by Vickie Saine
No answer.
Virginia darted across hallway to her bedroom feeling odd sense as if someone was on her tail. Her body shook. She dropped to her knees beside the bed, her hand slid under the mattress pulling out the butcher knife wedged between the mattress and box spring. “Just in case.” Lizzie had said.
She placed a hand over her racing heart.
Deep breath…
You can’t go all silly.
It’s only your imagination. You know how Liz enjoys a midnight snack. That’s it, tomorrow morning you’ll both laugh about it.
Then she heard a plant stand being over turned and the deep growl of a man’s voice muttering profanity.
The fishing wire…
He’d stumbled through the fishing twine.
She crossed the room in several long strides. Her fingers curled around the knife handle as she peered out in to the hallway. She heard footsteps coming towards her and yelped, not knowing whether to hide or fight.
Fight.
She would fight!
Virginia raised the knife, when Lizzie face took shape out of the shadows. Seeing the knife in the air, the quick thrust just missing her right arm, Lizzie stifled a scream with the flat of her palm.
“Shit! I almost stabbed you!” Virginia shrieked lowering the blade.
“For goodness sakes, you scared the shit out of me!” Lizzie took hold of Gin’s arm dragging her towards the den. Both girls, glued to each other’s side, stepped carefully, one light step at a time, neither stood to their full height as they neared the den. The knife glinted out in front of Virginia.
“So you heard it too?” Lizzie muttered.
Virginia nodded, the whites of her eyes flashed in the dark.
“I told you my booby-traps were awesome, did I not? Now tell me how I over reacted. I only wish we had a huge beast with teeth watching our backs. You think this guy will do anything crazy?”
“How the hell would I know Liz? Do I look like a crazy person?”
“Shit! No need to be defensive. I just asked. You know this guy, I don’t.”
Both girls paused at the doorway to the den. Virginia considered going back to her room and hiding, that was no longer an option the instant Lizzie shoved her in to the room first, out in the open, away from the safety the narrow hall provided. “He’s your psycho boyfriend!”
Virginia was horrified. She could make out basic shapes. Her vision adjusted to the light spilling in from the window and the play of shadows on the far wall. The tip of the blade touched her lips as she glance back at her roommate. “Shh…I think…”
She saw him coming in low and fast. She had no reaction time. An ear piercing scream erupted from her mouth. She kind of ran in place. His head rammed in to her right side knocking the knife free from her hand. Her back hit the wall hard expelling the breath from her lungs! The knife clattered, skipping and hopping over the hardwood floor until it spun several times coming to a dead stop across the room.
“Get it Lizzie! Get the knife!”
Riley pinned Virginia’s arms high above her head, he held her to the wall with the length of his body. “Stop fighting me!”
“No, you’re a psychotic asshole. Get your hands off Me.!” She rammed her knee in the region of his nuts. He dodged her best attempts and laughed, a sick twisted laugh that made her flinch.
“That’s the best you’ve got?”
“Let me go!” She fought to break free, but soon gave in going still secured by his weight. She glanced over his shoulder and saw Lizzie approaching him slowly from behind. The knife was high and aimed toward the center of his shoulder blades. She had only a few minutes to regale the man who had been her first love, her only love. Virginia took her time memorizing the impressive planes of his handsome face caught by the stray light forcing its way through the window. She closed her eyes with a kind of sadness knowing her roommate would be quick and precise. The nightmare would be over soon.
Seconds passed, then minutes.
“Open your eyes. Look at me,” Riley ordered. His grip tightened on her wrist. “Damn it…. Lizzie is not real. You’ve made her up.”
Her eyes flew open. “You are insane! I feel sorry for you…you’ve lost your mind!”
“If she’s really here…tell her to stab me with the blade.” When she done no more than gape at him, he added, “go on…tell her to do it. I’m not afraid, because Lizzie can’t be behind me. She is only in your head.”
She jerked her gaze to over his shoulder, and he was right, no one was there.
Virginia blinked, in a state of confusion. “You’re wrong. We share an apartment, we’re roommates.”
“No. You’ve been staying in the old apartment over the garage behind your parents’ house.”
“Not possible…the apartment is where you stay Riley.”
“Virginia…I’m in the same room I’ve always been in, next to your old bedroom.”
Realizing she was too stunned to fight, Riley released her. He stepped back, shoved a hand through his hair on a long sigh.
“You’re lying. This is a sick joke.” She took three steps, and stumbled disoriented by what he was implying. None of it made sense.
“I wish I was lying …but I’m not. Virginia you’re the one that’s sick, not me.”
“You’re wrong….Lizzie and I went grocery shopping today. Here I’ll show you!” She led him to the kitchen, flipped on the overhead light, and started empting out her cabinets in an act of desperation. He was wrong! He had to be wrong!! “We bought soup, see.” Heavy cans clunked down on the Formica top. “And we bought steak for the grill tomorrow!” She jerked open the refrigerator jabbing a finger at the raw meat still in its pack.
Riley leaned in the doorway, his expression one of pure torture. “You may have gone to the store, but not with Lizzie.”
“Do you need to go sit down?”
“No! I don’t want to sit! I want to talk to Bandon!”
The door banged open. Her eager steps sounded on the wooden stairs as she ran towards fresh air. As soon as her bare feet were buried in ankle-high, dew covered grass, she froze, gaping at the back of her parents’ home shrouded by a black, starlit sky. All the windows were darkened in the home. Crickets chirped over by the swing set her father had built for Brandon and her. She turned in place, staring up at the apartment over the garage.
No, it couldn’t be.
“Please, calm down. Let’s go back inside and talk.” Riley shifted awkwardly, doubting his decision to tell her everything.
Her hand came up. “Don’t…”
She took off towards the house. Tears blurred her vision as she ran.
“Brandon!” she called busting through the back door. She flipped lights on as she went through the house, searching, searching for answers. Riley stayed a few feet back. Her mind was erratic, so was her movement making it hard to predict which way she was headed next. She made her way to her brother’s bedroom, slung open the door, a groped for the light switch. She inhaled, the breath whizzing through her front teeth at what the light revealed. It revealed a bare room, a made bed, and an empty closet.
“I don’t understand.” Dresser drawers banged open and closed as Virginia rummaged through…through nothing, nothing was in them. They were all empty!
She turned and charged at Riley. Her balled fist pounded his chest. “What did you do with his things? You’ve always wanted him gone. You chased him away, didn’t you! I hate you! I wish you’d never come here!”
Riley seized her wrist, looked deep in to her eyes. “Brandon’s dead, so is your mother. They died in a car accident three years ago on the way home from the fair.”
Virginia drew a breath and held it. “Liar!” She screamed crossing the hall to her mother’s room. “She’s just sick, not dead!”
She froze in the doorway staring at the bare bed. All anger faded from her voice, there was only sadness. “She’s can’t be gone.”
“What’s going on? I heard screaming.” Her fa
ther stepped in the room his gaze immediately landing on Riley. “You told her? The doctor said it would be too traumatic. Why would you risk it?”
“I had no choice. It was either that or be satisfied with her out there talking to herself. Where has the lies gotten us? Nowhere….she’s better off knowing the truth.” Riley went to the dresser, picked up the medicine bottle and brought it back to Virginia. Tears welled in his eyes as he tucked the bottle in her trembling hand. “Here, this is yours. The doctors have had you on so many pills, and none of its ever came close to working. This time we were hopeful…you showed signs of improving, but then you just started slipping away again. That’s what I was looking for in your suitcase…I wanted to make sure you were still taking your medicine.” his voice broke.
She pressed the flat of her hand to her forehead, studying the name on the bottle.
Virginia Benet.
“The night I came home Brandon let me in. You and he gave each other dirty looks in the foyer, Brandon and I watched movies together, and that day you kissed me…Brandon saw us and….”
“…he was angry.” Riley finished for her. He turned her to face him cupping her flushed cheeks with his hands. “He’s always angry, don’t you see, we ditched him that night, or I ditched him. We went to park leaving him no choice, but to ride home with your parents. When you and I got home, we had no idea about the accident until your father called us from the hospital. I’m sorry…I’m so sorry.”
“And you survived?” she asked glancing at her father. “You’re really here…or are you a part of my imagination too.”
He choked on a sob. “I’m really here…I don’t if I was spared for a reason or just meant to suffer the worst kind of hell. That’s what it is Virginia…its hell not being able to help you. I lost more than my wife and my son that night…I also lost my daughter.”
She cleared tears away from her cheeks. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to be a burden.”
“Honey, you’re not a burden. I love you…you’re all I have left.” He embraced her. Both of their bodies shook with emotion, Virginia’s head lying on his shoulder. He smiled over at Riley, the two of them knowing this was her first real step toward recovery.
Eleven
Virginia kneeled replacing the vase of roses by her mother’s headstone.
“I love you.” She pulled stray grass forcing its way up around the granite base. As she stood and took a step back, Riley laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. He handed her the New York Giants baseball cap folded in his hand.
“Thanks.” She smiled up at Riley feeling the texture of the worn cap with her fingertips. She stepped to the grave next to her mothers and stooped gently placing the cap on the damp earth. “I know you never went without it. Goodbye, Brandon.”
She stood her gaze traveling the length of the grave yard. “It looks like it might rain soon. We should probably head back.”
Riley’s arms came around her. “Take all the time you need. I’ll go get you an umbrella if I need to.”
She ran her hands along his arm, smiling. He was strong and steady and it felt good to have him to lean on. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too,” he returned with a kiss.
“I’m ready. Let’s go,” she said.
As they turned to leave Virginia noticed movement over by a large pin oak, her stomach dropped. She froze mid-step, her body going ridged. There, leaning against the trunk of the tree was Ava, Virginia’s childhood friend. Ava waved, with a silly little girl smile plastered her face.
Riley followed the direction of Virginia’s gaze. He frowned. The muscles in his jaw tensed. “What is it? Do you see something?”
She gasped, “No, of course not! Are you always going to think the worst? Am I not allowed to look at a tree?”
The corner of his mouth rose. His hands went up in surrender. “Yes, you may look at a tree.” He pulled her to him. Their lips barely touched. “I love you Virginia Benet.”
“I love you too,” she said.