In Your Shadow (16 page)

“Is that were it all happened, at your house.” John ask, even though he heard it was.

“Yes it is.”

“You want to talk about it.”

“Not really but you need to know. I was coming home from work one afternoon. When I pulled up in the driveway Mitch was already home, I walked in and found him on the floor shot. Before I could call for help the shooter shot me under my shoulder blade. That is the scar that you see above my chest it is a gunshot worn.”  Her voice became starchy as a tear started to form in her eye.

She held it back and turned and looked out her window.

“I’m so sorry Katie you had to go through such a terrifying ordeal. Are you sure you want to do this? I hate to see you go back down that road. Sometimes it’s best to let sleeping dogs lay.”

“Yes I am sure, but I fell I have to do this, so let’s get this over with.”

She looked up and they were approaching the entrance of the small estate. It was confronted by two tall brick columns. The street was lined by trees and the small house set back in a circle drive. Hers was the last house on the right. The house was a small brick home nothing fancy. Three bedrooms and two bath, it was but 16 hundred square feet.

“There she pointed.” Her hands start to tremble feeling the adrenaline running though her like a title wave.

The house looked different broads were covering the four large windows in the front. Scrubs had grown half way up the broads that looked like sticks with vines growing up them. Grass had turned in to tall weeds that had dead from the winter. The darkness covered the house casting a dreadful silhouette. The light shinned directly at the door as eerie shadows took form around the house. Everywhere they looked there were dark shadows of shrubs leaning towards them.  He slowly pulls up close to the door, as his head lights lit up the front. John felt as though he was leaving civilization behind and walking into a horror movie stepping into an unknown world. This house looked more like something out of a Steven Kings novel.

“No wonder she has been having nightmares, I would to.” He thought.

“Katie how are you going to see there is no electricity.”

“Yes there is we never turned it off. We thought maybe it would keep people from vandalizing the place. The lights are on a timer.” She said as a shiver raced through her as her blood turned cold.

The events of the last week have pulled her back here to the horrible place. Yet, this was something she had to do, something she should have done a long time ago.

“Well it looks to spooky to vandalize.” His mind couldn’t even comprehend what had gone on here.

“It didn’t look like this five years ago.” she said as she sat there with her knees shaking.

“Katie you don’t have to do this I’m serious, we can turn around and leave.”

“You don’t understand, yes I do. I have to put it to rest once and for all.”

For at least the next twenty minutes she just sat there and stared at the door before turning and looks at John. He finally gets out of his truck and goes to the other side and opens the door. Climbing out slowly she walks in front of him. Looking down trying to find the hiding place she put the spare key. Grass had grown up so high she could barely see the large rock in her flower bed that it was under. The weeds had grown over it. She finds the key and puts in the door and listens for the lock to pop. When she heard the sound her hand started trembling as she pushed the door open. Still standing in the entrance a steal odor hit her hard in the face. She started gagging and gashing for air. Turning her head to get some fresh air in her lungs. Standing there in the dark, with the only light shining was the headlights from his truck. For what seemed like forever she stared into the darkness of her small home. The picture of the front room seemed to spin around in her head. A thought of helplessness, fear, made her wonder why she was here. “What am I doing?” she thought.

“Katie that’s enough let’s go, you are not ready for this.”

“No I am not leaving.”

She walks a few steps inside with her heart pounding hard in her chest so hard she could hear it in her ears thumping. With her shacking hand she reaches for the light switch on the side of the wall.  She flipped it on and the nightmare comes to live once again. She wasn’t ready seeing her house again, not like this. This was nothing like she remembered, it felt like a strange place. Something she had seen out of a horror movie but yet she was walking in it. The light dimly lit only a narrow area of the room but it shinned enough to see the dust particles that were covering the air, and settling on the plastic that was covering her furniture. It took several minutes to compose herself again.  Every step she made the dust moved in the air. Dark powder was covering parts of the walls leaving the remains of someone finger prints. Looking around it didn’t look like she ever lived here. It felt like she had walked in the pits of hell and couldn’t get out. Her breathing became fast and shallow, trying hard to remain calm she turned her head to the window and it was the same dark powder everywhere. She took a step in the living room and she could her knees started to buckle. The air was so heavy and had an old musky smell to it. Dust was on the plastic so thick you couldn’t tell what color her furniture was. She finally moved slowly to the kitchen holding her hand over her nose as nausea set in. Glancing at the glass door that was boarded up, shattered glass was still on the floor. Tears started to fall down her face as the memory of that night came back to her.

“Mitch I’m home “she could here herself calling out them words. It was almost like it was happening all over again.

“Katie” she heard a voice come from behind her snapping her out of her trance. She turned and John was standing a few feet from her.

“Katie are you alright, we can leave right now.”

“I’m fine” her voice low.

She wanted to just leave and never return her memories were almost too much to bare. Knowing she had come this far she had to finish. She could still here noise of the shower in her head. With her heart pounding like drums, fear consumed her.

John could see that she was having a hard time dealing with all this. She looked as if she was going to pass out. He stayed as close to her as possible. He couldn’t believe what his eyes was seeing, it was hard for him to image her here with the killer. The kitchen was clean with nothing out of place. The floors were covered in prints and glass. His anger boiling though him with the thought of someone hurting her.

Katie seen the present she had bought for Mitch still sitting on the corner top next to the wine bottle she had opened five years ago. The two wine glass half full of wine, the bottle popped open his card and gift still in the same place. Nothing had been moved. It was like walking back into time, everything stood still.

“Mitch.” She could hear herself calling his name again. The memory rushed through her mind as she turned and seen the same prints leading to the hallway.

She repeated her steps just like she did years ago. Hearing the glass crunch under her feet with every step she took it sent a sudden chill down her spin. Was she ready to go back down that hallway. Taking a few steps forward and stopping taking a deep breath she finally turned the corner. She froze in the same spot she did before. There was a white outline of a body and large dark spots on the carpet. It was the blood that had dried up, it had turned black. Nausea hit the pit of her stomach. Crumbing to her knees, covered her face with her hands she sobs.

John reached down and pulled her up to his chest. Holding her tight against him.

“Oh Katie why did you come here. This place is too much for you to handle it is your past that don’t need to be rekindled. You have a future leave the past here and focus on now.” His voice low and soothing.

He held her tightly in his arm, one hand held the back of her head as he placed a soft kiss on her head.

She pushed away from him her cheeks covered in moisture. She turned around closing her eyes and took a deep breath as she walked to her old bedroom. She couldn’t remember a time that she felt anything other than emptiness. This seemed like another life in another world. She tuned back into reality and realized that this life was finally over. Flipping the light on, her bed was still made with an imprint of someone sitting on the edge. She felt dizzy as if everything around her moved in slow motion. It felt like a dream, a nightmare and she couldn’t find her way out.

Finally, snapping back she seen his cloths were on the chair no far from the bed. His dresser was opened slightly like he had took something out without closing it back. Everything was just like she left it. Except some pictures of her and Mitch was missing off the wall. The pictures were gone leaving just a nail. She looked around to see if there was anything else that looked different. It had been so many years ago she couldn’t remember. She walked to the closet and opened it. It looked like someone went through their cloths but she couldn’t be sure. She looked down at the shoes and there was a pair missing. His work boots were gone. Mitch always wore them to the construction site. Bending down she moved some shoes out of the way and still she couldn’t find them. Then it hit her they looked almost the same size of the dirty print on the floor.

“But Mitch was on the floor he couldn’t shot his self because someone shot me from the back. It’s just not possible. Maybe he left them in his car.” All kind of questions was going through her head. Something wasn’t right she could feel it. She turned and John was standing a few feet from her watching everything she was doing.

“What’s wrong?”

He noticed a different look on her face, something he hadn’t seen before.

“His boots on missing and our wedding pictures are gone.”

“He might have left his boots at work are in his vehicle. Maybe your father got your pictures put them up for you.”

“No I don’t think so my father never came here after the shooting. He hired someone to come and cover everything and broad up the windows.”

“Katie why don’t you call and talk to the detective, maybe they got the boots.”

“Well what about my pictures.”

“I don’t know they could be put up.”

Katie walks to the other side of the bed and opens the top drawer of her night stand. There was a small package wrapped in red with an oversized bow on it. A card was sitting beside it with her name on it.  He hands trembling as she picked up the small red box. She sits down on the edge of the bed and opens it. There was a heart locket with a picture of him in it. When she opened the card the words “Always your shadow” was written on the bottom. Tears roll down her face as she drops the card on the floor. Trying to stop the tears from rolling she couldn’t. They fell like pouring rain.

“Katie lets go now and call the detective in the morning.”

“I am John, just give me a minute.” Her voice so low he could barely hear it. The letter, the card, the words, rolling over and over in her mind.

“It can’t be him. It just can’t be he was on the floor dead, I buried him. He wouldn’t hurt me like this. He would never.” Her thoughts going crazy.

She stood up and walked out of the room as anger ran though her blood stream hard and fast. Stopping by the bathroom door she opens it and walks in, his after shave was still on the corner. Razor’s, his wallet and keys were lying next to his belt.

“Nothing is making any sense.” She thought to herself.

She picked up the wallet and opened it and there was a few hundred dollars left inside, his credit cards and his license’s.

“If he did this why would he leave his things what is going on.” She starts to panic as the memories raged through her.

Everything starting coming back to her like it was yesterday the smell of the room the sound of the house. Seeing his head buried in his blood, the loud sound behind her before everything went black.

John looked at her face as it turned white and her eyes were dilated like someone had hit her in the head. He reached out his hand and grabbed her arm. She looked as if she was going to pass out right in front of him.

“Katie,” his voice loud.

He was trying to break her trans, he said her name again and she finally responded to the sound of his voice.

She fell into his arms with tears streaming out of her eyes. Her arms went around him holding him so tight it almost took his breath. Her body trembling so hard he could feel it all though his body. He picks her up in his arms and carries her out of the bathroom and into the living room. Still holding her, she looks up to face him and looks into his eyes.

“Everything I have ever loved got took away, what if something happens to you.”

Johns heart dropped to his stomach, when he heard them words.

“Katie nothing is going to happen to me.” His lips cover hers softly and with so much power and passion it stopped her tears from falling.

He sits her down and opens the front door and leads her out of the house. Shutting the door hard behind him he helps her in the truck.

“Here please lock it.” She said as she hands him the key.

He turns around and locks the door and walks to the other side of his truck. The light of his truck hit the garage door. It was cracked open a few feet from the ground. He could see something that looked like a dried flower are a weed on the ground it had turned brown. Looking over at Katie she was too upset to notice. He gets in the truck and starts to put it in reverse.