed.

  “Shhh.” He covered my mouth.

  Bradley picked up the knife that was sitting on the basin with a rag in case there were any fingerprints on it. He wrapped the dagger in the cloth and stuck it in his pocket so we could bring it to the police. If he needed it to defend us, he could get to it easily.

  We ran to the back door. Brad plowed into it, hoping to break the seal, but it was jammed. We heard keys at the door. Steve was about to enter the house. We had to find a way to escape.

  Running back to the laundry room, Brad was able to smash open the small window panel before Steve opened the front door. Lifting me up, he made me climb out first. I shimmied through the window, cutting myself on the broken glass, but making it into the snow on the other side.

  Bradley didn’t attempt to pull his way to safety. Steve was in the house. Bradley was in the house. I wanted to scream at him to hurry. I wanted to grab his arm and help pull him through.

  He sat there in the darkness, waiting for Steve to make his way into the basement. Brad was silent. I knew what he was thinking. He had the knife. It was his opportunity to end this, to protect me from this sinister man. But Bradley was not a murderer, whereas Steve had slaughtered several men.

  It was freezing. The cold pierced my body. “Bradley what are you thinking? Please don’t.” I couldn’t bear anything to happen to him because of my stupidity. I reached my hand in the window. “Bradley, please. I’m scared,” I whispered.

  Time seemed to stand still, slowing down so that every sound—every movement—I perceived as a warning. The snow had increased, and my clothes did little to protect me from the bitter air. As the snow fell, my already-soaked clothes absorbed the flurries like a sponge, and my temperature began to drop. I waited, unable to leave till I knew he was safe.

  Finally, Bradley appeared, pulling himself through the window. I ran to him to embrace him.

  “I couldn’t do it Nicole, I’m sorry I couldn’t do it. I wanted to end it, but I worried something could happened to you, you would be out here alone.” He ran his hands down my back. “You are freezing. Your jacket is soaked,” he said. “We can’t go to the cars till he leaves. If we try and make it around front, he will see us through the window. We have to wait. We have to wait till it’s safe. The wind blew stronger as the flurries fell more rapidly, stinging my face.

  My short staccato breath accentuated the throbbing I felt in my limbs. Bradley picked me up and brought me deep into the woods so we were hidden. He gently put me down.

  “Where the hell is that cop? And the detective? They should be here by now!” Then it hit me. “Bradley, do you think that was the detective’s blood in there?”

  His eyes grew wider, where was the detective? Brad pulled out his cell phone, dialing 911. “Damn, I knew it. I don’t have any service here.”

  My hands were shaking; he took them and brought them to his face.

  “We have to get you warm Nikki. We’ve gotta warm you up.” He found a mound
of snow that could easily be made into a quick shelter. He grabbed branches and evergreen needles to place on the snow behind the mound to make some place for us to lie down shielded from the wind. The wind howled as it whipped against me, and my hair danced uncontrollably in every direction.

  “I-I’m so cold”

  “We have to stay out here till it’s safe to leave,” he warned, looking into my eyes. “This is soaking, you can’t wear this.”

  I tried to open my jacket, but my fingers wouldn’t hold still. “I … I … I ... can’t,” I stuttered.

  His hands went to the zipper on my jacket. “I’m not trying to be fresh, Nicole. You will die in this cold with wet clothes on. We have to take this off.” He unzipped my wet jacket, dropping it to the ground. His hands then gently unfastened the equally damp sweater underneath and he let it fall. As he began unbuttoning the front of my blouse, his hands brushed against my skin.

  My hands grabbed his, embarrassed.

  “Our bodies will create more heat than these flimsy, wet clothes.” He moved my hands and began unbuttoning my blouse again.

  Taking off his coat and placing it on a tree branch, he unbuttoned his shirt. He stood in front of me with his chest kissed by the snow.

  The snow continued to fall on us as he brought my body toward his. He stared into my eyes to make sure he had permission. A ripple of chills rushed over me. I bit my lip as he pressed his body against mine. His chest was so warm. Gently, he rubbed my arms to create friction and warmth, and then wrapped his coat around me and placed his hat on my head. He brought my hands to his chest to warm them before he covered them in his gloves.

  Bradley slowly guided my body to the nest of pine needles he had collected and placed behind the mound of snow to protect us from the wind.

  “So warm.” I rested my head against his body. He held me close. I felt the heat of his breath on my neck. I trembled. I loved his warmth.

  “Bradley, do you think..?”

  “Come on, Nicole, you need to warm up.” He tried to take my mind off of everything.

  My teeth chattered.

  “Just a little longer,” he said.

  My bra pressed against his naked chest. I could feel his heartbeat. It was soothing.

  “Just a little longer, Nikki.”

  His heartbeat seemed to hypnotize me. I tried to focus on each beat instead of the possibilities of danger that lurked around us. We felt hopeful that Steve wouldn’t search the woods with the snow falling.

  Almost an hour had passed and he held me. The pounding in his heart seemed to escalate, as did mine. I felt safe in his arms. I wrapped my hands around his body, holding him tighter as my head lay against him. I didn’t want to let him go. His heartbeat seemed to harmonize with mine. By now, it was dark. The sun had just set, and we could feel the drop in temperature as the cold made its way into our bones. We needed to leave. We couldn’t survive out here much longer, but I didn’t want to move. I wanted to stay cocooned in his safety. I looked up. His blue eyes seemed concerned as he gazed down at me.

  The snow crunched. Our heads jerked around. Could Steve have found us? Where was he? Silence was not our friend. We heard a twig snap.

  Bradley whispered in my ear. “We may need to run, Nicole. You have to be ready to run.” The noises made their way closer to us in a careful, calculated manner. Pulling his body away from mine, he carefully zipped up his coat on my body. He held his finger to his lips, signaling silence.

  “We will run to the car. Are you strong enough?” Another twig broke closer to our little nest. “Get the keys,” I took the keys out of my pocket. “If I’m not behind you, you have to promise me you will leave.”

  “I can’t leave without you.”

  “Nicole, promise me you will drive away if I’m not there. I still have my truck, so I have a way out of here too.” He took the knife out of his pocket, as he did his phone fell into the snow. He didn’t dare pick it up. He held the knife out, ready in case we were ambushed.

  “Get ready, get ready.”

  The footsteps were upon us. Brad crouched forward with his knife as something darted out from the trees. We breathed in relief—a deer.

  Bradley turned toward me. I was surprised at the way I looked at him. The moonlight shinned on his bare chest. His body kept me alive. And for a moment, I—

  Another twig snapped. Pain shot through my legs, each step excruciating.

  We cautiously made our way to the car, stopping every few feet to assure we were alone as we carefully snuck around the house. I stepped in Brad’s footsteps carefully, hoping it would help conceal the sound.

  As we crept around toward the car, blue and red strobe lights lit up the snow coming down the driveway. We breathed in. The police had finally arrived. Ready to run to the police car, we stopped dead in our tracks. The moonlight revealed fiery-red hair. I grabbed Brad’s hand.

  “Stop,” I whispered.

  The front door of the house opened. Steve came outside. He walked down the front steps and scanned the area. Bradley slowly bent into the shadows. We were motionless, silent, and cold. My car waited only a hundred feet in front of us. We were so close, but there was no way to make it safely with him standing there.

  We waited, not yet sure if the cop was a threat or there to save us. My throbbing body ached, tormented by wet snow dropping my temperature. I was getting so weak. I didn’t know how much more I could handle.

  We couldn’t hear the words, but the gestures told us everything. The officer was not there to rescue us but to cover up any crime that may have taken place. Steve patted him on the back, and we watched as the police lights went back up the driveway.

  Steve’s eyes squinted as he searched the darkness from the stairs. Had Steve heard us? Had he discovered the missing knife? He made his way further down the walkway. His steps came closer. We stood silent. Stillness. Nothingness. Hopelessness. Danger.

  Bradley held the knife at the ready. I was close behind him.

  I could hear my heart—so loud, so rapid, and so intense. “Dear Lord, I am sorry,” I prayed in the silence of my mind.

  Steve’s steps grew closer. I could see that Bradley was considering charging him to end the torment.

  Steve pivoted toward his truck. He climbed in and turned on the lights. They shined within a feet of us, almost revealing our position. Steve turned around and made his way up the driveway, unaware we were lurking in the shadows. When Steve turned around the bend, we ran out of our hiding places and entered the car. I handed Bradley the keys, and he pressed the gas. He didn’t turn on the lights, in case Steve was still close enough to see. Only cold air spit out of the vents. I touched Brad’s chest. It was so cold. He was covered in goose bumps. I started to take the coat off my body give it to him.

  He stopped me. “Can you drive this home?” he asked.

  I nodded my head.

  “I’ll follow you back to my place. Remember, I’m right behind you.”

  He left the car, and I slid over to the driver’s seat. When he got to his truck, the intense cold caused his hands to shake the keys, making it hard to unlock the door. I held my breath. Please let him get in. Please let him get in! Brad finally opened the door. He revved the engine and we sped off.

  Chapter Forty-four

  Shivering, we entered Bradley’s place. Despite the long drive with the heat on full blast, my body was still freezing. When he hung up the phone with the police department, he walked back over to me. “They’re going to check it out. Hopefully they will pick him up tonight.” Bradley tucked my hair behind my ear. “Nikki, your headlight’s out. You shouldn’t drive like that. It’s dangerous.”

  “Dangerous . . . like sneaking back into a killer’s home because I forgot my purse? Now that is dangerous.” I gave him a smile. “We are safe. Oh my god, we are safe.” I held on to him.

  “You are soaking wet,” he pulled his body away slowly. “If we don’t get you warmed up, I’ll have to take you to the hospital.” He proceeded to
take off his shirt. My heartbeat began to elevate again. I couldn’t help but stare at him. Why had I never noticed how striking he was? My eyes drifted to his as he took a step closer to me.

  “We need to warm you up,” he said as he unzipped the drenched coat and tossed it on the floor. He rubbed my arms. His hands felt so warm. “You okay?”

  I nodded.

  As he looked into my eyes, his head seemed to gravitate toward mine then stopped abruptly. “I . . . I’ll get you something warm.” He turned quickly and walked toward his bedroom.

  My pants were drenched from the snow as well. Brad came back in and handed me some of his sweats, his chest still bare. I glanced down, bashfully biting my lip.

  “You can use these.”

  Still freezing, I accepted the clothes and ducked into the bedroom. I took off my wet jeans and soaked undergarments. I sat on the bed, sliding the sweat pants up my legs. The cotton felt soft against my skin. I pulled the sweatshirt over my head and cocooned my feet in the thick socks. Dry. Soft. Warm.

  My feet and body were still throbbing from the cold.

  I walked into the living room. Bradley put a log on the fire and sat on the couch in front of the fireplace. The shadows of the flames danced against his face. I sighed as I walked over to him timidly, trying to deny the feelings building up inside of me. As I sat on the couch next to him, he handed me a mug of hot chocolate. I curled up on the couch with the blanket and the cocoa in my hand.

  I gazed up at him, his tousled black hair and his blue, blue eyes looking down into mine. I took his hand and pulled his arm around me, interlocking our fingers.

  “You saved my life, Bradley.” I paused for a moment. “I will never forget what you did for me tonight.” I gently kissed his hand. “You are a good friend. Dylan is going to be so grateful to you for what you did.”

  “I didn’t do it for Dylan,” he confessed. He pulled my chin gently so I was looking into his eyes again. “You are a friend, and you needed my help.”

  “Are you warm?” I let go of his hand and touched his face. “That feels better.” I smiled. He wasn’t trembling anymore.