Harrowing

by S. E. Amadis

  I scanned through all of them, a little bit in disbelief.

  “Whichever place I choose, I’m very adamant from now on that it be a job that would allow me to leave with plenty of time to pick up my son,” I said. “No more arriving late at the school. Never again. I care about him too much.”

  Geri laid a hand sympathetically on mine.

  “I know.”

  She gave me a genuine, heart-felt hug before I left.

  “Stay out of trouble, Annasuya,” she said. “Think you can do that from now on?”

  I grinned.

  “No prob. What more could possibly happen to me?”

  Chapter 35

  Rudolph Verenich was also at a loss as to what to say to me when I returned to class. In fact, I had decided to leave off the classes with Rudolph and spend more time with my family. I thought I’d learnt everything I needed to know for this point in my life. His lessons had served me well in some moments, such as when I was fighting with Sandy. But there were other lessons, I knew now, that couldn’t be acquired in a classroom setting, no matter how strict that setting was.

  Rudolph enfolded me in a gigantic bear hug as soon as he saw me.

  “Ah, Annasuya, Annasuya, my leetle Annasuya Rose,” he crooned. “You are zafe. You have come through zis business alive.” He seized me by the shoulders and took a good look at my face. “I hope my classes have come in handy and helped you, zough.”

  I nodded.

  “Yes. I did use your lessons,” I assured him.

  The one thing that hadn’t changed in spite of this whole ordeal was my aversion to cooking. I was still a lousy cook, and boxed macaroni and cheese continued to be regular fare in the Adler-Henri household. But the strange thing was that Romeo no longer turned his nose up at this concoction.

  When I asked him about it, he shrugged.

  “It’s food, right, Mimi?” he said. “It tastes okay and it keeps us alive.”

  Ah, the wonders of suffering from starvation for a few days.

  One night as we dove our forks hungrily through a plateful of macaroni and cheese, Calvin glanced at me with a thoughtful look.

  “Annie, honey, have you ever thought of starting up your own business?” he said.

  I stared at him in surprise.

  “Doing what?”

  “You’ve always wanted to be a CEO, right? Well, why don’t you be CEO of your own company?”

  I licked my lips and mulled it over.

  “Sounds good. But where would I get the money? And what would I sell?”

  Calvin passed his arm around me.

  “Well, what would you like to sell? What do you like to do? What have you always wanted to do?”

  I’d never thought about that before.

  “And as for the money, well, you could ask for a loan. You don’t have any debts, do you?”

  I shook my head.

  “No. But... when would I find the time to do this? I work full-time, you know.”

  Calvin hugged me.

  “Why not in the evenings? Now I’m here I can help out and hold the fort in the evenings while you work.”

  I cuddled myself close to him. This was food for thought.

  My new life seemed pretty doozie now. Now I could say of myself:

  My name is Annasuya Rose Adler and I’m thirty-three years old. I’m an office worker, a temp, and I’m pretty fast with a keyboard or a mouse. I can take five phone calls at the same time, prepare coffee using a Nespresso or the old-fashioned way with a percolator and I’m a whiz at reloading the papers and toner into the photocopy machine. Any model of photocopy machine. I’ve worked at hundreds of businesses over the past ten years, so I’m pretty familiar with most models of most things.

  One Friday a couple of months ago, my temp agency sent me to a new job, an office I’d never been to before, and my new boss raped me.

  But now that boss is dead. And I won’t be a temp worker much longer. Soon I will be CEO of my own little company.

  I didn’t think things could get much better.

  *

  One Friday Lindsay and I decided to have a girls’ night out. We hadn’t done this in a long time, years, perhaps. I’d never had the money for a babysitter.

  But now I had Calvin.

  He kissed me on the cheek as I ran out to meet Linds.

  “You sure you don’t mind hanging around on a Friday night doing baby service?” I said.

  “I am hardly a baby,” Romeo declared indignantly. “And I’m old enough to stay at home all by myself.”

  “You’re not.” I cuffed him on the top of his head. But then I gave him an enormous kiss there too.

  I had learnt by now not to take life for granted. And most especially not to take the lives of my loved ones for granted, or the time I spent with them.

  But I still had a lot more to learn.

  If I’d known then, I would have given him more than just one kiss.

  We started the night by club-hopping down on King Street West. Lindsay flirted with a couple of men, I flirted with a couple of cool guys, but nothing serious. After all, we were both taken.

  Instead, we spent most of our time sitting at the bar stirring cocktails and chatting.

  “You’ve got to meet Grant one day,” Lindsay said as she sipped a daiquiri. “He is sooo cool. And five times more handsome than your Calvin.”

  “Hey.” I lifted a fist before her face in mock threat. “No one picks on my boy, eh. He practically saved my life.”

  Lindsay wrapped her hand over my fist.

  “No. I saved your life.” She thrust her chin out. Then we both cracked up laughing.

  We finished our drinks.

  “You want another one?” said Lindsay.

  “Annasuya?” We heard a voice behind us.

  I turned around.

  “You’re Annasuya, right? From the office? I remember.”

  The speaker strolled into sight. I was surprised to see Ursula, from Sandy’s office. I hadn’t thought about her, or any of the other employees from there, in ages.

  “Ursula,” I said. I wasn’t too sure if I was particularly pleased to bump into her. As far as I could recall, we hadn’t exactly been bosom buddies.

  She idled to my side and patted my shoulder affectionately.

  “I saw you on the news. Well, you and your son. I was glad to hear you were okay. But flabbergasted, absolutely floored, about Sandy. Who woulda ever?”

  She stood next to us, expectant, as if waiting for an invitation.

  “Ah, well, this is Lindsay, my friend,” I stammered out.

  Ursula held a hand up warmly towards Lindsay.

  “Hi, Lindsay. Pleased to meet you.”

  Lindsay grazed her hand obligingly.

  “Well, ah, you know, we were just about to leave,” I murmured at last.

  Ursula laid a hand on my shoulder.

  “Oh, no. I came too late? I’d love to have a drink with you.”

  Lindsay and I glanced at each other.

  “Okay,” I said. “But just one. We have to run. I left Romeo with the babysitter,” I lied.

  Lindsay took the hint.

  “Babysitters are expensive,” she told Ursula in a conspiratorial whisper.

  Ursula settled by my side.

  “Tell you what. I’ll invite,” she said.

  She ordered a round of margaritas for us, then accommodated herself on her stool and stared at me.

  “What was it like, Annasuya?” she cried at last. “It must have been horrific.”

  I looked at Lindsay, then turned back to Ursula.

  “Can’t we talk about something else? What’s going on in your life? How are things at the office, now Sandy’s not there anymore?”

  Ursula perked up.

  “Well, the position of office manager is up for grabs and they’re accepting curriculums. If you’re interested...”

  I stared at her in mock horror.

  “What? And sit at the same desk Sandy used to sit at?”


  Lindsay giggled. Ursula gaped at me.

  “Wow. You musta been really traumatized.”

  “I’m not. Not really. But I imagine you would be too, if someone locked you up in a basement.”

  Lindsay downed her margarita and glanced at her mobile.

  “You know, Annie, if we leave right now we’ll just about be able to avoid paying the babysitter another hour,” she hinted.

  I grabbed the hint.

  “You’re right.” I turned to Ursula and touched her on the shoulder. “Nice bumping into you but you can see, we gotta run. Thanks for the drinks.”

  Ursula snatched out her wallet.

  “Wait,” she said. “I’m sorry, I said I’d invite but... could you spare me a quarter? It’s what I’m missing, to be able to pay for the drinks, I mean. God, I didn’t realize they were so expensive here.”

  I humped back onto the stool.

  “Oh, gosh. I’m so sorry, Ursula. You know what, that was really sweet of you but why don’t we all just pay for our own drinks?”

  Ursula shook her head.

  “No, I insist. I just need a quarter.”

  I pulled my purse open and fumbled around in it, searching for my wallet. Lindsay reached over and dropped a quarter into Ursula’s hand.

  “Here,” she said, then dragged at the hem of my dress. “Come on, Anna. Let’s get going.”

  We tumbled out and dashed down the street and skirted around a corner, to be out of sight of the club.

  “What was that all about?” Lindsay gasped out. “Who was that bimbo? That was really weird.”

  I nodded.

  “You know what, Linds? I don’t feel up to this anymore. Why don’t we just call it a night?”

  Lindsay nodded in agreement.

  “Yeah, I’m beat too. And that just goes to show, you can bump into weirdos anywhere.”

  I glanced up and noted that we were in a dark and narrow alleyway. We started working our way down the alley, putting distance between ourselves and King Street, our heels clicking sharply on the pavement.

  A mist rose, surrounding us, turning the rubbish containers and trash bins into dark and enigmatic forms without shape, amorphous. Suddenly all the neons and bright lights seemed to remain about a hundred miles away. A hush fell over us.

  “I don’t like this place,” Lindsay whispered. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Easier said than done. We had no idea how long this alleyway was, and returning to King Street and possibly bumping into Ursula again was out of the question.

  We continued slinking down the lane between putrid brick walls and rubbish bins containing rotten lettuce and oozing with putrefying brown and greyish liquids. A container crashed to the ground with a metallic bang. We jumped. A black cat screeched and crept indignantly in front of us. Lindsay grabbed at her heart.

  “How much further till the next street?” she whispered.

  Then we saw him.

  A dark, unidentifiable shape dressed in black from head to toe, covered with a black balaclava. Surrounded by mist and shadows at the end of the alleyway.

  Lindsay gave a bloodcurdling shriek.

  We turned tail and dashed back down the alleyway towards where we had come from. Bumping into Ursula again seemed ten times preferable to what awaited us at the end of that dubious, lugubrious lane.

  We burst out onto King Street with our hearts in our mouths, panting so hard we nearly fell over. Lindsay collapsed against a wall.

  “Let’s grab a taxi,” she gasped out as soon as we had recovered a bit.

  I nodded.

  We hailed the first cab that happened by and tumbled into it as if it were a bed in a spa.

  “Do you mind accompanying me to my place?” Lindsay said. “You can stay the night. I just don’t think I can make it by myself tonight.”

  I nodded.

  “Don’t worry, Linds. That’s what friends are for.”

  I called Calvin and explained what had happened.

  “Don’t sweat it,” he said. “Romeo’s watching Criminal Minds reruns in his pyjamas. Then it’s off to bed for the li’l guy.”

  I was about to chide him for letting Romeo watch such a violent programme, then realized what he’d gone through in real life probably felt a hundred times more violent to him than any TV programme.

  “Good night. I love you both,” I whispered. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  We sped eastward along Queen Street. But as we approached The Beaches, Lindsay leaned forward and muttered something to the taxi driver. He turned onto some side streets and stopped next to The Beaches.

  The Beaches was a strip of artificial beach on the lake that stretched out for perhaps a couple of kilometres. It was within walking distance of Lindsay’s apartment, but she rarely ever went there.

  Lindsay pushed open the cab door and stepped out.

  “What are you doing?” I cried. “I thought you were scared.”

  Lindsay shook her head.

  “I need to stretch my legs,” she said. “And this is a safe place. It’s far from downtown and all the scumbags there. Come on. Nothing ever happens in this neighbourhood. It’s a yawn boring place.”

  I slid out next to her.

  “We’ll just stroll a bit, then go back to my pad.”

  We stepped into the grassy park that separated the street from the beach. When we reached the beach, Lindsay slipped out of her high heels and let the sand trickle between her toes.

  “Come on,” she said. “This feels so cool. Try it.”

  I slipped my shoes off too. But the sand was icy.

  We tripped across the silken sand for a while, the golden grains gently massaging our soles while a light breeze laden with smells of moss and algae wafted over us.

  “My feet are frozen,” I said. “I don’t know how you can do it.”

  I put my shoes back on.

  “Maybe during the day...”

  “God. I should come out here more often. And it’s just a hop skip and a jump away from my home.”

  Lindsay smiled at me.

  “Will you come out here and take a walk here with me more often too?”

  I grinned.

  “Sure thing. I’ll bring Romeo.”

  Then we saw it in the distance. At first it was just an amber glow. But as we drew nearer, we realized someone was building a bonfire on the sand. It was merely a few twigs, crackling and just starting to catch on, as if the builder had barely begun to kindle the flames within the last few minutes, strategically placed next to a humungous pile of logs that apparently had been built up a while back, who knew for what reason. But as we approached, the flames caught on quickly and started to leap up high into the velvety night.

  “That’s weird,” said Lindsay. “That’s so far out. Isn’t it forbidden?”

  She glanced around.

  “How come none of the neighbours have noticed this and reported this to the police?”

  I opened my purse and glanced at my mobile.

  “Well, it’s after two in the morning. That could have something to do with it.”

  We continued walking.

  “We should go,” I said uneasily. I had the same sensation I’d had in that alleyway with Eli, so many years before.

  “Yes. We should,” Lindsay agreed.

  But we kept walking. For some reason, we just couldn’t stop. Call it the imp of the perverse, or morbid curiosity. We simply had to find out what that bonfire was all about.

  As we neared it, we saw that same figure dressed in black, ensconced within a black balaclava, standing next to the fire and feeding papers and strips of wood to it.

  And he turned and saw us too.

  Chapter 36

  The acrid smell of smoke and barbecue filled our nostrils. It reminded me of homey Sunday afternoons, my parents cooking up a storm in our back yard when I was a kid. Bits of charred wood began to float past us in the air as we neared the bonfire. The heat on our skin was comforting, then asphyxiati
ng.

  We were so close we could almost touch it with our fingers. The menacing black figure approached us.

  “Annasuya Rose. Welcome,” he said, his voice thickly muffled by the wool.

  I froze. How did he know who I was?

  “It’s... it’s like... like he was just waiting for you?” Lindsay stammered out, hysterical.

  She reached for my hand.

  “Annie? What say you we run?” she said.

  I groped about for her hand. But as we were about to turn around, the figure stepped close to me. I stopped still, petrified. I wanted to move, but I couldn’t.

  “Don’t you want to know who I am?” he said.

  I shook my head, finally found just enough will to start backing away.

  “Nooo. I think I just want you to leave me alone,” I replied.

  He hopped nimbly next to me and seized me by the shoulders.

  “Let me go. Don’t you think I’ve already had enough with Bruno?”

  I wiggled my shoulders under his oppressive hold. He refused to let me go.

  “What happened with Bruno would never have happened to you, Annasuya Rose, if you were more careful.” His voice resonated hollowly through the thick wool like those cavernous alien voices in sci-fi movies. “Look at you. Walking about in a deserted neighbourhood in the middle of the night. Going out for takeaway when it’s almost midnight. Wearing a skimpy dress. Going to work in a short skirt. No wonder these sorts of things happen to you.”

  My blood ran chill. How did he know all these things about me?

  How did he know what I was wearing the day Bruno raped me?

  “Who are you?” I cried as suspicions began to mount inside my head. “Who are you?”

  I reached for his balaclava. He ducked away deftly and deflected my advances with skill. I thought of Rudolph Verenich, or perhaps one of his students.

  “I gave you the chance to find that out earlier.” He spat into the sand beside us with a growl. “But you disdained it. Now it’s too late.”

  A sudden jolt of adrenaline made me duck out of his hands without warning and pelt away from him. Behind me I heard a scuffle, but I didn’t bother to turn around and find out what was happening.

  Until Lindsay cried out. A cry filled with terror.