Chapter 2
2387 Words
2
Alec was one of the lucky people to have a car in his company’s underground parking garage. In a few minutes he had whisked us away from the hectic life in the city and out to quiet, slower suburbia.
It was during that drive that I had my chance to examine my handsome man. He didn’t look quite himself. His face was a little pale and there were shadows under his eyes. Though he smiled, the corners of his lips were tense, like he was forcing himself to keep them up.
“Are you feeling okay?” I asked him.
He sheepishly grinned at me. “It’s that obvious?”
My pulse quickened. “You’re not sick, are you?”
Alec’s smile faltered and he shook his head. “I’m fine, I’ve just. . .well, I just haven’t been sleeping well, that’s all.”
“Nightmares?” I guessed.
“I’d rather not talk about it,” he replied as he turned us down a street lined with apartment buildings.
My face fell and I set a hand on his arm. “Even with me?”
“It’s. . .it’s really nothing,” he insisted as he reached over and gave my hand a squeeze. “I’ll be fine.”
There was something strange in his voice that told me it was more than nothing, but I dropped the subject and instead turned my attention to the night sky. The promise of stars had been spirited behind the ominous dark clouds we had seen at his office, and far off I heard another quiet boom of thunder.
By the time we turned into one among many parking lots the air was full of the smell of rain. A two-floor apartment building stretched out before us. The weathered decorative window shutters and gaudy green color bespoke its age, but the paint was fresh and the ground, what little there was, was well-kept. We climbed out and headed to the front door, a plain metal entrance with a single dead-bolt against the trespass.
The door opened and a kindly old woman stepped out. She wore a flowered dress and her hair was tied up in a plastic hair net. “Good evening!” she greeted us with watering can in hand.
I smiled at her. “Good evening, Miss Hazel. How have you been?”
The woman heaved a great sigh as she sprinkled the water over the flowers in the pots on either side of the door. “Oh, my dear, what a day it’s been. Most of my children-” I couldn’t help but smile wider at the name she had for her tenants, “-have been behaving, but I’ve had to tell little Tommy to put his tricycle away three times today. It just should not be in the hall or poor old Mr. Johnson will trip over it again, and you know he doesn’t bounce like he used to. But that’s enough about me-” She interrupted herself as she looked over us with her kindly smile. “You two look like you have plans for tonight, so I won’t keep you longer.”
She stepped aside, and with a knowing look that age grants let us go on our way. I followed Alec upstairs to his second floor apartment. There were only four rooms, but Miss Hazel had made them as neat and efficient as possible. The kitchen and dining room occupied one, with a living room, bathroom, and large bedroom occupying the others. The apartment was at the corner so that the living room and bedroom had windows that looked out on different sides of the building.
The thunder I had heard earlier returned, but with more gusto. It was also joined by a flash of lightning that lit up the sky a few miles away.
“Nice night,” I quipped as I shrugged off my coat.
“Yeah,” was the bland reply I received from Alec as he tossed his own coat over the back of the couch.
Mine joined his as I watched him walk into the kitchen. “Hard day at work? The boss didn’t reject your proposal, did he?”
“It was fine,” he assured me as he pulled a bottle of drink from the fridge. “Want a little pick-me-up?”
“Do I ever,” I replied as I plopped myself onto a dining chair. Alec pulled down a few glasses and popped open the whiskey bottle. “And put an extra ‘up’ in mine so I can get through the rest of the week.”
I noticed Alec paused for a moment as he was about to pour the alcohol into the cups. “Sure thing,” he replied as he poured out the alcohol.
I leaned my elbows on the table closer in his direction. “Are you sure everything’s alright?”
“Work’s fine,” he assured me as he added water and ice.
“That’s not what I asked,” I pointed out as he joined me at the table and held out my drink.
He took a seat opposite me and stared down at his drink that he cradled between his hands. His voice was quiet, and there was a reluctance in his tone that pulled at my heart. “How long have we known each other, Elly?”
“About five years. Why?”
A bitter smile slipped onto his lips as he shook his head. “It’s. . .I just feel like I’ve known you all my life. That you’ve always been there, and I can’t imagine being without you.”
I laughed. “I don’t plan on going anywhere.” When my words failed to wash away the bitterness in his face I moved to the seat beside him and set my hand atop one of his. “Seriously. I’m not going anywhere.”
His face hardened as he stared with laser focus on the table. “No. I’ll make sure of that.” I leaned back and blinked at him. He shook himself out of his strange mood and managed a strained smile for me. “I’m not very fun tonight, am I?”
“You’re worrying me,” I admitted as I gave his hand another squeeze. That’s when I noticed a strange bump over the skin between the thumb and forefinger. I lifted my hand and revealed a blackened scar in the shape of a dragon’s head. “Did you draw this on yourself?” I asked him as I rubbed my own finger on the figure. The image didn’t smudge like paint or marker.
Alec jerked his hand back and covered the marking with his other hand. “Y-yes. I was having trouble concentrating so I drew that.”
“It’s very pretty,” I complimented him.
“I guess. . .” he murmured as he looked away toward the living room. He pursed his lips before his next words tumbled out. “Have you ever thought about when you were a child?”
I blinked at him before understanding hit me. “You mean the years I can’t remember?” He nodded. I leaned back and folded my arms across my chest. “You know, Roxie was just talking to me about that this afternoon.”
His eyes darted to me and he arched an eyebrow. “And?”
I shrugged. “I just reminded her that I never could remember what happened. It’s all a blank. Where I came from, what my parents were like-”
“Just your name. . .” he finished for me as his voice trailed off.
I nodded. “Just my name. Elly.”
“And nothing more?” he persisted.
I raised my eyes to his inquisitive face and frowned. “No, but why are you bringing this up?”
Alec shot to his feet and strode into the kitchen. “Did you want something to eat?”
“Sure,” I answered as I looked at his untouched drink.
Another bolt of lightning stretched across the sky, illuminating the dark corners of the apartment, along with the darkened bedroom. The soft, cracking light made visible Alec’s easel on which I glimpsed a strange sight. The view was brief and made only to pique my curiosity. As Alec bent into the refrigerator I stood and walked over to the bedroom door where I flicked on the light.
The overhead light illuminated the large bed and dresser, and the tell-tale easel. An unfamiliar and eerie painting leaned against the wood frame. The landscape painting was of a dark woods etched with shadows and ancient trees. A stump of one massive tree stood at the forefront, its carcass abused by the duel cruelties of time and weather. The living trees that surrounded it stretched out their gnarled branches as though in supplication. Bare earth around its roots was the stump’s sole other companion.
A hand dropped onto my shoulder. I yelped and spun around to find myself face-to-face with Alec. His eyes lay on the eerie landscape his hands had wrought, and the look in them made me have a passing thought that the view was as alien to him as it was to me. The thought, however, was quickly shelved.
I clutched my chest over my heart and sheepishly grinned up at him. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
Alec strode past me without a word and grabbed a sheet off his unmade bed. He draped the cloth over the painting.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him as I came up to his side. “I thought it was pretty good.”
He adjusted the corners over the sheet to make sure not a single edge of the canvas showed and bowed his head. “I don’t want you to see it. It’s. . .it’s not done.”
I arched an eyebrow. “But you let me see other unfinished-”
“I don’t want you to see it!”
His angry voice made me start back. He’d never yelled at me before. Alec closed his eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out that way.”
I set a hand on his shoulder and was shocked at how badly it shook. “What’s wrong?” I questioned him as I tried to catch his eye, but he turned his face away from me. I grasped his other shoulder and turned his body to face mine. “Alec, even a blind man could see that something’s wrong. What is it?”
Alec’s eyes darted to and fro and I could see the gears working in the back of them as he searched for the right words. “Elly, I love you so much, and I-” He lifted his eyes to mine and grasped my upper arms. “You know I would never do anything to hurt you. You’re everything to me, and I just want to protect you.”
My pulse quickened. “Alec, what’s going on? What are you talking about?”
Another bolt of lightning scorched the sky and lit up the room with its violent light. Alec whipped his head up to the dark sky and his eyebrows crashed down. “Damn it! Why does it have to be so soon?”
“What’s so soon?” I pleaded as I grasped the front of his shirt. “Alec, what’s going on? Please tell me!”
He returned his attention to me and shook his head. “I can’t, but just know that I love you. No matter what, always believe that, okay?”
I stepped back out of his reach and shook my head. “How can I believe anything when you won’t tell me what’s going on?”
“You have to leave,” Alec demanded as he spun me around and nearly tossed me out of the room. He slammed the door shut behind himself, but that didn’t stop another peal of thunder from shaking the apartment windows.
Alec managed to push me to the door before I spun around to face him. I balled my hands into quivering fists at my sides and glared up at him. “Why are you doing this to me? Why won’t you tell me what’s going on?”
Alec froze for a moment, his eyes searching my face, before his lips slightly parted as though to speak. Just as his lips moved he winced and slapped his right hand over his left one. Over the strange mark. He turned away and shook his head. “Leave.”
I stretched out my hand. “But-”
“Just leave!”
I paused, winced against his harsh voice, and dropped my arm to my side. “Fine. I’m leaving.” I turned toward the door and grabbed my bag which I slung over my shoulder. “Don’t expect me to come back.”
I stomped out into the hall and closed the door behind me. Just before the lock clicked shut I heard Alec’s whispered voice.
“For your sake, I hope you don’t.”
Out in the quiet hall I couldn’t stop my tears. They flowed down my cheeks as I rushed down the corridor and stumbled down the stairs. The cool night air greeted me with a frosty kiss as I stumbled out into the darkness. I stood a few yards from the entrance, my body quivering as I tried to suppress my sobs.
A sound pierced the storm. My head shot up and my pulse quickened when I realized it hadn’t been thunder. The noise had been a single gunshot.
I spun around and looked up at the second floor. Alec’s apartment was on the other side. I couldn’t see if his lights were still on or off. I didn’t need to. The gunshot was soon followed by a piercing scream. A plume of smoke billowed out of the rear of the apartment building.
I rushed inside, my mind tearing through a long list of horrible possibilities. All memories of our one and only fight were swept aside as my love for him, and my terrifying fears, overrode all else.
I reached the second floor and paused at the top of the stairs. A group of residents were huddled about Alec’s door. Faint whiffs of smoke drifted down the hall and burned my nostrils with its pungent odor. It smelled like burnt paint.
I rushed forward. Miss Hazel stood among the crowd, and at my coming she grabbed my arms and tried to push me back. “No, dear. You shouldn’t-”
I shoved past her and into the living room. The smoke hung thick against the ceiling, but the fire was out. The open door to the bedroom showed that what had burned was the canvas on the easel. Only half of the picture was still intact.
A few of the male residents stood beside the bed shaking their heads. Then I saw the figure. Their body was draped over the bed. An arm hung close to the floor where a gun had been dropped after they-
“No,” I whispered, and my voice caught their attention.
“Get her out of here!” one of them shouted.
“Come with me, dear,” Hazel pleaded as she grasped my arms.
“No!” I screamed as I thrashed in her hold. A few other men in the building grabbed me and pulled me away from the scene. “Alec! Alec!”
But I didn’t have to see any more. I knew Alec was dead. Dead by his own hand. After our only fight.
- Writer
