Borderline [On hold for major revision]

Chapter 11: Mood Swings and Missing Persons

Chapter 11

Terra pulled into her partner’s driveway to pick him up for work. He’d seemed really stressed the last few days—and for good reason—so she thought he might appreciate the extra help. She opened the window and pressed down on the horn. She planned to only honk once, but then she discovered how fun it was and did it five or six more times for good measure.

            She waited a few minutes and he still didn’t come out, so she got out of the car and rang the doorbell, absentmindedly checking her cell phone for messages as she did so. She waited another minute, but there still wasn’t an answer from inside. She looked up from her phone to knock when something caught her eye at the top of the door. She squinted and ran her finger across the wood. It looked like there were three holes in the door. She stood tiptoed to be able to see better. She suddenly realized what they were: bullet holes.

            Her knocking reached a new level of urgency as she suddenly understood why Cal wasn’t answering the door: he was dead.

            She figured that if he ever died it would be like on TV when she can feel in her mind that he was gone. That she would know the exact moment when she lost her partner against crime, as she liked to call him. PAC for short. Sometimes she just called him Pacman.

            She thought she would know, but she hadn’t felt anything. She didn’t feel like he was dead.

            Terra realized that she wouldn’t get anywhere by knocking on the door and instead decided to kick it in. She brought her foot back and slammed it into the door near the lock. The wood splintered and cracked a little, but didn’t open. She was about to try again when the door flew open and slammed against the inside wall. She looked up in confusion and saw Cal standing there, alive. And angry.

            “What are you doing!” he shouted. He looked at her like she was crazy.

            She didn’t care what he thought at the moment. She was too mad that he made her think that he was dead. Before she was consciously aware of what she was doing, her arm reared back behind her head a second before her fist connected with his face. Hard. He stumbled backwards into the living room and gently grabbed his jaw, moving it back and forth to see if it was broken. From where Terra was standing she couldn’t tell if it was or not, but at that moment she didn’t care.

            “What was that for!” Cal yelled at her. He glared at her with a combination of anger and confusion.

            She glared at him the same way, unable to speak. Finally she took a deep breath and shouted back, “I thought you were dead!”

            She watched his face for a moment. A look of puzzlement crossed his face, but a moment later it changed into realization. He finally realized what he’d done to her, how he made her feel for those few minutes when she thought he was dead.

            She quickly approached and raised a hand to slap him, but he saw it coming beforehand and grabbed her wrist before she could strike. “Look, I’m sorry, but—”

            “No ‘but’s about it, Mister!” She kneed him in the stomach, causing him to double over in pain and gasp for air. While he was focused on trying to breathe, she pushed him backwards. Cal slammed into the wall and sank to the ground.

            She came closer again and he raised an arm to block whatever attack might come next, but she wasn’t going to hit him again. Her anger was completely spent, leaving her feeling empty and numb. It was all over, he was okay. He was alive. She felt tears welling up in relief and collapsed to the ground next to him.