I’ve long since dried my tears, and am staring at this wonderful woman with so many years of life experience and wisdom. She’s an unspoken prayer, answered. Sally’s right: I can’t let this define me, I’m alive, and will move on with my life. This is one of those epiphany moments I’ve read about so many times in books. The perfect ah ha moment; a moment of clarity that’s meant to empower me.
“Sally?” My voice comes out strong and sure.
“Yes, dear?” She looks at me with knowing eyes.
“Thank you, for everything. You have no idea what your words mean to me. How much you just lifted me up.”
Her eyes start to well up, and she’s speechless for a moment. “You are more than welcome, dear,” she says with a shaky voice.
She pats my leg and gets up. “I’m going change the sheets on your bed. Unfortunately, visiting hours are over, so your friends won’t be allowed back until tomorrow.” I just nod and give her a sad smile. I’m crushed when Sally tells me that visiting hours are over for the night. I wanted to see Sara and Skye again.
I ask Sally if she can pass a note along to Skye for me. She agrees.
“Will you hand me my bag? I think that it's behind you against the wall,” I ask. She places the bag in my lap, and I dig through its contents.
A knock on the door interrupts us. Looking up, I watch as a shy-looking brunette in sage green scrubs wheeled in a cart. The smell of chicken broth fills the room and my stomach growls angrily.
Sally places the cart near me, handing me the cup with the brown liquid. Immediately, I begin to greedily gulp the warm broth. Sally smiles approvingly. “If you need anything, just press the nurse’s call button.” I nod and continue to slurp the broth.
I don’t realize I’m alone until I’m finished eating. I look around the room at the white sterile walls and sigh.
Thirty minutes later, I park my Jeep in front of the apartment building. Chloe may be coming home soon, so I want to check on her place. I trudge up three flights of stairs, and by the time I’m standing in front of her door, my legs are burning from the lack of running this past week.
An eerie feeling settles in my gut when I spot several roses taped to the entrance of her apartment. Last time I came by here, there was one already on the door and I didn’t think anything of it then. This time, however, there are at least a dozen. Some have died or wilted, and the others look fairly new.
Who the hell keeps putting them here? One name comes to mind: Todd. God, I hope I’m wrong about this. Asking Sara if they were here when she came by earlier would probably be a good place to start. I pull my phone out of my back pocket, and dial her number.
She answers on the first ring, but sounds distracted, “Hey what’s up?”
“When was the last time you went by Chloe’s?” I ask in a serious tone.
I can hear the worry in her voice as she answers, “Yesterday morning, why? What’s wrong?”
“Were there any roses taped to her front door?” I ask.
“Only one. They keep showing up. I think one a day is the average, because if I wait two days then there are two on the door. Why?” Why does she sound so casual about it?
“Well, today there are several. Some of them are dead, like they’ve been here a long time,” I tell her.
“Where do you think they’re coming from? Why would someone tape roses, let alone dead ones, to her door? I don’t know why, but I didn’t think anything weird about this earlier. God, I’m so stupid. I thought they were from the creepy neighbor one floor down. He’s infatuated with Chloe and sends her gifts and flowers all the time.”
“Do you know his apartment number?” I’m seething at this information.
“201B. Are you going to talk to him?”
“Yeah. Call ya back in a few.” I don’t wait for her to say goodbye.
I race down the flight of stairs. It’s times like these I wish they would fix the fucking elevator. I quickly find 201B and start banging on the door. Finally, a man that looks to be in his early thirties opens the door.
“Can I help you?” he asks nervously as he looks behind me in the hallway.
“Yeah, man, do you know who Chloe is?” I quickly get to the point.
“Yeah, she lives upstairs. 306A, right?” He raises his dark, bushy eyebrows, looking me over like I’m the crazy one.
“Yeah, someone told me you like to send her gifts?” He takes a step back and tries to close the door. I stick my foot in the doorjamb, stopping it before it closes all the way.
“You have two seconds before I call the cops!” he shouts through the crack.
“Look man, I just need to know if you’ve been taping roses to her door.” I try to mask the anger in my voice. I realize that I need to be nice to this guy if I want answers.
“What? No! Why the hell would I do that?” he looks shocked that I would assume he’d do something like that.
“Hell, I don’t know! That’s what I came to find out. Look, my name is Skye!” I stick my hand in the space between the door and doorjamb.
The door opens slowly, the man looks at my hand like it might blow up any minute. Finally, he takes it and shakes it. “I’m Brandon. Look, I may have sent stuff to Chloe in the past, but it’s not what you think. I usually send her gifts on special occasions. She’s always alone, I felt bad for her. I knew she had been through the wringer with that Todd guy. I was just trying to be her friend.”
“Well, someone’s been taping roses to her door, and I don’t have a good feeling about it. I was told you send her gifts sometimes, so I just wanted to ask you about it. Honestly, I was actually hoping it was you.” Brandon just shakes his head from side to side.
“You think it was Todd?” he asks.
“I hope not, man. Let me give you my number. Do you think you could keep an eye on her place, and let me know if you see, or hear anything unusual?” He tells me his number quickly, and I shoot him a text so that he’ll have mine as well.
“Sure. When does Chloe get to come home?” he asks.
“We’re not sure. She’s awake now, so hopefully it won’t be too much longer.” But not soon enough, I think to myself.
“That’s good. Well, I’ll let you know if I see anything.”
“Thanks, man.” If this guy’s for real about keeping an eye on things, he just became my new best friend.
Shit, Shit, Shit! I know it's Todd. It has to be. I pull out my phone again to call Sara. This time it goes to voicemail. I leave her a brief message telling her Brandon was a no-go.
I walk back up to Chloe’s apartment, feeling defeated, and rip the roses off the door angrily. I take a deep breath, and let myself in with the key Sara gave me. Everything seems to be in its place. With a heavy sigh, I close and lock the door.
I’ve got a gut feeling something huge is about to happen. I just don’t know what, and it’s driving me crazy. I slowly hike the two floors up to my apartment.
When I get to my door, I can hear the whooping and hollering of the guys inside. I enter and Brady, Harley, and Kasey are sitting on the couch, screaming at the television screen with Xbox controllers in hand. The game pauses and they all look at me.
“‘Sup, man?” Harley says.
“Hey. Brady, can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure, man.” He gives me a questioning look, and the others go back to their game.
I nudge my head in the direction of my room and Brady jumps up to follow me. As soon as my door is closed, I fill him in on Tom, and his suspected drug problem.
“That piece of shit!” he shouts. Taking a deep breath, he continues. “I knew something was wrong with him the day he hired us to be the house band. I can’t believe he would still be messing around with Todd, though.”
“Yeah, I know. Look, I’m about to go to the police station and give them the address I got off the mailbox and tell them everything I just told you. I was just going to call, but I think they might want a statement or something.”
“Yeah, y
ou’re probably right. You want me to go with you?” Brady offers.
“You can if you want. I just really needed your opinion on the situation,” I say.
“I think you’re right. If Tom’s on coke, he isn’t thinking past his next high.” Brady runs his hand through his hair.
“You’re right. Honestly, if Tom wants to snort shit up his nose, I couldn’t really fucking care less. I know Chloe will be really upset if she finds out, though.” I shake my head and say, “Let’s just say shit’s gonna hit the fan.” I know that we use to be friends, but I’m quickly learning that we’ve both changed since then, and I have no use for junkies.
“This is so fucked up.” He runs his hand through his hair again.
“I’m going change and then head downtown to the station.” I turn to walk toward the closet.
“I’m going with you. We can grab something to eat when you’re done.”
“Thanks, man,” I say.
I try to call Sara again, and just like the last time, I get her voicemail. I leave a message, telling her I have some big news for her, and to give me a call when she gets a chance.
The song “Nobody’s Hero” by Black Veil Brides is on replay in my head all the way to the police station. Brady and I walk into the station and approach the bulletproof glass. A woman in her mid-thirties with black hair give us a bored look. “Can I help you?” the uninterested officer asks us.
“Yes, ma’am. Is Detective Sanders in?” I ask as sweetly as possible. She clicks a few buttons on the keyboard in front of her and looks back to us.
“He left earlier. Is there something I can help you gentlemen with?” Her impassive responses are starting to piss me off.
“Yeah, we need to speak to an officer pertaining to Chloe Thomas. We may have some information that would help her case,” I tell her. This gets her attention, but at this point, I don’t give a shit. I need to unload this information and get home. We are instructed to sit on a wooden bench in the lobby and that an officer would be with us soon.
Two hours and thirty-six minutes later, I’d told my story half a dozen times to a just as many equally uncaring officers. I told them all about the roses, gave them Brandon’s name, and I was questioned about Todd over and over. They wanted to know if I knew where he was. Of course I didn’t, and I told them so.
When I gave the slightly overweight officer the address of the worn down house and info on Tom, they wanted to know what I was doing on that side of town. I gave them some bullshit about being lost. I don’t think they bought it for one second, but didn’t question it further.
Two hours later, Detective Stanley calls me and tells me the house is abandoned. I figured this wasn’t going to be easy.
When I get off the phone with the detective, I try to call Tom, but I’m sent to voicemail after the first ring. I dial Sara next and she still isn’t answering.
Hey you up? My phone vibrates in my hand. What is Chloe doing awake? I’m already dialing her number when she asks if I can call her.
“Hey!” she shouts in my ear. Her enthusiasm makes me smile.
We talk for a minute until she shocks me. She asks about things that she thought were dreams, but apparently, she could hear us. The thought that she heard all my confessions of love and support makes me so happy. That happiness is short lived though, because she’s worried about Tom.
I have no intention of discussing this with her while she’s in the hospital, especially not over the phone, but I know she’s on to me when she growls through the phone.
“When did you figure it out, Skye?” Fuck. I wanted to fix this and then tell her. She doesn’t need to be worried about this shit right now, but I know by the tone of her voice that she’s going to flip her shit if I don’t fess up
“Chloe, I only found out today. There are some things we need to talk about. I need you to call Sally into the room and give her the phone.” If Sally will let me into her room, I’ll have Brady take me there so I can calm her down.
It’s just my luck that Sally’s gone for the day. I try a different tactic and ask about Sara. I may not have been able to get in touch with her, but I’m hoping Chloe has spoken with her several times.
Chloe says she hasn’t talked to Sara, and I’m really stunned by that. Brady is sitting in the passenger seat of my Jeep, he must’ve heard what Chloe said because the moment she finished her sentence, a look of disbelief crosses his face. We pull in front of the apartment and I put the car in park.
“Just call Sara and call me right back,” I instruct her right before we disconnect the call. I really hope she answers. I want to go to bed, but if Chloe can’t get in touch with Sara, I may have to go looking for her.
“So, Sara’s missing?” Brady questions me.
“Man, it’s after one in the morning. She’s probably in bed, but we may need to ride by her place to be safe.” Brady nods in agreement, just as my phone starts to ring again.
“Hey! Did you get her?” I ask immediately.
“No, it went to voicemail,” is her sad reply.
I nod toward the apartment, signaling for Brady to go on up while I talk to Chloe for a while. I love this woman. The sound of her voice, her smile, and her kindness …everything that makes her my Chloe. God, I can’t wait for her to come home.
I end the call with her, crank up my Jeep, and put it in reverse. The streets are empty on the drive to Sara’s place. I don’t see her car when I ride past her condo, and it worries me. I call her phone again and I get sent straight to voicemail. Suspicion burns deep in my gut. I cut the block and head back home.
I call Brady and he answers in a panicked voice. “Man, what the fuck is going on? This is some serious horror movie bullshit.”
“What the fuck are you talking about, man?” The voice coming from me doesn’t sound like my own. It’s shaken and concerned.
“Man, Chloe’s apartment door is covered with roses again. I called Detective Sanders. He ain’t happy, but he’s on his way. Hurry, man.”
“Fuck!” I scream and press the gas harder. I throw my phone in the cup holder, not bothering to hang the call up.
The Jeep is barely parked when I fling open the driver-side door and jump out. By the time I reach Chloe’s door, there are several officers going in and out of the apartment. I look through the door and my jaw hits the damn floor. The entire room is filled with roses. They’re thrown on the floor, sitting in vases, and are all over the counters and tabletops.
“You think Todd did this?” I hear Brady ask from behind me.
“Yep,” I grind out.
Detective Stanley comes out of the apartment and stops in front of me. “You’re Skye, I presume?” I nod in answer.
“I was told you went to the station earlier to file a complaint on behalf of Ms. Thomas, is that correct?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well I can’t have you boys wandering around here while we work on the crime scene. Here’s my card. Please call me personally if you have anything to add to the incident report.”
I can’t speak. I’m exhausted, overwhelmed, and concerned, so I’m thankful Brady answers for me. “We will, sir. Come on, Skye. You need to get some rest.”
I follow without argument and we silently walk up the stairs. Will this fucking nightmare ever end?
I woke up this morning with this feeling of doom that I just can’t shake. I’ve tried to call Sara so many times since I woke up that I’ve lost count. My call goes to voicemail every time and her mailbox is full from all the messages I’ve already left her. Where the hell is she? I dial Tom a couple of times, but his phone goes straight to voicemail as well. They’re probably together and forgot to turn their phones on after leaving the hospital. I know I’m grasping at straws here, but what else can I do at this point?
Sally walks in without knocking, and in her arms is the most breathtaking bouquet of roses I’ve ever seen. I blush. Skye is so sweet.
“There’s a card.” She hands me the envelope and I read the
tiny script. “Thinking of you, my love. You’ll always be mine. Just remember, every rose has its thorns.”
That’s kind of forward and vague. Instead of voicing my thoughts, I just smile at Sally who is waiting expectantly.
“That’s very sweet of whoever sent the flowers. Did the person that delivered them say who they were from?”
Sally gives me a questioning look. “No, they just asked me to sign the delivery form. I thought Skye sent them.”
“They may be from Skye. They just don’t have a name on the card, I didn’t want to assume,” I say.
She just gives me a kind smile and starts out the door saying, “If you need anything just let me know.”
I pick up my phone and text Skye. Hey! Have you heard from Tom or Sara yet? I hit send and a second later, I hear a ping. Looking up from my phone to where the sound came from, I see Skye strut into my room. My mouth waters at the sight of him.
His dark hair shines under the florescent lighting in the hospital. When his green eyes spot me taking him in, he smiles a grin reserved only for me; all of his perfectly straight teeth on full display. Warmth stirs within me, causing me to squirm under his gaze.
He stalks to my bed and leans down to kiss me firmly on the lips. I wrap my arms around his neck, our tongues dance for several long moments before he pulls back, leaving us both breathless. I inhale deeply through my nose, and Skye’s body stiffens. “Chloe, did you just sniff me?” he asks on a whispered laugh.
Oh my God. I cannot believe I was that obvious about it. “Um...no,” I reply.
Skye leans into my ear. “You can smell me anytime you want.” His body goes tense. “Where did you get the roses?” His voice is angry, and I know immediately that the roses are not from him.
“You didn’t send them?” I ask, already knowing the answer.
More Than Friends Page 15