It was on a rainy Monday when an unexpected visitor came knocking on my door. Let me emphasize something, no one is supposed to know where I live.
From my office, I slowly moved the magnifier loupe away from my face and turned towards the security camera screen. A man in a gray puffer jacket was shivering in the cold, his hands tucked inside his pockets and the hood partially covered the upper part of his face.
He looked harmless, probably some guy who got the wrong address. I moved the magnifier loupe towards my face and started working again. The only problem was, he wouldn't leave.
After five minutes of a polite but persistent ringing of the doorbell, I finally lost my patience. I opened my desk drawer and pulled out a gun. Whoever he was, he's about to leave my front porch in less than one minute.
With the gun tucked behind my back, I passed the hallway and pushed the door open with a scowl on my face.
"Yes?" I barked impatiently.
He looked startled by the sudden swinging of the door. "Are...are you Michelle Taylor?"
I paused for a moment. It has been three years since someone called me that. And really, Michelle Taylor felt like a lifetime ago. I was already surprised that someone knocked on my door but now he's calling me by a name I no longer wanted to hear mentioned.
"Are you...Michelle?" he continued, breaking my train of thoughts. At this point, I no longer looked like the Michelle Taylor everyone remembered. I had dyed my blonde hair into an auburn color, found a doctor to inject filler to change the shape of my nose, and started wearing color contacts to change my eye color from blue-green to brown.
I shook my head. "You have the wrong house," my voice was low and firm, but my heart already started beating faster.
My left hand gripped the door handle so tightly, it started to feel numb. I was about to slam the door when his hands reached out and pushed the door back open.
"Wait! Please." He pleaded, as his jacket hood fell back and revealed a familiar yet unfamiliar face. He looked like a slightly younger version of a man I once knew.
"Who are you? What do you want?" I narrowed my eyes at him. My right hand trembled as I still tightly gripped the gun behind my back. I had an inkling who this might be.
"I'm Jason Cooper. I'm Ryan Cooper's younger brother. Please, I need your help." There was a sense of desperation and urgency in his piercing aqua blue eyes.
I knew it. The life I left behind has found me. Perhaps what I thought was the end really was not over yet. Had it been anyone else mentioned, I would have slammed the door shut. But he mentioned Ryan Cooper. And if there is anyone in this world that I owed something, that would be Ryan.
Exhaled a deep breath, I opened the door wider for him. "You can come in."
For the first time in three years, I welcomed a stranger from my old life into my new life.
YOU ARE READING
The Road to Redemption
Action(ONC II ENTRY) Michelle was forced to retire at the height of her professional racing career due to an accident. Realizing a normal life with a normal job was just out of her reach, she discovered a new passion for street racing along with a new id...
