Where Would I Be Without You (28 page)

I looked off into the horizon
, watching the sun that was just starting to peak up and crest its rays upon the golden fields of farmland, lining the way to the airport for several miles.  It felt like heaven was reaching out with fingertips on those golden fields of grain.

I felt Sabrina’s hand grab mine as she whispered
into my ear.  “Drink up girlfriend.  This is going to be the best trip yet.”  A childish giggle exited her recently plumped up lips, and her hand guided my mimosa into my mouth.  I took a very large gulp and watched from the corner of my eye as my husband’s driver, Haus, had a suspicious look in his eyes from the view of the rearview mirror.  I passed it off quickly as I was very tired from not sleeping the night before, since I was always anxious before flying.  This time, I was a nervous wreck.

I glanced back over to Sabrina and smiled as I took another sip of my mimosa.  I let the cool feel of the drink wash down my throat.  I looked into her blue eyes and saw a twinkle to them as her lips smiled wide.  My voice sounded slightly slurred to my ears.  I passed if off as being tired.  “We are
going to have the best time.”

Something was different about Sabrina this morning.  She
spent the last few months getting more work done on her body, face and hair, then what was considered normal.  I was suspecting a new boyfriend was within reach.  I took a long look at her beautiful features and thought to myself that since we had become best friends she had begun to look more like me every day.  The blue eyes were natural.  However, the long blonde hair, same hairstyle and fake boobs, practically matched my natural blonde hair and God-given curves men found so enticing  I passed if off as a compliment.  Who wouldn’t want their best friend to look, dress or even act like them after the three years they had been friends?  Best friends at that.

The last thing I remembered was the heavy feeling of my eyelid
s, as I rested my head against the back of the leather seat, facing towards the rising sun.  I drifted off into sleep thinking of the ocean, the beach and the wonderful trip that was ahead of us.  That was the last thing I remembered before my reality became a nightmare.

I woke up to the sound of slamming doors.  I pried my eyes open
, then squeezed them closed and slowly opened them as I sat myself up from the far backseat of the limousine.  Sabrina was nowhere around inside, nor was Haus.  The limo sat parked, and I had a sudden state of confusion pounding inside my head.

I rubbed my eyes and my forehead with the palms of my hands, trying to relieve some of the pounding.  I was having a hard time adjusting my eyesight.  Everything seemed hazy and out of proportion.  I heard Sabrina shout something from outside to Haus and I felt the quick rush of air as the limousine door opened and bright full daylight blinded my eyes.  I quickly shielded my eyes from the sun.  Confused, I wondered how I could
have fallen asleep so fast and hard.  Wondering why the sun was so bright and why we should have been on a plane and landed about now, and we weren't in the Caribbean.

“Miss.”  It was a demand from Haus to take his extended hand and step out of the limousine. 
Trying to look around, I only saw the bright harsh sunlight dancing through the mountain aspen leaves, a rundown shack of a cottage on a single-lane dirt road and nobody else but us in sight.

I looked into his eyes as I stood next to him
, still holding my hand as if I was a princess.  His name left my lips in a whisper, and his eyes seemed apologetic.  He guided me towards the steps of the run-down cottage and sat me down.  He quickly turned away and proceeded to get my purse out of the limousine seat I just left.

It felt like
lightning had crackled in the air, as Sabrina turned and looked at me in a very devilish grin and let out the most evil laughter.  “I have waited, patiently mind you, for this very day.  You, my dear, are out.  I am in where I belong.  Mathew was mine from the beginning, but you stole him from me.  Now I have him back.  You will no longer be Mrs. Mathew Rhinholt.  You are now just plain Katy Beck, or you can still go by Klarissa, if you choose.”  The evil laughter left her lips again.

I sat there numb and confused.  I was waiting for a camera crew from ‘the jokes on you’ to pop out of the woods.  My eyes still could not focus
entirely, and my head was beginning to feel as a vice grip had just been tightened.

I watched Haus hand me my large purse, which was as big as some of my luggage.  I pressed it against my chest as a shield against the way Sabrina was acting.  I was thinking any minute now she will say ‘just
kidding', and we would laugh our asses off.  Then get back in the limo for a later flight.  We had played practical jokes on each other before but not to this extreme.

Haus turned to Sabrina as if she was the one he was serving.  “Miss.  I need to turn the limo around in that driveway across the road.  Then I will be ready to go when you are.  Are you ok here alone?”  I watched his eyes glance towards me
then back.  What did he mean by alone?  She was with me.  What was I going to do?  I could not focus on the house across the dirt road that the limo was parked in front of.  My body felt like it was rocking itself in a chair back and forth.  Nothing seemed real.  I tried to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming, but my fingers did not seem to want to cooperate.  I had to be dreaming.

I watched all six feet plus of Haus
, his golden curly hair, in his black suit and drivers cap, get back in the limo.  I heard the limo start up and then we both watched him expertly turn the limo around on the single dirt lane road with only a small dirt driveway allowing him this privilege.

It all felt surreal.  I looked at Sabrina pleading for an answer with my eyes and felt the tug of tears building.  Had my worst nightmare come true?  A reoccurring one where Sabrina sat poolside; drink in hand, dressed in lavish jewels, in a gorgeous
two-piece swimsuit while Mathew stood behind her and rubbed her shoulders telling me I was old news.  Sabrina was the one for him now.

Sabrina couldn’t and wouldn’t. 
We shared so much together.  Mathew had a cold heart when it came to business, but he always took care of me, as long as I took care of him, in the sexual sense.  Thinking quickly of how I took care of him nicely yesterday in the shower.  He seemed more than happy and satisfied.  There had been no indication things were going south for us.  I was stunned.  I wasn't able to speak.  I fulfilled my end of the bargain.

“By the look on your face and the drugs I doped you
with; you're confused.  So let me make this quick because Mathew and I have a plane to catch to the Caribbean mind you, to celebrate our success.  See.  You my dear are out.  I saw Mathew first that night that we all met.  I even claimed him, but I guess gentlemen prefer blondes.  However, I have convinced Mathew that I will be the better trophy wife to your sorry GED ass.”  Her laughter was wicked.

I felt a small amount of bravado.  “I won’t let you.  I will take Mathew for
half, and you can have him.  I don’t need you or him, and I can live just fine off half of his sorry ass.”  I crossed my arms in front of my chest with the straps of my purse dangling over my shoulder.  Then the straps dropped to the crook of my elbow as I tried to stand up gracefully.  I was like a bull in a china shop.

“You are dumber
than I realized.  See behind you and the land you stand on, is where your sorry ass is going to live.  The money in your purse is all you have to live on, and you divorced your husband weeks ago claiming you wanted nothing in return.  See I was you and I filed for you.  Starting to see the picture?  Me, pretending to be you and start to look like you has been a three-year plan.  Haven't you ever noticed how easily people got us confused?”  Her laughter filled the air.  I remembered back to when Sabrina was thirty pounds heavier than me along with a full head of chestnut brown hair.  I shuddered at the difference, now that I was staring at her with the new information.

Haus got out of the limo and opened the back door for her.  His eyes were screaming I’m sorry. 
With Sabrina’s back to him, I knew that would change as soon as she looked at him.  Christ she had even slept with Haus, claiming him as a victory.  Making me vow to never tell.  Now I would.  Damn why hadn’t I saved any of her sleazy texts where she damned Mathew and would try to get me to steal from him and leave him.  As far as I was concerned, as the picture was taking shape, I didn’t need to pinch myself.  This nightmare was my reality, but she could have him.  As far as being flat out on my ass, I was going to be just that.

I watched Sabrina drop a single key, on a smiley face
key chain, right on my newly polished toes, in my adorable flip-flops, that I picked out for the trip.

“So long sweetheart.  Enjoy your humble abode.”  The snap of her fingers sparked in the air.  Within ten seconds, they were gone.  I turned to look at the rundown cottage and realized that my entire luggage, six pieces of it, was sitting on the front porch with a missing step.  My formals for the one night of fine dining
, I packed several since I can never make up my mind.  My gazillion swimsuits so I wouldn’t regret packing the perfect one.  My makeup and hair kits in the luggage and everything in them, cost more than the fake boobs Sabrina was wearing.

I saw a note taped to the front
door.  I took the porch steps carefully and ripped it off the holey screen door.  A neatly typed note that anyone could have written on a computer was trembling in my hands.

Klarissa,

Darling, this may all be a shock to you, but it is for the best.  I have a small bank account set up for you in the town down the hill from this house.  See darling, Sabrina has saved all those nasty little e-mails you sent her about stealing from me and fake photos you produced to have me look as if I was gay.  We know I am anything but.  Sabrina will be my wife now, and as long as you keep your mouth shut and stay away from the tabloids; I will deposit your living expense into the bank account.  Stay out of Denver, stay out of our circle of friends, stay out of sight, and you will stay alive.  Speak any of this to anyone and you will pay dearly.  It would do you good to go back to school and start a new life far away from us.  The pictures Sabrina showed me of you with other men, was the final straw.  I gave you a lavish life in exchange that you be my obedient wife.  You failed me as you had failed your best friend.  I wish you luck in your new life.  Sabrina will have your things packed and shipped to you when we get back from the Caribbean.

Mathew

Well, if that did not beat all.  The bitch’s degree in psychology paid off after all.  I had shown her how to use that photo-editing program in the first place to make jokester pictures of each other.  God how could I have been so stupid.

I watched a tear fall from my face to the type written letter and wanted to rip it to shreds.  However, I intended to keep it and fight.  I intended to show it to the tabloids.  I… had nothing to show but the
letter, and I was sure if Sabrina was able to pull off the divorce as me, I could consider myself screwed.  She probably set up the account as me and bought this house as me.

I stepped back down off the porch and picked up the key on the smiley face chain.  “Nice touch.”  I said aloud to no one.  As that was how I felt at that very moment
, a no one.

I opened the creaky screen door and slipped the key into the front door lock of a wooden door that had seen better days.  It turned with
ease, and I opened the door and felt like I stepped back in time to more years than I could count.  It was a small-roomed cottage that looked like it was out of the early 1900s.  The only indication that it was lived in the last two hundred years was the plaid couch and the duck and geese decorations on the wall, along with the peeling wallpaper.

I stepped back outside and let the screen door slam
shut.  I saw a porch swing at the end of the porch, hidden from the front of the road by tall unruly bushes that had several leaves to hide behind.  I sat on the swing and dropped my purse at my feet.  I began to cry loud wailing sobs uncontrollably.

As some time had passed
, whatever drug Sabrina had given me had worn off, but the pounding headache still presided in my head.  I had a feeling it was going to be there for some time until something worked its way out.

Chapter Two

The sound of tires crunching on the dirt road had me still myself on the swing.  Could this all have been a very nasty joke?  Were they back?  I peeked through the weedy bush while hiding on the porch and saw a black Range Rover, on large tires, turn into the driveway at the house across the road.  You could barely see the house as it was set back
among trees and professionally hidden by nice landscape.  A far contrast to this house or shack as it appeared sitting right on the road.

Thankful for the unruly bushes I was hiding behind,
I watched the Range Rover disappear down its driveway to the back of the house.  For minutes, I heard nothing.  Not even the sound like a car door slamming.  I sat myself back down on the swing.  I began to move myself in a rocking motion and wondered if my neighbors would be friend or foe.  I wondered if the sight of my expensive luggage on the porch was as much a shock to them as it was to me.

I finally heard a faint car door slam
among the whispering leaves, then nothing.  No person or persons came my way.  I was relieved, as I had no way to explain why I was here.