It wasn't me

Chapter 5

Anonymous

There was something about 3 am walks that felt oddly comforting. The emptiness of the roads, the quietness of the sidewalks, just the moon that was shining and the streetlights illuminating the road that I was walking on.

Like always, I had no destination but at the same time I did, I always ended up in the same place.

For some days now a person did not leave my mind. When I woke up in the mornings, she was always on my mind giving me a warm smile and saying good morning, then she was the one that I was thinking about before sleeping and later on, dreaming about her.

I knew that it was impossible to have her, out of numerous reasons but that’s why I wanted to see her even more.

I know that I have nothing to give to her except for hell but…do I really?

Rose

The first weekend after my first week of working and I felt like I have been run over by a truck. That’s why by the time Friday night rolled around the only thing that I wanted was some ice cream and a good movie, that until Alexa, one of my coworkers invited me to dinner and because I didn’t want to look like snob I accepted. She was a nurse on the second floor and we got to meet and know each other during luch breaks. Alexa was the only other nurse that was not in her 40’s and mire close to my age, even though she was two years older than me.

As I was getting ready to go out, I got a notification on my phone that a delivery was wating for me in the lobby. It was strange, I don’t remember placing an order in the first place but maybe they were just bills that needed to be paid.

I got down in the lobby and open my mail box. Inside I find an envelope, its edged crumpled and fraying and it is not sealed. My heart rate picks up and I look inside. I find a dead blue butterfly and a little note that, the writing messy but at the same time caligraphic, the one you see in old letters. I picked up the little note that read ‘a butterfly for my butterfly, love to see your face….your secret admirer’. 

I felt like my heart could explode and bile raised in my throat. What kind of sick joke was this? Who was behind this?

I couldn’t cancel on Alexa in the last 15 minutes so I decided to act brave and go to the agreed spot. Key word here, act. I was scared, clutching tight to my bag and I was looking around every 2 minutes to make sure no one suspicious was after me.

If I didn’t really want to come to this dinner before now it was the only thing I was looking forward to do.

I entered the diner and somewhere in the back I recognised Alexa’s bright blonde hair. As soon as she spotted me she began to wave and smile. I went to the table she was sitting at and took a seat.

“Sorry if I was late.” I say a little out of breath.

“It’s okay, don’t sweat it, I got here only like 5 minutes ago.” She said with her usual smile.

She looked like a real life Barbie with her blonde hair and extremly white teeth but she was in fact very interesting. Alexa graduated Princeton, thrid in her year and that was not easy from the standards Princeton has. She was very smart sure but she was also kind, I got to observe that during the time she was spending outside with the patients she was tending to and even with the ones that weren’t her responsibility.

“What do you think of getting?” She asks breaking me out of my trance.

“I don’t know really? Have you been here before? Maybe you can recommend me something good.”

The truth was that after that little note from earlier I wasn’t hungry anymore and even if I tried to eat I was afraid of not being able to keep the food down.

Alexa had recommended me a dish and for the rest of the night I tried to ask her questions so that she wouldn’t be too interested in my life. Not that I wanted to be mean or anything, just wasn’t in the mood but I have made a mental note to take her out sometime too, to make up for today and actually make a friend or acquaintance at least.

As the dinner was coming to an end I was dreading the moment I was forced to walk back to my place alone but tge restaurant would be closing soon and I Alexa was getting tired so I had to let her go and I had to go home.

My apartment was on the upper side of the town so I had a little hill to climb in order to get there. The whole time I was walking I felt like I was being watched and of course I could have a bit of paranoia, stockholm syndrome maybe but I was hearing steps and I could feel another presence close by.

I started watching closely for that someone but I couldn’t see anyone. Why did the walk home seemed so much more longer this time that it usually do?

And as if it was written in the stars, there it was, on top of the hill, a dark silhouette. I couldn’t figure it out if it was facing me or the other side but as soon as that someone started running towards me I got my answer.

I freezed. Sat there like my feet melted into the cement under them. It wasn’t until what I recognized to be a him was a few feet away from me that I started to run. I didn’t see anything else besides the main street that now seemed far far away. My heart was thumping, my breathing was ragged, feet chasing each other echoing around us.

I turned right into an alley hoping to dodge the person.

“Hello butterfly.” The deep voice said.

And I screamed.