by Verne, Lara
I unfolded the paper and stared blankly at its contents. It was quite lengthy, typed, and it even smelt like roses.
Elizabeth,
I don’t know much about you yet but I know that you’re not the type to approve of double standards. I would say that you are brave and strong, nothing can ever bring you down. You’re a highly independent woman which I find very appealing.
I know that you’re extremely beautiful. Your long brunette hair was only meant to make others jealous. Your enchanting blue eyes will forever mesmerize me. Your full pink lips make me want to kiss you every hour, every minute, and every second of the day.
I know that you haven’t come to realize your feelings for me and that is fine. Inevitably, we will be together. Forever and Always.
~J
I stared, dumbfounded at the letter. Who would send this? I barely had friends, let alone secret admirers. I tried to think of anyone I knew whose name began with the letter J. There was only one, Justin, who was one of Sean’s best friends. He was a jerk. There was no way he had a crush on me. If anything, he hated that I even got recognition from Sean.
“Stupid,” I mumbled to myself. I tore the note in half and in half again and threw it into the trash. Deciding to get rid of it finally, I tied the trash bag and headed towards the front door. When I opened the door, I was greeted by a bouquet of flowers. Only this time it wasn’t a carnation. It was gardenias, my favorite flower.
I poked my head out and searched the streets for any unfamiliar cars. When I didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, I closed the door and locked all three locks as well as closing the blinds of all the windows in my house.
I pulled out my phone and let my thumb linger over Sean’s contact name. I couldn’t tell him about this, he would freak out. He would never let me go anywhere alone and I wasn’t going to let him follow me around like Jeremy.
I would just have to drag this out and hope it stops.
CHAPTER TEN - JACOB
They had broadcasted the news on Ellen McHannon’s parents. Like always, they are clueless about what happened and who would have done it. Louisiana has never been advanced in their police force, which was good. It made my job easier.
I stared down at the big bold letters written on the page.
‘Ellen McHannon found dead in her home’
I sighed as I closed the newspaper, recalling the events that brought me to where I was today.
▪▪▪▪▪
“Please, you can’t--” Ellen wriggled out of my grasp, trying so desperately to free her arms from my grip but we both knew it was no use. “I’m not ready for this, Jacob, please!”
I titled my head slightly to the left, confused. “What’s the matter, love?” I asked, stroking the side of her face. “Why are you upset?”
“Upset!” she yelled, looking up at me with bewildering eyes. “You think I’m upset?”
I leaned down and brushed my lips against her forehead. “It’s okay, Ellen.” I reassured her, “It’ll be over before you know it,”
“Please!” she pleaded, “I’m not ready for this, and you have to understand--”
“Sshh,” I hushed her, pressing my finger to my lips. “Don’t need to worry, love. I’ll make it fast and painless.”
Tears were falling down her cheeks now. I’ve never seen her in such a hurt state. The worst part of it is that I didn’t know why she was upset. Didn’t she love me?
“Please don’t-” she continued to beg in between her soft whimpers.
A growl erupted from the back of my throat. “Stop,” I said sternly, “Don’t resist me. You’ll only make it harder on yourself.”
When she heard this, she burst into tears. Her bottom lip quivered as her mascara began to run down her rosy cheeks.
“I said stop!” I yelled, slapping her across her face with so much force that my hand stung. She stared back up at me, wide eyed in complete shock. “Behave,” I told her as I reached down to my pants and unbuckled my belt.
“Don’t do this--”
I brought my eyes back to her, shooting her a hard stare. “If you speak again, I will make sure you are punished. You know I don’t like hurting you so don’t put me in that position.”
She pressed her lips together in a thin line.
“Good,” I said with a grim smirk. “You are very beautiful, you know that right?” I stroked her cheek, which was already starting to form a bruise. “I love you Ellen.”
Ellen continued to stare at me, unmoving.
“I’m sorry for slapping you but you must know that I don’t like it when you disobey me.” With that, I ripped off her shirt, exposing her bare chest. “This will be fast, I promise.”
“No!” she protested, yanking her arms away from me and kneeing me in between my legs. I instantly grabbed the area as an instinct while she scurried off the bed and out of the door. I cursed to myself and slammed my fist against the mattress.
Recovering quickly, I stalked after her. She has really made me angry and she will be punished for her bad behavior. I found her in the kitchen, knife in hand as she covered her exposed chest with her other arm. “Stay back!” she warned, aiming the knife at me.
I nearly laughed until I realized how pissed I was. “Ellen, put the knife down. You could hurt me.”
She didn’t listen. Instead, she took a few steps closer to me. Her arm shook as he continued to point the blade towards me. “I’m going to hurt you.”
“Why would you want to do that? You love me.”
“No,” she shook her head, “You’re a sick psycho! I don’t love you! I never did!”
I frowned in confusion. “You’re just mad.” I told her, “Put the knife down and come over here. We can talk it out, okay?”
“You call stalking someone for weeks, kidnapping them from their home and abusing them, love? Who knows how many girls you’ve done this to!”
“Ellen..”
“No!” she yelled, “I am not going to listen to you anymore. I’m not going to let you take advantage of me again. I’m not going to let you continue to do this to other girls. I’m not going to make you win! You deserve to die.”
I sighed as my eyes drifted to the hard wood floor. “You’re not the one,” I mumbled to myself, flicking my eyes back to hers.
“What?”
I advanced towards her, knocking the knife out of her hand and pinned her against the pantry door. My hand wrapped around her pretty little neck and squeezed. Her breathing labored as she tried to get out full breaths but the harder I squeezed, the harder it became for her to breathe.
“Jacob-” she grabbed onto my hand, attempting to undo my strong grasp on her neck. “Please--”
I squeezed harder, watching the life drain from her eyes. I felt her very last breath before her body grew heavy and her head hung with her eyes staring blankly into the nothingness. I released my grip on her neck and allowed her to fall to the floor. Her body hit the floor hard but her eyes remained open. I knelt to the floor and slowly closed her eyelids, tears forming in my eyes.
She should have loved me like I loved her.
▪▪▪▪▪
I could feel the tears forming in my tear ducts at the recall of the event. I forced myself to stay strong. She was gone. She was in a better place now, watching over me like the angel she was.
I smiled as I brought my attention to Liza’s house. She came back a few minutes ago, storming out of her car. I assumed that she got into a fight with her boyfriend. She had stormed into her house and slammed the door behind of her.
I never imagined that she could have been capable of so much hate. She seemed like a very nice person who could never get mad at anyone. And maybe she was. Maybe that son of a bitch boyfriend broke her heart.
Forming fists, I stared blankly at my steering wheel. If he was causing my Liza to be in such pain, he would definitely have to be punished.
I glanced over my shoulder to the back seat of my Sedan to see the bouquet of gardenias I had
bought for her. Just knowing how happy she’d be when she saw them brought a smile to my face.
I grabbed the bouquet and stepped out of my car, closing the door carefully behind me. A smile formed on my face as I walked up to her front door, tempted to open the door and claim her as mine. I knew that the time wasn’t right so I just laid the bouquet on her welcome mat. Surely, she’ll come out sooner or later and see them. Her mood will instantly be lifted and I was sure of that.
I walked back to my car and started up the engine. As much as I wanted to stick around to see what her reaction would be, I didn’t know how long she would take before she stepped outside. Besides, this day will be pretty much useless if I just stared at her house all day. I would need to find more information about her. I needed to show her how much I cared.
I needed to show her how much I loved her.
CHAPTER ELEVEN - LIZA
“So you’re saying that you have a secret admirer?” Katie questioned, sitting perched on the edge of her seat, eyes wide.
It had been a week since I had received the gardenias. Since then, I have received three more bouquets; each had a personal note attached to it. They were all lengthy in content but my “secret admirer” made each note different from the next.
“That’s what I think,” I said, biting down on my bottom lip. I snatched the piece of paper from Katie’s hands and examined it once more. “Do you know anyone who would do this? I mean, it seems like it’s just a prank.”
“Or maybe someone has a crush on you,” she wiggled her light orange eyebrows playfully, “Have you told Sean yet?”
“It’s been days since we spoke and it would potentially be days before we speak again,” I said nonchalantly, “It’s not like I don’t want to talk to him, I just don’t know what to say. I think it’s best if we take some time away from each other,”
She gaped. “Sean is head over heels in love with you and you’re saying that you want to take a break from him?” she questioned, “Sean? The running back? The hottest guy in our grade? The--”
“I get it, Katie.” I cut her off, “I’m aware of what he is but I just don’t know if I want to deal with all that right now.”
She heaved a sigh, “Liza, what’s going on? Why the sudden change of heart?”
I pulled my knees into my chest and rocked back and forth on the sofa. “I thought that having the house to myself would be a good thing but I’m getting more and more scared by the minute.”
Katie chuckled as she plopped down on the couch next to me. “Are you kidding? You’re scared of a little secret admirer? If anything you should be flattered.”
“We don’t know if it’s a secret admirer.”
“Well, who else could it be?” she asked, quirking a brow. “Not to be the bearer of bad news but you aren’t exactly popular. You and I were pretty much wallflowers until Sean came along and swept you off your feet.”
I laughed at the memory. “I guess I just miss Jeremy.”
“You actually miss the early curfews and constant scolding from your brother?”
“No,” I laughed, “I don’t miss that, I just miss him.”
“He’s going to come back, Liz.” she reassured me. “And when he does, you’re going to wish he didn’t. So just enjoy your freedom now.”
“Katie,”
“Yeah?”
“I love you. You know that right?”
Her eyes widened, “Oh do you now? I never would have guessed!” She said, sarcasm dripping from her words.
“Come here,” I insisted, flailing my arms around my best friend since kindergarten. “I have no idea what I’ll do without you.”
“You’d lose all sense, that’s for sure.”
I smiled at her, opening my mouth to respond when a noise coming from upstairs caught my attention. “What was that?” I asked, exchanging looks with Katie.
“It’s probably Sean trying to sneak in from the window again,” she rolled her eyes and crossed her legs on the couch. “Go save him before he does something stupid.”
I was hesitant at first. Though Sean was famous for trying to sneak into my window late at night, I made sure that all windows and doors were locked. There was no possible way he could get in. “Watch the door, in case he decides to be a normal person and use the front door.” I told her before heading up the stairs into my bedroom.
I ran over to my bedside window to see that it was locked, just as I thought. I sighed in relief and turned around to face my mirror only to be greeted by shattered pieces of glass and a few gardenia flowers drenched in water.
My eyes flickered over to the dresser that the vase once stood upon and then down to the floor again. I grabbed a plastic bag from my bathroom and carefully placed the pieces of glass in the bag and threw the flowers in the trash along with the glass. I ran back downstairs to see Katie lounged out on the couch reading the note that I had received. “Did you find out what it was?” she asked, not removing her eyes from the note.
“My vase broke,” I said simply. “I don’t know how that happened. The only way it could have fallen as if someone was in the room and we were both down here.”
“Are you saying that someone was in your room just now?”
I sighed. “The windows were locked. Nothing was out of place and if someone was in my house, don’t you think I would know?”
“I guess,” she shrugged, “Explain the vase then.”
It took me a moment to realize that there was one room in the house that I had not been in for a while. “Jeremy’s room.” I said, “We need to check Jeremy’s room!” I grabbed on to my friend and pulled her up the stairs with me and into Jeremy’s room, which was across the hall from mine. Sure enough, the cold wind blew the curtains in different directions.
We stood there in shock. We both knew that someone had been in this house and that we were in great danger but none of us spoke.
“Call 911,” Katie finally said.
I nodded, reaching into my back pocket and pulling out my phone. I dialed the three numbers instantly and held the phone up to my ear.
“911, what’s your emergency?” a woman spoke in a velvety tone.
My voice trembled, “I think that someone was in my house.”
“What is your location?”
“Um, 26 Crystal Gate Terrace,” I told her.
“Now, you said someone was in your house. Do you know this person?”
“No,” I said frantically, “My friend and I were downstairs and I heard a noise from upstairs. I went to check it out and saw that my vase was broken and I knew it was impossible for it to break unless someone accidentally tipped it over and you’d have to be in the room to do that,” I took a deep breath, “I checked my brother’s room across the hall and saw that his windows were open.”
There was a brief silence. “We’re sending officers to your location.”
“Thank you so much,” I said and hung up the phone. “Katie, there could be a small chance that this person is still in the house so I suggest we can get in the car and drive around the block until the police come.”
“Great idea,” she agreed as she followed me downstairs and out into the driveway. “Are you going to tell Sean about this?”
“No,” I said shaking my head as I got into my car, “Sean does not need to know.”
“I think he would want to know.”
“He’s not going to want know something that he doesn’t know happened.” I snapped, “We’re not going to tell him. He’s just going to follow me everywhere.”
She didn’t need much to know that I wanted to stop talking about the situation. Besides, we had a bigger problem on our hands.
After several drives around the block, we were greeted outside of my house by two police officers. One was noticeably older than the other but they seemed like good friends, partners even. “Hello officers.”
“It’s a good thing you got out of the house,” the older one with a five o’clock shadow forming into a beard, said. “That
was a smart move on your part.”
“I watch a lot of criminal shows,” I told him as I stepped outside of the car with Katie meeting up with me on the other side.
“I’m Terry,” the old one said, holding out his hand, “And this is my partner Lou.”