There's no place like HOME (Emma Frost Book 8) (2 page)

She put the key in and turned it while holding her breath. Then, she pushed the door open.

The light coming from the other side of the house almost blinded her. The huge windows leading to the yard and the ocean brought in so much sunlight it was startling. She gasped slightly and stepped inside. Jonas was right behind her. She felt his hand on her shoulder.

“Welcome home,” he whispered in her ear.

“It’s even more beautiful than I remembered,” she said, slightly choked.

If only mother were here. She would have loved it.

The realtor entered behind them. “Home sweet home,” she chirped, and closed the door behind them.

Jonas kissed Maria on the cheek. Then he walked past her into the living room. “I told you there would be room for your mother’s old chair in the corner,” he yelled.

She followed him into the living room. He stood in the corner, smiling. “See? We can put it right here. And then the couch over here, and the TV on the wall like this. It’s going to be perfect. You see it?”

“I do,” Maria said. “It’s going to be perfect.”

Jonas clapped his hands together. “The truck will be here in an hour. Time enough for us to empty the car first. Let’s get to it.”

The realtor thanked them and wished them the best of luck in their new home, then she left. All day, Jonas and Maria worked on furnishing their new home. With every chair and every piece of their life that was put into place, Maria felt more and more at home. Especially around noon when some of the neighbors dropped by with a bottle of wine and some home baked buns to welcome them to the neighborhood. That almost brought her to tears, and she couldn’t wait to get to know all of them better.

By the end of the afternoon, they had all their furniture in place, with help from the moving company, and they were alone at last for the first time. Now, it was just the two of them. Two young newlyweds with the beginning of an entire new life in front of them. It was both exciting and a little scary, Maria thought, while standing in the bedroom, surrounded by mountains of boxes and bags. She couldn’t wait to get all these things into their places and to decorate the house and make it their home. She couldn’t wait for them to start an everyday life here. A life where they went off to work in the morning, and couldn’t wait to get back to their cozy home in the afternoon. She could see herself having a life in this house. She really could. She could see herself having children here; she could see herself grow old here.

Jonas was right. It is perfect for us. Everything about it is just so…perfect.

They unpacked until darkness fell on the house, and they ordered a late night pizza from a nearby pizzeria. When it arrived, they sat on the carpet in front of the fireplace in the living room and ate out of the box. Their bodies were sore from carrying, and so tired from a long, but joyfull, day. Jonas had brought a bottle of champagne that he now opened. He filled their plastic cups.

“A toast,” he said, and lifted his glass. “To our new home.”

“No place like it,” Maria said, and they sipped their champagne.

They sat in silence for a little while, just staring at the high-vaulted living room with the huge windows leading to the yard and the beach. Outside, it was now dark…at least as dark as it got at this time of year, when the Nordic Lights kept the nights bright. It was getting late.

Maria felt tired. Exhausted even. But happier than ever. Jonas leaned over and kissed her neck. She closed her eyes and enjoyed his touch. She loved him so much. So deeply.

“Mmmm…”

“I love you so much, Maria. I can’t wait for the rest of our life.”

His hand opened a couple of buttons on her shirt.

“It’s a little late,” Maria groaned. “And I’m exhausted. Aren’t you tired?”

“Mmmm…” Jonas continued. He opened the rest of the buttons on her shirt and pulled one of her breasts out of her bra.

“Jonas. I’m really tired …” she didn’t mean it, and he knew it. They still hadn’t reached the point in their marriage when they stopped being all over each other. She loved his touches, and she wanted him all the time. Even now, when she was so worn out she could hardly move her body.

She wanted to have sex with him in their new house for the first time. Just not like this. Not on the floor. The bed was set up in the bedroom, and she wanted them to go in there.

Maria opened her eyes to tell him, but as she did, she let out a scream. Jonas jumped.

“What?”

Maria closed her shirt and held a hand against her breasts to cover herself up. “I saw something,” she said.

“What?” Jonas asked.

“I don’t know. It was out there, in the yard somewhere. Something was moving.”

Jonas combed his hair back with his hand. Then he laughed. “It was probably just a cat or a squirrel or something.”

“No,” Maria said. “It was bigger. It looked like a person.”

“You’re just being paranoid again,” Jonas said. “Who in their right mind would be out in our yard at this time of night? I tell you, it was nothing. Or maybe it was someone. Maybe it was one of the neighbors looking for their dog or cat that has run off or something. This is a safe neighborhood, Maria. You met them today. They were nice people. Nothing strange about them. Heck, they even gave us wine and buns. Besides, this is an island. There’s only one way to get here and to leave here. There can’t be much crime. Not successful, that is.”

“I guess you’re right. But there was someone who was murdered down the street from here. An old lady. Two years ago. Right on this street, Jonas.”

Jonas sighed, and then looked at her with compassion. She hated that look. It always made her feel like a young child.

“Yes, there was that old story. We talked about it, but the killer was found, remember?”

“It was a police officer, Jonas.”

“I know. But he’s gone now, right? So, no more worries.”

“There has been other stuff the last two years…a lot, actually. I read about it the other day.”

Jonas leaned over and kissed her lips. “You read too much,” he whispered. “Now, let’s get to bed. I want to have sex with my wife on the first night in our new house, no matter who is looking at us from outside those windows. Let them look. Who cares?”

Maria chuckled and pushed him lovingly on the shoulder. “Oh, you…” she said. “You never take me seriously, do you?”

“Nah. Not really.”

He grabbed her hand, and pulled her up from the floor. He held her in his arms. She could feel how strong he was. She loved that about him. He was a real man. Big hands and long arms to wrap around her. He had been working all day on moving boxes and furniture, and not once did he complain that he was tired. He even had the energy to make love to her…even after a day like this.

Maria had grown up alone with her mother, since her dad left when she was just a young child. During her entire childhood, her mother had been constantly afraid…almost paralyzed by fear at times. She’d had her entire life destroyed by this fear…the fear of almost everything she could come up with, it seemed at times. Some days, it could be a fear of burglars entering the house, on others it was the fear of being attacked by some random stranger in the street or of eating something that would make her sick, of germs entering her body and killing her. It could be almost anything. But especially hard for Maria was her fear of something bad happening to her. It made Maria’s teenage years lonely and devastating…never being able to do what the other kids were allowed to. It became so bad in the end that her mother refused to go outside. The doctor called it a Social Anxiety Disorder and Agoraphobia, the anxiety of open spaces. But even worse, she forbade Maria to go outside as well, except to go to school or to grocery shop, since she didn’t dare to do that on her own. That was when Maria decided she would rather die than end up like her mother.

But it was easier said than done. Every day of Maria’s grown-up life she was fighting her own anxiety and, luckily for her, Jonas helped her tremendously. Especially after her mother killed herself two years ago. Jonas had been there, and he had promised he would take care of Maria. He told her she didn’t have to be afraid of anything anymore.

Her unease went away as he pulled her towards the bed and undressed her. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment. She was so happy she had him. He and his strong arms made her feel so secure. She felt like nothing in this world could ever touch her, could ever touch them.

For the first time in her life, she felt perfectly safe.

3

July 2014

J
ESPER
M
ELANDER LOOKED
at the couple having sex in their new home for the first time through the big window leading to the bedroom. He had the best view and enjoyed every moment of it. He knew they wouldn’t pull the curtains, because the people from the curtain company weren’t coming until the next day to put them up.

He watched as the husband climbed on top of his wife and entered her. He licked his lips and kept watching this delicious scene until the couple were done and fell to the bed moaning and breathing hard. It made Jesper Melander even more excited.

“There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home,” Jesper Melander murmured to himself with a giggle, trying to sound like Dorothy in the old classic movie. He tapped his shoes together three times while repeating the sentence.

Jesper Melander loved the innocence of these people inside their new home. He loved their sense of security…the feeling of being home where it is safe and you feel so untouchable. That was what he dreamt of destroying.

He tilted his head as the lights went out in the bedroom and everything went quiet. Jesper Melander felt the knife in his hand and closed his eyes for just a second, taking in the fresh salty air mixed with the wonderful smells of the anticipation of a kill.

Jesper Melander opened his eyes and looked at the sleeping house.

“What a be-ea-u-ti-ful home.
I’m never ever leaving again, Auntie Em,”
Jesper Melander laughed. “Oh, you’ll never ever leave this house again.”

Jesper Melander walked up to a window in the back leading to the basement. It was slightly ajar. They hadn’t been into the basement yet. Of course they hadn’t. They had just moved in. They hadn’t had the time to check all doors and windows yet. In a new house, you never know where they all are or how many there are, do you? No, you don’t.

Jesper Melander slid inside and ended up in an empty room in the basement. Quietly, Jesper Melander found the stairs leading up.

“Just follow the yellow brick road!” Jesper Melander started chanting and dancing up the stairs. “Follow, follow, follow…Follow the yellow brick road.”

Jesper Melander opened the door and walked inside the kitchen. With quick and very determined steps, he walked straight towards the bedroom. The door was open. Jesper Melander stopped by the bed and looked at the happy couple in their sleep. The husband was snoring heavily.

“Lions and tigers and bears. Oh my!” Jesper Melander giggled.

Jesper Melander walked to the husband’s side and sat on the edge of the bed. Then, he stroked the man gently on the cheek till he opened his eyes, blinking and trying to see in the darkness.

“W…What? …Maria?”

“No. Not Maria,” Jesper Melander whispered. “But I bet you wish I was.”

“What the…?”

Jesper Melander lifted the knife into the air and plunged it deep into the husband’s chest. Between the ribs. Straight to the heart.

A scream startled him. It came from the wife. She had woken up. Good. Jesper Melander pulled the knife out of the man’s chest and blood spurted up from the wound. Jesper Melander then stabbed the husband again, pulled out the knife and stabbed him again, every time pushing the blade in deeper. The body of the husband stiffened in a spasm. Guttural and gurgling sounds escaped his throat, his last effort to try and catch a breath. The woman wouldn’t stop screaming in fear. Her eyes were terror ridden. Jesper Melander fed off of her anxiety. The woman was screaming her lungs out now. It was like the most beautiful music to Jesper Melander. So soothing. So refreshing to the soul.

“What have you done?!!” the woman screamed. “Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Jonas! JONAAAS!!”

Jesper Melander took a photographic memory picture of her frozen and wide-eyed state. All the feeling of safety and security she had felt just before going to sleep had been sucked right out of her in a matter of seconds. Her eyes darted back and forth between Jonas and Jesper Melander. Jesper Melander was amused by the display. He tilted his head and giggled. The woman’s eyes searched for a way out, and she tried to run for it, but Jesper Melander grabbed her and held her back.

“Please, don’t kill me,” she whimpered, her lips quivering in despair. “Please, let me go.”

Jesper Melander lowered the blade and sliced it into her. The smell of blood was deep in his nostrils. Her begging eyes were pleading to be spared. But it was too late. She fell to the ground in a pool of blood. Jesper Melander giggled again.

“Guess we’re not in Kansas anymore. We must be over the rainbow!”

4

July 2014

I
T WAS ONE
of those rare quiet mornings. The kids were still on their summer break, and Victor had decided to sleep in, for once.

This is a first
, I thought as I walked downstairs and he wasn’t there. Usually, he was the first one up, sitting in the kitchen, waiting for his breakfast. I was even late. I had slept till eight-thirty and was certain he would be very anxious…almost on the verge of annoyed that I wasn’t there yet.

But, he wasn’t. He hadn’t even gotten up yet, I realized, when I went back upstairs and checked his room. Victor was still asleep. A very rare and delightful sight.

It had been a tough summer on all of us. Maya had moved back home, but was still suffering from amnesia after some lunatic doctor had drugged her as a part of an experiment. I had hoped she would have regained more of her memory by now, but it was still almost the same as when I brought her home before the summer started. Every day, I showed her pictures of her childhood, and every day, she told me she still didn’t remember. There were days when I could tell she tried to please me and told me she remembered some of it, but I knew she was lying.