by Middleton, J
“What’s wrong?”
He noticed a different look on her face, something he hadn’t seen before.
“His boots on missing and our wedding pictures are gone.”
“He might have left his boots at work are in his vehicle. Maybe your father got your pictures put them up for you.”
“No I don’t think so my father never came here after the shooting. He hired someone to come and cover everything and broad up the windows.”
“Katie why don’t you call and talk to the detective, maybe they got the boots.”
“Well what about my pictures.”
“I don’t know they could be put up.”
Katie walks to the other side of the bed and opens the top drawer of her night stand. There was a small package wrapped in red with an oversized bow on it. A card was sitting beside it with her name on it. He hands trembling as she picked up the small red box. She sits down on the edge of the bed and opens it. There was a heart locket with a picture of him in it. When she opened the card the words “Always your shadow” was written on the bottom. Tears roll down her face as she drops the card on the floor. Trying to stop the tears from rolling she couldn’t. They fell like pouring rain.
“Katie lets go now and call the detective in the morning.”
“I am John, just give me a minute.” Her voice so low he could barely hear it. The letter, the card, the words, rolling over and over in her mind.
“It can’t be him. It just can’t be he was on the floor dead, I buried him. He wouldn’t hurt me like this. He would never.” Her thoughts going crazy.
She stood up and walked out of the room as anger ran though her blood stream hard and fast. Stopping by the bathroom door she opens it and walks in, his after shave was still on the corner. Razor’s, his wallet and keys were lying next to his belt.
“Nothing is making any sense.” She thought to herself.
She picked up the wallet and opened it and there was a few hundred dollars left inside, his credit cards and his license’s.
“If he did this why would he leave his things what is going on.” She starts to panic as the memories raged through her.
Everything starting coming back to her like it was yesterday the smell of the room the sound of the house. Seeing his head buried in his blood, the loud sound behind her before everything went black.
John looked at her face as it turned white and her eyes were dilated like someone had hit her in the head. He reached out his hand and grabbed her arm. She looked as if she was going to pass out right in front of him.
“Katie,” his voice loud.
He was trying to break her trans, he said her name again and she finally responded to the sound of his voice.
She fell into his arms with tears streaming out of her eyes. Her arms went around him holding him so tight it almost took his breath. Her body trembling so hard he could feel it all though his body. He picks her up in his arms and carries her out of the bathroom and into the living room. Still holding her, she looks up to face him and looks into his eyes.
“Everything I have ever loved got took away, what if something happens to you.”
Johns heart dropped to his stomach, when he heard them words.
“Katie nothing is going to happen to me.” His lips cover hers softly and with so much power and passion it stopped her tears from falling.
He sits her down and opens the front door and leads her out of the house. Shutting the door hard behind him he helps her in the truck.
“Here please lock it.” She said as she hands him the key.
He turns around and locks the door and walks to the other side of his truck. The light of his truck hit the garage door. It was cracked open a few feet from the ground. He could see something that looked like a dried flower are a weed on the ground it had turned brown. Looking over at Katie she was too upset to notice. He gets in the truck and starts to put it in reverse.
“Wait.” She said quickly.
“I need to look at one more thing before I go.”
“Katie I don’t think you need to. You have been though too much.”
“No, I need to go look in his car. I will be right back.” She jumps out of the truck before he could put it in park and goes to the garage and pulls the door all the way open. Looking down at her feet she noticed something on the ground. There laid a dried up lily on the concrete. She picks it up and it was crumbly and dark. Dropping it on the ground she made her way to his car. She opens the door and seen some papers on the seat. Sitting down in his seat she looked everywhere in his car but nothing. There were papers in the seat as she rumbled through them. A few minutes later she gets out of the car. Hesitating for a moment like something was holding her there, she looks over in the backseat. Nothing was there, trash from a fast food store but nothing important. She couldn’t see anything else. Jumping back into John’s truck, she shut the door hard. Taking one more look at the house as he was backing out of the driveway. The light slowly faded away leaving a dark silhouette with dark shadows behind the shrubs. This was a place she would never return to. It was gone to her, that life was something in her past that she didn’t ever want to remember again. Trembling in her seat she felt Johns hand grabs hers and hold it tightly.
“It will be alright. You don’t have to come back here. You know that don’t you. Leave that life in the past. No one will hurt you anymore.”
He brings her hand up to his lips and kissed the top of it. His warm lips sent shivers down her arm.
Looking down at her watch it was a little past 11:00 a.m. Katie was so tried she leaned her head against the window and drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 20
The sun peeked through the old broken curtains as tiny particles flooded through the air. Tom opened his eyes to the light of the room. He had feel asleep on the floor wrapped up in her shawl. Standing up his body ached from the hardness of the wood surface. Stretching his arms out he realized it was nine o'clock in the morning.
“This is the first morning I didn’t get to see you go to work. See Katie you are making me tired. Well I will forgive you this time, because we will spend the rest of our lives together real soon.”
He walks to the bathroom and turns on the water, and washes his face. He looks up in a small mirror at his reflection. The rings around his eyes were getting darker.
“Oh this won't work. You will never like me like this.” He muttered to himself.
Turning around he walks to the door and opens it, the cool air outside kisses his cheeks and moisture quickly coats his skin. He watched the trees branches moved slightly in the small breeze. The sun was shining between the trees as it made shadows on grass. He goes back in the house closing his eyes he could see her coming out of her room. Her hair laid long against her shoulders, her grown showing every curve in her body. Shivers trickle up and down his neck as his pulse quickens more from just the excitement of her face. His knees shake, as his hands tremble.
“Just beautiful” he thought.
Opening his eyes, she is gone and the room has become empty. Standing there lost in the voided space he focused on the dim light from the hallway. Taking slow steps to the bedroom he opens the door. The bed was still made just like he left it and the candle had burnt out and wax was running down the side of the dresser. There was no Katie, the room was empty.
“Soon, real soon you will be in your bed. Just a few more things to get ready and you will be home.”
He closes the door and walks to the shower, moments of what he had just seen goes over and over in his mind. His mind whirls and his nerves on edges, he takes a deep breath as he climbs into the water. His worries will soon be cast away. When he makes his move there will be nothing are no one that will get in the way. She will be here with him and her life will start anew. Taking a deep breath as the water hits him hard on his shoulders, he was released that it was almost over and he could rest with her right beside him. All the years of watching, worrying will soon be over.
He
got dressed and combed his hair back against his head, and grabbed a dark hoody. Walking out the door the sun was beaming down on his head sending a ray of warmth though his cold body. The day was cool and pleasant and he was finally able to think. He got in his gray car and pulled his oversized hoodie over his head. Pulling out the long driveway head to the main road. The bright sunlight is almost blinding coming through the windshield.
He wanted to become invisible slip into town and back out. The road at his feet, soon her building would come into view. Traffic was steady going down the interstate, he could see his exit ahead. His mind going back to her on how he tried to drop her little glues here and there but it didn’t work. It would never put her a smile on her face, it always made her sad. He was too far away from her now he had to go into town and check on things before the big day. It was coming up so soon.
Finally, he made it, he parked a block from the large tall building. She had a magnificent building, out lined with stone columns.
He gets out of his car and walks towards her building and stops at a bench hidden by a large flower bed with a few Bradford pear trees. It was the perfect spot, he could see anyone that came in and out, but he was hidden enough so one would see him. It was just a few feet from the over large concrete steps. Grapping a paper that was left behind he puts it up to his face flipping though it like he was reading it. He hears a faint beeping of a horn, so he looks up and sees her driver approach. He could feel his heart beating faster. The blood in his veins turned to adrenaline pumping hard though his body. He could plainly see her sitting in the backseat of the car. It stops in front of the large steps. He continues to watch in as suddenly a gentleman gets out from the other side of the car. He walks over and opens her door. Katie then gets out and hugs his neck and kisses him on the lips.
“No,” he screams to himself.
He couldn’t believe his eyes. This man was holding her close to him. His lips were covering hers. She was enjoying it, smiling, waving.
“This can’t be.” He thought.
Stunned at what he was seeing his head went down as he closes his eyes and shuts the whole world out around him. He was overwhelmed with the feeling of betrayal. The pain of her with another man was almost too much for him to bare.
“This can be, she is mine.”
He stood up and for a moment he thought he saw her beautiful face stare back at him with a vacant look in her bright green eyes, but he was wrong she was happy and glowing. She was nothing like she was in the last past year. It was if he was seeing a new woman right in front of his eyes. Everything about her was changing, her looks, her clothes, her smiles, her skin.
“I’m the one that is supposed to light up her world.”
All he wanted was to touch her feel the warmth of her skin next to his. Show her he was the one for her.
“I can let this go on. It has to stop, no, you are mine. Mine forever.”
He reaches out his arm to her but her back was to him. She continued to walk up the steps to the glass door. His trembling arm just a few feet away from the woman he always wanted.
“Katie” he calls out, but she never turns around.
He allowed his imagination to get the better of him before his bubble had finally busted. He sat down on the bench nodding his head not caring if anyone noticed him. He had his fists so tight that they were turn white around his knuckles. His heart was acing and the thought of another man with her sent him into a rage. His heart skipped a beat or two as the feeling of nausea went down to his stomach. Images of her with him was driving him to the point of insanity. He sat there on the bench a several minutes before he got the strength to return to his car. He was in a daze as he drove down her road. The traffic was at minimal as he was almost at his destination.
“I have to step up my plan, I can’t leave you alone any longer. You are mine.”
He found a parking space across a few houses down from hers. Sitting there watching people go by waiting for the chance. He got out of his car and started to walk towards her apartment the woman next door came out and sat on her steps, he continued to walk slowly past her for it seemed fifteen minutes are so. It was freezing cold but he couldn’t feel it, he couldn’t feel anything anymore. He was numb all of his emotions and trying to forget the whole world. He finally reached a small café on the corner. He walked in and sat down at a table by the window. The place was so loud for him, he couldn’t concentrate. A young woman around her early twenties, with golden blond hair approached him.
“What can I get for you?”
“Coffee to go please.” He answered without looking up at her face.
He sat there and waited patiently glaring out the window. When she returned with his coffee he took his cup and headed out the door, his anger building up all around him. He reached down in his pocket to try and find his only friend, the little pink pills. He needed to numb the pain but to his despair they were not there. Finally, he made it back to his car sitting there waiting just waiting. It seemed like hours had passed since and she hasn’t returned. He spent the whole afternoon watching everything around him. He looked down at his watch and it was getting near time for her arrival. He wanted the world to open up and swallow her friend whole then he could just disappear with her. He could feel a frightful chill in the air as he watched every car that went by. His stomach rumbled but he didn’t feel like going to get something to eat. He would miss her, he had to see her. He looked up in the mirror and he caught a glimpse of a man he didn’t recognize. This man looked weak and helpless, bloodshot eyes almost bulging out of their sockets.
“This was not me. This is a different person, as he gazed his attention toward the car coming toward him. It was her, slowly moving but he could recognize the vehicle anywhere. He knew everything about her life, he had been stalking her for years. The car stopped in front of her door. The tall medium built man gets out of the car, shortly after she climbs out. His arm is on her back. Katie turns around and waves to the driver, they both disappear inside.
“Why Katie? I can’ believe this. This man is not for you I am?” Mumbling loud.
His eyes watch the lights come on and shadows form around her window. Toms eyes become narrow he could feel the frustration starting to build. He could only imagine what was going on. He wanted to storm though the front door and grab her and leave. His eyes were burning with rage with his fingers holding the steering wheel so tight it felt like his knuckles was going to pop out.
“I cannot comprehend this in my mind. No this isn’t what it looks like. Not sweet Katie, she has been alone all these years waiting for me, only me. This just can’t be, NO! I want except this NO!”
Words done him no good as his anger was building, his hands shaking hard with his eyes still glued to her window. He suddenly became very bold, he gets out of his car and moves toward her house. Stopping quickly as a man approached her door with something that looked like cloths. The man turned and stared at him before knocking on her door. He turns and goes back to his car he puts his car in drive and moves past him just in time to see her open the door. Parking a few blocks from her, he watched her run out the door and stand in front of the delivery man. A few minutes later the dark hair gentleman came out the door looking around. Still frozen in disbelief on how this can’t be happening. Tom knew then he had to get off this street.
“I have to resolve this situation she belongs to me.”
Making a U-turn in the road he drives past her house again. He was straining so hard to see in her window he almost hit a car that slowed down in front of him. With his foot firmly on the brake he was a few inches from there bumper. He took a deep breath and tried to exhale the adrenaline that was running though his body. He pulls around the car as the man was flipping him off. He hurried to a parking garage just a few buildings down. Stopping his car quickly he leans his head on his steering wheel his mind in rage.
“See what you almost happened, it’s your fault. All of this, if you were doing what you were supposed t
o be doing we would be together now. I can’t have this not anymore.”
A combination of fear and anger and obsession, was spinning around in his head. His body quivering, not from the fear of being seen but from the wreck he almost had. His red face was forcing out droplets of sweat through pore, leaving a glow across his forehead. He tried to calm down as he sat there staring in to the dark parking lot. The lights were coming on overhead as the sun was going down. Night time was approaching he had done nothing, but watch. Breathing in and out, his heart started to beat regular and his pulse was slowing down. His obsession with her and the life she had lived consumed every ounce of his being.
“Calm down, think.”
He took a deep breath in and blew it out. Looking around the garage trying to see if there was any life moving around. The security lights weren’t as bright as he wanted, but that would work for him. He got out of his car and slowly walked to the opening of the street. People were up and down the side walk like there was a parade are something.
“Oh know they are not going to stop me.”
Pushing through the crowd he continued his journey towards her house. He could finally see her house in view, sitting down on some steps looking across the street at door. He was listening for any noise coming from her house. He became more desperate to spot anything that could help him discover what was happening in there. The streets finally thinned out some so he moved directly across from her. He could see a red light on in the window. Still no movement no noise. Feeling slightly distressed and agitated, he was fighting the urge to storm though her door. He was trying to convince himself one good reason not to do it. His reflection was staring back at him though the glare of her window. He took a long deep breath and pulled his hoody down over his face sheltered himself from the cold wind. The feeling of her with him burned a hole in the pit of his insides and ripping away his heart. Staring at her window it seemed hours, he didn’t hear the man approach him from the side.
