This Can't Be Love

Chapter 12: Hide or Seek?

A dry cloudy morning is chilled by winds that carry fallen dead leaves. The front door of Bethany's house opens and out comes Samantha. She has her travel bag with her and is wearing her winter coat. Bethany stands at the door after Samantha steps out.

"The weekends go by so fast... I wish we would spend more time together."

"So do I, but don't worry, I only have about nine more months of school left. Besides I'll be back in just five days anyway."

"Nine months waiting for my baby doll to come yet again..."

"Oh please, mom, don't get all weird again."

"Hehe... Doll, are you sure you don't want me to give you a ride?"

"Yeah don't worry about it, taxi's in its way."

During their conversation, they don't notice that there is someone watching them from behind a patch of bushes accross the street. This man is cloaked in shadow, wearing black gloves and a black scarf, silently whispering to himself...

"There she is... I needed to see her, but if she sees me... especially looking like this... She won't think much of me..."

Samantha and Bethany are still talking to each other. Samantha's back turned to the sidewalk and facing her mom, who speaks in a warming tone.

"... Words can't express how proud of you I am. I mean, in spite of all that you've been through in recent weeks, you still keep your head high, still focusing on your school stuff, and still--"

"You taught me well mom."

"Yes I did..."

They lightly laugh and Samantha steps backward looking at the ground. She suddenly stops laughing and looks over her shoulder with shifty eyes. Bethany notices this and looks in the same direction but sees nothing. She looks at Samantha again.

"Something the matter, doll?"

"No, I just..."

Samantha turns around now and looks accross the street. She happens to look directly at the bushes where the person watching her is hiding. She squints a bit but does not see anything out of the norm. She turns back again toward Bethany.

"You ever get that weird sensation in the back of your neck sometimes? Like a very weak, grainy tension... like a tingling sense that somebody's... ugh! Nevermind."

"What are you, Spidergirl now? What are you talking about?"

"You ever feel like you're being watched?"

"Oh... Yeah I know the feeling..."

The person behind the bushes exhales while running his hand down his face and resumes to softly whisper to himself.

"What have I reduced myself to? This damn destiny has me hiding and only watching her from far... Why? Why can't I just come out and approach her? Tell her I love her... Why not just tell her... Say 'look, I'm not dead or missing, I've just been hiding... Hiding from you... From myself...'"

He watches as a taxi pulls up in front of Bethany's house. Samantha now gives her mother a farewell hug and carries her bag to the cab. The man behind the bush retreats further into the shadowy greens, still whispering to himself.

"Sammy... Have you even noticed that I'm gone? Do you care enough?"

Samantha enters the taxi cab and it drives away. Bethany waves to the taxi as it leaves, then goes back into her house and closes the door. The hidden man watches carefully.

"... Am I ever on your mind at all?"

A couple of hours later, at Grayson University, Samantha is seen rushing into a class that is already in progress. The professor looks at her but does not stop or pause his lecture. Samantha nervously smiles at him as she makes her way to an empty seat. She takes out a pen and paper and begins to pay attention to what the instructor is saying.