Chapter 7
*Steve*
The sun had set. As Steve left the hospital, he observed a brown haired beauty. “What do we have here?” His eyes widened as this new pretty girl pulled her ponytail clip out and rustled up her hair as she made her way to her car in the bright lights of the parking lot. He inched his way closer so he could watch her as she sat in her car and she adjusted her mirror. Steve grew excited as she slid the red over her lips. She wants me. He rushed to his van, and climbed in, waiting patiently for her to leave. He pulled Nicole’s panties out of his pocket, taking in her scent. His eyes scanned the parking lot as this new sexy women pulled out to the road.
Steve followed her into the bar. Sitting in the corner for hours unnoticed, he sipped his beer so it would last. He had already paid for it, to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. His glances were quick, to be undetected as he watched her from halfway across the room.
Her dark hair cascaded over her shoulders and her lips curved up as she joked with the other girls at her table. He could feel himself get hard. He wanted her. He needed to have her. His sexual frustration lingered because the staff had rudely interrupted his intimate moment in the hospital. He would pretend this girl was his sweet Nicole as he took pleasure in her.
His palms began to sweat and he looked away, trying to focus his attention on something else while he waited but from the corner of his eyes he would spy on her. Little slut, the little slut flirted with the waiter. His fist balled. She chuckled. My ex used to laugh at me the same way. Her porcelain skin reminded him of her. I’ll bet this bitch is just like her. The scorn, the betrayal. His wife left him. Nicole left him. He clenched his teeth, grinding them as he tried to remain collected.
Oh, she’s asked for the check. He grabbed his coat from the back of his chair and left his half-finished beer on the table. I will wait. I’ll wait in the van. She came here alone. He hoped she would leave alone.
In the parking lot, he grabbed a knife from the used van and put a hole in her tire. Not one that would flatten it right away. A slow-leaking slit would strand her alone on the road as she headed home.
He waited, carefully controlling his breath. She did not leave the bar. He tapped his fingers against the dash board as if they were a metronome, in a slow, consistent, haunting beat. Did she change her mind? Did she decide to stay? He waited, growing more anxious with each breath until she finally emerged.
She drove down the deserted highway. His pulse raced faster with each mile. He followed from a far enough distance so she wouldn’t suspect him. Finally, the tire blew and her car swerved. He slowed, allowing her time to wait in the dark along the side of the road. Alone. Scared. He watched her hit the dash board in frustration and get out of the car to see what had happened. Steve pulled up behind her.
“You okay? Do you need some help?” He didn’t want to alarm her. She jumped back startled anyway.
“It’s-it’s my tire. My tire is flat!” she said in disgust, her hands gesturing in disbelief.
“It’s too dark to change a tire, but if you want, I can give you a ride to the next exit. It’s only a few miles down the street. There’s a gas station there, and they may be able to fix it for you or at least get it towed. They’ll have a phone, you could call someone.”
“This sucks! This totally sucks!”
“Yeah, it does. It’s not safe for you to be stranded out here.”
“I can’t believe this! I really can’t believe…”
“I have to get home to my family. Do you want a ride? I hate to leave you here but my wife… if I don’t get home with the eggs… you know how wives can be?”
“I guess I better go with you. Thank you. I don’t know when the next car will come. Oh my god this stinks.”
She got in his car. The smell of her perfume began to intoxicate him.
“Wait, this is the exit, this is the exit.” She pointed out the window. “You’re passing the exit.”
He locked the doors, pretending not to hear her. She began banging on the window. His erection grew harder as she pleaded for him to stop. He turned to her, taking another whiff and grinned.
***
Steve awoke the next morning satisfied from the ecstasy of his latest hunt. Aware Nicole’s family had been searching for her, he needed a plan. He had to be the one in control. He picked up Nicole’s address book from his dresser, flipping through the pages. Mom and Dad. He grinned.
He pulled out her panties and took in her scent. Nicole coded. He needed a favor and decided to visit his friend the mortician. Steve entered the funeral home. It was dark. In the back, he found Stan hovered over a corpse, preparing the body for the service. Steve startled him. “How is your family, Stanley?”
“You stay away from them. I already helped you. You leave them alone.”
Steve walked over to the dead body. “Now Stan,” he said, looking at the corpse and then up at the coroner, “It would be a shame for you to have to work on your own daughter, now wouldn’t it, Stan? Let’s see, maybe there is something you can do for me. Just think of it as, well, think of it as a life insurance policy.”
Chapter 8
Mr. Carlisle walked to the door and peeked through the hole at the officer standing on the front porch. He unlatched the lock. The solemn look of the officer took him by surprise.
“Good afternoon.”
“Good afternoon. My name is Officer Parker. Mr. Carlisle?”
Nicole’s father looked around and nodded.
“We had trouble finding you. I’m sorry, Mr. Carlisle. Your daughter Nicole was involved in an accident in Alaska. She was taken to the hospital with severe injuries. Although the doctors tried their best, there was nothing they could do to save her. I’m terribly sorry for your loss. She was registered as an organ donor. They cremated the body when would couldn’t find any family. But then someone helped the authorities find you. They are shipping the ashes tomorrow. Here is the number for the crematory if you have any questions. Again Mr. Carlisle, I’m so sorry for your loss.”
Mr. Carlisle stood in shock as the man handed him the papers. “My baby, my baby is dead?”
The officer bowed his head as he turned to walk back to the police car. He entered the car and picked up the phone, dialing the number.
***
Snow kissed the hillside as they made their way to the tiny tent that sheltered their sanctuary. The snow gently fell from the heavens as the innocent tears of angels cried of this injustice. A child--taken from her parents; a mother--taken from her child.
Nicole’s parents stepped out of the vehicle, her mother frail, shaking in despair. She felt much too young to see pain of this magnitude. A mother should never have to bury her child.
Mr. Carlisle embraced her as they made their way toward the assembly of people. His daughter was gone; her radiant smile, her joyful song, her compassionate heart stolen from him, forever.
Their faces revealed sorrow…anger…desperation as they took each deliberate step with tears cascading down their cheeks. So young. So innocent. So loving. Yet gone…forever. Why? Why God? Why?
How could they be stripped of their only child? Their only love? They braced each other as they walked in front of the empty casket, symbolizing the emptiness that would plague their existence. The injustice--pain entered their veins like a poison.
The choir sang as they proceeded closer to the assembly of people who were there to mourn the death of their daughter. The death of their Nicole; the death of their angel.
They turned and watched as their innocent grandchild, Jessica, kissed the snow with rose petals. In a wedding, petals cascaded to the ground to make the way for the bride. Jessica wanted to sprinkle the snow with rose petals to prepare her mommy’s way to heaven. As each one caressed the fresh snow, the scarlet petals graced the virgin white, preparing the way fo
r the empty casket.
The cello seemed to cry as the tears of the violins accentuated the loss. As Jessica led the way for the casket, tears stained her porcelain cheeks. Her innocent blue eyes searched the heavens for answers. “Why did you leave me, Mommy?”
Emily followed close behind with the urn--such a small container to carry the essence of her best friend’s life. Even without a body in the casket, it gave them a sense of closure the little vase-like urn could not.
Nicole was dead. They never had the chance to say goodbye.
They set the empty coffin on the hillside next to a podium, which held a beautiful photo of Nicole and the urn, which Emily mounted on the stand.
“Friends, we have gathered here to praise God and to witness our faith as we celebrate the life of Nicole Carlisle. We come together in grief, acknowledging our human loss. May God grant us grace that in pain we may find comfort, in sorrow, hope and in death, resurrection.”
As the preacher went through the service and the choir sang, not a dry eye remained among the gathering of people. So young. Nicole’s father stepped to the podium wiping his blood shot eyes. He stood in the very location where they had begun their sledding competition during Nicole’s last visit only months before.
He cleared his throat. After his reading he invited family and friends to speak of their love for Nicole.
Emily made her way up to the podium. “How do I begin to express the pain I feel right now. They stole my best friend from me. I know Nicole is looking down on us and smiling. She loved this place….” She hesitated, wiping the tears from her eyes. She couldn’t finish. “I should have never let you stay there, Nicole. I thought you were okay. They told me you were okay. But then you didn’t come home for Christmas. Now we know why.” Her voice cracked and Mr. Carlisle put his arm around her and helped her back to her seat. As Emily sat down, little Jessica tugged on her grandmother’s jacket. “Nana, can I say something?”
All eyes watched as Jessica made her way to the podium. The minister took the mic off the stand and handed it to little Jess. She stood, her big compassionate blue eyes filled with tears. She pouted her little lip and begged, “Mommy,” she wept to heaven. “Mommy don’t go! God, don’t take my mommy away!”
Chapter 9
What filled her dreams?
“My beauty, my sleeping beauty.”
~Bradley Summers
Obsession and Sacrifice
Tiffany Carmouché
*Bradley*
Brad watched her lay there, the carnation decorating her hair as if she were some kind of princess. The subtle rise and fall of her chest was almost undetectable to the naked eye, but he cherished each sign of life. She had not yet been taken. He gazed at her eyes, closed in slumber, almost peaceful, and wondered what filled her dreams. “My beauty, my sleeping beauty.” His hand touched hers. The tubes that pierced her were almost invisible to him now. All he saw was the woman he loved. And she was slipping away.
She had to have felt it. She had to have felt the magic that had been developing between them. The way her eyes lit up when she saw him, the way she melted in his arms when he held her. It couldn’t have been only his heart that leaped when he touched her. He drifted in memory to the snow beating against his body as he tried to shelter her from the wind. His bare chest felt her life, her soft skin prickled in goosebumps. He opened his eyes, gazing at her on the hospital bed.
Even half dead, her beauty captivated him. And he felt compelled to touch her. He needed to feel her alive before she slipped away. He walked around to the head of the bed. He didn’t consider the fact that she could not respond.
He gently lowered her gown so her shoulders were revealed. As tempting as it was to uncover her breast, he didn’t dare. He would never do anything uninvited.
As he brushed her hair out of her face, he allowed the strands to pass through his fingers as if playing with sand. Gently, he massaged her scalp, allowing his fingertips to tantalize her head. If only his fingers could stimulate something, some electrical charge in her brain and she would return. His fingers drifted to her face. They traced her eyebrows, her nose, feeling her cheekbones. He closed his eyes and saw her lying in front of the fireplace, every ounce of his being wanting her…needing her. His hands followed the curve of her neck and shoulders. He knew he could go no further, although just a thin hospital gown covered her. He opened his eyes and swallowed. Through the delicate fabric he could see her nipples, her nipples erect. Did she feel him? Did she want him? His palms tingled as if he should continue the voyage down her body but he stopped. It was off limits.
He kissed her forehead, closing his eyes, and again they were in front of the fire and she was his to experience. His cheek caressed her silk skin as he felt the cold in her face.
“Nicole, don’t leave me,” Bradley whispered. “Please don’t leave me.”
He hovered over her lips, his breath moist against her face. If only he could breathe life into her fragile body. If only his lips could give her life. His heart pounded in his chest. He gently kissed the corners of her mouth. Secretly, he wished that she would awaken with his kiss, like the fairytale. His sleeping beauty. His cheeks caressed hers once more as he built up the courage. He savored the tiny kisses across her face then returned to her lips and tasted them. For a moment they were all his. He disappeared into her world. “Come back to me, Nikki. You have to live.”
A tiny spasm, a ripple in her body, gave him hope. He kissed her again, hoping to see another sign, but there were no more. He opened his eyes and realized where he was. The beeping of the machine snapped him back to reality and stripped him of the glow of the fire. He realized she lay vulnerable and he felt guilty for taking pleasure in her lips. She wasn’t even conscious. He lifted her gown to cover her shoulders and kissed her one last time on her forehead, circling back around the bed to sit next to her.
“Nicole, can you hear me?” Tears filled his eyes, and he wiped at them with his sleeve, falling to his knees beside the bed.
“God, why? I just don’t understand. Please… if you are out there please!” His voice broke as he pleaded. “You can’t let her die. I’ll do anything. Anything. I know she will probably return to Dylan. I know I’ll never touch her the way I want to, but that’s okay. Just to be around her, just to hear her laugh…if that’s all that I ever get –it’s all that I need. I’d give everything for just one more smile. Please God, please bring her back to me.”
Chapter 10
Where are my angels?
Where did my angels go?”
~Nicole Carlise
Obsession and Sacrifice
Tiffany Carmouché
*Nicole*
The light, blinding. It is so bright, seeping through like sunlight trying to penetrate my eyelids. Muffled voices fill my ears. My head is pounding. Where am I? I blink, but the light hurts my eyes, so I close them again. The voices seem anxious. But I can’t understand them. I feel a warm hand touch my arm. I blink to look up at the face staring over me. But the image is blurred as are all the other images entering the room.
Then darkness. There is nothing but darkness. Silence. I feel the sensation of the warm hand on my arm, but everything else has become nothingness, like midnight in a still house. But then shadows break though again. And the light. The bright light that makes me squint. The blurred faces reappear peering down at me.
I am falling and I gasp. In the darkness, I grab hold of the comforting hand on my arm, hoping it will save me from my fall. It holds my hand tight and the image leaning over me says. “Ni—Ni.” It is muffled, but it brings me back to the light.
Consciousness fades in and out. Am I dreaming or not? My body is being moved around on a bed and the blurred images and voices are back. I lay there forever. As I exhale, I quietly moan so I can hear the sound of my voice. Someone else is enterin
g the room. I blink, hoping to break free of the fog everyone seems trapped in. Someone takes my other hand.
There are voices on both sides of me. “Nick Nick Old. Nick Old…Nicole.” Nicole echoes from left to right, and I hold tight to the hands that keep me from falling back into the darkness. The glare of light is less intense, and as time passes, I am able to keep my eyes open. The images gradually become clearer. My periods of consciousness last longer.
I feel hands running through my hair and voices say words I can’t quite make out. I realize I’m in a hospital bed. There are IV’s in my arms. Air. Air. I inhale. I’m breathing in air. I try to move my arms, but I realize they are strapped down. Still, I have the security of the warm hands holding mine tight. I can finally see the faces looking down on me. Are they angels? They are beautiful and a white light illuminates them. Are they bringing me to heaven? Am I dead?
I tilt my head to see if they have wings but I only see their intense eyes and their lips speaking. They echo, saying things like Baby and Nikki and Nicole. I want to reach up and touch them to see if they are real, but I can’t move my arms. These two beautiful angels, these two stunning men are holding my hands. I do not know who I am. I do not know where I am. I do not know why I am here. But I feel safe. They won’t let me fall back into the darkness. I hold on tighter. I try to speak. Only horrible noises escape my lips.
Another man comes to the bed. “Your name, do you know your name?” I squint my eyes trying to remember. Nothing. Nothing. How can there be nothing? “Do you know your name?” Again only a slurred sound leaves my lips, even though I know the answer to the question is no. I Shake my head.
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