Nikki's Secret

by William Malmborg

His was inside too.

  Okay, just step inside and demand to know who’s in there.

  He took a deep breath and stepped in, his hand flipping the light switch while shouting, “Hey!”

  The word faded in the darkness, the light having failed to turn on.

  He flipped the switch back and forth a few times while staring into the darkness.

  Nothing.

  He then considered hitting the button to open the garage door, which would let some light in, but then vetoed the idea. Whoever was in here would have to confront him if they wanted out and once that happened –

  Something crashed to the right and then a figure was rushing toward him.

  Startled, Bill stepped back through the doorway while bracing himself for the impact that was coming, his heel catching on the bottom part of the door frame just as the figure slammed a shoulder into his gut.

  14

  Kimberly let out a surprised yelp as the figure crashed into Bill, his slow movements up to this point and her feeling of exposure having caused the tension within her to grow with each passing second. She also took several steps backward, her body acting as if distance were needed to prevent some kind of collateral damage from occurring.

  Bill then did something unexpected.

  Rather than fall back with the impact, he somehow twisted himself with it and grabbed the hooded figure, his arms attempting to lock themselves around their chest in an unbreakable bear hug.

  Unfortunately, the culprit was pretty fluid as well and squirmed free before the arms could lock.

  Both then went to the ground, Bill having been on his way down due to the impact, and the figure having been snagged by his right hand after breaking free of the hug.

  A loud, almost feminine cry escaped the figure as they hit the ground. “Fucker!” followed, a kick to Bill’s face emphasizing the anger they felt.

  It was then that Kimberly found the courage to make a move and charged forward. Had she not backed up several steps in the beginning she probably would have been able to tackle them, but the small bit of distance her body had created was enough to allow the figure to stand and bolt.

  Kimberly gave chase.

  The figure went to the right between the two houses and then took a left toward the neighbor’s front yard.

  Kimberly followed, her foot slipping once on the grass, which cost her several more feet, but not enough to make the chase seem futile.

  From there the figure followed the sidewalk until they had gone halfway down the street and cut left into a yard where they disappeared from view.

  Pushing herself, Kimberly increased her speed and managed to enter the yard just as the figure took a right in front of the house opposite of the yard Kimberly was in, the direction taking them toward the far side of the graveyard, which they entered just as Kimberly emerged from the houses.

  Far to her left Bill appeared, his route having taken him through a different set of yards. He would never be able to close the distance between him and the figure. Kimberly thought she still had a chance though and continued to push herself, her body rounding the large stonework of the graveyard entrance just seconds after the figure had.

  Crack!

  The sound actually echoed in her head before she felt the impact, along with several yellow spots that danced before her eyes against a black backdrop.

  The ground then hit, her knees having disappeared.

  “You okay?” It was Bill. How much time had passed was a mystery. It felt like none, but she knew that couldn’t be right.

  Pain arrived.

  It felt like her nose had been smashed with a brick. Memories of cracking her face on a diving board as a kid came to her. The sudden shock of the impact followed by a dark splash into the water was all that had registered back then, and now she felt a similar lack of detail in everything surrounding her.

  “She hit you with her arm,” Bill said. “You ran right into it. I don’t think your nose is broken though. Can you stand?”

  All the words were there but the meaning was a bit fuzzy.

  “Here, try to sit up.”

  Kimberly felt his arms lifting her.

  Dizziness arrived.

  She closed her eyes.

  Her stomach squeezed.

  She gagged, but nothing came up.

  Blood!

  It was in her mouth.

  “Easy does it, you’re all right.”

  “Everything okay?” someone asked.

  “Yeah, she’s fine. She tripped while jogging.”

  Liar!

  “Need any help?”

  “No, we got it.”

  “Okay.”

  “Think you can stand up?”

  “Uh-huh,” she mumbled, the taste of blood mixing with mucus. She then felt his hands on her arms, and up she went, his body pressing against her from behind to help her keep her balance.

  The dizziness returned, but wasn’t as bad as before. She then opened her eyes. Things wobbled for a moment before firming up.

  “You okay?” Bill asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Can you walk?”

  In reply, she took a step and nearly fell down.

  “Woah, easy does it,” Bill warned. His hands were the only thing keeping her upright. “Take it slow and lean on me.”

  She did, the first steps feeling as if she had never walked before. By the time they crossed the street, however, she was able to stand on her own, not that Bill would let her. He held her arm all the way back to the house and grew very protective of her as she went up the stairs, and then into the house.

  “Here, I don’t think they’ll do much good for your shirt, but you’ll be able to get some of the blood off your face.”

  For a moment she didn’t know what he was talking about, but then saw the handful of paper towels he had grabbed from the kitchen.

  She took them and dabbed at her lower face.

  Blood soaked into the towel.

  She pressed it to her nose and started leaning back, but then remembered someone somewhere saying that doing so was actually bad, so she just looked forward instead, fingers pinching the nostrils shut.

  “Do you have a flashlight in here?” Bill asked.

  Kimberly let go of her nostrils and asked, “What?”

  “A flashlight.” He seemed full of energy all the sudden. “I want to see what they did in the garage, if anything.”

  “Um, I don’t know.” She knew she had at least one, but couldn’t focus her mind on where it would be. “Maybe in the kitchen somewhere?”

  “I got one upstairs,” he said and quickly turned. “You okay here for a second?”

  She nodded.

  With that he was gone, first going up the inner stairs to his door, which apparently wasn’t locked -- I could have searched his place if I wanted to -- and then down the outside stairs to the garage, his steps vibrating through the wall.

  Fear did not arrive with his departure. In fact, despite having been knocked on her ass, she felt an odd sense of optimism. They had caught her tormentor off guard. They had put them on the defensive and made them flee. They had –

  Bill returned, the sound of him locking the door reaching her from the kitchen. He then entered the room.

  “Find anything?” she asked.

  He shook his head. “We probably caught her before she did what she wanted.”

  “Wait, her?” Kimberly asked. She had caught him using this description a few times since the confrontation, but this was the first time it really registered.

  “Yeah, it was a woman,” Bill said.

  “How do you know?” Even as she asked this she could now see it, especially in the way the figure had been running and the cry of ‘fucker’ that had left her lips when Bill knocked her down.

  “Easy, I grabbed her boobs when tackling her.”

  15

  The handful of boob had actually startled him; so much so, that he had unconsciously tried to shift his hand placement to a more approp
riate spot while grabbing her, which had then allowed her to squirm free, all while falling to the ground. The action, while odd given the situation, was probably one most men could identify with. Unintentionally touching a girl’s boob usually caused a reflexive pull back. Somehow, it was ingrained into the muscle and nerves of the body, along with the ability to suddenly recognize what was being touched.

  “Why would a woman be doing this?” Kimberly asked.

  Bill shrugged.

  “I mean, I can understand a guy getting upset over your Nikki character teasing him for several weeks, but a girl?” She dabbed at some blood near her lips. “Did you ever tease any girls?”

  “No. All guys.” Pain from the sweat dripping into all the tiny cuts he had sustained that evening, some from the windshield and some from the driveway surface, began to appear. “That I’m aware of,” he added. “Hey, you need any fresh paper towels. I’m going to grab some for these.” He held up his forearms to display his wounds.

  Kimberly looked at the bloodied up paper towels she held, and then touched at her nose again. Nothing fresh dripped onto it. “I’m okay.”

  Bill nodded and went to grab the towels. He then dampened them a bit at the sink.

  “Did you ever work with any girls other than Nicole?” she asked upon his return.

  “No, just her.”

  “Did any other girls know about what you were doing?”

  “A few, but I’m certain that wasn’t any of them.” He would have recognized them; even without getting a good look at their face, he would have still felt a familiarity about the person.

  “Jealous girlfriend?”

  “Yeah, but that’s very old news and she wouldn’t --

  “ he stopped and actually considered it. Could she be behind this? No, I would have known it was her. “I’m pretty certain it isn’t her.”

  “You should still check.”

  “Hmmm.” Um . . . yeah, that’s not going to happen. Getting into the why of this wouldn’t produce anything but a conflict, so he kept this decision to himself.

  “I don’t know any of the details, but if someone who had feelings for you somehow connected you to your Nikki site and then decided I was the girl you were using for it, I could see them going after me.”

  “I’ll look into it,” Bill lied. Hopefully that would change the direction of the discussion. To help this he then asked, “Were there any suspicious females in Steak and Shake tonight? Maybe one who seems to show up in your section a lot?”

  Kimberly shook her head. “None that I can really pinpoint, but I haven’t been paying much attention to them since I just figured it was a guy.”

  “Yeah, same here,” Bill said. Then again, he hadn’t really been paying attention to the people around him at all. Up until tonight his focus had been mostly inward as he tried to mentally process everything to a point where he could point at someone with confidence. The only exception to this was the email he had forwarded earlier in the day, one that he really hoped would prove to be the address source for the person (or people) behind all this.

  “And why are they so adamant about getting guys to come here and torment me?” she asked.

  Bill didn’t have an answer.

  “And why put a picture of a door on my car?” she added.

  “Well, obviously they blame you, well, Nikki, for something, the question is, what?” And how is the door connected.

  The picture in question was sitting on the sofa.

  Bill walked over and picked it up.

  Why is this significant? he asked while looking at the door number. What would have –

  “Do you think you could sit down?” Kimberly asked.

  Bill looked at her, not understanding at first, but then realized he had been pacing. “Oh, sorry, I do that when thinking.”

  “I know, I hear it upstairs all the time. Right now it’s just a bit unnerving.”

  “Okay.” Bill took a seat on the floor. “Better?”

  She nodded.

  He considered telling her that talking to someone with a bloodstained outfit and face was unnerving as well, but decided against it. A thought did occur, though. “Do you need an ice pack or anything? I didn’t think of it until now.”

  “Is my face swollen?” She carefully touched herself while asking, a wince appearing as her finger pressed against a part of her nose.

  “No, not really,” Bill said. “I just – “ he waved a hand “ – ah, never mind.” He looked at the picture again. “I can’t figure out what this means or why it’s significant.”

  “Me either.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah.” A new, exhausted ring was present in her voice.

  “I almost wish we hadn’t interrupted her while in the garage, at least not before she could place something else – or do whatever it was she was planning on doing. It might have given us more insight.”

  Kimberly nodded and yawned.

  “You going to be okay down here by yourself?” he asked, his mind thinking it was time to call it a night.

  She thought about this for a second and then nodded again.

  “Okay. I think I’m going to head up. My door will be unlocked if you need anything.”

  She smiled.

  “And please don’t hesitate to get me if something comes up, or if you suddenly feel the need to stay up there for the night with the door locked -- ” Okay, too far, he silently admitted.

  If so, she didn’t seem to take offense to the suggestion and simply said, “Thanks.”

  “Mind if I hang onto this?” He lifted the picture.

  She shook her head.

  “Okay. Something might come to me in the middle of the night and I’d hate to have to wake you to get it.”

  She yawned again.

  Bill took the hint and headed up. Toby was waiting, a curious look on his face. He then jumped up onto the coffee table to sniff the picture after he set it down, but then, seeing where Bill was headed, quickly joined him in the kitchen.

  “Fine,” Bill said in response to a meow and grabbed the treat bag. Once a couple were dished out he started looking around for something to indulge in himself, but nothing jumped out at him.

  In the end he settled on a soda since he needed something and took it to the couch, his mind once again wishing he had a TV connection so he could just turn it on and zone out for a while.

  You’d probably figure out quite a bit about all this stuff too since you wouldn’t be thinking about it intensely.

  Naturally, this shifted his focus back to the picture, which he looked at for another fifteen minutes before forcing himself to go take a shower. After that he took a seat on the couch again, where Toby joined him, and before he could even pick up the picture, fell asleep.

  Sunday, August 21, 2011

  1

  Mark had two emails waiting for him that morning on the OK Cupid site, one from Amy and one from Nikki. He read the Amy one first, a nervous excitement making it impossible to wait.

  I had so much fun yesterday. I couldn’t do anything but think about you all night long. I wanted to call you to just talk but wasn’t sure if you’d be sleeping. I hope you had fun with your friend last night. I can’t wait to see you today. Could we meet again at like noon? Maybe at Tom and Jerry’s or something? I’ll make your drive worthwhile.

  A huge smile arrived, along with an erection as he thought about the final statement.

  It probably doesn’t mean what you think it means.

  But what else could it mean?

  He gave the question some serious thought, but nothing came to mind. He then moved on to Nikki’s email.

  I don’t think I’m interested in you anymore. You just aren’t my type and I’m pissed that I wasted so much time waiting to see if you would be a good fuck. By the way, I got an interesting email from a young lady asking about you. What should I tell her? Any suggestions? I’m too tired to think of something now, but maybe in the morning I will know what to say.
>
  Panic hit.

  Was it Amy? Had she messaged Nikki? If so, why? Did she know about the two of them communicating? If so, how? Unlike some sites he had been on Ok Cupid didn’t broadcast to the world who you were interacting with, so it wasn’t like she could have sent questions out to people on a friends list or anything.

  Is Nikki just messing with you?

  Could the message have been sent without any knowledge of another girl entering his life?

  It seemed too coincidental.

  Unless she is just trying to make you think that another girl is interested, one that doesn’t really exist.

  Mark wouldn’t put it past whoever was behind this. After all, they had been jerking guys like him around for over six months, so starting in on him from another angle after this one got old was very plausible. Why exactly they were doing it was a mystery, especially given the lack of any monetary gain from the website itself, but that didn’t change the fact that they were doing it.

  And what if she really is in contact with Amy?

  The fear such a situation brought about was not easily subdued.

  Send her a message asking for details on who this girl is? Find out if she really knows her or is just bullshitting you.

  He considered this option for several minutes, and then, when no decision arrived, took a trip up to the kitchen to get some coffee. This added another five minutes to his indecision given how unappealing the last inch of coffee at the bottom of the carafe was. Once a fresh pot was brewed and a mug filled, he returned to his room in the basement and typed up a message. It said: A girl asked you about me? Really? How exciting. What’s her name? Hope she isn’t a tease like you.

  He hit SEND.

  Satisfaction arrived.

  Unfortunately, fear was still present as well.

  He went and looked at the message from Amy again and typed up a response telling her that meeting at Tom and Jerry’s at noon was perfect. He then asked if she meant the one on Lincoln Highway near the school or the one on Route 23 over in Sycamore. Hopefully the former. That one was his favorite. It had more personality than the one in Sycamore given that it was older. The new one seemed too modern to him; too much like the other dozen fast food places one could visit while driving down the road. The one by the school, however, didn’t have that feel. It felt original. It felt –