“What about the…” I want to say body but I can’t do it. “The imposter,” I say at last.
“I’ll deal with that. Put a blanket on it if you want to. Otherwise, go wait in the bedroom. I should be there in an hour. And, Chloe?”
“What?”
“I am sorry you had to go through all this.”
“So am I.” I hang up the phone, walking around the edge of the room so I don’t have to go close to Sandra’s corpse. I don’t want to look at her anymore.
It, not her. That’s what she is now. Just a body. Soul is long gone.
I open one door after another until I find the bedroom. I get inside and shut the door. It’s got a bolt on it. I slide it across. I haven’t brought the gun with me. I don’t ever want to hold one again for the rest of my life. I can’t stomach it.
I’ll let fate decide what happens to me. Either Enzo gets here and I see another dawn or maybe someone else gets here first.
I’m so tired right now, I almost want that to be the case. For it to all be over one way or another. My body can’t take the stress anymore.
I’m done.
I sit on the bed, my knees under my chin. I hold myself tight and I don’t move until I hear a noise outside.
I decide I don’t want to know what’s going on, not really. Enzo’s probably right. It’s better not to know some things. I don’t want him to confirm that Sandra was right, that my parents dumped me because they didn’t want me. Who wants to hear that?
It’s because I’m so tired. I’m bone tired and my head hurts from it. All I want to do is sleep but I don’t think it’ll ever come. I sit and try not to think of anything until I hear a car coming up the drive.
Before I get a chance to move, the front door’s rattling, and I climb under the bed. I know it’s pointless but my body does it automatically, one last-ditch attempt to save myself.
It might be Enzo. It might not. I’m not taking any chances, not after what’s already happened. I hold my breath as I hear heavy footsteps out in the lounge. There’s a thump and then a sound I can’t identify.
The front door creaks again. Have they gone? I’m just thinking about coming out to take a peek when the footsteps come back, slower this time.
The bedroom door handle rattles. Once. Twice. Then with a crash, the bolt flies off and the door opens. A man’s voice calls out to me. “Chloe, you in here?”
26
ENZO
* * *
She jumps out from under the bed and clambers up onto me like a kitten trying to get my attention. “Thank God you’re here,” she says as I take her in my arms. “I was so scared.”
“You’re all right,” I reply, kissing her forehead. “I should have guessed this would happen. It’s all my fault.” She looks exhausted, like she might fall asleep at any moment. There’s dried blood on her cheek. She looks like she’s been bitten there. Sandra was always a fan of biting.
“You couldn’t have known,” she says with a shake of her head. “It’s not your fault.”
“I’ll fix this, Chloe. I swear it. Let me explain a couple of things to you.”
“Not now.” She sounds colder, angrier all of a sudden. She steps back from me, folding her arms as she does so.
“Don’t you want to know the whole story?”
“Of course I do but I’m messed up and I can’t handle anything else right now. I need some sleep and if I let you talk, I’ll just have more things to get upset about. Tell me in the morning.”
“I swear I will fix things. Come sit out here with me.”
“I don’t want to go out there. That’s where… she is.”
“The body’s been dealt with.”