Chapter 12
He lifted himself up with his hands propped on the bed, and moved closer to the bedside table. He opened the drawer, and suddenly, he was stuck in a daze. His mind became a loop of images and flashbacks, the smallest of details running through his head in an instant. His eyes widened and filled with rage, he wanted to shut that drawer back in, hard and loud, but somehow with shaking hands he managed to pick up the polaroid inside it.
It was Roxanne, standing close to the same man who had been following her. He had never been able to get a clear look of the guy’s face, but he remembered the lower part of his face very vividly, he remembered his posture and body frame vividly, such things he had learnt from back in the day, when he was in the army.
They weren’t just close, close enough for them to not be just friends. There was a bond there in that picture, a smile that a couple would present to the public, as they posed for the photo arm in arm.
He wanted to tear the picture, burn it, turn it to crumbles and ashes, but keeping in mind that he was in Roxanne’s room, he managed to put the picture on the bedside table, and then got off of the bed.
He kept pacing around the room, waiting for Roxanne to come out of the washroom, the shuffle of her clothes inside bothering him to his core.
Soon the door opened, and Roxanne walked out in a fitted t-shirt and soft shorts, all jolly and springing with life, but seeing the anger on his face, she suddenly stopped in her tracks and the expression on her face went from happiness to concern.
Chris felt pissed at himself for being the reason for her mood shifting so suddenly, after she’d been having a good time for a while, but in his mind he blamed her for it. He felt like she had cheated on him, after all she had lied.
Who knows, he thought to himself, all sorts of questions clogging his thoughts. Why did she lie about the man? Why was he following her? From the photo it seemed like she was very comfortable with him, and it made no sense that now the man was following him, she was lying about who he was, it made no sense.
“Is this some kind of a joke?” he asked angrily, stomping his foot down on the ground.
“What…Chris…what happened?” Roxanne asked, her heart beating in loud thuds from the anxiety that she was having in that moment.
“What happened?” he retorted, his voice getting louder, as Roxanne gestured with her arms begging him to tone it down.
He added, “Look at that fucking picture on your table and tell me what happened.”
Roxanne was shocked by the tone in his voice, and knew exactly what he was talking about as soon as he brought it up. In that moment, she did not want to face him, she did not want to do what he had told her to do.
But in the same way that something inside Chris had made him want to pick the picture up from the drawer in the first place, just like that something inside Roxanne made her want to walk over to the bedside table, and confirm what she already knew to be truth inside her mind.
With shaking arms, and sweat appearing on her forehead, she walked slowly to the bedside table, the picture slowly coming into view. Tears were streaming down her face constantly, five, ten, non-stop. Reality was coming crashing down on her, all parts of her body being torn apart, as she cursed at herself internally for losing something so special because of one stupid mistake.
She thought her mistake was to have told him to look into the drawer. She knew he would not have looked into the drawer himself, he was respectful enough to not invade her privacy, but she herself had given him the rights to her demise. Only much later would she realize that her actual mistake was to have lied to him, when she could have simply told him the truth the moment that man interfered for the first time.
“What does this mean…” she heard his enraged voice coming from behind her.
She could feel his heavy footsteps as if they were causing tremors in the ground beneath her. She would have given anything and everything to not be in this situation, to not deal with it somehow, but she knew that she was approaching her guillotine, everything soon would be over.
“I…can explain…” she whimpered, somehow keeping herself from breaking down.
“YOU CAN EXPLAIN?! IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE?! YOU CAN EXPLAIN?” he shouted at her, his hands closed tightly into fists ready for a punch.
His breathing was loud and heavy, and his face was growing red as if he was going to burst any second. He was also getting bothered by sounds of loud music coming from somewhere outside the room.
Roxanne knew that she could not bring herself to say another word, not knowing how he was going to react to anything she might say.
She picked the picture up and turned around to face him, her eyes fixated on the polaroid, not because she wanted to see the picture, that was something vividly imprinted in her memory, something she desperately wished she could erase. What she really wanted was to avoid his eyes, to pretend that he didn’t exist, but his presence was making itself known adamantly.
“Chris...please…I’m begging you to listen to me…” she was pleading with her eyes, her hands stuck together asking for peace.
Chris continued looking at her with full blown anger, and realizing that he wouldn’t be able to contain his anger, he sped toward the door, and after opening it with force, rushed out while stomping his feet.
The entire house felt the tension, overhearing muffled shouts from Roxanne’s room. Amber opened her bedroom door and popped her head out to get a view of the corridor in which Roxanne’s room was. She could spot a tall man in well fitted formal clothing. Having been inside her room the whole day, she had no idea that someone was over.
“The fuck is happening?” she shouted at the top of her lungs, to compensate for the loud music blaring from her room.
Chris rushed out of the house, and went to sit in his car. He did not want to even turn to look back even once, not caring at all about the ruckus he was leaving behind, or Roxanne’s shattered heart still struggling to mouth words to explain, but being silenced by the anxiety inside her. In that moment she felt as if she was screaming with her mouth wide open, but had no voice.
Roxanne lost control of her body to her emotions, and followed Chris out the house, waving her hands to signal her family members to step aside, and to let them know that they should not follow her.
Seeing Chris’ car drive off into the distance, Roxanne ran to her own car, and getting into the driving seat, started the engine quickly and reversed the car out of the driveway with a screech.
This sound was worrying for Roxanne’s family, as her father, Dean, peeked out of the window from behind the curtain to have a look at what was happening. Roxanne had learned driving a few years ago, but it had been a little shaky, and she had little day to day experience on the road, because of which there was valid concern on her parents’ part that she might not remember it perfectly.
What Roxanne failed to notice as she revved the engine harder and harder, was that as she was following Chris to god knows where he was going, she herself was also being followed by this black car, maintaining a safe and inconspicuous distance. Another thing she failed to notice, being an inexperienced driver, was that her brakes weren’t working properly.
In the black car behind her, David was grinning menacingly, patiently waiting for his doings to bear fruit. David had been following the two of them from Chris’ apartment, and when they were inside Roxanne’s house, he sneakily manage loosening her brakes, and then waited with the vain hope that the car was Roxanne’s.
David was ready to wait for hours, days if required, but soon enough he was pleasantly surprised to see Chris walking out of the house angrily, and had to punch the air in excitement when he saw Roxanne pulling the car out of the driveway.
Chris’ mind was in an emotional haze, as he stretched his gears longer and longer. He had heard the screech of Roxanne’s car as she pulled it out of the driveway, and was aware that she was following him. For some reason, he simply wanted to get away, and feeling like this was a chase of sorts, he made his way for the highway, trying hard to keep his mind away from what had happened on that road on the way to Roxanne’s.
With the street lights whooshing by in the dark night, Roxanne continued following each and every one of his movements, and promised herself that she wouldn’t stop until she had explained the situation to Chris.