Who Loves Her? (6 page)

The man behind the counter
had turned to face her.  He gently replied while looking directly into his eyes.  For an instant, Susan was shocked by the deep blue eyes looking back into her own.  They were the familiar eyes of Bob.

“C
ould you explain?”

Giving the strangest smile, Susan said, “Actually, I am lost
.  I don’t understand any of this.”

Susan took a long, slow breath and gathered her thoughts. In a calm, cool voice

she
said: “It is my wedding today at the church.  We came to the town to get my dre…well to do some shopping…wine, flowers, things like that.”  Susan did not understand why she had hesitated to tell him about the dress.

“Anyway, we finished and were going home
.  I was following my friend’s car, but somehow we got separated.

“The next thing I knew my friend was gone, and I was here with my sister, Anna
.  At least I think I was with Anna.” 

“
Well, actually my sister Anna was with me, but I don’t see her here anymore.  She must have walked down the street to call my mom…but it has been so long now and she has not come back.” Susan felt frightened and ridiculous all at the same time.  She felt forced to explain to the man: “That’s what happens when I get in these little scuffles and the pounding in my head starts.”

“
Anna just kind of melts away into the distance,” Susan explained with a sheepish grin.  “But I really can’t explain how she would find a ride home, and leave me here on my own.  Then someone asks to help me, and they use my name before I even tell them my name!  Anna is really going to be in trouble over this little game today!”

“You just watch, s
he will show up at home and pretend like she was never with me to begin with.”  Susan alternated between coherent explanation and shy embarrassment.  She was too confused to make sense of any of it.  A terrible day.

“
Anyway, I came here, trying to connect to see if there was better cell phone service.  If I could just get ahold of my friend Nina or perhaps my dad.” Susan shook her head again in confusion, her voice tiny and small. “I guess I fainted sir, because when I came to, both my phone and purse were missing.”

She felt no better
, nor appeared anymore sane, as she tried to explain about the helpful couple who was also missing, along with her purse, phone, and little sister. Attempting a more sane approach, she asked: “Is there a phone here?  Does this place have security cameras?  I suppose that couple might have stolen my stuff.”

“What did you say they look like again?”  Susan gave her description of the
woman.  Curiously, as she was describing her, the woman walked by them.  Susan started frantically pointing and whispering.  Quietly, so as not to alert the cashier, she tried to alert everybody that the robbers were nearby.  She didn’t want to spook them or anything.  As she noticed the cashier’s confused, concerned gaze, she leaned in close over the counter and whispered.  “That’s them over there!”

“You mean the couple that went to the back room?” the cashier asked.

“Yes, yes, that couple.  You know them?” Susan pulled away from the counter since the cashier had backed way up. She went back to using her normal tone of voice and tried not to scratch behind her ear.

“Yes, why not?
  They are the owners of this restaurant, ma’am, and yes, we have a phone and surveillance cameras.  Now don’t you worry, help is on its way.  Let me just go and find out.”  Susan felt a sense of resolve when she heard they did, in fact, have a surveillance system.  The truth was that the one thing she wanted more than anything else on earth was to know the simple truth of the strange occurrences that had happened to her throughout the day.  She wanted to know the truth.

As the cashier disappeared through the same door as the thieving couple, S
usan suddenly realized she was the only one in the restaurant.  On top of that she was inside now and she was reading the “OPEN” sign which meant that everyone outside was seeing it as “CLOSED”  As her memory clouded, she realized she could not remember ever entering the restaurant.  The radio station he had going was just playing static and finally made a pop noise that made her scream a little, covering her mouth.  Her heart jumped into her throat as she heard Anna’s voice at the same time as the radio popped.  Still, as she looked around, there was no Anna.  Susan was alone.

The cashier
returned carrying a tub of dishes out from behind the counter.  Susan’s eyes stopped on the huge butcher knife laying on top.  As Susan backed away in fear, the walls felt like they were closing in on her,-pushing her ever closer to the cashier with the butcher knife.

He
finally spoke, “We almost have it figured out.  Don’t worry.”  In a terrifying moment, Susan noticed the ring.  While there was not an immediate recognition for the ring, it was very familiar; a recognition that put fear into her heart and sent her mind on a quest to escape.  She did not know of what the ring represented, but she would certainly escape it as soon as she found an exit.  Deep inside her a voice, perhaps it was Nina, someone screamed: “Run Susan!  Get out while you can!”

As her eyes darted about the room, she
noted a strange atmosphere.  The restaurant seemed isolated.  She certainly felt isolated, and without explanation, she looked out of the windows with an eerie sense they were the only three people left in this town.  Becky moved closer and Susan watched in a strange, detached way.  It felt as if Becky’s head was growing enormous and overpowering as she spoke, “Susan you will be fine.  Please stay calm.”

Did she say my name?
Susan remained quiet.  “I never told them my name!”  The room began to spin furiously and Susan covered her ears as the pain exploded in her head.  Susan’s body slowly bent toward the ground and slumped forward.  Between the large picture windows in the front of the restaurant and the liquor-lined bar that kept the money flowing each night, Susan was a small, insignificant figure slumped over her knees on the floor.  Becky turned to look at the imposing cashier and spoke two words, “Take her.”

***

The phone started ringing, and Susan startled.  Her hands trembling from the shocking sound, she picked up the receiver and spoke.

“Skylark Hotel, best skyline in the best little town.”

Susan’s voice sounded strange and detached as she answered the motel phone.  As she took the reservation information from the woman on the other end, the terrible disjointed sensation began to fade.  The image of Susan, the bride, slumped over on her knees was too close to home for her.  She remembered the wreck.  As she was moved to safety her head pounding and hot.  She tried desperately to get to Bob, but she could not move.  The ground held her frozen there bloody, broken, and silent.  She felt her soul surrender as Bob’s lifeless body was pulled from the car.  Susan sat back on her heals, covered her ears with her hands, and wept.

S
usan blinked hard against the sun.  She noticed the cursor flashing, mocking the disquieted feeling of too many memories loose and out of control.  Suddenly, she remembered she was at work.  Were their customers? She feared looking into the parking lot for fear or Mr. and Mrs. Vanilla calling an ambulance or cop for the insane woman behind the counter!  Susan was grateful nobody was in the office.  She whipped her head around and noticed that nobody was in the parking lot either.  Gradually, the smells of stale beer and fresh bread faded in her memory.  In its place was the sharp smell of freshly mowed grass and a distinctly comforting odor of barbeque.  Susan was relieved to realize she was at Uncle Lars’ motel doing her job and not filled with morbid fear anywhere!

As Susan tidied her office, she kept looking back at the computer
.  She felt she had abandoned a friend when she was most needed.  A curiosity built inside of her as she wondered how Susan the Bride would escape the evil restaurant owners…and where had Anna gone? She chastised herself and put coffee on.  Watching the water boil, she wondered what Dr. Freudette would think.

***

“Maybe I am as crazy as they all think I am,” Susan muttered under her breath.

“Maybe they are all crazy and it
is just you and me that are normal!” Susan smiled and laughed as she turned to face her best friend, Nina.

“Anyway, I heard you were having trouble today
!  Something about being lost?” Nina chattered happily as she helped herself to some coffee.  “I always say…you can’t get lost if you don’t know where you are going!”

Susan told Nina she was starved, and maybe they should order in pizza
.  Nothing more normal on this earth than eating fresh pizza with your best friend.  The girls chattered happily about Larry and his new weightlifting endeavor as they munched with satisfaction the best pizza in Alexandria.  Susan considered telling Nina about the strange detachment that begun to occur during her writing.  She knew how Nina would react.  Attributing the whole mess to Bob and Anna and her mom, of course.  For some reason, Susan wanted to protect this private, secret part of her life.  She knew she would be forced to share it with Dr. Freudette--but which part would she share?  Suddenly, Susan felt self-conscious of her writings.  Would the shrink read her stories and read deeper? What did the crazy, disjointed stories really mean in terms of her own mental health, Susan mused, “and exactly why am I writing this nonsense,” she muttered.

Later that night,
alone at the motel, Susan turned off the television in hopes of learning Susan the Bride’s fate.  She felt guilty that she had failed her friend somehow.  Leaving her like that slumped on the floor with a knife-wielding maniac cashier on the loose!  Susan smiled.
I think I have really finally gone right over the cliff with this writing crap
.  Susan crawled expectantly into bed.  As she settled into the comforting sheets, she did not notice that she had left Bob’s pillow cast aside, forgotten.  Instead she focused on the screen, and wondered how Susan the Bride was making out with the evil restaurant owners.

“Never mind, I think I figured it out
!  Thank you!”  Susan said, running toward the door, slamming it against the hinges so the little bell rang and sprinting across the street toward her car.  A pick-up truck screeched his brakes and laid on the horn since Susan ran straight out in front of him.  “Moron!” the driver yelled.  She was in too much of a hurry to care.

“My car keys, damn it
!  My car keys!  Where are my car keys?  Please God, don’t do this to me.  Please.”  She was talking to herself now, trembling and shaky.  Susan searched all her pockets, and damn, the keys were not there.

“
Run Susan.  Escape.  At least from here.  Catch a bus.  Go to the police.  Find the same shopping mall.  Your family would certainly come looking for you, she assured herself.  Get a hold of yourself.  You are a brave girl, Susan, now keep strong.”  Susan kept talking to herself to make sure she stayed on course.  She suddenly remembered her wedding dress inside her car.  She turned back, but dropped the idea.  “This is a creepy town, Susan!  Of all the things that are happening to you today, this!  No way!  Get help for yourself first
.” 
Susan scolded herself again.  She walked a couple of blocks and ignored all the signs toward Highway 29.  After a couple of blocks she stretched into a small mile of industrial park, but she stayed to herself and pulled her sweater tighter around her.  Nina always says:  “You can’t get lost if you don’t know where you are going.”  She lost track of time and all she knew was that the shadows of the afternoon were stretching over the buildings, making her nervous and homesick.

“What am I supposed to do, huh? 
Mom would be worried by now and my hubby would be too, should I go to the police station first or make a call?  Think girl!  Think fast!  You are a stranger here, after all,” she squeaked to herself.  Alexandria was full of signs and sights she’d seen before, but when Susan got too agitated to make sense of it, it all became a blur.  The industrial park spilled back into a busy city scene and it was a part of town Susan hadn’t seen before even when she had Nina to help her.  She scratched behind her ear and sucked the little bit of blood she drew off of her finger.  The street was busy.  Susan took a deep breath.  “It can’t get any worse.  I have people here, and the whole town can’t be crazier,” she assured herself.

She started walking toward the main street, soon taking the wide sidewalk
.  It was a busy street, and since it was Saturday, almost crowded.  Susan looked around, people were sitting outside cafés and shops, families were moving around.  Susan quickly got near to a couple standing outside a boutique window with two of their sons standing behind them.

“Hello,” Susan shyly started the conversation.

“Hello,” replied the woman, coolly.  Susan didn’t realize that the morning of screaming and walking through the dusty part of town made her look a little less than put together.

“I am sorry to disturb you, but my name is Susan, and I am not from here
.  I have lost my purse.  Could I use your phone, please?  For a minute?  I would really appreciate it, ma’am.”  She put on her best church smile for the woman.  The woman relaxed a bit.

“Oh well, yes, of course
.  Why not?  That is just fine, young lady.  Sure, here, my name is Donna,” she replied, handing Susan her phone.

Susan quickly dialed Nina’s number; the call dropped.

“Damn,” Susan said.

“What’s wrong?  Signal problems?” Donna asked.

“It happens here in this town all the time.  They said they were going to put in a brand new tower to help boost our signal, but then when they went to go build it, the homeowners around the site threw a holy hissy fit telling the town council that the ugly tower was going to lower their property values.  It stopped and here we are with calls getting dropped right and left.  Are you lost?  Are you new here?  Well, don’t you worry.  My husband here, sorry to not have introduced you, Jim, is from the Army, here on vacation.  You are pretty safe, actually, and I suppose you reached the right people.”