12 Seconds (#1 in Military series)

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

Julia glanced at her watch with panic; she had to get home within the next twenty minutes if she was going to be ready in time for her mother coming home from work.

And her father would never forgive her if she was late; well, it wasn’t her fault he put every last thing possible on the list.

She’d even had to go to the old shopping complex to get some of these things which meant she had to walk through the park.

Which was alright when she made the trek at five, o, clock that evening but now it was nearing seven and the sun had long since fallen behind the horizon.

Julia wasn’t scared of the dark and she wasn’t one of those people that intentionally went out looking for trouble but that evening she had no choice but to walk through the poorly lit park.

The only other option was going around it which would take her at least half an hour and she didn’t have the time.

Letting her bag hang diagonally across her chest, she wrapped her hands around the bags she were carrying so that if anybody did make a move she could hit them around the head with them before she legged it.

When it came to fight or flight, Julie would definitely run. She had done track in school so she could run for a fair few miles before she grew tired.

Keeping her eyes peeled to every shadow, she passed a few people hunched into little groups but she kept eye contact to a minimal and pushed on through.

She could spy the exit; the warm glow of a lamppost shining down over the opened gate, when a figure stepped out of the shadows and blocked her path.

Julia’s heart beat was racing and her hands tightened around her bags, getting ready to swing when the man spoke and his voice felt like warm honey.

“You shouldn’t be down here,” The man spoke to her calmly, as if he knew her and yet as he stepped forward into the dim light of the lamppost she didn’t recognise him.

“I- I was just trying to get home,” Julia felt like she needed to give the man an explanation, “People are expecting me,” She added on the end as her voice pitched.

The man was handsome from what she could tell in the lack of light; he was tall with her eyes reaching just below his nose and his eyes, although sharp like daggers, were the warmest of browns she had ever laid eyes upon.

“Jules,” the man whispered and Julia froze at the use of her shortened name.

She had heard that name in her dreams but, unlike with this man, the person in her dreams had been screaming at her.

He was talking, as if to a lover.

“Do I know you?” Julia frowned, swallowing in nervousness as she tried to remember what to do in a situation like this.

The man’s face suddenly grew darker and he took a step back, as if something she had said offended him, and he didn’t want to hear it again.

“Give this to your mother,” He reached out a gloved hand and gave her a card in a red envelope.

Julia took the card and inspected its regular square shape with her mother’s name, Katherine, written in sharp capital letters on the front.

“Do you know my mother?” Julia looked up only to find that he had disappeared.

Turning in a full circle, Julia hadn’t even heard him leave.

Taking it as a sign to leave, Julia quickly hurried out of the park and down the road to where she had parked her car.

The vague image of the man already slipping from her frightened mind and Julia would never know that he watched her leave, hidden in the shadows.

* * *

A few hours later, with the party in full swing, Julia found it.

The red envelope.

Julia gasped as she remembered the man in the park, his warm voice and the way his eyes seemed to stare at her as if he knew her from somewhere but she didn’t know where from.

Maybe they had met before her accident?

Julia didn’t know but he obviously knew her mother and it wasn’t right to keep the card from her.

“Mum?” Julia called out as she made her way back into the kitchen where a small group had gathered to speak to her mother about her birthday.

She had taken the surprise rather well, Julia thought; she hadn’t thrown anything at her father just yet but she might be keeping that back for when they’re alone but then again it might be because Thomas was here.

Thomas and Julia had always been close; she suspected that as he was the oldest he saw her, the youngest, as his charge to protect.

He had gotten into more than a few fist fights in school trying to protect her.

Julia had always hated him standing up for her but what she truly hated was the fact that he left right after her accident.

Julia had felt abandoned by him.

“What have you got there, sis?” Thomas walked over with a smile and Julia almost collapsed in shock; he hadn’t spoken more than two words to her since she had been back.

“Just a card for mum from a friend,” Julia shrugged, turning it over in her hand.

“Oh,” Thomas dismissed it, “Rhys told me what happened this morning,”

Julia glared across the room at Rhys who was being attacked by Marigold but he couldn’t see Julia so she turned back to Thomas, “It was nothing. I just had a bad dream,”

“A dream?” Thomas got that look about him when he knew something Julia didn’t.

“Why?” Julia narrowed her eyes at him, “What is it?”

“Nothing.” Thomas shook his head, unable to look at her, “Look, you’d better give that card to mum. I’m going to get a drink,”

Julia watched Thomas leave but she wasn’t ready to get in a fight right then so she just headed into the kitchen and handed the card to Katherine.

Katherine was too busy chatting to her friends to talk to Julia but she took the card anyway and slipped open the envelope.

Julia had poured herself a drink when she heard glass shatter behind her.

Spinning around, she stared in horror at the broken wine glass on the floor but her mother looked like she had seen a ghost.

Her skin was pale with her hand raised to cover her mouth as she stared at the card in shock.

“Mum?” Julia rushed forward and peeled the card from her hands, “What is it?”

“No, Julia!” Katherine came back to her senses, trying to grab the card but Julia was already reading who it was from.

“Marc?” Julia whispered, lifting her head to gaze at the crowded room that were all staring at her with pity and shock, “Who’s Marc?”