"Okay, if you say so," Aliah replied, before trotting away wounded.
What else could I do?
I WAS HAVING ONE of those days: the kind where no matter how hard you tried, you just can't clear your mind long enough to get anything accomplished. At least I managed to finish off my day at work without any more major catastrophes.
When I got home and walked in my quiet, empty house, my nerves were set on fire, though the air conditioning blasted on cold. I shivered with awareness, senses on high alert. But aware of what? I couldn’t say. The dead silence pierced through my ear drums, so I pulled my I-Pod from my purse and plugged the white headphones into my aching ears. Music always had a way of soothing even the darkest of days.
I jogged up the stairs, taking two at a time. I quickly stripped from my suit and dropped it in a heap on the floor. I pulled on some grey sweat pants and zipped a hot pink sweater over my camisole, the music thrumming steadily in my ears. Despite the loud distraction, nothing could disguise the hunger twitching in my gut. It was growling a song of its own. Maybe that’s part of the reason for this ridiculously massive headache.
After hanging up my dry cleaning, I turned the music up even louder, hoping to pound away the deprivation long enough to prepare something to eat. Not gonna happen tonight. I’m starved. I dashed down the stairs and hit the kitchen up for a bottle of pop and a slice of bread. A spoon and the jar of peanut butter came next. I carried it all to my comfy couch and sat in front of the TV, licking peanut butter from the spoon. Disgusting, I know, but so comforting.
My eyes were so sore from my early morning rise and a hard day’s work. Though the show playing on the screen was broadcast in HD, it looked like a blur of colour to me. Music still droning, I shut my eyes and tilted my head back against the corner of the couch.
So many worries tumbled through my mind, the very things I had been trying to avoid all day. Apart from my own issues, I hadn't heard from Maddie and that caused me some concern. I shunned all thoughts from my mangled mind and refocused it on imaginary plain white ceilings, four white walls… bareness… blankness… emptiness… nothingness… until I passed out from exhaustion.
I shivered suddenly, as an icy feeling spread across my entire body and woke me from a heady nightmare. I forced opened my heavy eyes, and tried to focus them, but they burned with ache and delivered only blurred vision.
I was being watched. I could feel it. It felt like a single, dead, icy finger being dragged up my spine. The hairs stood on my arms and prickled my skin, an alarming unease attacking me. My unreliable eyes darted toward the front window and then across the room. The loud hum of my music turned up my anticipation.
It was dark outside, but the nightlight in the kitchen was on and the television illuminated the house enough for me to see what I had to. The shadows spoon fed me impending doom. I ripped the earphones from my ears and threw them to the floor. The silence was deafening.
I tossed the open container of peanut butter on the couch and leapt up to grab the phone in my defence. I hugged it against my breasts and very slowly glanced into the kitchen, bracing myself for what I might find, but not being ready for what I found.
A shadow flickered across my kitchen floor and a dark silhouette swiftly appeared in the small window above my sink. My eyes locked on the dark figure, framed in my window. I couldn't move, frozen in fright, in voiceless agony. The only indication of movement was my violently trembling hands clutching at the phone. Then the shadow slowly, sluggishly, turned to look in the window.
Terrified that I had been detected, I fumbled with the phone and jammed the buttons erratically with my thumb until a green glow lit my face. I frantically looked back at the window, but there was no one there. A tree branch swayed in the wind, casting leery shadows across my kitchen floor that I couldn't explain. Am I going crazy?
My heart beat, hollow and hard, as I contemplated my next move. Had Edwin remembered to lock the back door after he took out the garbage this morning? My nerves were shot, but I was convinced that someone was stalking me. Whoever it was, was still prowling my backyard beneath the shadows. I could sense it.
An ear-splitting beeping noise started to blare from the phone, telling me to hang it up, but I couldn't tear my eyes from the window. As I crept toward the kitchen, the phone stung my every nerve, my limbs jerking with vicious tremors. Quickly realizing that the phone wasn’t a very useful weapon against an intruder, I pounded a handful of buttons until it turned off. My eyes shifted to the patio door and stared at the dead bolt, begging for it to be turned over. It was not.
Petrified, and with one last shallow breath, I scurried to the drawer of knives and pulled out the biggest one I could find. I shakily crushed the large shiny knife in my right hand, the cordless clung to my left. My eyes darted from shadow to shadow inside my vulnerable home. The music had rendered my memory useless, my nap stealing the knowledge of whether the stalker was alone.
It has not been in the house. It was not in the house. It is not in the house.
Going only on a whim, for my sanity’s sake, I decided there was only one intruder. And it was outside. Though I kept telling myself that, I knew my false hopes could not deceive my eyes and ears. But it was so dark. If I could only hear. But I couldn’t, my ears ringing like there’s no tomorrow. Knowing what I had to do, I leaned restlessly toward the kitchen window and peered out the clear black pane.
My eyes darted across the dark back yard, but found nothing in the shadows. I breathed a deep sigh of relief, believing that the peeping Tom had moved on. Knife still gripped stiff in my right hand, still trembling nightmarishly, I held the phone to my heaving chest, as a sense of hasty relief washed over me.
Suddenly, my heart bored into my esophagus, when I caught a flash of darkness wash over the floor. I twisted abruptly to see what it was and found a pair of red glowing eyes staring at me from the shadows, mere inches from the window pane. I screamed in horror, the phone dropping from my hand and shattering to pieces around me, as I fell backward onto the hard ceramic floor. The shiny blade of the large knife sliced my delicate skin and spilled my blood everywhere.
Before I could comprehend what was happening to me, there was a knock at my front door and a harassing ring of the doorbell. Could it be the intruder?
Blood continued to shower from my wound as I fumbled to pick up the knife, smearing dark patches across the cold floor. My breaths rapid, clinging to the knife for dear life, I stared at the growing pool of blood. My eyes failed me, the room turning into a foggy shadow.
I tried to focus on the floor, but it only stunned me even more, the blood turning from a dark red to black. I tore my eyes away and reached for the dish cloth hung from the stove. I wrapped my wrist and squeezed the cloth tightly in my hand, my back pressing tight against the cabinets.
Tears began to sting my eyes as the doorbell rang again and again. All sense told me not to answer it. All sense told me to lock the door. I rushed to the back patio door and fumbled for the lock. It turned over. More blood smeared across the white surface.
Feeling too exposed in front of the window, I hurried to the next room and wondered: How many criminals do you know that actually use the front door? With the bloody weapon in hand, I took my chance, ready to strike. I sprinted to the front door, bumping my leg on the couch, but not taking it as a sign to back down. Fearfully glancing out the glazed window, I flashed on the outdoor light with a bloody finger.
CHAPTER TWENTY
~
I WHIPPED THE DOOR open. The bloody knife dropped to the floor with a clang. I flung my arms around Maddie’s neck and started to gasp for air, crying hysterically.
Stunned, she held me, comforting me like an adult would a battered child. "Is everything okay?" she asked confused, her hand smoothing over my back.
"Hurry," I cried, tugging her over the threshold.
She anxiously glanced over her shoulder as I tugged her inside and slammed the door behind her. I instantly rolled over the
dead bolt with my uninjured hand, still shaking like a leaf.
"What's going on? Do you need an ambulance?" she asked, noting the bloody knife and the dark smears on the floor and wall.
“It’s nothing.” I gasped, trying to pull myself together. “I’m fine.” But the tears still streaked my pale face and the blood continued to soak the towel in my hand.
"Then I hope you didn't get any blood on me," she said, checking herself over.
My wits rushed about and I regained some common sense. I must have officially gone crazy. That's the only explanation. "It was an accident. It just happened. I'm okay. I just need to clean up this mess," I insisted, making a good show.
"Are you sure? It looks pretty bad."
"It looks a lot worse than it is… really," I persisted.
"Is Edwin home? I didn't see his truck outside."
"No. He had a dinner tonight. It's just me. Please don’t call him.”
“You’re sure you’re okay?”
“Yes. But do you think you could give me a hand? I really don't want him to come home and find this mess. He'd have a bird for sure."
Maddie sighed, then walked toward the kitchen. "Let's get you cleaned up first and then we'll worry about the walls. And the floor," she added, as she stepped into the crime scene.
I couldn't argue with that, and Maddie did a fine job of wrapping me up. Her motherly instincts must be kicking in already. The walls were sparkling, as if they were never drenched in my blood. How she did it, I’ll never know.
"Thank you so much for washing up for me. I owe you big," I said.
“I’d say we’re even. But that was a lot of blood Abby. Are you sure you won't let me take you to the hospital?"
“I’m sure.”
The house was back to normal, my wrist was covered in a clean bandage and, apart from my throbbing wound, it felt like the incident had never happened. Lucky for me the cut was superficial enough that I wouldn't need stiches. Maddie was extremely understanding, and didn't judge me for freaking out over the minor incident. I may have left out a few tid-bits here and there, but why dwell on things such as glow in the dark eyes?
"You should really report it to the police. That's so creepy," Maddie said, when I finished giving her the sane version of events.
"I know, right? But seriously, it's fine. A one-time thing. Nothing to worry about. I promise I'll tell Edwin about it when he gets home."
"Okay, but in the meantime, are you still up for some company? I could really use someone to talk to," she said.
I actually desperately wanted her to stay, so I wouldn't be left to my own crazy devise. "That’d be great. Stay. Please." I definitely could use the distraction.
"You're sure you want to hear my troubles?" Maddie asked, giving me one last escape from the imminent storm of chatter.
"Yes, I do. Tell me... how did it go?"
Maddie walked to the couch and plopped down with a sigh. "It could have gone better. But I guess it could have been a lot worse." Maddie stopped to take notice of my jar of peanut butter, with spoon still intact. She squinted at it and then glanced at me probingly, attacking my gluttonous snack.
"Hey, don't judge.”
"Are you sure you're not pregnant too?" she teased, smirking at me. "Cuz that would be too convenient."
"Hah! Absolutely not! It's just been a long day. Now tell me what he said."
"Okay, well, first he said he couldn't believe he’s gonna be a dad and asked how I could be so sure that it’s his. Then I explained that he's the only one. I told him that I wasn't exactly planning on having sex with him. Seriously, it all happened all so fast. By the end of our discussion he agreed that he got me into this mess and he'll deal with it. Quite frankly: he's gonna be my baby daddy whether he likes it or not."
"Wow. Are you okay?" I asked, unsure how she'd feel about that.
"I feel much better now that I laid it all out on the table. Even though Hunter doesn't want to be with me, he’s still here for me. That's got to count for something."
"What about Aliah?"
"He told me he's working on things with her and he wants to see where that goes. But he also admitted that this isn’t entirely my fault. He even agreed that something special happened between us that night. So in other words: He's gonna take care of me and the baby."
"Well that's good," I replied, shocked and impressed with Hunter's righteousness. I considered probing, to learn more about that something special she was talking about, but decided to stay out of it.
"It's a start anyway. I'm still banking on the fact that Aliah’ll blow it with him and then he’ll be all mine." She smirked, totally confident in Aliah’s faults.
"Keep those comments to yourself. Please! Honestly, you know Aliah's my best friend."
"Best friend or not, you know she's always blowing it. She's no good for Hunter."
"Oh, and you're so much better?" I teased.
"Whatever. Now that I've tainted Aliah's image of Hunter, it's only a matter of time before she moves on to the next."
"You may have pegged Aliah, but Hunter doesn't look like he’s gonna give up that easily."
"He's not as persistent as I am," Maddie reminded me.
So true. And I laughed it off, only because if I didn't then I would have to strangle her for her blunt honesty.
"I bet we made a real beautiful baby though. Perfect tanned skin, dark luscious hair, just to name a few of Hunter's staggering qualities. Oh! I hope my baby gets his hazel eyes. They’re so gorgeous." Maddie was beaming, lost in her own fantasyland.
Seeing Maddie so happy made it easier for me to forget about my mental instability and focus again on my superficial dilemmas. "Well, since you have your situation under control, maybe I can confide in you my troubles."
"Of course. I'm good at giving advice. Shoot."
"Okay, so it's about me an Edwin."
"There's a shocker. Trouble on the homestead?" she asked, eager to hear.
"No. Not yet anyway. But I have an ultimatum for him. And it scares me half to death when I imagine what he might say."
"What exactly are we talking about here?" Maddie asked, curious and intrigued.
"I'm not getting any younger. You're having a baby and you're 27. No offence, but I can't see waiting that long before having my first."
"Abigail, you're 24 years old. You have plenty of time."
"Before you know it I'll be 30."
"30's the new 20 these days," Maddie suggested.
While I agreed it was true, I still didn't think it was right. "Whatever. I've always planned to have all of my kids before I turned 30, and here I am 24 and the discussion isn’t even on the table."
"You’ll have kids, in your own time. It will happen. Edwin wants kids, so you're set. How many do you want anyway?"
My head was spinning from her rapid fire statements. I didn't want to feed off of her blissful optimism, but she made it difficult not to. "I've always wanted three; two boys and a girl. What about you?"
"I only want two. Never had I imagined that my first would come about this way," Maddie admitted.
"So… back to me," I said selfishly. "I was thinking of telling Edwin that I want to try to get pregnant in the next year or two. They say that you should go off of birth control for a year before you want to get pregnant. I'd like to plan for these things, and I really want to know what his plans are."
"And if they don't jive with yours?" she asked.
"If we aren't on the same page, then we'll have to call it quits. It's the only way."
"Your way or the highway?"
"Exactly."
"You guys are so perfect together though. It's like you're meant to be together."
"Yeah, yeah. I know we're great together, but kids are a real important part of my life plan. If Edwin wants to be in my life then he has to want the same things that I do. I can't waste any time with a man who doesn't want to have kids; and soon."
"So what do you think he's gonna say?" Maddie a
sked.
"That's what I'm afraid of most. From what he's said lately, I think he's pretty happy as is. I don't think he'd change a thing."
"Aren't you happy?"
I shrugged my shoulders. "I'm happy as a couple," I admitted. “But there's more to life than that."
"I hear you. I didn't exactly plan to get prego, but I'm not too disappointed that I am; and with a totally hot fire fighter at that. It couldn't have worked out better for me really. You should try and get pregnant now and our kids can have play dates together." Maddie was getting super excited, wiggling around like a newborn.
"Don't get too ahead of yourself Maddie. I have to get past Edwin first. The last thing I need right now is to become disillusioned about having a baby. I'm not so sure Edwin will be quite as understanding as Hunter's being."
"I'm sure he'll go along with anything you say," Maddie said, sweeping her hand carelessly through the air.
I shrugged my shoulders again, this time heavy with doubt. "I used to think so, but now I'm not so sure. We've only been together for a month you know. This kind of thing isn't exactly the sort of thing you bring up in a budding relationship."
"Yeah, but you guys go way back."
"I know. I'm just totally freaking out about asking him. I guess there's no point in wasting each other's time if it's never going to work though. So when do you think I should do it?"
"You should take your own advice. The sooner the better," Maddie suggested. "It worked for me."
"I still have to tell him about you and Hunter. I guess I can use that to lead into it."
"You can do it. I'm sure it will work out exactly as you want it to," Maddie said, brimming with hope.
"I hope so. Tomorrow he's supposed to be taking me to the Corset Caves. Maybe I'll tell him there."
"Uh, maybe you should wait until after your feet are planted firmly above ground," she teased. “Just in case.”
We giggled together, but in the back of my mind I knew that it was an honest concern of hers. I was suffering from some serious doubts myself.
The doorbell began to ring, again and again, tearing me from my insecurities.
"Who could that be?" I asked myself out loud. I hurried to the door and peeked out the window. Aliah was standing impatiently outside it. “Shit!” I swung the door open wide.
Twisted Page 22
