Inseparable Strangers

by Jill Patten

  After waiting what seemed like forever, I heard my trunk slam shut, and I watched him roll the spare toward the front of my car. The front end slowly started to lift as he began the process.

  The weather outside had no remorse on the vagabond. In fact, the rain was coming down in sheets rather than drops, and the lightning lit up the sky as soon as the thunder rumbled. At one point I feared my car might get struck. Perhaps I should’ve feared for the man, but I didn’t. Like I’d said before, he was just another piece of shit out on the streets sucking up all the income the working class fought so hard for.

  Since scumbag had nowhere to go and nowhere to be, he was taking forever, making me beyond bored. Finally, I felt him lowering the driver’s side. Oh, thank you, God. He’s finally finished. He was back by my window motioning for me to open the trunk again. I pushed the button for him, and the car shook while he hopefully placed everything back without stealing any of my personal belongings. Maybe that was the payment he’d take, after all.

  I started my car, and already had it in drive when the strange man tapped his knuckles against my window. My finger pushed down on the lock button just to make sure both doors were still secure.

  “You were lucky. That tire was ripped to shreds. Somebody was apparently looking out for you today.” I smiled and nodded before stepping on the gas to get away as quickly as possible. He had no idea just how true his words were.

  Looking in my rearview mirror, I watched the drenched man on the side of the road until I was unable to make out his form any longer. Some people would claim I was a cold-hearted bitch, which I was, but I wasn’t about to take a chance on having my throat slit for a simple tire change.

  As I pulled into a parking spot at the dealership, I had already forgotten about the homeless creep who’d paid his service to me by simply being alive. After I cussed the guy at the front desk out for putting shitty tires on my car in the first place, I drove back home with a new set they sold to me as “top of the line.”

  My dinner date with Victoria that was supposed to end with an evening of shopping got canceled. As much as it disgusted me to use the dealership’s personal phone, I sucked up my prideful OCD and explained my tire mishap. And my quick stop at the Verizon store for a car charger was top priority before going home.

  Later on that night, as I lay in bed dozing off, a set of mysterious, green eyes stared at me behind my eyelids. Oh no you don’t. You’re not even going to give me the guilt trip for not giving you a ride. Don’t you dare think you’re going to invade my dreams.

  With that last thought, I was out for the night.

  Chapter 2

  “Is this how you repay someone for helping you?” The bearded man gritted through yellow-stained teeth. His breath was disgustingly pungent against my cheek. His wet-clad body decreased my oxygen level as he pressed all of his weight onto my back. “If you don’t have the money then I’ll happily take what I can get from that sweet, rich pussy of yours,” he growled in my ear.

  The tip of the pistol ground into my neck as I felt him pull his filthy jacket away from his body with his other hand. “Please. Please don’t hurt me,” I begged. “I—I’m s—sorry,” I cried, fearing for my life.

  His hand fumbled around my ass, and the sound of a zipper caused warning bells to go off in my head. “No, no, please don’t.” I squirmed, trying to get out from beneath him. The barrel of the gun sunk deeper into my skin as I began to violently shake. A stab of pain shot through my neck, but I knew he hadn’t pulled the trigger. Yet.

  A gasp escaped me as I felt his calloused fingers graze along the inside of my panties. He cupped me between the legs and squeezed hard. “This is about to become mine. Do you understand?”

  I wanted to scream, but who would hear me? “If you so much as say one word, I’ll put this bullet through your juggler and laugh as you choke on your own blood. I get off watching a slow, agonizing death.” He slowly dragged his tongue up the side of my face. “You got me?” All I could do was whimper. Streams of tears cascaded down my cheeks. My thoughts were cluttered in fear, but I knew I was right not to give him a ride after he helped me.

  My panties burned against my hip as he tried to jerk them off of me. Once I heard a snap, the sting lessoned. His rough hand lowered down between my thighs and pushed my legs apart. Unexpectedly, I felt him force his way into my back entrance.

  “Oh, God, no!” I cried. With an ear shattering explosion, I was taken from my nightmare.

  I shot straight up in bed like a rocket. Sweat lined my hairline and my lungs screamed for air.

  Breathe.

  It’s not real.

  Breathe.

  It was a dream.

  Breathe.

  He’s not here.

  Breathe.

  You’re safe.

  The silence floating around in my dark bedroom brought chills over my skin. I flipped my comforter off and stepped down onto the cold hardwood floor. The bathroom door slammed shut behind me, causing me to jump. My big toe caught onto the corner of the sink and an excruciating pain shot through my entire foot. “Son of a bitch!” I shouted through clenched teeth.

  “Fuck! Shit! Damn! Hell!” I whined, hopping around on one foot until I was able to reach the toilet.

  The half-moon shone into the bathroom, but it wasn’t enough light to assess the damage. Deciding to investigate further, I hopped back over to flip the switch by the door. I eased the door open and peeked into my bedroom. Am I seriously looking for the boogey man? The air stopped blowing from the ceiling vent, and that’s when it dawned on me — it was the suction from the air conditioner that caused the door to close on its own. Maybe the old saying my childhood pastor used to say was true, ‘if you were living right, you wouldn’t be scared so easily.’

  I stepped back into the bathroom, gathered a cotton ball, peroxide, and a Band-Aid, then settled myself onto the edge of the porcelain garden tub. The cut between my toes was bigger than I’d expected.

  After cleaning up the blood, and bandaging up the wound, I lightly padded back to my bed in hopes of falling into a dreamless sleep.

  ~~~

  Avenged Sevenfold’s, Nightmare blared from my radio, waking me from a peaceful sleep. How ironic.

  Pulling the plush comforter from my face, I reached over to turn the alarm off. Dozing on and off for a little while, I’d been unable to shake my thoughts from the night before. I shook my head as I thought about the horrific nightmare that crept into my dreams. People often say your dreams are born from thoughts or issues plaguing your subconscious. My subconscious shouldn’t give a shit, just like how I don’t.

  Dreams weren’t ever part of my nightly ritual, let alone nightmares. I’d always chalked it up as being brain dead once my head hit the pillow. To my surprise, last night proved to be different, but why now? Was it my run-in with the freakish stranger? I swear they were like parasites scrounging around in our leftover filth. Nothing good could ever come by befriending them. If I’d given that weirdo a ride last night, I was pretty sure my nightmare would’ve become a reality.

  There was no time to waste. I was meeting Victoria in an hour and I was nowhere close to being ready. After showering, I pulled on a cobalt blue cashmere sweater over my grey leggings, complementing them with my Black Diamond Sabika earrings and necklace. Finishing up by stepping into my heeled boots. Bringing my height even with hers would prevent her from looking down on me. I pulled my wild, red hair up into a messy ponytail, dabbed rose tinted gloss on my lips, and swiped the mascara brush across my lashes once. Sighing, I noticed the mascara only enhanced the dark bags under my eyes, giving them a black eye effect. Hopefully, my black Ray Bans and long, slender legs will help detract any attention from my sleep-deprived eyes.

  Walking away from my full-length mirror, I looked over my shoulder to make sure my ass was covered by my sweater just enough to still show the bottom of my ass cheeks. Stepping out of my house without looking immaculate wasn’t an option. I never knew when I m
ight bump into Mr. Tall, Dark, Fuck Me I’m a God. Not that my social game was in play, or my sex life was alive, still, you never know. A woman should always be prepared to bump into her future husband when she’d least expect it. Victoria would shit her pants if she saw me with new meat.

  To have woken up in the middle of the night scared out of my mind, I was in an unusually good mood this morning. But then again, a day full of shopping usually did make me feel like a queen. No thanks to dad, I wasn’t going to have as much to spend because of those damn tires.

  I wasn’t sure when or how it started, but somewhere along the way, Victoria had always felt like we had to compete with one another. Whether it was who wore the smaller size, who wore the most expensive brands, or who had the cutest boyfriend. I expected this visit wouldn’t be any different. With that in mind, I stepped on the scale. A moment later, I stepped off with a sigh of relief. Three pounds under my goal weight even with being fully clothed. Let’s see Victoria beat that. With a smirk on my face, I headed to the kitchen. Grabbing the kale and strawberry smoothie, I stepped out of the door.

  Slipping my Ray Bans onto my face, I walked out into the bright sunshine which held promises for an awesome day of shopping. The storm from yesterday blew in a cold front making the air unseasonably cool for this time of year.

  My Mercedes purred to life, and I wasted no time traveling down the familiar road to our favorite restaurant. It was a little hole in the wall, but they served up the best pecan waffles in the entire state of Virginia. And because I’d worked my fat off, I was entitled to splurge. The scale told me it was okay.

  Since it was still before noon, I was lucky enough to find a parking spot right up front. As I stepped out of the car, a sudden chill washed over me, and once again the bearded creep swept across my mind. Pushing him out, I opened the door, and my nose tingled with the delicious smell of fresh ingredients.

  Surprisingly, I arrived before Victoria, so I found us a seat toward the back so we could be as animated as we liked without gathering irritated stares. I went ahead and ordered. If Victoria was anything, it was never late. She always made sure she was prompt for any date. She wasn’t late today, it’s just I was that early.

  When she waltzed into the restaurant, every man’s head turned. Her sleek auburn hair barely swept past her shoulders, and her porcelain skin glowed with the perfect amount of makeup. She looked straight ahead, ignoring all the lusty stares from the men and the evil stares from their significant others.

  As soon as she spotted me, she rushed over, clicking her heeled boots against the tiled floor. “Lennox!” she exclaimed. “It’s been forever.” She hugged me before I could stand from my seat. She gave me one of those hugs where you sway back and forth like young couples do during their first school dance.

  “You smell lovely,” I said while she slung her coat over the back of her chair.

  “And you look beautiful as always,” she replied, returning the compliment.

  “So, what have you been up to? Any new beau’s?” Why did I know her first question would be about my love life? She always enjoyed gouging me on my lack of guys.

  Giving her a sarcastic smile, I took a sip of my water before answering her. “No. There’s no one around here worth fooling with. I need to move away if I want to find someone who’s on my level.”

  She snorted. “I see nothing’s changed.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked as I took another sip of water to avoid from saying something nasty. Her remark perturbed me.

  “It means you set your standards too high. If you’re ever going to find someone, you need to come down from your high horse and learn how to mingle with the common folk.”

  Her comment deserved an eye roll and that’s exactly what it got. “Yeah…sure, and when did you become the spinster whisperer?” I asked sarcastically. “I’m not old. I have plenty of dating years left.”

  She shrugged. “I’m just saying.”

  “Well, since you’re gouging me about a boyfriend, I guess that means you’ve met someone?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  A smile beamed on her face. “You know me well, cuz”

  Oh boy, here we go. I could tell the giddy ‘oh I’m in love’ spill was about to come.

  “He’s so amazing. He’s gorgeous, a complete gentleman, and he is the CEO of a software company so you know what that means…,” she gushed with excitement.

  “Yeah, he’s old,” I said with little enthusiasm.

  She threw her wadded up straw paper at me. “No, dummy, he’s loaded. Don’t be jealous, you’ll find someone worth your while one day.”

  This conversation was going nowhere fast. Quick to change the subject, I picked a topic we both loved equally—shopping. “So, what stores do you want to hit after we eat?”

  Three hours later, and two thousand dollars less, I walked back to my car carrying a couple of bags filled with two pairs of jeans, a pair of black knee-high boots, and the cutest pale pink scarf covered with tiny purple skulls. If daddy thought he was punishing me by not buying my damn tires, then he was painfully mistaken. Speaking of the tire incident, I couldn’t wait until he got home from his business trip so I could tell him how he nearly sent his daughter to an early grave.

  “Bye, Lennox,” Victoria shouted out to me as she set her bags in the back seat of her car. “I’ll be over in a couple of days.” I smiled and waved back. She better not discuss my dating life with my father. I didn’t need him on my back about a future son-in-law. What the hell was I thinking when I told her she could stay at my place for a night?

  The horn on my car beeped twice when I pushed the lock button on my keychain, and I stepped into Starbucks for my daily Skinny Vanilla Latte. June, the barista rang up my order without me having to tell her what I wanted. After she’d asked me on my fifth day in a row ordering my usual, I told her she was a thirty-something still working at a coffee shop because people like her were too idiotic to hold a more educated job. She hasn’t spoken to me since. As if that were to make a difference to me. Hell, if anything I enjoyed not having to hear her whiny voice again, but I did make sure I watched her like a hawk while she prepared my scrumptious coffee sans any foreign liquid.

  I stepped out on the sidewalk, sipping my coffee and minding my own business when a toddler walked right into me. The little boy was so busy running from his mother, he didn’t see me step outside. His chocolate ice cream made direct contact with my knee before sliding down my pant leg and landing on my very expensive boot — my favorite pair at that. Anger coursed through my veins and my hands clenched into fists. “Ahh!” I screamed, causing the little brat to cry. “My boots! You’re little shit just ruined my six hundred dollar pair of boots!” The cool, late summer air now sizzled around my body.

  “Excuse me?” The frumpy mother with bags under her eyes and a ragged ol’ navy blue sweat suit approached me as she rubbed her son’s head to soothe him. Her lips curled inward into a thin line, and a crease formed between her eyes. “That is a two year old you’re cussing at,” she spat out through clenched teeth.

  I narrowed my eyes at her to let her know she didn’t intimidate me. “You heard me, white trash. If you’re going to become a mother, then you need to learn how to keep your boy on a harness. I’m not a parent and even I know they make dog leashes for kids.” Again, another reason why The Purge is such a phenomenal idea.

  The little snot producing boy continued crying and it became nails on a chalkboard to my ears. “Can you shut him up already? It’s not like I hit him or anything.” Although, I would love to throat punch his mother right now.

  She stepped into my personal space and I was able to see the defined wrinkles gathered around her eyes and mouth. Yep, a sure sign of a smoker. Her voice dropped low intending for only me to hear her, she pointed her finger in my face and said, “Let me tell you something you snobby-ass bitch. If you so much talk about my child in a negative way one more time, this white trash will beat the shit out of you so
fast you’ll be too crippled to ever worry about another dollar sign.”

  I took a step closer to her. “If you’re going to throw threats my way, I hope like hell you’re ready to back that shit up because I’m ready to start swinging, you piece of shit.” My voice stayed calm, but my eyes were ready to slice her open.

  We stood there glaring at each, neither one of us ready to back down for several seconds, maybe minutes before her little boy started crying ‘Mama, Mama.’ She then looked away and gave him her full attention. “Shh, it’s alright sweetheart. This mean lady wasn’t going to hurt you. C’mon, I’ll buy you another ice cream,” she said, taking his hand and heading back toward the direction they’d came from. As she walked down the sidewalk, she turned back to cast one more evil glare at me. I rolled my eyes, showing my disinterest, and continued watching them until they walked back into the Frozen Treatz shop.

  As I crossed the street, that same eerie feeling washed over me again. This was becoming ridiculous. I was never the one to be afraid of anything. Ever. Now this? The nightmares? Was I losing my evil touch? Was I being punished for my bitchy ways? Was karma paying me a visit for all the wrong doings in my life? If so, then she just met her match because I wasn’t going down without a fight.

  With a quick push of a button, my car door unlocked and I jumped in as quickly as possible. My heart jumped erratically in my chest, and the feeling was foreign to me. Get a grip on yourself. There’s nothing to be scared of. You’re just freaking yourself out because of that nightmare.

  A little voice played on repeat in my head — maybe it wasn’t just a dream.

  Chapter 3

  The rest of my day remained calm other than Victoria calling me an hour later after we’d departed saying she wasn’t coming over. Her rich, old boyfriend was coming home after being on a business trip to Japan for two weeks, so she opted to be with him instead. I shouldn’t have been surprised; every time she’s “in love” she excludes everyone around her, and then as soon as they break up, she’s back in your face wanting attention. It was kind of relieving. I wasn’t the best hostess, and after my time with her today there was no way I would’ve been able to handle her for more than twenty four hours.