Intimate Stranger (Editing)

Chapter 35: Daniel

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Chapter Thirty-Five

What the hell is this? Daniel repeated to himself in his confused and terrified brain over and over. Standing in front of him was his girlfriend. His dead girlfriend. The one he killed. He shoved her, she fell, she cracked her skull.

This has to be some kind of trick.

"Hello, Daniel," the slender, green-eyed, brunette haired woman greeted.

"W-w-who are you?" Daniel stuttered, thunderstruck.

"It's me, Danny. It's Kathy," she answered. Her voice shook. She was afraid of him.

"Y-y-you can't be real," he asserted.

Daniel's eyes shifted back and forth from the woman to Katie, to the group of officers in front of him, observing. Did they enjoy seeing him squirm?

She took a step closer, raising her hands in front of her as a shield. "Just relax. Let me explain."

"How are you here?" He asked her. He stared into her eyes, forgetting everything else. She was so beautiful.

"You didn't kill me, Daniel," she informed him, "I woke up in the hospital. I lost blood and had a concussion, but I was okay. I am okay." She took a step closer with every sentence, trying to calm Daniel. He unconsciously loosened his grip on the gun and began to lower it. Mary was panting in fear.

All of a sudden, he frowned, heartbreak clear in his eyes, "You hurt me, Kathy."

Detective Finley stood amidst the group, next to Katie with his arm around her. He watched the scene unfold. Somehow he knew that Katheryn would be the key. He hoped he was right and that no one else would die today.

William's heart momentarily stopped when Daniel's calm expression suddenly turned angry, "You hurt me, Kathy," he said.

Please Katheryn, do what we talked about. On the drive to the scene, he explained to Kathy that all she needed to do was calm him and get the gun from him. She couldn't say anything to make him angry. She had to be extremely careful. William was taking a huge risk by putting Katheryn in the middle, but she was already directly involved, and what choice did he have?

"I know, Daniel," Katheryn responded calmly. "I didn't want to hurt you... I just, did what I thought was best."

Daniel frowned and Katheryn wavered, "You call killing our child what's best?" He barked.

Kathy's eyes widened and William fought back the urge to shout. "Please, Daniel..."

"Please what?" He demanded harshly.

Katheryn closed the distance between the two of them and looked up at Daniel, standing on her tip-toes so she was almost nose to nose with him, "Please give me the gun," she whispered.

As he stared into the beautiful woman's eyes, his arm relaxed and he started to hand it to her. William bit his tongue in suspense. He had a nagging feeling that it wasn't over yet.

"But first," Katheryn started, causing William's eyes to widen. Kathy, no. His mind screamed for her to shut up, but she couldn't hear it. "I need to tell you something." Daniel's brow perked up, intrigued at her words. "I never aborted the baby. I--"