by Matt Shaw
“Kim, are you okay in there?” he called through – not quite shouting but not exactly whispering either. As his concerns grew stronger he banged his closed fist against the wooden door, harder. “KIM?” he shouted. Again, there was no reply. “If you can hear me and just want to be left alone, just tell me and I’ll go, okay?” he said through the door in a gentle tone of voice. Maybe she was ignoring him. Maybe she did just want peace and quiet and to forget everything, and everyone, whilst she washed away her sins. Kim didn’t reply.
Kirk tried the door handle again hoping that, maybe, it wasn’t locked and that it was just jammed. This time, with the twist of the handle, he threw his body weight against the door. The door didn’t move. It was locked. He rubbed his shoulder and tried, once more, to get her attention, “Kim, I’m getting worried out here – can you just let me know you are okay, please?”
When Kim didn’t reply, he took a few steps back and lined up his foot against the door, where you lock would be, and started kicking as hard as he could – desperately trying to break the door open. If she was asleep; she’d soon let him know that everything was okay on the other side of the door. Either that or, in her present condition, she’d have a heart attack. Kirk kicked the door hard. It moved slightly but that was it. He let loose with another kick; another slight give in the wood.
“Please, just let me in!” he called out with each kick as he got more and more desperate to see that Kim was okay; more and more desperate to see that Kim was even still in the bathroom and hadn’t climbed out of the window. “Please, just let me in!”
* * * * *
“Please, just let me in!” said Tracy as she banged on the car window. Kirk was sat in the driving seat watching her, and laughing.
“Promise me first; promise me that you do love me and that you really do want to marry me. Promise me!”
“Come on, it’s cold out here,” replied Tracy, trying hard not to laugh herself.
“I need to hear you promise me,” teased Kirk as he turned the key in the car’s ignition, firing the engine into life. To prove his point, further, that he was willing to go without her he revved the engine a little. “Promise me, I’ll drive off and leave you here – and then you’ll have to go back into the restaurant and get them to order you a taxi,” he teased again.
Tracy smiled, “If you don’t take me home now, I won’t be able to prove how much I love you.” She licked her lips seductively.
Kirk hesitated for a moment before, “Oh well, if you put it like that!” He leant across to the passenger side and pulled the door lock up – letting Tracy in.
“Asshole,” she laughed as she climbed in.
“Ah, signs of true love,” he smiled and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I love you.”
“I love you,” she replied as she turned to him. They kissed.
“Seat belt,” said Kirk as he sat back upright into his chair and turned his attention back to the wheel. He pressed his foot down on the accelerator and the car pulled away from the restaurant’s car park.
“But if I put my seat belt on, how can I show you how much I love you?” said Tracy as she leant across in her seat and undid Kirk’s belt.
“What are you doing?” he laughed as he tried to fight her off with one hand.
“Concentrate on the road, we don’t want to have an accident now, do we?” she laughed as she took hold of his hand and placed it on the wheel before turning her attention back to his belt.
* * * * *
The wood around the bathroom door splintered and the door swung round, hitting Kim in the head where she laid on the white-tiled floor, in a pool of her own blood. Kirk froze. There was so much blood.
* * * * *
When Kirk opened his eyes he saw the blood; all the blood. There was so much blood. He turned his head to the passenger seat; the empty passenger seat. Panic kicked in – where was she? Where was Tracy? He tried to open the car door but it didn’t budge. The damaged body-work keeping it forced shut.
“Tracy?” he called out. There was no reply, “TRACY?” He undid his seat belt and climbed through the smashed windscreen, cutting his hand in the process. When he was completely through he rolled off the side of the crumpled, smoking bonnet and dropped to the floor with a thump, “TRACY?” He sat upright. There she was; the other side of the trees. Kirk ignored his own pain and stood up. As he stumbled his way through the woods to get to where Tracy was he cast his mind back to what happened. What had happened? He had driven that stretch of quiet, country road a hundred times before. He shut it from his mind – it wasn’t important. Tracy was. The baby was. Oh God.
15
KIRK RAN DOWNSTAIRS and picked up the telephone. Kim’s pulse was very faint but there was still a chance to save her. He dialled a nine, then another nine and then stopped. If he called the ambulance they’d come for her. They may even save her. But then she’ll face more tough questions – and what if they’ve found Leon already? He hesitated over the final ‘nine’ before putting the phone back into the charger unit. He didn’t need them to save her. He could; just as he had saved Tracy.
Kirk walked back upstairs and into the bathroom where Kim was still lying in her own blood. He stopped and looked at her. She was beautiful. He bent over and kissed her on the lips before scooping her up in his arms and carrying her down the landing, towards the first bedroom on the right.
When he got to the door, he pushed it open with his foot – being careful to keep his balance. The door opened and a strong vanilla fragrance wafted out. He carried Kim into the room. The curtains were closed making it dark to see but he knew his way around the room to avoid any obstacles. He took Kim to the bed and placed her on the right hand side before flicking the bedside light on – illuminating the room.
All around the room, scattered on the floor, were pictures of Tracy. Stuck to the wall, with tape, were more pictures of Tracy – some of them were just of her and others were of her and Kirk together. From the ceiling hung hundreds of car fresheners – all shaped like trees – all giving off a strong vanilla fragrance. The only other thing in the room was the bed; Kim on the right hand side of it and Tracy on the left hand side; decomposed – a skeleton of her former self.
* * * * *
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Kirk kept saying to himself as he rocked back and fourth with Tracy in his arms. Kirk knew that, although she was distracting him at the time, this was his entire fault. She was dead because of him. The baby was dead because of him; his baby. He wept as he stood up, with Tracy in his arms and started walking from the scene of the accident. He wasn’t too far from his house and he knew he could make it before morning. He’d worry about the car in the morning, phone the police and report it as stolen. He just had to get away now.
“I love you, I love you, I love you,” he kept saying to Tracy, sure that her corpse could hear him, “I’ll look after you, no one is going to take you away from me. I love you so much.” He wept; from both the thought of losing Tracy and from the pain in his right temple that must have happened during the crash.
He had been looking for someone like Tracy for as long as he could remember – and he wasn’t about to lose her now. No one was going to take her away from him. She was his. Once he’d get her home, he’d protect her. He’d never let her go.
* * * * *
“You’re safe now. You both are. My ladies. I’ll look after you, nothing bad can happen to you now,” said Kirk as he stood above Tracy and Kim. He climbed onto the bed, between them, and gave them both a tender kiss on the lips, “I love you so much, I’ll protect you. There’s room for both of you in my life.”
He smiled as he pulled the duvet up, “I love you.”
He leant across and turned the bedside light off again, plunging them back into darkness.
“We love you too,” said a ‘female’ voice.
~ FIN
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