I open the door to a frantic Anna pacing the kitchen talking to someone on the phone. I set my bag and keys in their usual spot and begin walking towards her. When she spots me, her full fury turns on me. "She just walked in," Anna says in a clipped tone. She hands me the phone.
"Hello?" I ask watching Anna cross her arms in mock irritation. Uncle Theo answers on the other line. "Uncle Theo, I tried calling you earlier!" I start walking down the hallway to my room. He apologizes and tries to assure me he's already put in a call about the envelope. He asks if I opened it and then I realize I hadn't. I spin around and run into Anna. "Anna!" I step backward from her lecturing form.
"Don't you dare yell at me!" Her nostrils flare, "I'm so mad at you right now." She takes a couple determined steps forward, "I am the only one allowed to be yelling right now!" She yells.
I drop on the edge of the bed, the phone held with shaky hands on my leg. "Anna, I'm sorry. Can you give me a sec with Uncle Theo? I promise I'll make it up to you." Overwhelmed, I attempt to coerce her out of the room.
She holds my stare for a moment before pushing off the door-frame and leaving. She pauses just over the threshold, "You most certainly will make this up to me," the devilish gleam in her eye should be a warning.
Once she leaves, Uncle Theo asks about the envelope again.
"What?" My stomach drops, realizing I didn't. I reach for the crumbled envelope wondering what it is this time? Even though curiosity is nudging my brain, insidious is blind inception and I want to shut the door on it.
I sigh, sick to my stomach. "It's probably just like the others. Would it be okay to talk about this tomorrow? It's been a long day." I stare at the name. The trap I've felt captured in closes in, the walls moving closer. It's suffocating. This is something I need to do on my own without an audience to realize the vulnerability I've kept hidden.
"Sure sweetie. Wait, before you go, could you check the postmark?"
I look over the crumpled envelope, more difficult to read, but unmistakable. "No," the woosh slowly fades."
"Focus, Meredith. Deep breaths. Where did it come from?"
"Why didn't I look earlier? This is crazy."
"Mer!" Uncle Theo yells. Tears pool blurring the letters.
"It's uh, it's marked from...from where I used to live," I cry.
A deep growl and depression breaths follow along with silence. There are many pivotal points in ones life. Points at a crossroads where one calculates a decision that signifies a shift in one's direction. A direction that is centralized and critical based on previous experience or wish for an alternate outcome from an earlier derived time frame.
"Their coming to finish." I wail.
Anna's voice booms followed by a knock, "Mer, what's going on?" I sit up straight, rigid.
"Meredith listen to me, they are not going to finish. How about I drive up tonight?" he's grasping at straws.
"Mer," Anna wiggles the door handle.
"Or, you could come here," his fear evident with every syllable.
"I can't. I have a new case," I wipe the tears and my nose on a tissue I had reached earlier. "It's fine Anna." I talk through the door.
"You don't sound fine." Anna interjects.
"If you don't want me there and you don't want to come, will you please tell Anna?"
"Are you serious? She can't know! I need you to promise me you won't say anything. Promise me!"
"Fine," he audibly sighs. "I don't like it, but I promise for now. I'll update the team and get back to you," his voice wobbling the last few syllables, a telltale sign that he doesn't believe his own words. A pause worthy of a Grammy, he speaks, "The are certainly looking for a vigorous denunciation. Lay low. I'll work on my end and call as soon as I know something, okay?" My sniff is all the acknowledgement he needs. "I love you sugar."
"Love you too, goodnight." I end the call falling back on the bed. Do you ever wish your thoughts could take time-out? The sagacity barricaded inside, along with fear and regret wrap imaginary twine around my heart. Rolling over trying to find interruption to the invasion of the conversation dying to take place but hurts too much to even consider. My fists ball the comforter, I squeeze my eyes and bury my head, silencing the pain. My fingers flex desperate to get a grasp on the lies I'm trying to believe. The voices in my head are louder, crippling, and loyal in making a reappearance pushing me further to the edge.
YOU ARE READING
Revengeance
Mystery / ThrillerFor the past six years. The images return. They're uninvited. Unwanted. One might think she should expect it by now. But that would mean she's accepted fate. Meredith chooses to live in an illusion. A charade. Deceiving herself from the truth that s...
