Chapter 18

© Copyright 2006 by Kendra Cornell



He sat there in the dark, a solitary candle lighting the space. Coarse shadows were thrown across his jaw. Eyes closed, back up against the wall, he contemplated how good it would have felt to finally have her… there, with him. One hand idly stroked the small silk pillow; he imagined it was her hair and a small smile raised the corners of his mouth.

Officers of the law- trained professionals couldn’t catch an injured woman. He hadn’t known she was injured and wondered where and how badly she was hurt. He would take care of her- when he found her, he was going to take care of her. He’d make sure she’d never hurt again.

Slowly, in the darkness, he opened his eyes and his gaze took in her space. A silken pallet lay on the floor. A small, wooden case stood on the floor supporting a mirror. Around the mirror, he had attached pictures and other mementoes. She hadn’t even known he’d had them. Other items were neatly arranged nearby: wrappers he’d salvaged from the trash where she’d thrown away her lunch, a straw that still bore the imprint of her raspberry-colored lipstick, pens that he’d taken from her desk, and a single solitary red rose that he replaced every day in the hopes that that day would be the one- the day when she finally came to be with him. She’d be surrounded by her own things. She’d be comfortable here. And he’d never let her go…




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