“Hey, Heidi,” I said with a smile when
the front door swung open.
“Morning, Hallie. Come on in; I think Sonny is almost ready.”
I nodded and walked in, stopping in the kitchen to greet Chad and Abby.
Abby was sitting at her dad’s side, conversing excitedly with him about
Derrick, and I grinned to myself when it seemed like Chad was ignoring her;
much like Jess, Sonny, Heidi, and I have all done since she seemed to talk non
stop about him.
It was a Thursday morning, but we
didn’t have school that day or the next because of teacher conferences. Sonny had a follow-up doctor’s appointment
that day, and I was taking him, since Chad and Heidi had to go to some
luncheon.
“What is the plan for today, Abs?” I asked Abby.
“Nothing much. Derrick is picking me and Jess up in a few minutes, and we
are going with him to the mall to hang out for awhile.”
“That sounds cool. You enjoying your vacation, Chad?”
“Yeah, but it really doesn’t seem like much of a vacation. Everyone at
the firm has to attend a luncheon thrown by one of our big clients. They
wanted us to all bring our spouses so Heidi had to fight to get this day off
since she didn’t come in on those days Sonny was sick.”
Just then, Heidi walked in the kitchen wearing a green dress.
“Does this look okay?” she asked as she turned around.
“That is a pretty dress, Heidi. It looks great,” I honestly told her, as
both Chad and Abby nodded in agreement.
“Thanks.”
Suddenly, a can horn was heard from outside, and Abby quickly got up and ran
out the door, saying a quick goodbye to her parents and me.
“Well, I’m going to go see if Sonny is ready. We all know how much he
loves going to the doctor.”
I got up from my seat and walked down the hall and knocked softly on the closed
bedroom door next to Heidi and Chad’s room that was a guestroom until they
decided to let Sonny stay down there because it was hard for him to get up the
stairs to his room with his hurt ankle.
“Hey, dumbass,” I greeted cheerfully when I opened the door.
I grinned as Sonny rolled his eyes and pushed himself up from the bed with the
help of his crutches. My grin quickly faded as I watched my once athletic
friend painfully struggle to get around on crutches.
“So you feeling any better?” I asked as he hopped out of the room.
“Yeah, a lot better than I was. I still feel weak and nauseous, and my
fever doesn’t seem to want to break. But other than that, I’m good.”
“I hope you’ll be well enough to come to our bonfire tomorrow tonight.”
“Of course; I wouldn’t want to miss that.”
“That’s good. It would be way too boring without you,” I said as I poked
him playfully in the ribs at the kitchen entrance. Before he could do
anything in return, I entered the kitchen and grabbed my keys off of the table.
“Thanks for taking him, Hallie,” Heidi said as she reached up to straighten
Chad’s tie.
“No problem. I’m sure he would do the same if the rolls were reversed.”
“Yup,” Sonny said, with a tight smile.
“Smartass,” I whispered as I again poked him in the ribs. “Well, we
better get going. His appointment is in thirty minutes, and we don’t want
to be late. Mom said this Dr. Randall character is very impatient.”
“Yeah, I’m just the lucky one who got stuck with him being my doctor,”
Sonny pouted.
“It won’t be too bad honey; it is just a check up to make sure you are doing
okay. You guys be careful. Chad and I should be home by two
hopefully.”
After saying goodbye to Heidi and Chad, I helped Sonny out to my car, and as I
backed out of the driveway, Heidi and Chad walked out of the house and to their
car. We were now on our way to see Dr. Randall. Oh joy.
***
2 hours later
Chad’s POV
“Oh my goodness; I can’t believe John did that!” Heidi exclaimed, as I unlocked
the front door, and we walked in.
“I know. He is something else,” I answered and chuckled as I thought back
to what John, one of the lawyers at the firm, did at the luncheon, which caused
the luncheon to last not as long as expected.
“But the good thing is the luncheon didn’t last until two like it was supposed
to. I don’t think I could have survived
the boredom,” Heidi said as she picked up the stack of mail we had brought in.
“Yup. I think the only exciting moment was when John tripped and fell on
the table. I only thought I would see that stuff in the movies or
something.”
“Yeah,” Heidi chuckled.
“Well, I’m going to go change out of these clothes.”
“Okay,” Heidi replied absentmindedly as she sorted through the mail.
A few minutes later, I walked out of our room and heard sobbing coming from the
kitchen. I quickly walked in to see
Heidi holding a letter and what looked like a stack of pictures in her hand and
sobbing.
“What’s wrong, honey?”
She didn’t answer, just handed me the letter and the stack of pictures and
stared at the calendar with a blank expression on her face. I followed her gaze
and looked at the date, cringing at what I saw.
Today was November fourth, the
anniversary of Sonny’s death, but that didn’t explain why my wife was sobbing
at the table. Sure, the first few years after it had happened, tears were
shed, but it hadn’t been this bad in a long time.
I quickly looked down at the stack of
pictures and flipped them over, gasping at the contents of the pictures and, a
few seconds later, at the letter. Now I knew the reason behind my wife’s
tears and fear.
“Who could have done this, Chad? And why after all these years?” she
asked tearfully.
I couldn’t offer her any answer because, truthfully, I had no clue myself why
someone would send these pictures and such a threatening note. Sure, the
letter was bad, but the pictures were worse, a lot worse.
The pictures seemed to be divided into
three sections, separated by plain pieces of paper. More specifically,
they were pictures of Sonny and Heidi before Sonny was hurt, during the attack
and his stay at the hospital, where he later died, and after his death.
As I stared down at a gruesome photo
of Sonny, lying unconscious and bleeding on the ground, only one question ran
through my mind: Who could be this
cruel?
***
“You go on ahead, and I’ll buy the popcorn and stuff,” Erik said.
“Okay,” I replied, handing my ticket to the usher standing nearby.
“Thanks, and enjoy your show,” he said mechanically, ripping my
ticket in half and handing me the stub.
It was five till eight on a Friday night, and Erik and I were at
the movie theater on our first date.
The movie we were seeing started in five minutes; he had been late
picking me up.
I made my way into the right theater and found a seat in one of
the middle rows. I sat down my purse on
the seat next to me to save Erik a spot.
Not that anyone would take it; the theatre was practically empty.
“This place is dead,” Erik commented, flopping down beside me, a
few kernels of popcorn spilling out of the big bucket he had on his lap.
I giggled. “That’s what I
was just thinking,” I said.
“Oh well, that’s a good thing.
Now we can be alone.”
I giggled again and gave him my flirtiest smile. God, he’s hot, I thought.
“Here,” Erik said, handing me a tall cup. “I hope Pepsi’s okay. I didn’t know what you liked.”
“That’s fine,” I said, taking a sip of the soda and setting it
down in the cup holder next to me.
“Popcorn?” he asked, as the previews started.
“Sure, thanks,” I replied, taking a small handful.
As the movie began, we ate the popcorn and watched in silence for
awhile. I wasn’t too impressed with the
movie. It was an action flick, with lots
of guns, explosions, and car chases. A
total guy movie. I was kinda surprised
Erik had brought me to see it. Didn’t
he know anything about dating?
I soon realized he wasn’t really interested in the movie either. Setting down the popcorn tub, he slid his
arm around me and pulled me closer to him.
“You liking the movie?” he whispered.
I made a face. “Not
really,” I admitted.
“Me neither,” he replied, and without warning, leaned over and
kissed me on the lips.
I was taken back by how sudden and forceful the kiss was. But once the initial shock was over, I
kissed back, and his lips relaxed against mine. Minutes later, we were in full make-out
mode.
“Erik!” I hissed, squirming out of his arms as he slid his hand up
my shirt.
“Sorry,” he apologized sheepishly.
“I get carried away.”
I smiled good-naturedly, unable to be irritated with him for
long. I let him pull me back into his
arms, and we began to kiss again.
When the credits of the movie started rolling, we finally pulled
away from each other. I stood up and
straightened my clothes, while Erik grabbed the popcorn bucket from the floor.
As the lights came back on, and I noticed his face, I burst out
laughing.
“What?” he asked, looking up innocently at me.
“Your face,” I cried through my laughs.
“What?!” he demanded again.
I just shook my head, and, licking my finger, wiped lipstick marks
off of his cheeks and neck. Erik
started laughing, and we walked out of the theater, hand in hand.
As we passed by a poster for the movie we had come out of, I
realized I hadn’t the slightest idea what had happened in the whole last hour
of it. And frankly, I didn’t care. Next time we went to a movie, I was picking
it.
“You doing anything tomorrow night?” Erik asked on the way home.
“Yeah, my parents are having a bonfire and inviting a bunch of
their friends, so I have to stick around home for that,” I replied.
“Oh,” Erik said, looking disappointed.
”Maybe we can do something Sunday though.
Or maybe next weekend,” I offered.
“Yeah, okay. I’ll call
you,” he said.
When we got back to my house, he got out of the car and walked me
to the door.
“Goodnight, Erik,” I said, giving him a quick kiss. “I had a great time.”
“Me too, Hal,” he replied, smiling at me.
I returned his smile and headed into the house, closing the door
behind me.
***