Simply Shorts
Page 6
She choked down the last bit of her cup of coffee, checked her make-up in the bathroom mirror, and headed out her front door to face the cold cruel world. Her destiny was out there somewhere, she just didn't know where.
Dominique Rogers, wasn't the smartest or the prettiest, but she was no fool either. Something was troubling her as she made her way across the snow covered grounds of her institute of higher learning. A dread gnawed at her very soul, a itch that she just couldn't scratch. She mumbled to herself like a madwoman, hoping no one saw her self dialogue.
“Where the hell is he?” She cried as she continued her journey. “He left without a word. What did I do wrong? Everything seemed fine last night.”
She had no answers, only questions. That was the trouble. Was he just one of those boys who couldn't commit, or had something happened to him? Why the hell should she worry about some trifling little boy, who meant nothing to her. She was just another notch on his belt. “He disgusts me.” she thought. “Why did I ever decide to let him go home with me?”
Dominique was still grilling herself as she entered the music education building and made her way to her first class, composition. She sat her books and purse down on the table and spoke to a couple of her classmates briefly.
Her best friend Tiffany sat next to her.
“Hi, Tiff, how are you today, better than me, I hope,” Dominique asked.
“What's wrong, honey?” Tiffany inquired. “You looked so happy at he club last night. Who was that fine boy I saw you leaving with?”
“Antoine...He said his name was Antoine. He was incredible. But when I woke up this morning he was gone,” Dominique complained. “He didn't say a word. I don't even know his last name. But I developed a strong bond with him, you might even call a love for him. I know I just met him, but it's true. But I fear I will never see him again.”
“Oh my God, are you kidding me, Dominique?” Tiffany said quite concerned. “Is he a student? Do you know where he lives?”
“No, and I feel the emptiness growing, a dread, a fear, something has happened to him.. I don't know what to do,” Dominique said almost in tears.
About that time the teacher came in to begin class.
The girls agreed to talk later.
Blocks from the campus, in an unassuming apartment, Antoine slept the sleep of death in his coffin. He would be released again at sunset. But until then he slept.
The Village
(Prologue to the novel Delayed Justice)