Chapter Twenty-Seven
Nina
The next few months flew by. Living with Ashton was better than a dream come true. We had more fun than I thought two humans could possibly have. Even chores were fun when we did them together.
er scary stories to make the time pass by more quickly.
I came up with a great one. “So, I ran into an old woman the other day in the elevator. She told me she’s lived here for seventy years.”
“That long?” he asked with surprise. “I’ve never seen anyone that old in this building. Are you sure?”
Nodding, I went on with my little story. “I’m sure. She said she lives on the top floor. She rarely gets out. Has her groceries delivered.” I decided to add that to make the tale more plausible.
“Okay,” he said, but looked skeptical. “So, what else did you and this old woman talk about?”
I ran my hands up and down my arms, as if I’d gotten chills. Which I hadn’t, but I was going to milk this story for all it was worth. “She asked me if I’d been down to the basement, to which I answered that I had. It’s where the laundry room is located, after all.”
“Uh huh,” he said, as he put more quarters in the dryer. “A laundry room that could use some new machines, if you ask me. This is the third time I’m having to start this dryer.”
“Take it up with the manager, Ashton.” I rolled my eyes before going on with the story. “Okay, so what this lady told me was that there was a man who lived here even before she did. And that man was the janitor for this building. One day, he was caught taking some kids and hiding them away in this very dungeon. Oops. I mean, basement.”
Now Ashton rolled his eyes. “Oh, yeah? And what did he do to these supposed kids, Nina?”
I weighed the options before saying, “He ate them!”
With a grimace, he said, “Gross.” Then he went to pull the clothes out of one of the washers. “These are ready to go into a dryer now.”
I took the buggy over and let him fill it with the wet clothes before taking them to put them into an empty dryer. “The parents of the kids found him in this very basement one day, and they killed him.”
“And how did they do that?” he asked me, with a grin on his face.
Looking around, I found the old furnace and pointed at it. “They threw him in that thing. And the really creepy part is that …”
He chimed in, “He comes to people who live in this building in their sleep and tries to kill them.”
Shrugging, I said, “Sounds like you have heard this story, Ashton.”
“Yeah, it’s called Nightmare on Elm Street.” He laughed uproariously as he slapped his thighs. “You’ll have to come up with something original if you want to get one past me, doll. I’ve watched every horror flick ever made.”
“I hadn’t even realized I was making up a story that already existed. I suppose I saw it sometime when I was a kid or something.” I laughed. “Funny, huh?”
“I guess so.” He put four quarters into the dryer. “I hope this one works better than that other one. I don’t want to spend our entire Sunday down here.”
“What are your plans for today?” I asked him, as we hadn’t discussed anything fun to do yet.
“I’ve got plans, baby. Big plans. And they don’t involve going anywhere at all,” he informed me.
I was a little displeased with his announcement though. “Aw. Why not?”
He pinched my cheek as she smiled at me. “No reason to whine, baby. You’ll like it. I promise.”
“Can you give me a hint about what we’ll be doing?” I asked, as I pushed the buggy back to the corner it was kept in.
“Well, I’ll be making you a great lunch. And we’ll be enjoying it picnic style, on the living room floor.” He made a flourishing gesture, as if he was throwing a blanket on the floor.
“Why not just have a real picnic outside? In a park, maybe. Now that sounds fun too, doesn’t it?” I asked, trying to get him to do something outside of the house.
He nodded. “That sounds fun too, but this has to be done just the way I’ve already planned.”
I could see I wasn’t going to get him to change his mind, so I stopped trying. We finished the laundry with him telling me a story that actually did freak me out, making it hard to walk up the stairs to leave the basement. “Now I keep thinking a hand is going to come out from under one of these stairs and grab my ankle, Ashton. Thanks a lot!”
“That’s what I’m here for, to make life interesting for you, baby.” He laughed at his joke as I walked carefully, so as not to fall when something did grab me.
Fortunately, I made it up the stairs, and we went up to our apartment. I put the laundry away as he set about getting this special lunch prepared. He laid out a blanket for us that spread out over the living room floor.
He’d pushed the furniture back to make room for the feast he’d made. I could smell the smoked ham as I put things away in the bedroom. “That smells awesome, babe,” I called out to him.
“I’m putting everything on the blanket now. Are you nearly done in there?” he asked me.
Putting away the towels, I shouted back, “Yep. Are you ready for me?”
“I am,” he called out.
Taking a second to look in the bathroom mirror, I ran my hand through my hair, then over my T-shirt to smooth out a few wrinkles. “Not too shabby.”
Heading to the living room, I found Ashton lying on his side, his upper body resting on his arm as he looked at me. “Hey, you.” He patted the blanket. “Come take a seat.”
I sat down with my legs crossed in front of him. “Okay. So, what do we have here?”
Stretching his hand out, he gestured to the food. “We have smoked ham, potato salad, and green beans. And some white wine to go with that.” He sat up, getting on both of his knees as he dug into the pocket of his shorts. “But first, I’ve got something to ask you.”
I thought he must have tickets to something in that pocket and had planned on surprising me with a show of some kind for our fun day. I clapped. “Oh, goody!”
He moved around a bit, getting on one knee as he held out a little white box. Flipping the lid open, he grinned as my eyes focused on the gorgeous diamond ring inside.
My hands flew to my mouth. “Nina Velma Kramer, would you do me the great honor of becoming my lawfully wedded wife?”
Tears clouded my vision as I nodded, but there was a massive knot in my throat that prevented me from saying a single word. But my nod was enough for him, and he took my left hand, sliding the ring onto my finger.
Wiping my eyes with the back of my free hand, I finally choked out, “Yes.”
“Good to hear you say the word, Nina.” Ashton laughed, then crawled over to me. His lips touched mine, and I threw my arms around him.
“I can’t believe you did this today, Ashton!” I was crying like a baby. “This is the best day of my life!”
“I hope to be responsible for many more of your best days, baby. Many, many more.” He got up, picking me up with him and we danced around the room to no music at all.
I was soaring as we swayed, and I looked at the ring he’d given me. “It’s so beautiful. I’ll never take it off. I swear I won’t.”
He laughed again, and then we kissed. For the longest time ever, we kissed and held each other like we never had before. He’d made the perfect Sunday fun day. I would never forget it.
After settling down, we ate the lunch he’d made, and I had to run one little errand. “I’ve got to get down to the corner store. I’ve been feeling little cramps, so I’m thinking I’d better get some tampons in this place before Mother Nature hits me.”
“I’ll go with you,” he said, as he hauled the dishes to the kitchen.
“You don’t have to.” I waved him off. “It’ll only take me a few minutes and then I’ll be right back. I think I’d like to meet you in the bed when I get back. Naked and waiting, as a good fiancé should.”
Jerking his head at the blanket picnic that still had to be cleaned up, he said, “After I get this taken care of, I will dutifully undress and wait for my fiancée, as requested.”
“Cool. I’ll be right back.” I grabbed my wallet and house key, then left to go to the market.
The sidewalk was crowded as usual when I stepped outside. The air was on the brisk side, and that always made people walk a bit faster. I stepped in with everyone, making my way to the market at the end of the block.
Some man was yelling at someone over his cell as he walked past me. At first I jumped, thinking he was yelling at me. “Hey, you listen to me, bitch.”
Whoever he was talking to was an idiot, as far as I was concerned. Anyone who would call me a name like that would’ve been hung up on before he could say one more word.
The jackass’s voice faded as he moved ahead of me. Somewhere in the distance, I could hear the sound of a car honking continuously. It wouldn’t let up, and it was coming closer.
Moving a bit closer to the inside of the sidewalk, I was getting ready to go into the door of the market. Some idiot boys cut in, cutting me off and stopping me dead in my tracks as they played some game of chase or something. “Hey, you little shits!”
One of them actually pushed me into the way of another boy, shouting, “You’ll never catch me, Joey!”
Joey pushed me out of his way, as if I wasn’t even a real person. “Ha, fuck you, Ray-Ray! I’ll get you. You’ll see.”
As they ran off into the pack of people, I turned around to get back to the entrance of the market. Now I was muttering obscenities under my breath, “Damn little bastards. Where are their parents? Heathens!”
Some man shouted, “Move!”
I stopped to look back to see who was being rude now. I had just about had it with rude people. I was ready to chew his ass out, no matter who he was or how big he was. “Now, see here,” I shouted.
But the crowd was parting, people running in every direction. The sound of the horn was so loud that I couldn’t think.
“Move!” came the loud order again. Only this time it was a woman who had said it. “Get the hell out of the way!”
I didn’t know which way to turn. People were going every which way. Horror filled me as three people who had been in front of me seconds ago, suddenly weren’t.
“He’s driving through everyone!” came another shout.
And then the grill of a truck was right there in front of me. Barreling toward me, mowing down everyone in its path.
Including me.