Leticia (3 page)

***

Wednesday and Thursday passed by very slowly, I didn’t go outside the door and luckily nobody tried to get in it either. Not long after I’d sat there thinking about the three guys, I knew I was going to have to find something to occupy my mind for the next couple of days, so
I
decided to have a good clear out. I went through the house, top to bottom. Got rid of all of the
garbage
I had kept and bagged up all sorts of clothes that I’d bought but never worn, ready to take them to a charity shop.

It was now Friday and
time
to venture out
.
I had to make up for the appointments I had cancelled with my clients and get some shopping in. Throughout the day I got sick of telling everybody my lie about how ill I was, but
a
ppreciated the genuine concern my clients had for me, saying how glad they were to see me back to my normal, happy self. I got my shopping done and now
,
considering it was 6:30, I was going home.

As I struggled through my front door, shopping bags hanging from my elbows, I
suddenly
caught a scent, a scent I
recognized
. I put the bags down in the hallway, then traced the area close to the house, but
there was nobody
around.
Why
would one of
them
be here? I ha
dn
’t seen or hear
d
of one for over twenty years, at least. Had it picked up my scent? Did it need help? After all, we look after our own. It c
ouldn
’t
have
be
en
the guy
who
saved me, I would have picked up on what
he was straight away, although
thinking on it, I did pick up on something about him, not strong or that I
recognized
, but there was something about him that I couldn’t put my finger on.

After having another look around and still not seeing anything, I decided to put my shopping away. Afterwards, I felt fed up and agitated so decided to take a nice walk around where I lived, I still had a couple of hours of day light left.
It was
risky but with how vast and desolate the moors
were
, I wouldn’t have to worry about defending myself if it came to it.

I put my coat and hiking boots on and set off. I started
walking
and looked around at my surroundings, I decided not to venture to high up because the tops of the hills were covered in low cloud
;
I wouldn’t be able to see my hand in front of my face, but what an amazing sight it was. The clouds were like tidal waves crashing across and falling down the sides of the hills. It was beautiful, but
they
also looked a little menacing. Maybe we were in for another storm tonight.

I’
d been walking around for about half an hour and was now just at the approach to Saddleworth
M
oors, just past Upperwood Quarry. I suddenly got a sick
ening
feeling that
someone was watching me again
, were they actually following me? I started to walk faster, I could hear their footsteps
getting louder. T
hey were getting closer. I felt myself getting angry inside
‘I have had just about enough of this crap now’
I thought,
‘time for you to meet the real me’
. I spun around on the spot as quickly as I could,

“Listen you son of a...” I blurted out. My chin dropped and I stuttered slightly “W... what are you doing here?
”
I asked with the most bizarre and confused look on my face.
Standing
a few feet in front of me was the guy who had saved me.

“Just out taking a walk Leticia
,
” he replied.

“How do you know my name?
”

“Well, I was there just before and
when
those guys attacked you, if you remember, they said your name
.
”

“Oh
,
” I smiled
.
“I never got to thank you properly did I?”

“No need
.
”

I was about to say ‘yes, there is’ when he turned and started to walk away from me. I ran in front of him.

“At least tell me your name
,
” I said to him
.

“Well I’m not sure why it’s so important but, it’s Jackson, good night Leticia
,
” He replied
.

“How very rude
,
” I shot at him after a split second of hesitation, and
surprise at
his abruptness. “Why did you even help me if you’re not even going to give me the time of day after?
”

“We look after our own
.
”

“What is that supposed to mean
Jackson
?”

“It means I saw a wolf in need
.
”

“What? How do you know...
?”

“I have met your type before
.
”

“O
K
, well, what are you then?”

“I have to go now Leticia, see you around, and be careful
.
”

I stood there silent and watched him walk away, slowly disappearing into the fog that had started to envelope the lower part of the hills. I didn’t know what to do or what to make of him. First impressions were, he was arrogant, unsociable
,
but more importantly he was supernatural, to know what
I
was straight away made that obvious.

I made my way back home. All kinds of questions were racing through my mind,
and
no matter how much I tried to think of an answer to them, not one came.  I walked through the door just in time, the heavens opened and the thunder started to roar. It was almost deafening, and the lightning was rather blinding
.
It
was beautiful, but I was glad I wasn’t caught out in it. I made myself a drink and sat in the living room
.
I decided to read a book instead of watching the TV. I loved being able to escape into another world and leave all my problems and thoughts behind.

I had only been reading about an hour when the phone rang. Not many people had that number, only a very select few of my clients, and surely none of them would ring at this time.

“Hello
,
” I said rather warily
.

“Hi Leticia, its Mary Whitstable
.
”

Mary was one of my olde
r clients, eighty-two years old.

“Hello Mary, are you ok?”

“Yes, yes, I need to cancel my appointment tomorrow afternoon my love, I’m afraid I forgot and made a
doctor’s
appointment, and I really can’t cancel it, I’m so sorry to
inconvenience you
.
”

“That’s fine
Mary;
just give me a call when you want me
.
”

“Thank you very much, see you soon
.
”

I’d just got
ten
back to the sofa with my book when the phone rang
again;
I smiled to myself as I made my way to it. Mary was quite forgetful sometimes.

“Hello
,
” I said, rather
chirpy.

“Hello,
Leticia
,
” a deep male voice replied
.

“............”

“I know you’re still there, I can hear you breathing
.
”

“Who is this?”

“You’re on your own a lot these days, that’s not like you
.
”

“I
said
who is this
?
”

“It’s a shame you know, spending all your free time alone, doesn’t it make you wonder why....”

I didn’t let him finish, I slammed the phone down
and
was about to dial 1471 to see what the
caller’s
number was, but
before I picked up the handset
it rang again. This time I lifted the receiver but said nothing.

“That was very rude
,
” the voice almost shouted
.

“What do you want?”

“To see you
.
”

“Well, you know I’m alone so why not
come now?
”

“I will, soon
.
”

“No, not soon, do it now, what’s the matter can’t....”

“I SAID SOON
!
” he screeched
.

“Piss off
.
”

I cut the call off then decided to leave the phone off the hook, I didn’t want this weirdo calling me every two minutes for the rest of the night. It did un-nerve me though
.
How
did this person know I was alone
?
Was
he out there, watching me? Was it him that put the photographs in my bedroom?

I double checked all the doors were locked and sat back in my living room. I couldn’t concentrate on my book anymore, so I tossed it on to the coffee table. Every little noise was making me jump, and when you consider that I live in the hills and its windy most nights, I had to listen to the windows creaking and the howling of the wind itself. I kept imagining someone breaking through my door, and trying to kill me, what I would do to defend myself. Would I change? Would I just allow them to attack me and get it over and done with
?
I heal fast and it’s not like normal weapons can kill me anyway, I could just pretend they had.

I walked into the kitchen to make myself a drink. As I was
standing
in front of the window, about to fill my kettle, a huge rock came crashing through my window. It hit me on my collar bone, I cried out in pain. The kettle fell from my hands and I ducked down behind the cupboards, holding my collar bone and shaking. The wind blew through my kitchen sending my
mail
and other papers flying onto the floor. I waited a few minutes to see if whoever had thrown the rock would attempt anything else, but nothing came. I stood up and tried to look out of the window,
hoping to
see my attacker, but the wind was so strong and it was raining so hard that visibility was almost zero. I tried t
o think of ways to fix my window
and
ended up taping the bottom of a thick cardboard box over it, luckily, despite the weather, it held.

As you can imagine
sleep didn’t come easily for me
. I was more than tempted to call my clients the next morning and cancel their
appointments for the day, but I’d
done it once already
and
didn't want them to think I was unreliable. I applied my make-up rather heavily to try and disguise how tired I
looked;
the last thing I was in the mood for was loads of questions.

Luckily for me, my first client was so engrossed in conversation on her phone that I could simply concentrate on doing her nails and getting the hell out of there. I saw myself out and headed to my car fumbling through my bag for my keys. Just as I sat in the seat I saw something under one of my
windshield
wipers, a folded piece of paper. I looked around to check I wasn’t parked on any yellow
lines;
there
weren’t
any
, so why the hell had I got
ten
a ticket? I yanked the piece of paper from under the wiper, as soon as I felt
it
I knew it wasn’t a parking ticket, it was too thick. I unfolded the paper, I got a hot pain in my chest and looked around me quickly, nobody was there, the street was empty. I looked at the paper
again;
it was a photograph of me taken this morning as I left my house. I was about to tear it up, but then decided against
it
and
put it in the glove compartment ready for further inspection later.

My next client was Sara Wilson,
Marian’s
sister, she was just a
s
miserable and down in the dumps about everything as her sister. I just let her drone on with herself, nodding in agreement every now
and
again, but not really paying attention to what she was saying. The only thing I really listened to was what she told me when I was leaving.