My heart pounds hard in my throat as I walk closer to the bed and then I hear the door close loudly behind me and the lock turns. I turn and see him standing there. He was wearing his mask and he was holding a red rose. “For you” He says and holds out the flower to me. “You always like to keep people waiting don’t you?” He says and comes walking closer to me. I’m frozen in place and I glance back to the bed. “Oh don’t worry about Romeo he is just sleeping” he says and my mind starts racing. “James” I say his name and feel the tears burn in my eyes. I see him walking over to the bed and then stand at the head of the bed and looks at me. I can’t move and feel weak and stupid. He starts pulling the sheet off him and I gasp as I see his badly beaten body and put my hand to my mouth to still my fear. The tears start rolling down my face and I sniff hard. I want to walk forward and to see if he was still alive but then he pulls out a knife. “Ahhh haa… Not so fast Juliet… This is not how the story goes” he says and points the blade of the knife at James’s throat. I stop and take a deep breath and look up at him again. “Why are you doing this?” I finally find my voice and wait for him to say something. He looks at me and then I hear a little laugh coming form behind the mask.
“Why am I doing this? Doing what Annabelle? Making sure that things go according to plan, because we had made a vow… and you… You think that you can just leave me behind and everything was going to be okay” He says and I listen to the voice and I know that I heard it before. I know that voice. “I love you… I loved you more than anyone ever had… and just like that you forget about me… Leave me behind” He says and looks down at James. “And you choose him… Him!” He shouts and presses the knife to James’s throat again.
“Please don’t… He has nothing to do with this… you want me right? You want me…So just let him go” I say begging and he looks up at me and then he stands up straight. “Sit…” He says and points to the chair in front of the bed and I look at it too. “I said sit!” He shouts again and I walk over to the chair and sit down. “Now take the hand cuffs and tie your one hand to the handle” he says and I do it knowing that if I refused he would hurt James. As I struggle tying the hand cuff he comes rushing over and ties it for me. I use my free hand and start fighting him off but with my one hand tied it was hard finding grip and he hits me hard across the face and my head bounce back and I see his mask lying on the ground. I can’t focus my head was hurting and my eye was throbbing hard. I keep my eyes closed and feel him tying my feet to the chair as well and I feel panicked. Before I could scream he tapes my mouth shut. I feel the horror grip at my heart as I look into his eyes. I couldn’t believe it; somehow everything makes sense right now. My breath gets caught in my lungs and I can’t breathe. “We can’t be apart Annabelle… I love you and I know you love me too… We belong together” He says and walks back to the bed where James lies tied up and starting to regain his consciousness. He takes the knife and holds it to his throat and I start shaking frantically in the chair. He looks at me and then he stops. “Why do you want him? What does he have that I don’t…I loved you from day one and I stood by your side when you felt that everyone hated you and didn’t understand you… I was there in your corner defending you and protecting you and then he comes along… And you throw me away like your left over salad… you and that bitch… You forget about me! I should have killed her when I had the chance” I hear him say and he was angry now. “And then that fucking Barbie comes back into the picture and I’m gone!” He says and looks back down at James and I know there is nothing I can do to save him. He was going to kill him and it was all my fault. Suddenly there is a frantic knock on the door and I see him looking at the door and then at me. He comes rushing over to me and hold the knife to my throat and I pant hard in my ears. “Don’t you make a sound?” He says and then we wait. I hear my phone ringing in my bag on the floor and then he looks at the bag and I see his anger flaring up. “Shit!” He says and I know that this wasn’t going to be good. I hear voices talking outside the door and feel the blade quivering at my throat. I then hear someone calling my name. It was my father. Then I hear a thumbing… They were hitting hard against the door. I see him getting up and pacing around as they try and knock the door open It’s only a matter of time before they get it open and I start making noises and hitting my the chair against the ground. “Stop it! Stop it” He says and hits me hard and I stumble over in the chair. I feel him leaning in and helping me up when suddenly the door burst open. He holds the blade to my throat again. I see my father and Ethan slowly coming in with their hands out in front of them.
“Put the knife down Garett” I hear my father says and I can’t hold back the tears. “Garett… Son please… put the knife down… you don’t have to do this” My father says and I see Ethan running over to the bed to assist James. “No! No! You leave him… If you touch him I will slit her throat” he screams and Ethan stands back from the bed as Garett puts the knife closer to my skin and pierces it lightly. I feel the blood trickling down my neck. “Okay okay…” My father says and keeps coming closer and closer. “The police are on their way Garett… This is not going to end well… Please put the knife down and we can talk about this… We will get help for you my boy” My father says and he looks over to where Ethan was standing next to James and then he looks at my father and presses the knife closer to my neck and pierces me again, I shrug at the pain and let out a yell behind the tape. “Help… I don’t need help… All they do is pump me full of pills. They think they can control me with their evil medication… I don’t need help. I just need Annabelle…” Garett says and looks at me with sad confused deranged eyes. Suddenly he lets me go and takes a step back and puts the knife to his neck. “Hey… What are you doing? No Garett… Please son you don’t have to do this” My father say and I can’t see behind me what was going on.
“I will always love you Annabelle…” I hear Garett saying behind me and then I see my father leap out in horror pass me. “No no no!” I hear my father saying and I see Ethan put his hands to his mouth and lower his head. “Garett… What have you done…?” I hear my father say and I know that something terrible had happened. “Ethan; call the ambulance” My father screams and I close my eyes as the worst had happened.
It was over in more ways than one. I watched as they pushed the bodies out of my room and I feel like I was on autopilot again. Nothing could prepare me for the immense loss I was feeling. My mother was standing by my side holding me close. I look up at her in search for answers but I know there is none. No-one saw this coming. I was oblivious to the obsession Garett had developed with me over the years and had merely brushed it off as moments of endearments. He had taken on the personality of someone who was gay in order to get close to me in an intimate and private way. It was his sick and twisted way of winning me over and so earns my trust. He believed that I would love him because I would understand where his love for me was coming from. But when I decide to go to London and with James coming into my life he knew that he would lose me forever. Everything just went from bad to worst so quickly and now I had lost him forever. I will never be able to understand why death was the only way out for him, for us. I will never understand what had really pushed him over the edge. I can only try and make sense of everything and try to build a new life. I walk out with the paramedics and see them lifting James into one of the awaiting ambulances, he was still intoxicated from the drugs Garett had injected in him and his body was badly bruised. “How did you know it was Garett” I asked my father when he comes standing next to me and I look up at him. “Summer… she remembered” He say and I cant believe it. “But how?” I ask and he smiles. “Garett had breakfast with Nicole this morning… And they ended up having a fight where he called her a Barbie and she was very upset about it and he slapped her sending her into a frenzy. She came home and told Ethan about it and when she uttered the word Barbie… It kind of unlocked Summer’s memories about that night. Garett had called her a Barbie before he started attacking her… he
blamed her for you not wanting anything to do with him anymore…” My father tells me the story and somehow it all starts making sense. Crazy psycho saddening sense. I sigh again and see the ambulance driving off with James safely intact. I stare at the black bag containing Garett’s body. I feel so sad and broken at everything I had put him through. It must have been horrible being in love with someone who might never love you back. My father puts his arm around my shoulder and we start walking to the car where my mother stands waiting for us. “Let’s go home” She says and we climb inside.
Chapter Twenty-One
It felt good to be back home. I look out over the oak city and smile. It has been a long time and now it was time to do what I loved back in my own country. I missed everyone and I know that this was where my heart belonged. I look down at my phone and feel anxious. I haven’t heard from her in months and I always find myself fearing the worse when she disappeared like this, but she would always come back on one platform or the other but the last year I had barely heard from her. She was seeing someone I think he didn’t approve of her friendship with me. I could never really get used the fact that she was seeing other men and I never asked, I would see the photos on social media and then I would wait for her to tell me. I was afraid to ask who of the guys had been the one but I was too afraid that it would make her cold to me and I decided to make peace with the fact that I wasn’t the one by choice and that I might not ever be her one. We never said goodbye she didn’t want to see me as she blamed herself for almost getting me killed and she blamed herself for Garett’s death too even though we later found out that he had been suffering from depression since his early teen years and that he later developed schizophrenia and had stopped taking his medication for months leading up to the tragic events of that day. What happened that day is something I will never forget. It was hard not seeing her but there was no other way. This was what we both had chosen and we had to live with our choices. I know now that I should have asked her to stay, I should have asked her to marry me. I should have made her see reason, but something told me that she needed this more than I needed her and I could not stand in the way of her growth. I saw her once when I played a game in England, we were both in a relationships at the time and it was hard me not to touch her or kiss her or tell her that I still loved and hoped that one day we will find our way back to each other. I step into the shower and think back to our first time together and the lovely times after. How close I had gotten to loving her and now I feel like laughing at what a fool I had been. She probably gave it up to the first guy she met in London with a sexy accents and wild hair and blue eyes. I guess it was okay… No it wasn’t. The thought infuriates me a little as I remember her asking me and sometimes begging me to take her and I couldn’t. Maybe I was afraid that she would believe that that was all I was after. I needed her to understand and feel that I loved her and that sex didn’t matter okay it did, but I wanted her to feel my love for her more than my lust. I feel my member move as I think about her naked body under my touch. I loved how comfortable she was in her skin, how she responded to my touch. Oh… he was completely erect now. Shit I wonder what she would say if I told her that just the thought of her sets me off and got me so hard it hurts sometimes. I shake my head and sigh. I finish up my shower and walk around my apartment erect and hot. I look out over the vineyards and take a deep breath and feel it relaxing. I had a meeting at my old high school regarding a coaching position and I was excited about it. I would be great to give back to the young ones. I had endured a very bad injury and decided that it was time to hang up my boots. When I made the move I decided to venture into a sport fitness and physiotherapy business and it seems profitable and I was meeting with some guys soon to talk about opening a fitness centre focussing on athletes. Sport was in my blood and I loved it. I dress professional and head out to my meeting. I was early and sat outside the office and watched the kids coming and going. Wow how times had changed and I felt a little over dresses as I saw what some of the other teachers were wearing. “Mr. King… Wonderful to see you again please come in and lets talk” The principle say and I head inside. I feel nervous but is soon set at ease when the principle starts calling up my achievements I can hear how confident he is about having me in this position. “I won’t let you down sir rugby is in my blood and I know I will help get these boys back to where they belong” I say and we shakes hands and I set out feeling wonderful about myself. I walk back to my car and decided that I needed my morning coffee since I had missed with my meeting which went on a little longer than I expected. I drive into town and park somewhere I can walk everywhere I wanted to be. I get out and head out and take in the beauty that is Stellenbosch. I look around and run into some old friends and end up chatting longer than I wanted and my coffee later became a brunch idea as I felt my stomach starting to growl.
For a second I was not sure if I was seeing correctly, maybe the missing her this morning had me seeing things. I walk closer and look harder. “Annabelle?” I say her name and she looks up at me and I feel the life leaving my body as I’m transported back to that day in the eleventh grade at the sports. Her hair was long and loose over her shoulders and her eyes looks somber. She was sad I could see but that didn’t matter right now. She was here in front of me in Stellenbosch. “James” She says and I feel the life returning back to my body and feel my hands tremble and my heart pounding hard in my chest. “How are you?” I say and don’t know if it was the right thing to say and I see her pressing her lips together. “I think I’m fine… How are you doing?” She asks and I feel caught between heaven and earth. I could not believe what I was seeing. It was really her. “I’m good. When did you get back” I ask and she keeps looking at me her eyes burning hard into mine. “I got back about a month ago…” She says and smiles at me. “Would you like to sit down…I’m waiting for my mother but she seems to be running late” She say and sits up. I walk closer and take the chair next to hers. I want to touch her and pinch me to make sure that this wasn’t dream. “Thank you…Wow… I just can’t believe you’re really here…I was just thinking about you this morning” I say and feel myself growing hot again at the thoughts I had had of her though. “I was thinking about you too” She says and looks at me smiling. “When did you get back?” She asks and I reach out and touch her cheek softly. She gapes at my touch and I then our eyes meet again. I see her blushing and take my hand away and swallow hard. “I got back about a week ago. I moved into my apartment over the weekend. It feels good being back home. I just went for an interview at Gym to coach their first team” I say and she looks at me surprised. “Wow that’s great… Are you not playing rugby anymore?” She asks and I shake my head slightly. “No not since my last injury…I thought that I could get back but my heart just wasn’t in it anymore and the convenient thing is that my contract ended last month… So I wrapped up everything and came back” I say and she looks at me seriously. “And you… how long are you guys staying for?” I ask and she looks down at her hands and I know that something was wrong.
“Oh… Uhm… I came alone… I don’t know for how long I’m staying just yet” She says and I look at her and I see the tears glistening in her eyes. “Hey… No! What is the matter?” I ask and get up out of my chair and kneel down in front of her and she looks down in my eyes and I hate that she is crying right now. “Its over…I ended things with him…” She says and I know that she was hurting. I pull her into my arms and she holds me close. “Oh James… I missed you so much” She says and I stroke her hair and feel my heart swelling with love. “I missed you too” I say and she pulls away from me and I touch her damp cheek. “My parents don’t know yet… They don’t even know that I have been back in the country this long but I just needed to get away” She says and I sit back on my chair and I watch her pat her face dry. “But I don’t want to talk about that right now… How is Carryn?” She asks and I feel like laughing out loud. “Carryn is… Okay I guess” I say and she frowns at me. “What happened?” She
asked and I feel like telling her the truth that Carryn and every other women before her was wrong because they weren’t her but I knew that right now that wasn’t something she needed to her. “What happened? Well… What always happens… She wanted commitment and I couldn’t give her that” I say and she tilts her head to me with a questioning frown. “Well I was cheated on for the exact same reason…” She says and sighs. I sit looking at her long and hard. I watched as she wiped her tears away and how beautiful she was even though she was crying. I feel my heart swelling with love and adoration and I knew that this was it. There was no other way. It ends now. “Will you marry me?” Before I could even think about it the words came blurting out of my mouth. She looks at me surprised. My heart was pounding hard in chest as she sits there looking at me without saying a word. “I mean…Not now…” I say and then she just says it hard and loud. “Yes.” I look at her and stop speaking. “Yes?” I ask again to make sure that I was hearing correctly. She puts her hand to her lips and bites it hard and then she lifts her brow at me and smiles brightly. “Yeah… Yes… I will marry you” She says and looks at me smiling brightly. I can’t help but smile at her too. “Hey…I’m so sorry I’m late.” I hear a voice coming up behind me and then she recognises me. “James!” She screams out and I get up out of my chair and she pulls me into her arms and we hug for a long while. Annabelle gets up too and stands looking at me smiling. “How are you?” She says and walks over to Annabelle and they hug as well. “How are you my child?” Jane says and looks at Belle with a frown. “Had you two planned on coming home at the same time?” She asks and I smiles at her. “No… This is purely coincidental” I say and look at Annabelle. “But let me not intrude on your meeting…”I say and get up again and look at Belle. “I guess I will see you again?” I ask and she smiles at me with sparkle in her eyes that sets my heart on fire. “Of course we have a lot to catch up on” She says and I feel my skin tingle as she watches me. “Well my number is still the same so I will be waiting for your call” I say and bend down and kiss her cheek and feel her touching my neck. My heart skips a beat. “You don’t have to go James… Please stay” I hear Jane speaking but Annabelle has my full attention. “No its okay… I will come by the house and visit…” I say and walk over to Jane and give her a hug and kiss too. “Enjoy ladies and I will see you later” I say and look at Annabelle who smiles at me as I leave. I could not believe it. Did that just happen? I ask myself as I walk back to where my car was parked. Annabelle had said she would marry me, well she was laughing when she said and I don’t know if I was serious when I asked her. What am I saying of course I was serious? I love her I never stopped loving her. I sit in my car for a while not knowing if should laugh or cry. I know that right now was the moment I could not let her slip away from me again. I get out of my car and start walking around the streets. There is only one way I can show her I’m serious about her and I need to find the perfect thing.
Loving Annabelle Page 29