It was now 8p.m., I hadn’t eaten all day and although my stomach was screaming at me, the thoughts of actually eating something made me feel sick. I sat on the bed staring at the wall of the hotel room. I didn’t know what to do with myself; I think I must have bored myself to sleep.
***
The days that followed dragged terribly, I didn’t see or speak to anyone. Today I went out shopping to get a few essentials and pay my phone bill at the bank. I was on my way back to my car when I bumped into a guy Luke had been working with recently, Roger Mayfair.
“Hello,” I smiled at him.
“Oh it’s you,” he replied, looking rather disgusted.
“Are you OK?”
“I’m fine, you look...well.”
“Thanks. Have you seen Luke?”
“Of course I have,” he said getting in the driver’s seat of his car.
“Is he OK?”
“No, actually he isn’t, why don’t you do him a favor and stay out of his life. Permanently.”
“I thought you were...”
“I don’t care what you think. He wants nothing to do with you. The sooner you get that in your head the better. Now leave him alone.”
“You can’t speak for him.”
“I just did.”
“Listen to me you...”
“Luke’s words to me were this... you’re more trouble than you’re worth, he hasn’t got time for something like you, you’re lower than the low and if you continue to pursue him you will have to deal with the consequences.”
“Is that a threat? I don’t take kindly to those.”
“Yes, I believe it is.”
He closed the door on me and drove off. My blood was bubbling. I shouldn’t have spoken to him, I shouldn’t have bothered asking. Why didn’t I just accept the fact that everything Luke had said to me, about loving me, wanting to be with me forever...was a lie.
I arrived back at my hotel room and emptied my bags before pouring myself a very large glass of wine. I sat down on the little sofa and turned the TV on. A couple of hours later I was bored to tears, so I decided to take a walk in the local park. It was a cold night but perfectly clear, I sat on the bench near the flower gardens staring up at the stars. I was in my own world when a loud bang startled me, then the pain came, a harsh burning sensation in my right shoulder blade. I reached over to touch it and felt something warm and sticky, when I looked at my hand I realized it was blood. The noise came again and one of the flower pots next to the bench smashed. Someone was shooting at me!
I jumped up and ran as fast as I could out of the park, dodging several bullets on the way out. I headed into the streets, hoping they wouldn’t continue to attack while other people were around. Luckily I was right. I ran all the way to the hotel, up the three flights of stairs and into the safety of my room. I looked out of the window and saw three men standing across the road, staring and pointing at the hotel. Surely they weren’t stupid enough to try and attack me in here. After a few minutes they walked away. I breathed a sigh of relief.
I went into the bathroom, removed my top and examined myself in the mirror. The bullet hadn’t entered me, but it had ripped across my shoulder blade and the top of my arm. I cleaned the blood from around it and decided to just leave it. It had already started to heal anyway.
When I walked out of the bathroom I saw a note on the floor, it had been pushed under the door. When I opened it, I panicked a little. It read –
You can’t stay in that room forever
The next time you leave
You’re a dead woman!
My stomach sank. My heart started racing, fear filled me, followed by a sudden rush of anger. This had to be Luke’s doing, I’d always gotten on really well with the people around here, to suddenly have people being like this with me, it had to be something to do with him. How could someone you had known for so long, who had been so nice with you, claimed to love you, turn on you so quickly and so much that they would want you dead?
Chapter 12
“Can we stop for a bit,” I asked Nancy. “The next part is the hardest to remember and to talk about.”
“Of course we can, are you alright?”
“It’s not a nice thing to have to remember, I guess it still hurts.”
“Do you still love this guy?” Jackson asked coldly.
“No, like I said a minute ago, I wouldn’t allow myself to fall completely in love with him, so why would I be in love with him now?” I asked him.
“Just wondered.”
“I bet you did,” Nancy smirked.
“Excuse me,” He shot at her.
“Oh hang on, sorry Tish; here comes the dickhead side of my brother.”
“Piss off.”
“Hey, don’t talk to her like that!” I shouted at him. “I’m the one you’re angry with so pick the fight with me not her.”
“Screw you, if you don’t like it, get out of my house.”
“Fine I will.” I shouted back, standing.
“You will not!” Nancy butted in. “This is my house too and I want you here.”
“No, Nancy this is my house,” Jackson corrected her. “And I’ll say who comes in here.”
“Asshole,” I blasted.
I grabbed my bag and walked out of the house, Nancy came running after me.
“Leticia please don’t go, just ignore him.”
“I can’t stand him he’s a jerk, I don’t want to spend a second longer in the same post code as him, never mind the same house,” I told her as I got in my car. “I don’t know how you live with him he’s an absolute dickhead.”
“Please don’t....”
“You’re welcome at my house anytime you like, but DO NOT bring him,” I told her before driving off.
I was so annoyed, I think I broke the speed limit on every road. I even went through the lights on red in Holmfirth center. A few people were annoyed with me about that and beeped like mad at me, but I didn’t care. I just wanted to go home.
I walked in the house slamming the door behind me and cursing like crazy. I threw my bag across the kitchen table before heading upstairs and getting straight into the shower. I stood there; hands in front of me against the wall, letting the water hit me and trying to calm down. I’d been in there about fifteen minutes when I heard someone knocking at the front door. I begrudgingly got out and wrapped my dressing gown around me before making my way to the door. It was Nancy.
“I’m staying here tonight,” she said as she pushed her way passed me and into the hall. “I’m not staying with him on my own”.
“Where’s Tristan?” I asked.
“He’s going to be out all night, he gets blood supplies from the blood-banks and there’s been a delay or something. I can’t really say I was paying much attention when he told me, I was too annoyed. Do you have a spare room?”
“Yeah I do.”
“You don’t mind do you?”
“Not at all.”
We walked into the living room and she continued to talk away.
“When you left I walked back into the house and hit the roof. I told him exactly what I thought of him, I won’t repeat it simply because the language that came out of me was atrocious. He snapped up on me and told me he didn’t care what I thought of him, he didn’t care what anyone thought of him anymore. How can you not care?” she said, throwing her hands around. “I told him he needed to stop putting this pathetic front on, stop being fake and return to the old, honest, caring Jackson I used to know and love and that until he did that, I didn’t want to know him.”
“Nancy, please don’t fall out with your brother because of me...”
“It’s not just because of you, it been coming for a while, he’s a jerk, an absolute jerk, he’s gonna lose everyone all because of one stupid incident.”
“I’m not gonna ask,” I told her, shaking my head. “It’s nothing to do with me.”
“I’ll tell you anyway.”
“Not now.”
&nb
sp; “OK then, maybe tomorrow.”
“Why don’t you help yourself to something to eat and drink while I get dressed?”
“I’ll make you a cup of tea too.”
“Thanks.”
I went back upstairs and got dressed for bed, then pulled my dressing gown on again. I could hear Nancy messing around in the kitchen, the kettle boiling, cups banging together. It was nice to have some company, to hear someone else puttering around the house, someone who didn’t mean me any harm. I walked back downstairs and got to the kitchen just as she started shouting, I noticed her phone was to her ear.
“I don’t care, piss off you’re an idiot, you won’t stop being an idiot and it will spoil everything for you! You can’t keep treating people like shit just because you still have issues, Jesus Christ Jackson it was twenty years ago... more!” she yelled. “I’m not telling you where I am it’s none of your business. I think I’m old enough to make my own decisions... no... no... so what if I am, what’s it to you? Oh get lost and grow up!”
She ended the call then looked over at me.
“He will want to know you’re safe,” I told her.
“I don’t care what he wants any more than he cares what anyone else wants. He’s just pissed that I walked out on him.”
“I’m saying nothing, you know him better than I do. I’ll just leave you two to it.”
“Best way I think, anyway, there’s tea on the table in the living room for you.”
We both flopped down on the sofa channel surfing until we found a decent horror film. We didn’t speak much; both of us were pissed off and tired.
Chapter 13
The following morning I woke up to the sounds of pots clashing together downstairs. I looked at the clock, it was 9am. I didn’t have any appointments for the next two days and didn’t need to be up too early. I got dressed and made my way downstairs, the air was filled with the smell of bacon and eggs.
“Morning,” Nancy smiled as I walked in the kitchen. “I thought since you were good enough to let me stay, the least I could do was cook us a good breakfast.”
“Mmmm, thank you very much,” I laughed. “I’m starving.”
“You’re very welcome.”
“Has Jackson called you?”
“Yeah twice actually, but I’ve just ignored him,” she shrugged. “Oh you have some letters on the table; your post comes very early doesn’t it.”
“Yeah,” I said reaching for them. “Bills most likely.”
“Oh the joys.”
One of the letters had my address hand written on the front, it was only just readable, the handwriting was terrible. I opened it and started reading, or should I say reading the words I could make out, it said...
Leticia,
You haven’t changed, you’re still as beautiful as ever, but I know that beauty doesn’t run..... your soul, there is evil inside............. we must rid the world of things...... God himself must agree with me.......... such a creature like you, only the devil could create such.............. I will do what I must, I will make it my... goal to.... just........ it must be done. You will be the first............ be the last!
See you soon
xxx
“What is it, you look annoyed?” Nancy asked me.
“Read it, if you can,” I said passing her the letter.
“Wow, how the hell am I supposed to read that, is that even English?”
“Yeah.”
She stayed quiet for a minute, occasionally squinting and moving the paper closer or further away as she tried her best to read the scrawl in front of her.
“I can’t make much of it out, but what I can read is horrible. This person is really messed up in the head. How can he expect to take us on and win?” she asked.
“I want to know why if he is so certain he can kill me, he hasn’t just come around here and tried.”
“Cowards. Do you want to keep this?”
“Yeah, for a little while.” I put it in the draw under the sink. “You know, a few days ago
that would have had really worried me, but now I don’t care. I just want to find him, kill him and forget about it all. My attitude has really changed.” I told her.
“That’s a good thing, I understand you don’t like killing people, but sometimes things like us have to.”
“I know,” I sighed.
“At least you saved one.”
“Adam.”
“Yeah,” she smiled. “I just hope it doesn’t come back to haunt you.”
“So do I.”
“So what do you want to do today?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want to go for a walk? It’s a nice day.” She said, pointing out of the window.
“Why not?”
We had breakfast, washed up and set off towards Dovestones Reservoir. We looked at the boats for a while before heading up the road towards Saddleworth Moors. Once we reached the straight stretch of road, we got bored and decided to trek through the grasslands instead. We reached a point known as Featherbed Moss and were chatting away when suddenly Nancy grabbed my arm and pulled me down to the floor.
“Shhh,” she whispered, pointing in front of us. “Listen.”
The land dipped a few feet before us, down one of the hills. I leaned forward as far as I could without being spotted and saw five men sitting together, all of them with guns beside them.
“I don’t like this,” the blonde guy was saying. “I know I need the money, but the thought of going after a woman like this kinda makes me feel sick.”
“Apparently she isn’t a normal woman though is she?” the ginger guy replied.
“What exactly does that mean though, not normal?”
“I dunno I didn’t ask, I know what you’re saying though, I feel like shit for it.”
“Me too,” another said.
“I personally don’t care,” an older looking dark haired man added. “Nobody’s cared about me for years, why the hell should I give a crap about some girl. Let’s do the job, get paid, and forget about it.”
“You’re a heartless old fool,” a younger voice said. “It’ll come back to haunt you.”
“When do we attack?” The ginger guy asked openly.
“When the others arrive, apparently this girl could take us all on and win, so we need backup. Ha! She’s just a girl for Christ’s sake,” one of them replied. “We just have to wait for them to turn up, they know where to meet us and when.”
I ducked down and turned to look at Nancy.
“This isn’t good,” I mouthed silently to her.
“I know.”
“We need to get out of here.”
She nodded and we both crawled away from them as quietly as we could, as soon as we were at a safe distance we ran back to the road.
“You can’t go home,” she told me. “Not at all, you need to come to mine.”
“No, no way, no offence but I’d rather face all of them than Jackson.”
“Don’t be stupid Tish.”
“I said no! I know every nick and turn of these hills. I know the land surrounding my house so I could use that to my advantage, and I have a secret basement that I can hide in if necessary until they piss off again, so I’m staying put.”
“Please?”
“You need to go, go home, I’m not taking you back with me.”
“I’ll get the others.”
“No, no Nancy, please just stay away, stay safe.”
I didn’t say anything else, I looked to see if any cars were close by, luckily we were alone. I changed into wolf form right in front of her, put my front door keys in my mouth and ran away, across the wilderness, back towards home. I felt awful leaving her, but I knew she would get home safely, she would call Jackson. She’d tell him everything even though I didn’t want her too; he would come and get her, and then... god only knows what they’d do. I now had other things to think about.
I got to my front door and changed back to human form before entering
the house. I ran upstairs and pulled some clothes on, then got to work. I locked and double checked every window in the house, then pulled the curtains closed. They had guns and so they could easily shoot them out and get inside. I put drawing pins and nails on the floor in front of the some of the windows. I had a bag of marbles, I poured some of them in front of the other windows, hoping they would fall and maybe crack their heads on the wall if they climbed through. I made another concoction of vinegar and lemon juice, but this time, I also poured half a bottle of bleach into another bowl, and placed them both on the shelf above the back door. I tied thick string around them both and lead it down and around the door handle, one slightly more loose than the other, so that it would, with a bit of luck, affect more than one of them. I went in the cabinet drawer in the living room and pulled out the gun that Jackson had given me, I tucked it halfway down the back of my jeans. I looked at the clock; we’d been out longer than I thought. I was shocked to see it was now 4p.m., but I guess it had taken me a while to set the traps too. I sat on the sofa, waiting.
Chapter 14
I waited for what seemed like days but was in fact just a couple of hours. My stomach was screaming at me and I was trembling ever so slightly, so I definitely needed to eat. I made myself a few sandwiches and sat back on the sofa, eating them in silence. Time passed and I started to wonder whether we’d heard the men correctly. Had they said they were attacking tonight? Surely they would have done it by now. It was almost dark out, the ideal time to strike, yet nothing was out of the ordinary. Once again I looked at the clock, it was after nine. I started to relax a little and contemplated turning the TV on. I reached for the remote; just as I was about to push the button I heard whispering coming from outside. I froze for a moment, straining to hear what was being said. I had amazing hearing, all my senses were heightened thanks to the wolf side of me, but I still couldn’t make out what they were saying. I just knew there was a few of them.
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