She took a shower to thoroughly clean the steak blood off of her, then opened her laptop again. It had occurred to her while she was rinsing her hair that she should check to see what kind of email she’d gotten over the last few days. Something there could tip her off about her missing time. It seemed as if she’d hardly had time to think over the last day with the strangeness she’d been experiencing time and again. She felt like she had to try to make sense of things before she lost her mind. If she hadn’t already.
There wasn’t anything new in her email. She thought for a moment then picked up her iPhone and checked her texts as she’d begun to do the night before.
Boom.
There was a series of messages between her and Wil, right at the top of the list, beginning late on Thursday.
She thought she remembered Thursday, most of Friday too, but she had no memory of the conversation whatsoever. As she read the first text a feeling of dread began to gnaw deep down inside of her.
(Thursday)
-Well, she wants me to leave. She told me to be out by tomorrow night. Know of a place where I can stay?-Oh my god! Are you OK? You’re coming here, right? I’ll be home from work at 4:30; anytime after that is fine.
-I’m fine… considering… Long story! I guess you’ll have lots of time to hear it from me. I’ll be at your place sometime after work tomorrow night.
-I’m in shock that this is finally happening! Call me during the day on my cell if you need to.
-Will do. Is it bad that I can hardly wait to see you?
-Not in my opinion, but I might be biased.
(Friday)
-I’m leaving for work. Call me as soon as you’re coming over with your stuff, OK?-Hey, I’m home from work. I picked up a steak if you’re hungry. It’s big enough for two.
-Is everything OK? Why aren’t you answering your phone?
-OK, it’s after ten. What’s going on?
-What’s going on? It’s past midnight and I haven’t heard a thing from you. I’m upset and worried and I need you to tell me something. Anything!
That was it. She read through them again and again but it wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened. She looked at her call log and saw the number of outgoing calls to his number on Friday night. Call after call after call after call. Then at around two a.m. Saturday morning they just… stopped. And a few hours after that she woke up on the ground outside her apartment building, directly below her sixth-floor balcony.
She felt sick. She didn’t want to know what the contents of her stomach would look like after her gluttonous feast so she made her way to the sofa and stretched out. She stared at her living room ceiling, absorbing the idea that all she’d wanted for over a year had been within her grasp just two days before then snatched away in some way that she couldn’t even remember.
Tags: Chapter One