Marked for Vengeance (12 page)

Tears continued
to pour as she realized that her plans to be with him had finally crumbled. She
had clung to it as best she could, and her intentions tonight in letting Isaac
go were honorable, but there was no denying that, despite her best efforts, her
grip on Benjamin had slipped for good.

She looked down
at her blood stained t-shirt.
How am I going to get this thing off?
she
wondered to redirect her thoughts. She had mulled over everything as much as
she could stand for one night and decided that she would reevaluate her
feelings in the morning with a fresh mind. But first things first, she couldn’t
go to bed with dirty clothes.

She wiped her
face with the sleeve of her good arm and staggered to the kitchen to fish a
pair of scissors from the junk drawer. After gnawing her top off with the dull shears,
she threw it in the trash and made her way to the bathroom to assess the damage
in the mirror.

Like a victim
from a slasher-movie, the horrified woman in the reflection stared back at her with
a mascara and blood-stained face, and grass and dirt littered her hair from the
fall.
Good God.

She moved closer
to see how serious the injuries actually were. There didn’t appear to be any
large gashes on her skin, but the dried blood made it impossible to see
anything in detail.
She stepped into the shower and attempted to clean
herself as best she could with one hand, and made her way into the living room
without drying.

Exhaustion trampled
her like a herd of buffalo, and she collapsed onto the couch. She had aimed to
make it to bed but was unable to take one step farther. As she lay bare on the
leather sofa, her home phone rang, but she didn’t have the energy to get up and
answer it. She let herself drift into a slumber, hoping the night would with it
some much needed serenity. 

CHAPTER 6:

An Intruder

A dainty jiggle
of the doorknob opened Alyx’s front door in the middle of the night with a soft
groan. She hadn’t shut it all the way when she made it home, and because her
unexpected run-in with Isaac dominated the thoughts in her foggy, frazzled
mind, had also forgotten to double check the deadbolt. A light from inside the
complex cast a long shadow into her living room from the figure that stood
silently in the doorway, cupping their hand over their brow to peer through the
darkness.

They snuck down
the hallway and into her apartment, and when they passed the kitchen, their
head whipped to the side to observe the mess scattered about the counter. A
pair of binoculars and a camera had fallen from Alyx’s purse, which she had
left open and carelessly slung. The intruder made their way into the living
room where Alyx slept and stopped at her side. She lay sprawled on the couch,
face down and naked with her head turned to the side. A light snore escaped her
mouth that hung open and glistened with drool. They knelt beside her, and a
street light outside the window cast broken light rays through the open blinds,
illuminating their face.

It was Cindra.

Her wide eyes
fervently studied her friend, who appeared in terrible shape, and with a touch
as delicate as silk, she brushed the hair from her face, revealing the tiny
cuts that had scabbed over with blood beneath her hairline. She leaned in to
study her a bit closer, and when she moved the rest of her hair off of her
back, her eyes drew to the unusually shaped scar on Alyx’s shoulder blade.  She
stared in bewilderment at the marking and slowly let her hand fall, her gaze lifting
above her friend in thought. A knowing grin pulled at the corners of her lips,
and she stood to leave. When she reached the end of the couch, she moved to pull
a microfiber blanket from inside the basket on the floor, and in one loving
sweep, covered Alyx’s exposed body.

On her way to
the door, her eyes burned with curiosity as they cut over to Alyx’s camera on
the counter. She glanced back at Alyx watchfully and reached across to pick it
up. She turned it on and leaned against the wall as she flipped through the
images when it came to the one of Isaac’s apartment window. Her mouth parted
with a silent gasp, and her eyes shot to Alyx. She looked back at the image,
turned the camera off, and placed it on the counter exactly how she had found
it.

She chewed on
her thumbnail as her perplexed thoughts churned, and she finally made her way
back to the door. Before going through, she paused, glancing concernedly once
more over her shoulder at her friend who slept soundly on the couch.

CHAPTER
7:

If
it’s Meant to be

When Isaac made
it home, he went straight upstairs to check on Micah who remained in a deep,
restful sleep. A biting draft permeated the air, so he slid another blanket
over his body to keep him from catching cold.

He made his way
down to the couch and stared out the window into the darkness, still troubled
by the memory of her condition and the chilling holler that escaped as her
shoulder hit the paint can. He thought of her hurt, running through the city
alone, and berated himself for not being persistent to help her. Gripping his
hair in frustration, he rested his elbows atop his knees. He wanted to know
that she was ok. He
needed
to know that she was ok.
I need to find
her
.
But how?

He reclined
onto the couch, unmotivated to unfolding it into a bed, and after his closing
his eyes, his mind wandered back into the dream from Friday night.

The
waterfall’s thin sheets of water crashed into the pool below, and his Dark Angel
sat in the tall grass with the same deep sadness plaguing her face. He knelt in
front of her to get a closer look, but the dream muddled her features like
before, except her black, sorrowful eyes, which still didn’t appear to see him.

Something
moved in the grass between them, and he brushed the shivering blades aside. To
his bafflement, a single beating heart writhed atop the ground. Steadily, its
broken, irregular thuds grew
so loud that he couldn’t discern whether it was his
eardrums pulsating or the heart’s uneven pounding. He placed his hands over his
ears to protect them from the unnerving clamor, but the noise wouldn’t calm.

He
looked back up at his Angel to see a hole in her chest where her heart would
have been, and drips of crimson rolled down her black, silk dress. He fell
backward from the shock, and a soundless shriek escaped his lips.

As
soon as his head hit the spongy earth, everything went silent again, and all he
could see were the twinkling stars. He raised his head slowly and parted the
grass to take another look, knowing what terrifying image waited, but his Dark
Angel and her broken heart had vanished. He rested his head on the ground with
relief and folded his arms across his chest, welcoming the chance to gaze
peacefully at the stars. 

* * *

The dull ache
from Alyx’s shoulder woke her in the early morning hours, reminding her that
the events from the night before were not just a heart-wrenching dream. Her
fevered body dripped with sweat, and her tongue felt thick and dry like coarse
sandpaper. A cool glass of water called to her from the kitchen.

She sluggishly
opened her eyes and used her uninjured arm to peel herself from the leather
cushions that stuck to her sweaty skin. When she made it upright, blood rushed
to her head and pounded inside her temples like a rubber mallet.

I need to move
around
,
she thought. Worried that she might fall, she closed her eyes and forced a gulp
down as she placed her bare feet against the wood grain of the floor. On her
way to the kitchen, she noticed a blanket on the other end of the couch that
she must have kicked off during the night.
I don’t remember getting that
out. How drunk was I?

She grabbed a
glass from the sink and filled it halfway, too parched to wait for it to fill
completely, and brought it to her chapped lips. The water disappeared with
three large gulps. She placed the glass back under the running water, filling
it all the way, and turned it off.

Glass in hand,
she shuffled to the bathroom and flicked on the light to examine the cuts on
her face. To her surprise, they looked fairly small. With the right hairstyle,
they would barely show. She examined her hurt shoulder. It didn’t appear
bruised on the outside, but at the very least the fall had sprained it. She
attempted to raise it again and winced. Even though the pain had eased, it
would still only lift halfway without causing too much discomfort.

She turned the glass
upside down and chugged until the last drop. On her way back to the kitchen to
set her glass in the sink, she eyed her open purse regretfully, wondering what
texts awaited her on her phone. She had yet to respond to Cindra’s text from
yesterday afternoon, and didn’t have her usual evening check-in with Benjamin.

She fished her
phone from the bottom. Two messages awaited her, one from Benjamin and one from
Cindra. Benjamin expressed his worries because his aunt informed him of her
early departure yesterday, and asked her to text him as soon as she could.
Thanks,
Deborah
, she thought with a roll of her eyes. Cindra filled her text with reproach
because Alyx never called her back to tell her what had happened at lunch, and
playfully accused her of avoiding her on purpose.
Dead on as usual.

She ignored both
messages, knowing they would call her back as soon as they got a reply. She
wasn’t up for a phone conversation yet. She did, however, need to get a hold of
her boss so she pulled up a new text to Frederick.
I’m under the weather,
she
typed, which was partly true. Sitting and typing at her desk all day long would
only aggravate her shoulder further.
I need to take a few days off. I will be
back by next Monday at the latest. Mona has shared access to all of my computer
files if you need anything.
She sighed when the message successfully sent,
knowing that Frederick wouldn’t be happy. He wouldn’t care that she had called
in sick, she hadn’t since working there. He wouldn’t be happy about relying on
Mona for documents or appointments, but she couldn’t worry herself with that
now. She wasn’t in any condition to go to work today – physically
or
mentally.

She shut her
phone and leaned against the counter. Her head hung with the thought of talking
to Benjamin again, which she would eventually have to do.  She couldn’t ignore
him forever. But when they did, it wouldn’t be pleasant. Her decision hadn’t
wavered since the night before – breaking up with him was the right thing to
do. She had known all along that none of this was fair to him, but never did
she think that she would let him go because of it. Now there were two
casualties of her selfishness – physics ultimately reasoned that both men that
pulled her heart in separate directions had to go.

She closed her
eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose.
The thought of breaking his
heart pained her. He adored her. She was his whole world, and she would have to
go through it with a machete and destroy everything in sight. But it was the
best thing in the end. He deserved someone that could reciprocate those
feelings and not have to force them as she had done for the past year. Just as
her heart sang for Isaac, Benjamin deserved that from someone else.

Isaac’s curious
gaze from the night before flashed through her mind. She feverishly hoped that
he never connected that she was the woman from the bistro. But would it be
enough to keep her out of trouble with her superiors? The only thing greater
than her desire for Isaac was her fear of punishment from them, and they had yet
to intervene so she determined that she was safe -- at least for now.

She picked up
the binoculars that lay on the counter beside her. They didn’t have the same
weighty burden that they once carried, but they still held a temptation that
she needed to purge. She opened the lid to the trashcan, chunked them inside,
and picked up the camera to delete the picture of his window. When she came to it,
her thumb swept across the screen, her heart breaking. But she couldn’t allow
herself even that one pleasantry if it would eventually lead her back to the
rooftop one day. Unable to find the strength to witness its deletion, she turned
her head and pressed the button. This whole mess had culminated from that one
place she couldn’t stay away from, and yet, she still had a hard time deleting
the picture.
If only there were a way to delete the desires,
she
thought.

She set the
camera down, and her heavy eyes pled with her to sleep, but something else
sounded better – resting on the couch and thumbing through old library books.

She made her way
to the couch and turned the TV on for background noise. As she lifted her
“Australia at a Glance” book from the coffee table, visions of Isaac snuck back
in. She would miss seeing him.

*
* *

The
ringing of Isaac’s alarm woke him from his dream, and for the first time, he
roused without panic or fear. Oddly enough, despite the crick in his neck from
sleeping in a sitting position, he felt refreshed. 

He pushed off of
the couch and went to the window to check the weather. The rippled sheet of
clouds washed everything outside with a sickly greyish-blue tint. Leaves tumbled
down the sidewalk that people bustled along with their hands clasping the front
of their jackets to keep the cold air from intruding.
Jackets and jeans
again today
.

His arms raised high
in the air to stretch his back, and he moseyed to the kitchen to pour a bowl of
cereal.
He didn’t have the same urgency to get their
morning routine going on Tuesdays as this was his only day off during the week.
All he needed to do today was get Micah to school, and then he would stop by
the bistro.

He
remembered that Frederick had flung his business card in the contest bowl
yesterday to win a free lunch, and Isaac hoped it contained an address so he
could pay him a visit -- and hopefully the mystery woman, as well. Looking
forward to the possibility of seeing her again today, he reached inside the
cabinet for a clean bowl as his lips spread into a wide smile. He had a good
feeling about what the day would bring.

* *
*

After
dropping Micah off at school, Isaac went on his way to the bistro. He didn’t
usually visit on his days off, and Tanya was the only one there that early. “She’ll
be
all
in my business,”
he said with a moan.
What can I use as
an excuse?
The last thing we wanted to do was admit that he was hunting
down the attractive woman she had teased him about the day before. 

He
parked his truck in a space along the curb, and pulled the wallet from his
pocket to get to the change that jingled at the bottom. He tossed the quarters
into the meter and stared at his wallet with a grin.
That’s it!
he
thought and shoved it into his glove box. Searching for a lost wallet would
resonate with her. She constantly scolded him for losing things around the
bistro; pens, staplers, name tags. This would most definitely keep her off his
back.

He rapped
his knuckles against the glass door three times, and she immediately appeared from
the back room to unlock it with a look of confusion. When she swung it open, he
hustled through. “Mornin’, Tanya!” he belted out before she could speak. “I think
I left my wallet here.”

“You
dummy,” she said and closed the door behind him. “I haven’t seen it.”

Isaac
shuffled loose papers and folders around on the front counter. “I’ll look
around then.”

She
left him to his ‘wallet hunt’ and disappeared around the corner to stock the fridge
with the food shipment they receive every Tuesday morning. As soon as her stout
silhouette vanished, he darted for the bowl on the counter to sift through the
business cards.  When he stuck his hand inside, his fingernails clanked against
the bottom of the empty ceramic bowl.

“Your
wallet won’t be in there,” Tanya said as she appeared from behind the corner
with a droll smile.

To
hide the disappointment, he knelt behind the register, pretending to look for
the wallet on some low shelves where the workers stashed their personal
belongings.

She joined
him behind the counter, and he turned his head away with closed eyes.
I wish
she would leave me alone
.

She
squatted beside him and pulled a card from her apron pocket. “We did the
drawing last night. I saved it for you,
”
she said
as she nudged
him with her elbow.

“Oh,”
he muttered, rocking sideways, “th- thank you.”

“No
problem,” she beamed. “You didn’t really lose your wallet, did you?”