Moments pt 23
It was later that night and Meryl had been able to get rid of Jack, well he actually had received a call and said he was sorry but he had to go. She could lie and say she was sorry for that but she wasn’t. As the night had gone on Jack had become more and more aggressive in his questions; questioning her recovery, how much she remembered, her feelings for Don and if she had any lingering feelings or thoughts where he was concerned.
She was going to call Don but noticing the time, it was close to mid night, she figured he was probably asleep and didn’t want to wake him. He had been through a hell of a lot in the last several weeks, thanks to the accident she had been in. deciding she was going to simply drive home and surprise him with what she had remembered and hopefully have him calm enough before she revealed that Jack had tracked her down to the cabin.
The drive home would take about 6 hours but she wasn’t worried seeing as her sleep patterns had been all over the place since her accident.
Turning off the lights and making sure everything was back to as it had been upon her arrival a few days before she headed for the door and set to lock up the cabin. The wind was whistling and the snow that had begun to fall before was falling harder. She felt as though someone was watching her but she just chalked it up to paranoia and the spookiness of the dark combined with the growing intensity of the storm. Before she knew it someone walked up behind her and knocked her over the head, catching her before she hit the ground, carried her to a waiting car and drove away.
----------------
The next morning Don was pacing the length of the apartment back in New York. It was close to 8 am and he hadn’t heard a word from Meryl in over 24 hours. Something was wrong, she wasn’t answering her cell or the land line that was installed in the cabin. Due to news coverage he knew there had been a massive storm up in the area of the cabin so it wasn’t improbable that the electricity had been wiped out and she wasn’t able to get to a phone to call him.
But there was more than that; 34 years of marriage had made them both intuitive when it came to each other, they were able to read each other in an almost uncanny way. They knew when the other was happy or upset, sad, disappointed or excited, hurt or in pain. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, a gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Just than Grace walked through the door. She could tell by the look on her fathers face and the way he was pacing the room that something was wrong.
Making her presence known she asked “Daddy? You okay?”
Trying to hide his concern from her he was about to answer her question, but then he saw the look on her face. The same look Meryl gave him when she knew something was wrong. He laughed at that. “You know your mother gives me that same look when she asks me if something is wrong even though she already knows the answer.”
Walking up to him, taking his hand and forcing him to sit with her on the couch. “So you aren’t going to try to get me to back off by lying and claiming everything’s all right that’s a relief. What is it? Is it mom?”
Don began to tell her how he had hired a guard to keep a look out on the property up in Maine where Meryl was staying, seeing as he didn’t want her to be that far away from home in the middle of nowhere in her current condition alone. He told her that since Meryl had been gone they had made a point to talk at least twice a day and that he hadn’t heard from her since the previous morning. He mentioned the snow storm and how it was possible that she simply lost power, hoping that if he explained everything out loud he would be able to convince himself that everything was fine and he was simply over reacting.
“But you think there’s more to it?”
Folding his hands in his lap and playing with his wedding ring he answered her question. “I know your mom and ever since the accident I have had to rely, more than ever, on non verbal clues. The look in her eye she gets when something is bothering her, the way she stretches her neck from side to side when she is feeling stressed or overwhelmed, the way her leg shakes when she’s nervous and I just cant shake this feeling that something is wrong.”
Looking at her father she had an overwhelming desire to start crying. He was such a good man and took such good care of her mom. She didn’t know many men who would have been confident enough in themselves to take the back seat, in many ways, to their wives overwhelmingly professional life. But he had and never once made her feel bad or guilty about it even though she knew at times it had to have been incredibly hard on him sharing Meryl to the extent that he, as well as the children, had for so many years. Since the accident she could see it in his eyes how worried he was that she may never again be the woman he had spent over half of his life with, the woman he had raised a family with, the woman who was his best friend and knew him as well as he knew her.
“Daddy lets go up to Maine. I want to see mom check on how she’s doing and you need to know that she’s okay.”
Looking up at her he couldn’t believe how much she reminded him of her mother; those big eyes, the way she held his hand just now, the way she knew exactly what he needed while making it sound like it was her idea, all of those things were exactly what Meryl would do and had done for so many years of their life together.
“Gracie…”
“Before you say no I want you to think about it; you and me in the car together for 6 hours listening to all the music I like that you love to refer to as ‘a nightmare set to music’, playing the license plate game the way we did when I was little, stopping at that ice cream place that mom doesn’t know we stop at because its one of the ‘don’t tell mom’ stops when we travel without her. Come on it’ll be fun I’ll drive and you can make all those ridiculous hand gestures you make when you’re in the car with me.”
Grinning at her, “Well that’s because you drive like your mother, like a maniac. And you know you had me at the ice cream place.”
They both stood up to walk to the door and just as Grace was about to open the door she felt her father’s hand on her shoulder; she turned around and gave him a big hug.
“I know you’re worried about mom, so am I. But you’ll see, we’ll get up to Maine and she will probably be sitting by the fire reading one of her books wondering why we drove 6 hours to see her when she is perfectly fine. As for her memory I still believe she’s going to remember, I mean how could she not remember what awesome people we are?”
He couldn’t help but laugh at that, he just hoped she was right.
-----------
It was around 2:30 in the afternoon that Don and Grace arrived at the cabin. When they got there Don’s fears went into overdrive; the guard he had placed on the property was nowhere to be seen.
Finally reaching the driveway that led straight to the cabin the two of them got out of the car and went up to the house. It appeared as though the house was abandoned, everything was locked up.
Getting his key and opening the door he noticed all the lights were off and it appeared as though no one had been there in recent time.
He asked Grace to go check the garage to see if the car they kept at the property was still there.
While she did that Don looked around for Meryl but couldn’t find her, while searching the back rooms he heard Grace scream.
“DAD!”
Running out to the front of the cabin he saw Grace kneeling on her knees by the front door looking at the ground. His heart practically stopped when he saw her looking at what appeared to be a big pool of blood...
TBC
I have decided the pool of blood would be possible even though there was a snow storm because the way I have visualized the cabin it has coverage over the front door as well as the patio area in front of the house, and seeing as there were high winds the area would remain unaffected by the storm therefore allowing for Grace and Don to discover the blood upon their arrival.
Let me know what you think, as always I love hearing from you guys and have greatly appreciated your comments thus far. The more you let me know what your thinking and what you want to see, the more inspired I get and the sooner I update.
She was going to call Don but noticing the time, it was close to mid night, she figured he was probably asleep and didn’t want to wake him. He had been through a hell of a lot in the last several weeks, thanks to the accident she had been in. deciding she was going to simply drive home and surprise him with what she had remembered and hopefully have him calm enough before she revealed that Jack had tracked her down to the cabin.
The drive home would take about 6 hours but she wasn’t worried seeing as her sleep patterns had been all over the place since her accident.
Turning off the lights and making sure everything was back to as it had been upon her arrival a few days before she headed for the door and set to lock up the cabin. The wind was whistling and the snow that had begun to fall before was falling harder. She felt as though someone was watching her but she just chalked it up to paranoia and the spookiness of the dark combined with the growing intensity of the storm. Before she knew it someone walked up behind her and knocked her over the head, catching her before she hit the ground, carried her to a waiting car and drove away.
----------------
The next morning Don was pacing the length of the apartment back in New York. It was close to 8 am and he hadn’t heard a word from Meryl in over 24 hours. Something was wrong, she wasn’t answering her cell or the land line that was installed in the cabin. Due to news coverage he knew there had been a massive storm up in the area of the cabin so it wasn’t improbable that the electricity had been wiped out and she wasn’t able to get to a phone to call him.
But there was more than that; 34 years of marriage had made them both intuitive when it came to each other, they were able to read each other in an almost uncanny way. They knew when the other was happy or upset, sad, disappointed or excited, hurt or in pain. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right, a gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach.
Just than Grace walked through the door. She could tell by the look on her fathers face and the way he was pacing the room that something was wrong.
Making her presence known she asked “Daddy? You okay?”
Trying to hide his concern from her he was about to answer her question, but then he saw the look on her face. The same look Meryl gave him when she knew something was wrong. He laughed at that. “You know your mother gives me that same look when she asks me if something is wrong even though she already knows the answer.”
Walking up to him, taking his hand and forcing him to sit with her on the couch. “So you aren’t going to try to get me to back off by lying and claiming everything’s all right that’s a relief. What is it? Is it mom?”
Don began to tell her how he had hired a guard to keep a look out on the property up in Maine where Meryl was staying, seeing as he didn’t want her to be that far away from home in the middle of nowhere in her current condition alone. He told her that since Meryl had been gone they had made a point to talk at least twice a day and that he hadn’t heard from her since the previous morning. He mentioned the snow storm and how it was possible that she simply lost power, hoping that if he explained everything out loud he would be able to convince himself that everything was fine and he was simply over reacting.
“But you think there’s more to it?”
Folding his hands in his lap and playing with his wedding ring he answered her question. “I know your mom and ever since the accident I have had to rely, more than ever, on non verbal clues. The look in her eye she gets when something is bothering her, the way she stretches her neck from side to side when she is feeling stressed or overwhelmed, the way her leg shakes when she’s nervous and I just cant shake this feeling that something is wrong.”
Looking at her father she had an overwhelming desire to start crying. He was such a good man and took such good care of her mom. She didn’t know many men who would have been confident enough in themselves to take the back seat, in many ways, to their wives overwhelmingly professional life. But he had and never once made her feel bad or guilty about it even though she knew at times it had to have been incredibly hard on him sharing Meryl to the extent that he, as well as the children, had for so many years. Since the accident she could see it in his eyes how worried he was that she may never again be the woman he had spent over half of his life with, the woman he had raised a family with, the woman who was his best friend and knew him as well as he knew her.
“Daddy lets go up to Maine. I want to see mom check on how she’s doing and you need to know that she’s okay.”
Looking up at her he couldn’t believe how much she reminded him of her mother; those big eyes, the way she held his hand just now, the way she knew exactly what he needed while making it sound like it was her idea, all of those things were exactly what Meryl would do and had done for so many years of their life together.
“Gracie…”
“Before you say no I want you to think about it; you and me in the car together for 6 hours listening to all the music I like that you love to refer to as ‘a nightmare set to music’, playing the license plate game the way we did when I was little, stopping at that ice cream place that mom doesn’t know we stop at because its one of the ‘don’t tell mom’ stops when we travel without her. Come on it’ll be fun I’ll drive and you can make all those ridiculous hand gestures you make when you’re in the car with me.”
Grinning at her, “Well that’s because you drive like your mother, like a maniac. And you know you had me at the ice cream place.”
They both stood up to walk to the door and just as Grace was about to open the door she felt her father’s hand on her shoulder; she turned around and gave him a big hug.
“I know you’re worried about mom, so am I. But you’ll see, we’ll get up to Maine and she will probably be sitting by the fire reading one of her books wondering why we drove 6 hours to see her when she is perfectly fine. As for her memory I still believe she’s going to remember, I mean how could she not remember what awesome people we are?”
He couldn’t help but laugh at that, he just hoped she was right.
-----------
It was around 2:30 in the afternoon that Don and Grace arrived at the cabin. When they got there Don’s fears went into overdrive; the guard he had placed on the property was nowhere to be seen.
Finally reaching the driveway that led straight to the cabin the two of them got out of the car and went up to the house. It appeared as though the house was abandoned, everything was locked up.
Getting his key and opening the door he noticed all the lights were off and it appeared as though no one had been there in recent time.
He asked Grace to go check the garage to see if the car they kept at the property was still there.
While she did that Don looked around for Meryl but couldn’t find her, while searching the back rooms he heard Grace scream.
“DAD!”
Running out to the front of the cabin he saw Grace kneeling on her knees by the front door looking at the ground. His heart practically stopped when he saw her looking at what appeared to be a big pool of blood...
TBC
I have decided the pool of blood would be possible even though there was a snow storm because the way I have visualized the cabin it has coverage over the front door as well as the patio area in front of the house, and seeing as there were high winds the area would remain unaffected by the storm therefore allowing for Grace and Don to discover the blood upon their arrival.
Let me know what you think, as always I love hearing from you guys and have greatly appreciated your comments thus far. The more you let me know what your thinking and what you want to see, the more inspired I get and the sooner I update.