Stories of short

Argh i have SO much to do. on Thursday night I'm leaving to go to the Philippines, Thailand and Singapore for just over two weeks. This weekend, I had SO many things to do. Yesterday I did pretty much bugger all. Last night I drank ALOT, and thanks to AB and McSlurry for 4am pizza (told you guys i'd mention you!!!!!!!!!!). Today I had to do about 5 weeks worth of uni work, and I didn't even start feeling human again until about 3pm. I still think I did a good job... So while you read my short story, I'm going to go and try and get my life into some sense of order....


Nick glanced at his watch. His client was late, very late. He knew he should have escorted her himself, but she’d insisted on making her own way. She wanted to be inconspicuous. He sighed and shook his head at his own idiocy. He muttered a curse to himself and glanced out of the window at the front of the restaurant. No sign of her yet.
“What if she’s in trouble?” he thought to himself.

He was her bodyguard-to-be after all, and until she arrived, he wouldn’t know how much trouble she was in. Hell, he didn’t even know why she needed a bodyguard. There were, of course, several possibilities circulating his mind. Such possibilities included: she had a crazy ex-boyfriend; she had witnessed a mafia shooting; or she was just really, really paranoid. But until he met her, there was just no way of knowing.

His eyes strayed to his watch again before they wandered aimlessly around the room and come to a halt on a young couple in the far corner. She was angry. He was looking very, very sorry. Nick sympathised. Suddenly the girl picked up her glass of wine and threw it in the man’s face. She got up and stalked out, leaving him open-mouthed, gaping in shock. The rest of the diners stared after her, and quickly got back to their hushed conversations, pretending not to have noticed the scene. Nick groaned, feeling the other man’s embarrassment. For a little while longer he just sat, content with these few precious minutes. There was just so little time these days. Eventually, his gaze wandered across the room again.

His heart leapt in his throat as his eyes fixed on two cars making their way to the parking lot. They had both pulled in at excessive speeds, but were now slowing down. One car stopped and a woman got out, looking harassed and quite shaky. Rachel, he thought. He didn’t know how he knew that this creature was his soon-to-be-client; he just did. Nick looked more closely – she didn’t appear to have great control over the direction in which she was walking.

The other car cruised around the parking lot and started heading back towards where Rachel was stumbling across the road. Slowly seeing future events play out in his mind, Nick suddenly realized what was happening. Jumping up from his table, he knocked the contents over as he dived out the door.
_______________________________

She fumbled with her shirt buttons, her hands shaking. All she had to do was meet this guy and then he could take care of whoever had been stalking her. Simple. He was a professional. He would be able to help her. No big deal. She tried to make herself believe it, but with little success.

After securing the doors and windows of her house, she checked that it was all clear outside and made a run for her car. She leapt from the top step of her house and bounded across the front yard as quickly as possible, not caring how she looked. Before she knew it, she was through the door of her old car, safely locked in.

Inside, she breathed a sigh of relief and turned on the engine. She only lived ten minutes away from the restaurant. What could happen in just ten little minutes?

After driving for what seemed like an eternity, Rachel glanced into the rearview mirror. Her heart sank. She was being followed. Somehow she knew that the car behind her contained the twisted man who had been stalking her.

She pressed her foot harder onto the accelerator and forced her car to speed up. Her eyes widened as she looked into the mirror once more. The car behind had also sped up. She had the sinking feeling that the stranger was getting a thrill out of playing with her mind – if he had wanted to catch her, he surely would have done so by now. Her hands began to quake violently with every further second she drove. Her vision blurred slightly, and she began to lose control of the steering.
“Don’t panic,” her head told her. “You’re nearly there.”
Too late, her heart replied, and there were the headlights of the other car, gradually gaining on her. There was no chance that she could outrun this maniac! Rachel was sure that if she forced her car to go much faster, it would either blow up – she was no expert when it came to motor mechanics – or she would likely be arrested. Unfortunately, it hadn’t registered in her mind that she would actually be safer locked inside a jail cell for a while than she was on a deserted road with a crazy and likely dangerous stalker close behind.

As she began to wipe away the sweat from her face, she realized that in fact there were also tears there. Rachel had never been good at performing under pressure, this was about the most pressurized a situation in which she’d ever found herself. She shook her head and cursed, trying to snap herself out of the panic, but succeeding only in losing control of the car for a few moments. Brushing a sleeve across her forehead, she again looked into the mirror. The car was definitely gaining on her and getting closer by the second. She could just make out the shadowed silhouette of a tall, muscle-bound man. Well, either that or a woman who was very in touch with her masculine side.
“He’s just playing games,” she tried to tell herself. She wasn’t very convincing.

Abruptly, the restaurant came into view. She wondered if she would, having made it as far as the car park, even make it into the restaurant before the psycho caught her once and for all. She panicked and sped around the corner with little care for who or what scuttled out of the way. The restaurant was so close that some part of her just knew she would make it; yet, so far that it seemed miles away and impossible to reach before her time ran out.

She chided herself for being so dramatic and pulled into the restaurant parking lot, praying that the other car would continue on its way and pass her, that she was imagining the whole situation. It kept following close behind. She jumped out of the car, intending to make a run for it, but found she had little control of her actions. She turned to assess the other car’s progress, and froze. The other car was cruising lazily down to the other end of the car park, and was now turning back towards her. As it sped up, she desperately tried to get out of the way, but her body failed her. Rachel screamed momentarily before she was winded as she was knocked to the ground. A tall, slim, but heavy body of a man covered her completely.

“Good to finally meet you, Miss Smyth,” said a deep voice, presumably belonging to the man who was currently crushing her. How did he know who she was?
“Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Nick James, your new bodyguard.”
____________________________________

I watched her. For months, I watched her. She stole my life. She stole my job. She used me. Nobody does that to me. But she did. So she left me with no choice – I had to take away her life, her loved ones. That’s why I did it. That’s why people had to die. It was because of her. All because of her. It’s all her fault.

I tried to be nice to her. I tried to be a good neighbour. I thought she loved me – she’d never actually said it but then, women can be like that. Everybody knows that women say one thing and mean another. She’s just like all the rest of them. I knew that she was just being coy, that she would eventually admit her feelings. Didn’t she realize I gave up everything for her? I lost my job because they claimed that I was never there. Of course I wasn’t there - I had to look after her, to protect her. So I took a few days off now and then. She pretended she didn’t notice me following her on those days, but I know she did. I know she appreciated my level of interest and concern with her life. I wouldn’t have cared about the job, but then I saw her with a man, my brother. She cheated on me. She couldn’t deal with the depth of our relationship, and she didn’t know how to tell me. She should have talked it through with me. I could have made her understand that it was ok. She didn’t have to cheat on me, when she knew I was watching. She should have told me. I would have been ok with it, I’m sure. I’m a reasonable man. She made me end my own brother’s life. She forced my hand, and now she has to understand that I don’t like that. I am the master of my destiny, and I will not be manipulated.

I watched her coming home from work tonight. I watched as she locked all her doors and windows, as if she really though that a few locks would stop me. I’m sure she was just making a show of it, she knows I can get at her if I want to. She’s been rather jumpy lately. Mind you, finding your cat dead in your bed can have that effect on some people.

I’m following her now, in my car. Stupid bat hasn’t even noticed. I’ve been right behind her for almost five minutes so far, but she looks perfectly at ease. She isn’t even sorry! She should be dripping with guilt at the way she treated me – the things she forced me to do.

Her car is beginning to speed up. Her posture is stiff. Oh good – I hope she knows that she’s going to die, that dying is her punishment for being so heartless and stupid. She can’t outrun me; her car is far too slow. I can catch her in a heartbeat, but I won’t. Not yet. I want her to fear. I want her to be scared of me and of her short time ahead. She will never feel calm or happiness again. She toyed with me, and now I am going to have my fun, to seek my revenge. The irony is, that I’m doing this to teach her a lesson, but it will be her final lesson. There is no more learning to be done once this lesson is over.

I’m watching her car pull slowly into a parking lot and admiring the length of those legs! She is stumbles from the driver’s seat and starts towards the restaurant. She didn’t even close the door. Realisation of what’s happening must have hit her. She knows now that little things like that don’t matter. All that matters is being true, true to me. I notice the uncontrollable quaking of her whole body. It’s working. She is terrified of me, but not nearly as terrified as she could be. SHOULD be. Not nearly as terrified as she will be.

Slowly work my way around the other side of the car park. Turning towards her, I rev the engine. Has she realized yet? Aiming towards her, I plant my foot on the accelerator. Utter terror spreads across that pretty little face of hers. She doesn’t even try to run. She knows she deserves this.

A movement to my right has just caught my peripheral vision. A man is running for her – he looks slightly panicked. I seem to be having this effect on a lot of people lately. I glare at him as he pushes her out of my path and lands on top of her on the ground. I begin to berate him out loud. Getting angrier by the second. I look in the rearvision mirror: She’s still alive. Moving. She has learnt nothing. She is probably in shock.

I will get her.
I will get her.
It was with this thought running through my head, that I re-focused my eyes on where I was heading and saw the solid brick wall looming. My last moments should have been hers, and now it’s too late. She caused me to kill, and then, ultimately, she killed me.