Stalking Sapphire

by Mia Thompson

  “Will you be my maid of honor at the wedding?”

  Half way down her throat the squid got stuck and Sapphire coughed. She took her glass of water and chugged it. When she put it back down she still couldn’t breathe, and she was pretty sure the squid had already gone down. She gasped for air as she reached for Julia’s glass of water and chugged that one too.

  When Antonio ran over to pat her back, she saw it: hanging around his neck, a cross with a unique design.

  She stopped coughing and stared at it.

  “You okay?” Julia asked, worried.

  “What is that?” Sapphire said nodding to the necklace. “Is that a Catholic cross?”

  Antonio looked down at his cross and nodded. “Yes, my whole family…”

  His voice drowned out as Sapphire could see all the pieces come together like a puzzle in front of her. Father O’Riley couldn’t have done it alone. He was in his early sixties and although a bit plump, he was as fragile as a dry twig. How could he have broken into her car, kidnapped a young woman, and carried her around? He would have needed help. How did he know where Sapphire would be all the time? Sapphire had never met Antonio before, but he had been in her house dozens of times to pick up Julia. Maybe even in her room. He knew she’d be at the country club because Julia told him. He knew she’d be at home for dinner at Thanksgiving because Julia would have mentioned it. The Batman ring was a sacred bond between her and Julia, the person she loved the most in the world.

  “Tell me, Antonio,” she blurted out. “How is Father O’Riley doing?”

  Antonio looked up at her with an odd expression. “Very well.”

  “How did you guys meet again, the two of you?” She pointed an accusing finger between Antonio and Julia.

  “We ran into each other at the Ellen DeGeneres show and…” Antonio started.

  “Of course you did; tickets that I told Father O’Riley I bought for Julia. And you just happened to be there.”

  “Well, I work there, so yes, I happen to be there from nine to five every day.”

  “Sapphire, what are you saying?” Julia said, a tone of urgency in her voice.

  “Where is she, you fucking psycho? You killed her didn’t you?”

  The other guests at the restaurant got quiet and turned to look at their table, but Sapphire couldn’t care less.

  “Who?” Antonio asked, confused.

  “You know who I’m talking about. Don’t play stupid. Tell me where she is!?” Sapphire stood and slammed her palms onto the table.

  “Sapphire. Sit down.” Julia ordered.

  “You can’t marry him! He is a dangerous psychopath, and he’s using you to get to me.”

  “What?” Antonio looked at her as though she was the insane one.

  “You son of a bitch, I’m gonna get you. I’m gonna get you both! If you hurt Julia I’ll kill you; do you hear me?”

  Julia stood up and slammed a fist onto the table. Sapphire got a look that she had only gotten a few times before. Once when she was nine, playing on top of the pool cover, and two or three times when Julia had caught her smoking or drinking in her early teens. “Outside. Now. Now!” Julia pointed to the door. Even though Sapphire was an adult, the child in her followed the orders and made her way out with Julia following, cussing in Spanish.

  They stopped in the alley behind the restaurant. Julia stared at her in silent anger until she drew a deep breath. “What es wrong?” she asked in a calm yet firm voice.

  “I know it sounds weird, but he’s dangerous. He is Catholic, and there is a Catholic murderer running around.”

  “He es Puerto Rican. You show me a Puerto Rican that isn’t Catholic. I’m Catholic, Sapphire. Do I kill people too?”

  “He knows Father O’Riley and he is involved in it.”

  “I don’t know what Father O’Riley you’re talking about. But the one he knows is my priest from when I was a child. You’ve met him, remember?”

  Sapphire stood still, unable to speak. She had met him, she suddenly remembered. A few years back and it wasn’t her father O’Riley.

  “But…But…,” Sapphire stuttered.

  “You…you and Antonio are the most important people in my life. You know this, but you couldn’t even try to be a little nice to him—the man I’m marrying. You act like a child.” Julia’s eyes glossed with tears.

  “Let’s be real here. You know just as well as I do that when you guys get married, you move out, have kids, and that’s it. Where do I fit in?”

  “What do you want from me, Sapphire!” Julia raised her hands helplessly. “I’ve been there for you since you were five. I have to move on. I have to have a life!”

  “You’re my only family and now you’re getting a new one!”

  “Family? Do family lie to each other, Sapphire?”

  Julia locked eyes with Sapphire, and her insides turned cold…like icy needles pricking her all over her body.

  “That’s right, I know,” Julia continued. “You sneak out in the middle of the night and you come home in the morning. You climb up the vine. And what es this finger stuff? I wait and wait for you to tell me and then I have to ask your mother. Two years ago, you tell me everything. Now, you tell me nothing!” Julia walked up to her and held her shoulders. “Have you even seen yourself lately? I can see something es wrong. What es it? Tell me!”

  Sapphire stood quiet and didn’t know whether to be relieved, worried, or sad. Julia knew she snuck out but not why. She knew Sapphire was keeping secrets, but not what they were, and it was hurting her. Sapphire shook her head; even though she wanted to tell her everything, she couldn’t.

  Julia stepped away and wiped away the tears streaming down her cheeks. “I was seventeen years old when your mother hired me as live-in help, Sapphire. I walked in thinking it was a good job for a year. Maybe after that, when I saved up some money, I would quit and become a nurse, maybe meet someone, have a family.” Julia’s eyes locked into Sapphire, and she smiled through the tears just for a second. “You know what happened? I opened that door and found this wonderful little girl inside: this lonely little bambina who cries and cries. My heart breaks, so I take her in my arms and I think to myself: ‘I will not let go until I know she es okay.’ One year goes and I think maybe I’ll leave by next Christmas. Three more years go and I think: maybe only till she’s in high school. Then I wake up one day and you are twenty-one, almost never home, most of the time not even talking to me about things anymore. Then, I’m lucky enough to meet this wonderful man, and I fall in love. Don’t you see that it’s time?” She paused again, watching Sapphire. “I’m not telling you this because I want you to feel bad. I’m telling you because I want you to understand.” Julia clapped her hand over her own heart and her voice broke. “I love you like you’re my own daughter, Sapphire, and I always will. But don’t you see I have to do this?” Julia looked at her for a long time waiting with hopeful eyes. “Say something, please.”

  She didn’t know what to say. Julia was right; of course she deserved a life, but all Sapphire did was stare back at her. Somehow, she managed to feel simultaneous compassion, guilt, and anger towards Julia, which resulted in complete silence.

  After giving Sapphire another few seconds, Julia shook her head and turned around. “I’m staying with Antonio tonight.” Her voice was cold yet tainted by pain.

  When Julia left, Sapphire jumped in her car and was just about to back out of her parking spot when she caught her own image in the rearview mirror. Instantly, she understood what Julia had been talking about.

  The ghostly girl staring back at her had pale, almost white, skin. Her eyes were bulging with anxiety and were accompanied by dark, raccoon-like circles underneath.

  Sapphire drew a breath and leaned back in her seat.

  Her life had been so neatly planned out and now Julia hated her, she was being stalked by the detective who popped her cherry, and she was sent gruesome gifts by a priest whom she trusted. Then, of course, at the top of her cataclysmic list:
Sapphire was responsible for the torture and death of Shelly McCormick.

  The thought was so unbearable that the only thing Sapphire could do to deflect it was to put it all into Father O’Riley.

  If it was the last thing Sapphire did, she would find him and make sure he got put away in such a deep dark hole that his own God wouldn’t even be able to find him.

  * * * * *

  Aston sat in the kitchen of the gigantic mansion and looked at Mrs. Dubois as she played with her locket that hung down over her big fake boobs. She winked at him again, as if to ensure the first two winks were not accidental.

  “I love men who serve their community,” she said and let her index finger and her middle finger walk across the kitchen counter toward him.

  “And I love…juice,” Aston said, raising his glass of OJ and taking a swig. He had to be careful with what he said; so far, she had managed to turn three of his responses into sexual innuendoes.

  “I would just love to try some of your juice,” she said and her eyes landed on his crotch. Her walking fingers made a beeline toward his chest.

  Aston wasn’t a prude when it came to the world of dirty talk, but the woman in front of him took the prize, making him slightly uncomfortable. He moved away, reaching for a banana in the fruit bowl—then realizing what clever puns Mrs. Dubois could come up with—grabbed an apple instead.

  “Your daughter…have you ever noticed anything odd about her behavior?”

  At the mention of Sapphire, Mrs. Dubois pulled back, her face blank, and refilled her glass with wine.

  “Of course. Sapphire is not the way she is supposed to be. She didn’t come out the way she should have.”

  Intrigued, Aston was now the one leaning over the counter. “How so?”

  Mrs. Dubois sighed and sat down on one of the stools. “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed. She is not like other girls her age.” She took an impressively large chug from the filled-to-the-top glass of red and looked at Aston with bedroom eyes. “Enough about her and more about us.”

  “No. What do you mean she is not like everyone else?”

  “Well, she pretends she likes shopping, but she doesn’t. Someone with her status should be out at all hours of the night with hot celebrity men, but she isn’t. Behind it all, she is obviously…” Mrs. Dubois paused and took a deep breath. She was having trouble expressing the next part. “A tomboy.”

  “A tomboy?”

  “She was adorable as a child, always following me around, mommy this, mommy that. I was her hero.”

  Aston could see warmth in her eyes for the first time since he had met her. She played with the locket around her neck and opened it up to show him a picture inside of Sapphire at four or five.

  “Unfortunately, she didn’t understand that grown-ups need their alone time too, and that I couldn’t always have a child hanging around my legs when I had important things to do. Eventually she grew up and stopped being so needy.”

  Aston looked at the picture of Sapphire and wondered what Mrs. Dubois’ definition of important was.

  Mrs. Dubois closed the locket with a loud snap and went back to her wine.

  “So who is Sapphire’s…” Aston started.

  The front door slammed, and a few seconds later Sapphire appeared in the kitchen. She was pale and looked tired as she walked past them both to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.

  “If it isn’t the magician herself,” Aston said, crossing his arms.

  “What are you talking about?” Sapphire cracked open her bottle.

  “The disappearing act you pulled at the mall really deserves a standing ovation.” He clapped his hands and mouthed “bravo”.

  “You really need to stick with the detective, Darling. We don’t know who is out to get us. What was so important that you felt you needed to leave the poor man?” Mrs. Dubois said without any concern in her voice.

  “What are you talking about? I was at the mall all day; you fell asleep, I tried to wake you up and when I couldn’t, I went to shop some more.”

  “Nice try, but your car was gone,” Aston said.

  “I moved it to meet Chrissy for lunch at the food court on level five. Then we went shopping again. Then I had dinner with Julia and her fiancé. Call and check if you don’t believe me. Either way, I’m going to bed.” She disappeared upstairs before Aston could reply.

  “Well, I guess it’s just you and me,” Mrs. Dubois said and winked for the fourth time that evening. “Wine?”

  * * * * *​

  Shelly rubbed the rope that held her captive hard against a jagged part of the old wooden chair. She was so close. The thick rope and its strong fibers had already started separating. She’d heard them snap, little by little.

  She needed to work faster; he could be back anytime now.

  Unless he’d come when she was out, he hadn’t been back since the day he left so abruptly, and she was starting to hope he might never.

  But hope didn’t belong with the new Shelly; it was a part of the old Shelly. The new Shelly dealt with action and action only, and with that came logic. Logic which told her that there was a possibility that any hour, minute, or second, she would hear him make his way down the steps which made those god-awful noises.

  Shelly stared over at the dripping faucet as she struggled with the rope, and the horrible thirst took over again. It would be the first thing she would do when she got loose. She would drink until her stomach was full, then she’d run up those stairs and be free.

  Squeak!

  The sound came from the staircase.

  Shelly froze, her heart pounding again, the trembles returning. She held her breath, waiting for his footsteps to follow.

  Squeak!

  Again, Shelly stared up toward the wall that hid the staircase, trying to breathe, trying to swallow the repulsive fear.

  Then something in her fearful state of mind sparked. There was wind outside; the strong kind that came just before a storm arrived. Wherever she was, the building was old, and the wind could easily make the house sound as though it was alive. Maybe she had already realized this—perhaps many times.

  Shelly’s shoulders relaxed a bit and she tightened the rope in her hand again, rubbing it. Right now she was good: fully conscious, but soon she might not be. She had blacked out many times in the middle of trying to get the ropes cut, then woken up forcing herself to remember through the fever what it was she was supposed to do, and started rubbing the rope against the chair again.

  She needed to stay focused, work harder, faster, before he returned.

  Soon it came, and she wasn’t aware that it was happening at first, but slowly it grabbed her attention.

  The dazed thoughts, the heavy eyes, the wonderful, comforting darkness that brought such blissful ignorance. It felt so nice as it came over her: a blanket of warmth wrapping around her, removing every fear, pain, and sorrow from her conscious mind.

  No! Shelly thought desperately clinging onto any smidge of lucidness that was left. Not now. I’m so close. The rope was almost ready to snap completely.

  The warmth grew rapidly, eating away her solid thoughts piece by piece.

  Maybe she’d just close her eyes for a second, just to make the heaviness go away. Maybe she would just…

  * * * * *

  Aston was awakened by a blood-curdling scream. He had no idea how long he had been sleeping, just that he certainly didn’t mean to fall asleep. He had been exhausted and had sent Barry home even though it was his shift again. He flew out of the chair parked outside of Sapphire’s room and yanked the door open searching for the perp.

  The dark room was empty except for Sapphire. He ran up to her and stopped a foot from her bed. In the glow of the light from the street lamps outside, he saw that her neck, face, and chest were covered in tiny beads of sweat. Her eyes were pinched shut, and she tossed her head from side to side.

  The best thing would have been to just walk away. She was having a nightmare and that was all. It wasn’
t Aston’s problem. He could go back to his chair, stare at the foo foo painting on the wall in front of him, and try not to drift off to sleep. But he didn’t.

  Aston placed a firm but gentle grip on her wrist and spoke as softly as he could. “Wake up.”

  Sapphire opened her eyes, catching her breath as her eyes searched the room, landing on Aston and his hand on hers.

  “You were screaming. I came in because I thought someone was here.”

  “I was screaming?” Sapphire sat up and rubbed her eyes with her free hand. Her eyes met his and slid down his body toward his hand.

  He realized he was still holding her. It was warm and felt nice, like two pieces of a puzzle fitting perfectly together. A calm that Aston had never felt before came over him, and he didn’t want to let go.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled, taking away his hand and making it useful—running his fingers through his hair. “You have a bad dream or something?”

  “I guess so.”

  They looked at each other, and there was a moment where it seemed as if everything else—who he was, who she was, and why they were there together—faded away. He knew she felt it too, and he knew if he didn’t pull away, he’d be in deep shit. He also knew that at that particular moment he didn’t care. At that moment, he would prefer being in deep shit with her. Last time he felt that way was the night they spent together. It had freaked him out, and he had spent the last few weeks pretending it didn’t happen. Now he was giving into it. Not because he wanted to but because he had to.

  She was the one who pulled away. She adjusted her blanket and her eyes strayed from his, refusing to go back. “Thanks. I’d better get some sleep,” she said coldly.

  “Right…right.”

  He walked out of the room and sat down in the chair with one word in mind.

  “Fuck.”

  * * * * *​

  Sapphire had been waiting for hours and she was getting impatient. Where was he?

  Aston had finally given up his shift to go home and get some sleep, and she had left her TV on the loudest possible volume, locked her door, and climbed out the window. She hadn’t had time to go all the way to the gas station to get her Volkswagen so the Range Rover had to do. Barry had been very easy, unlike Aston.