Chapter 17
Leave it to Lynn to get so caught up in her love life drama that she nearly missed a deadline for her latest book. It had taken more than one glass of wine, setting the alarm, and checking to make sure the gun was loaded and sitting beside her for her to relax, but damn it, she was going to finish her book.
Even if my life does depend on it…
She was three quarters of the way through her final draft, and sailing right into her first round of editing if she kept up the good work. Aiden had a class he had to go to for work, and this time, he couldn’t skip it.
So, she was home alone until around ten-thirty, and even though she hated the silence, at least she had the TV to keep her company.
She’d already spoken to Detective Holden earlier that day, and he hadn’t had very good news for her. They didn’t have any leads on who could be stalking her and Aiden, and as far as he was concerned, until ‘something else popped up,’ there wasn’t much they’d be able to do in the long run.
It’d been two long weeks since Aiden got that poem at work, and they’d been doing their best to make their lives work like normal considering the circumstances. They’d even started buying new furniture for the house together, things they could call ‘theirs’.
It did make her home feel a little less foreign, and once they’d taken a moving truck to her apartment and secured all of her belongings, she’d begun to mesh their lives together one arm chair at a time. It felt good. To her, it felt right.
Even with all the scary shit happening to her and Aiden, and the fact that someone obviously wanted her dead, she could at least take comfort in the fact that her and Aiden were making the right decisions regarding one another.
He was sweet and attentive and he made her feel like the most beautiful woman in the world, and she loved him. Adored him. She even loved the way he snored in his sleep.
Aiden was the only bright thing apart from her career that she had to focus on, and she hated that some stranger was doing their best to tarnish that for the both of them.
They’d been through enough, suffered enough, and Lynn had no idea why someone would want to hurt them.
Or, her.
She didn’t have any enemies. She barely even had the time to make friends let alone piss someone off enough that they would want to kill her. She had no logical explanation as to why someone would go through this much trouble on her behalf.
The last two weeks hadn’t been silent, though.
No, one morning she woke up to her car windows being smashed in, and a couple of days after that, their mailbox had literally been torn from the ground and lit on fire, left blazing in their front yard.
Yesterday morning she’d awoken to muddy hand prints lining the glass sliding doors in her and Aiden’s room, and if that wasn’t absolutely petrifying in its own right, then she didn’t know what scary really was.
All she wanted was to be left alone, but it didn’t seem to matter what she wanted…she was being hunted, and not in a good way.
“My life really has turned into one of my books,” She whispered.
Her cell phone began to ring, and she hurried to answer, hoping it was Aiden.
“Hello?”
“Such a pretty target, siting all alone.”
Lynn’s eyes widened and she glanced around, noting that all of the curtains were closed, and she knew the front doors were locked.
“How do you know I’m all alone?”
“Aiden’s at a work class, isn’t he? That means he left his little princess all by her lonesome.”
“What do you want from me?! Huh? What is it that I’ve done to make you want to hurt me?,” Lynn gasped into the phone.
She was circling the living room now, doing her best to be discreet as she peeked through every window. There was nothing but darkness outside- someone had removed the bulbs from her front porch lights.
Unease crept into her system as she realized that she was alone, with her stalker on the phone with her, completely aware of that fact.
“Tsk-tsk, Lynn. I told you that Aiden was mine. At first I didn’t think you’d last past his two week mark, but here we are, months later. He’s serious about you, and I’m serious about him.”
Baffled, Lynn laughed.
“So, what? You think if you get rid of me, that he’ll be yours for the taking? I’m guessing you’re someone he already knows. If he wanted you, you two would be together already,” She argued.
She heard a rustle from the other end of her phone and looked around to make sure all of the doors were locked.
“Such a smart, razor sharp tongue, Lynn. It’ll be a pleasure for me to cut it out of your mouth!” Lynn jumped, startled by the sound of her stalker’s voice.
“You’ll have to get to me first, and I don’t think it’ll be that easy for you.”
“That’s what ya get for thinkin’, whore. I’m already in the house.”
Lynn felt absolute fear flood her system as she turned around and faced the desk in the corner of the living room, where she’d left the gun sitting.
It was gone.
She hung up the phone call and dialed the police as fast as she could, but when she pressed the green button to call, all she got was static. A figure came around the corner, holding a small looking device in her hand.
“It blocks the signal. Don’t worry, Lynn. This will be fun. For the both of us.”
My stalker is in my fucking house!
“How- how did you get in here?,” She asked. The figure, obviously a woman, albeit a tall one, stepped forward an inch.
“If I can get past your measly lock at your apartment, I can disarm you alarm system. I’m motivated, what can I say?”
Lynn slowly shook her head as her eyes darted around the kitchen, looking for any kind of weapon she could use against her.
If only she could see her attacker’s face; she was wearing a plastic mask with a fake face on it, some horrendous smiling face with pink rosy cheeks and a smile that was too large.
“Aiden will be home soon.”
“No, he won’t. I checked his work schedule. He’s not due home for another two and a half hours, and that’s just enough time for me to leave him a little present…you,” She said with a low giggle.
It made the hairs on Lynn’s arms stand on end, and she realized in that moment how very serious her situation was. No phone. No weapon. And, one very deranged woman who wanted to kill her, staring her down like the last piece of pie at a family reunion.
Thinking that maybe stalling would be her best bet, Lynn took a step backwards, eyeing the kitchen knives…
“Do I know you?”
Her stalker tsked, set down the signal blocker she’d been holding on the counter.
“We’ve met more than once, but don’t worry- I made sure to be on my best behavior. I couldn’t have you figuring out it was me watching you two, now could I?”
“If I’ve met you, and you’re around Aiden often enough to get close to his schedule, then you must work up at the shop,” Lynn reasoned.
The realization was a scary one; there were a few cashiers, the receptionist, and it could be any one of them. Lynn hadn’t spent enough time with any of them to be able to recognize them by their figures, and whoever her stalker was, she had her hair tucked under a cap beneath the mask she was wearing.
“Such a smart little cookie, Lynn. It’s such a shame that wit of yours has to be snuffed out like a candle flame.” Lynn’s eyes widened when her stalker lunged towards her, sending her flying backwards into the kitchen counter.
“What’s the matter? Don’t you wanna play?”
“Tell me your name. If you’re going to kill me, it’s the last you can do, right?,” Lynn stalled. With every step that brought them closer together, Lynn’s heart raced even faster, making it hard to breathe.
She was trying her best to remain calm, but it was getting harder and harder to do that when she knew she was essentially helpless. Nothing but a moving target.
“You want my name, huh? I suppose since I’m going to gut you, it doesn’t matter if I tell you…My name is Amy.”
Amy…
“You work at the garage?”
She canted her head to the side.
“I never said I worked at the garage, little Lynn. I deliver parts to the garage. And, Aiden would have been mine if you hadn’t shown up!”
Confused and scared out of her ever-loving-mind, Lynn held her hands up.
“I don’t know what you two shared, but- “
“What we shared? We’re soulmates, you whore! I’ve been waiting for him to notice me, to finally realize that I’m the one for months! I know what he wants, what he needs. I know all about his dreams of running his own shop, and I can get him there! You? You’re just a distraction that he doesn’t need, and it was going just fucking fine before you came around!”
Amy’s chest heaved with anger as she took a step closer, and Lynn’s eyes strayed to Amy’s waistband, where she was pulling Aiden’s gun from its place against her hip.
“Looking for this?,” She murmured.
Lynn sucked in a harsh breath, “You don’t have to do this- “
“Shut up! This is happening, slut, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it. Don’t worry, though; I’m not sending any bullets your way just yet. No, I wanna have a little fun first,” She snarled.
Lynn closed her eyes for a second as she felt the tears bite at the backs of her eyes for the first time. It was just starting to sink in that this was actually happening, no matter how many precautions they’d taken to avoid it.
“They’ll find out it was you, Amy, and then Aiden will never love you back.”
“Yes, he will. He just has to see, actually see me, and he’ll know. He’ll know it like I know it!”
Lynn was shaking her head when Amy aimed the gun at her and shook it.
“No! You don’t get to tell me I’m wrong, bitch! I’m the one that’s holding the gun!”
Lynn realized in that moment that stalling wasn’t going to cut it. She had a gun being waved in her face and Amy could decide to pull the trigger at any second. At any moment she could decide that any kind of conversation just wasn’t worth it, and blow Lynn away. She checked the clock…
A little less than an hour until he’s home.
Think, Lynn…
Her gaze dropped to the counter, and for the first time, she silently thanked the heavens that Aiden hadn’t washed the dishes from dinner last night. There, right on the front left burner, was her great-grandmother’s old cast iron skillet.
It was heavy as hell, but Lord knows Lynn could use it as a handy weapon.
All she had to do was distract Amy long enough to get to it, and then she could use it against her, if only to knock the gun out of her hand.
It was risky as hell, but her only option. The knives were too far away and if she moved too quickly, that could scare Amy into pulling the trigger anyways, and that was exactly what she was trying to avoid.
“What made you break into my apartment? What made you want to be seen?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You could have watched us in silence, made your move in another way. You could have stolen him from me the old fashioned way…why didn’t you?”
She snorted, a sound that sounded far too comfortable for Lynn.
“I’ve been keeping my distance so I could figure out if he was serious about you. He obviously is.”
The nonchalant way Amy was talking to her had her skin covered in goosebumps. How in the hell could she combat her kind of crazy? There was no logical response to anything Amy was saying; it was all absolutely insane.
“Amy, I’m begging you to reconsider. I don’t remember your face. I don’t know your last name. I’m still clueless, here. You can still turn around and do the right thing,” She said in a rush. She was easing around the edge of the stove when Amy shook her head, hard.
“No! You can’t talk your way out of this. I’ve been itching to get my hands on you, Lynn Carmichael.”
Lynn slowly shook her head as she sucked in a harsh breath.
“If you’re sure about that, then I guess it’s only fair to let you know now that I’m not going down easily,” She warned.
Amy raised the gun at her, something that had Lynn’s heart stopping in her chest only to continue beating even harder than before.
“Is that so?”
Lynn’s hand wrapped around the heavy skillet, holding on tight, as she heaved it into the air and swung it at Amy’s hand, as hard as she could.
“That’s right, bitch!,” Lynn screamed as Amy cried out in pain and the gun went skittering across the floor. Lynn raised the skillet and hit her again, and again, screaming for help as she did so.
Her neighbors weren’t too far away, but she had no idea if she could be heard either way, so she yelled bloody murder in hopes that someone would hear.
Amy was quick though, and she tucked one of her knees under Lynn and sent her flying into the cabinets behind her.
Lynn’s spine connected with the heavy wood and she huffed as she tried to catch her breath.
Amy went crawling for the gun and Lynn slammed the skillet into her ankle, which only spurred Amy into kicking at her. Amy’s heel connected with her jaw, and Lynn flew backwards, her hands instantly wiping away the blood so she could reach for Amy again.
She caught her right before her fingers closed around the barrel of the gun, ripping it out of her grip and sending it flying across the floor to the other side of the kitchen.
It was now equally as far away from Amy as it was from Lynn, so Lynn figured it was hand to hand combat at this point.
She couldn’t reach the kitchen knives, the gun was in a neutral place between them, and all she could do was fight until she knew that she had the upper hand.
The clock told her that Aiden would be home sooner than she thought, and she was hoping like hell she could make it that far.
Amy’s hands were too determined as they reached for her, as spit clung to her chin while she snarled in Lynn’s face.
“I’m gonna fucking end you, Lynn,” She promised as she yanked on her short hair and slammed Lynn’s head into the tiled floor. Her scalp instantly felt sticky and the coppery scent of pennies filled the air.
She was seeing stars, but she couldn’t give up.
There’s a fifty-fifty chance I’m going to survive this…