“It’s time for me to go. Do me a favor,” his softly purred in my ear.
My breath hitched. “What favor?” My words were weak.
“Wake up and answer them,” he said, softly running his thumb down my cheek.
“I’m not asleep,” I whispered.
“Look around.”
“I don’t fall asleep very easily and definitely not in public,” I advised him in a clear, angry tone.
His eyes were motioning toward the bar. I followed suit and noticed my body hunched over the bar. “I don’t understand.”
“Hmm. I do bring out the worst in people.” The words were a frightening warning, but his cocky expression melted my organs. I craved his touch. What was he doing to me?
“You… you did this,” I demanded. I was completely appalled. “I don’t know what’s happening to me, but it’s you.”
“How can you possibly blame this on me? How could I possibly make you fall asleep?” His smile was confident and knowing, but mocking at the same time.
I looked down at my drink trying to think of a snarky reply. When I raised my head to look at him, he was gone.
I found myself back in my seat at the bar with a half empty glass in front of me. “I wasn’t asleep,” I said to Myra’s voice.
“Yes, yes, you were.”
“No. It’s not possible,” I argued.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Go finish closing so we can leave.”
“Okay. I’ll hurry.”
I couldn’t wait to get home. I decided I’d ask Joe if we can skip the meeting. As I stood, vertigo struck hard, forcing me back on the seat. His sultry laugh filled my mind. After I felt better, I slowly stood. I found Joe in his office. “Hey Joe, can Myra and I skip the meeting tonight? I’ve had a long day.”
“Sure, kid, thanks for working so hard. You and Myra take the next week off. I mean it. Don't come in except for Sunday morning to set up.”
I waved at him as I turned to leave.
“I mean it, Vanessa. Don't come in until Sunday. You work too much.”
“Yeah, I got it... Sunday morning. No earlier or you’ll spank me.” I spilled out quickly as I exited. I heard him chuckle, loudly.
I found Myra flirting with the new hire. “Hey, this is Corey,” she said as I approached them.
He held out his hand to shake mine. I returned the gesture and said hello. “Myra, I talked to Joe. He said we could go ahead and get out of here.”
“Okay, give me a minute. I’ll meet you in the car.” She turned back to Corey.
I headed out to the car to wait in the hopes that it would only be a minute. Myra tended to lose track of time when she was talking to the opposite sex.
I slowly eased into my car and pressed play on the CD player. The erotic strumming of the opening bars to ‘Glycerin’ from Bush, featuring Gwen Stefani, filled the silence. Locked safely inside my car, I took in my surroundings. Through the darkened trees, I became aware of a silhouette leaning against a tree. The figure was inhumanly still. The shape appeared to be facing in my direction. But as murky as the area was and the fact that the figure was just a shadow, left me wondering if I was paranoid. Nonetheless, I wondered if I should take a chance and run back inside or sit in the car with the doors locked, pretending not to notice. Considering the recent chain of admirers, I could only guess who it was. Of course, there was still a chance that I may have been imagining the figure in the night. It was, after all, too dark to be sure.
I looked down at my small collection of CDs’ as a method of distraction. I didn’t want this probably imaginary figure to get any miscommunication regarding my staring back. As I shuffled through the cases in my hand, I realized that my music collection really could use an upgrade. The cases were cracked and the discs appeared badly scuffed.
Looking up to check on the dark figure, I noticed, to my relief, there was no-one leaning against the tree. My eyes darted to the right to make sure the figure was gone. Then my eyes looked left. My heart stopped. The dark figure stood under the streetlamp still a shadow despite the light, except now with blood red eyes. The thing was headed toward my car. I quickly calculated my chances of getting out of my car and safely inside the building. I had no hope of that turning out successfully. It was running toward me at ample speed. My heart stopped. I closed my eyes as I pressed three on my phone’s keypad, which automatically dialed Myra’s cell phone. As the phone began to ring, I heard a tapping on my window. I jumped out of my seat. Realizing Myra stood beside the car, I unlocked the door. As soon as she had the door cracked open, I immediately locked it back.
“Hurry up. Shut the door!” I wailed. “Hurry, hurry!”
Myra barely cleared the door before slamming it shut. “What’s wrong?” she asked, without seeming to pick up on the panic that I was clearly expressing.
Not bothering to answer, I looked around to see the figure was no longer in sight.
“What?” Myra asked, again.
“Nothing… It’s nothing,” I stated, shaking my head.
“You look stressed. What’s going on?”
“Do you want to stay with me tonight?” I was starting to feel a little too weird to be by myself. I didn’t consider my sister and Jake to be the most comforting company. “Joe said we need to take the next few days off. I think he will consider a police escort if we don’t start
