Love Lies Dying (30 page)

Twenty-five

John woke in a pool of sweat.

His heart was beating hard and his breathing was fast.

He could still see Zoe’s face if he closed his eyes. He could see the tear spilling from her eye.

And he could see the blood.

So much blood…

It had seemed so real, as if he were there, as if those events were really taking place.

But he realised he’d fallen asleep once more and drifted into the world of his thoughts, as if he were in some fevered state of reality.

He tried once more to pull the handcuffs through the metal chair. He was desperate, hoping that by some miracle, perhaps this time they would break through. His hands and arms were now completely numb. The only way he could tell he was actually moving his arms was by listening to the clinking of the metal handcuffs on the chair.

Turning to his right, he could see the sunlight beginning to beam through the windows on the other side of the church.

He hadn’t been asleep long, but long enough for the sun to start its descent for the day. He knew it was well into the afternoon now. And the slow countdown to night had begun.

Where are they?

Trying to push the images of his dream aside, he told himself that what he saw in his mind wasn’t what had really happened.

It can’t’ve happened like that,
he told himself.

Zoe wouldn’t be beaten so easily.

Never.

But what if she had been?

What if she was lying dead in a pool of her own blood? What if Helen didn’t get away? What if Fox had actually won? What if he took them both with him?

And then it hit John hard.

What if no one’s coming back for me?

John sat stunned, his mind totally devoid of any other thoughts.

What if no one’s coming back for me?

What if I’m stuck here, chained to this chair?

What if? What if? Whatifwhatifwhatifwhatif?

He didn’t know what to think. He didn’t know how to handle the situation. He had no idea what to do.

I can’t just sit here. I can’t sit here forever!

He leaned forward and pulled harder on the back of the chair. Feeling was starting to return to his arms, but it was accompanied by pins and needles, which charged up his arms and neck. He needed feeling back in his body to accomplish what he had to do, but the pins and needles were only going to hinder his attempts.

He sat back against the chair and waited for the feeling to pass.

As he waited, he talked to himself, trying to quell the rising fear in his mind.

Now, calm down. You don’t know how long this whole thing will take. Who knows what game Fox will try to play? Or what he has planned? Zoe said she was the only one who knew how he would act and she’s the best person to try to get Helen out of there. It has to be left up to her.

But she’s dead!

No, she isn’t. That was just a dream, you know that. It didn’t happen, so stop thinking it did.

But what if it
did!
I’m stuck here and no one’s coming back to get me. I could
die
here in this chair!

We’ll work something out, don’t worry about it yet. Give Zoe some time to come through. You trust her don’t you?

Yes.

And you know she’s going to look after you?

Yes.

I mean, you know how she feels about you, right?

Boy, do I!

Well, she’s going to come back just as soon as she can to get you. Right?

Right.

She told you to sit and wait, and that’s what you should do, right?

Right.

You don’t want her coming back to find you’ve gone crazy because you were alone for a few hours. You’re made of tougher stuff.

Yeah, I know.

Good, then just sit there and wait for her return.

John breathed deeply, trying to calm himself down. His heartbeat had slowed and the panic had subsided. He looked around the church again, surveying his surrounds, looking once more for something to help him escape. But there was nothing.

Where the hell did Zoe put that poker?

He turned to his right and looked over the fireplace at the windows.

John didn’t know if he was actually cold, or whether the numbness in his body made him feel that way, but he was looking forward to the sun reaching out to him and bathing him in warm light once more. Just a few hours to wait, and it would be shining directly on him once again.

Just a few hours to wait…

He hoped Zoe and Helen would be back before then.

He shook his head.

Women!

And then he stifled a laugh.

That’s what his college buddy Richard Dunbar used to say.

“Women!” he’d say as he sat hunched over his typewriter, typing out a short story or novel. “Never trust ’em and never get involved with ’em. They just screw you and then they
screw
you. Get it?”

John could remember all the times he had confided in Richard about his most secret thoughts and desires. Richard had always been there for him and always had the answers. John was always amazed how much Richard knew about women, considering that for as long as John knew him, he never had a girlfriend.

“They’ll play hard to get, but they only really want one thing,” he’d told John once. “And when they get it, they’ll slip their hand down there and stroke it, and then they’ll go a bit lower. But watch out pal, because once they’ve got you by the balls, they never let go.”

And with that, he would finish a sentence on the typewriter and press the return key and smile at John across the room.

“How do you know all this?” John had asked.

“I just do. It’s the experience of life.”

“What life? You sit at that typewriter all day every day.”

Richard wagged a finger at him, “Now, now, don’t let all that pent-up sexual frustration get between you and me. We’re buddies, remember? It’s not my fault you haven’t had a fuck in three months.”

“That’s not true,” John yelled back across the dorm from his bed.

“I know for a fact it is!”

John buried his head deeper into the chemistry book he was pretending to read.

“Well, it’s not,” he replied.

“You’re saving yourself, and I know who for.”

“You’re talking rubbish.”

“It’ll never happen, you know.”

“Shut up.”

“You’re fooling yourself.”

“I said
shut up!
”

“Whatever,” Richard shot back. “No use denying it.”

“At least I’m not having an affair with a typewriter!” John yelled back at him.

And Richard had laughed then, long and hard until his eyes had filled with tears.

Eventually, John had begun to laugh too.

And he was laughing now.

Alone in a church and handcuffed to a chair, John couldn’t believe he was laughing out loud.

Thinking back to that period in his life, remembering the good times he and Richard had both had, John realised just how dependent on each other he and Richard were. They were inseparable. And even after all these years, John found himself laughing again with Richard.

Happy times…

But that was then.

John looked down at his numb and useless body.

What would Richard say now?

He wished they had stayed in touch after college. They promised each other they would, but so does everyone else. And then life gets in the way.

Life.

John pulled at the handcuffs another few infuriating times.

No use.

Richard, if only you were here to get me out of this mess.

He missed their talks and their secret conversations. Heck, he even missed the old typewriter.

So many things to tell you,
he thought.
So many secrets…

He knew what Richard would say anyway. He had no doubt about it.

“I’ve told you about women,” he would’ve muttered, shaking his head at him. “How many times have I said it? First they screw you, and then they
really
screw you. Pal, it’s not worth the trouble, put it back in your pants and think with your big head, not your little one…”

John found himself smiling again. Maybe Richard was right.

But what would you think of Zoe, Richard?

“Just like all the others.”

But she isn’t, is she?

“Are you seriously telling me she’s totally different to any of the other girls you ever knew?”

Come on, she’s had a really rough life. And finally she’s got herself on her own two feet, telling this Fox prick where to go. It’s not her fault he’s all powerful and could track her down and drag her and Helen and me into this mess.

“You really believe that?” John could see Richard’s eyes squinting at him as he asked the question.

Of course I do, Richard.

“Are you sure?”

Why would she lie to me?

Richard was nodding, “Uh-huh. And I suppose she’s quite unlike any other girl you’ve ever met?”

John nodded to himself in the middle of the church.

“Really?”

Really.

“I’ve heard that before, you know.”

Huh?

“You’ve said that before, you know.”

Never!

“Yes, you have. I’ve heard it all before.”

Buddy, Zoe’s one of a kind!

John could hear Richard laughing in his mind.

“One of a kind?” he said between breaths.

Yes.

“Oh, John, how quickly you forget! You mean you don’t honestly remember?”

Remember what?

“Not what, but who!”

Who then?

“Laura Austin?”

A silence fell over the church, or so it seemed to John, as Richard evaporated from his mind and left his final two words dangling in the silence.

Laura…

Laura Austin.

John remembered her now.

How could I forget?

And he even remembered telling Richard that she was unlike any other girl he’d ever met.

Now it all came flooding back.

It was his senior year at college, as far as he could remember. He had no idea why, but for some reason he and Richard and some of his classmates attended a funeral service a few blocks from campus.

The service was probably for a teacher or a classmate; he couldn’t remember now. Either way, it didn’t matter.

It didn’t matter then either.

All he could remember was everyone tried to sit as close to the exit as possible, aiming for the back pews, and far from prying eyes. But it was a crowded room.

Was it at a church?

He couldn’t recall. John and his classmates found seats in about the middle of the room; teachers to one side, family members on the other.

And it was during the service, while they all sat there looking bored and thinking about other things, that John turned and looked along his row.

And saw Laura Austin staring back at him.

He didn’t know who she was at the time, didn’t even know her name, but he suddenly realised he wanted to know her.

Very
badly.

She was sitting about fifteen feet away. She had a cheeky grin and she was staring intently at him.

He smiled at her.

She smiled back.

What passed between them was unspoken, but they both knew what they wanted.

John looked around to make sure no one was watching. Suddenly, he found his hands were sweating. He wiped them on his pants.

He couldn’t remember what happened then, but somehow he must have gestured to her, or nodded his head or something. All he remembered was she giggled loudly.

Heads turned towards her and she blushed and slumped down in her seat.

Harsh stares were aimed at her, but as she settled back down, the heads turned away and back to the priest, who was giving his sermon.