Love and Lies

Chapter 19 - A letter.

I clambered out of the car as mum came racing out of the house in her pyjamas to hug me. She enclosed me in her arms and sighed heavily as I embraced her. I heard dad’s footsteps behind us, and then some mumbling and the taxi drove away. He joined in with our hug, all 3 of us, just stood there on the pavement hugging, my parents both in dressing gowns. I found it rather awkward. Mum and dad pulled away.

‘Oh gosh my little baby, I was so scared, don’t do that again’ Mum said, as she took my hands and looked deep into my eyes as though she was sincere. Dad came and stood next to her.

‘You scared both of us. We’ve been worrying sick since the phone call last night.’ Dad said, his rough accent softening, sounding suddenly relieved. I gave them both a weak smile and then mum lead me inside.

‘No work today?’ I asked as I gestured at their attire.

‘Too worried.’ Mum replied in a small voice, one that I’d never heard before.

‘We called in sick today.’ Dad quickly replied after mum then smiled at me.

For the rest of the day, all three of us lead on the sofa together and watched the Harry potter movies until we were almost falling asleep. I kissed my parents goodnight then retired to my bedroom.

I hardly slept that night. I just worried about him, how he was, if he was thinking of me and so on. A million question flurry of panic clouded my mind for 5 solid hours. I would drift off into and unsteady sleep then have terrific dreams, reliving Friday’s scene over and over again and would jolt awake. At 3am, I trudged downstairs with my quilt and lead on the sofa and turned on some mundane and tedious TV programme. Finally, for the umpteenth time, I fell asleep.

I woke up at 9am, to the soft clattering of bowls and cups being washed up in the kitchen.

I struggled to open my eyes against the sun now pouring in through the curtains.

‘Mornin’ sunshine’ Dad said, now in the doorway with his paper and a cup of tea, his irish accent coming through. I smiled and stood up. He walked off to his study and I went back upstairs. I decided I should see William, so I threw on a new t-shirt and the same pair of jeans and rushed out.

The hospital foyer was bright and sunny. A tanned woman with long dark hair and brown eyes sat at the desk, typing away at the computer. I paced over.

‘I’m here to see Dr. Engler please.’ I said shyly and handed over the piece of paper Phoebe had given me.

‘Ah yes’ she pointed to the corridor on the left, ‘just down there, third door on the right’ she replied and smiled up at me, revealing a perfect set of brilliant white teeth. I followed where she had pointed and knocked on door 8, the third door on the right.

‘Come in’ Dr. Engler replied and I walked in. She turned around from her computer screen and smiled. ‘Zara. How lovely to see you again’ she said as she walked over to me and I extended my hand to shake hers. She ignored it and hugged me quickly, then pulled away and kept me at arm’s length with her hands rooted on my shoulders. Something about the concerned, almost pitiful look in her eyes told me startled me. Her blonde hair was now French plaited perfectly, her white jacket ironed and her glasses perched on the bridge of her nose. She gestured for me to sit down on the bed again so I did. She walked over to her desk and produced a white envelope.

‘Can I see William now? Is he getting better??’ I asked. She saw the hope shining through my eyes and my words and sat down beside me and sighed.

‘What’s wrong with him?’ I asked, getting nervous.

‘Nothing. In fact he’s a lot better’ She replied with a weak smile and took off her glasses. ‘William…William has gone.’ She said.

My whole world tipped upside-down.

‘What?! But that can’t be… he can’t……but he …’ I stammered and she handed me the envelope.

A tear brimmed in her eye. ‘I know he meant a lot to you, and he refused to leave with seeing you’ she answered, then paused. ‘Those horrible police men wouldn’t let him see you. They said he had to leave right then. So after he’d begged to have contact with you, they gave him a few minutes to write you this.’ She stood up. ‘I’ll give you some time alone’ she said then walked out the door.

I blinked a few times. This wasn’t happening. But the name scrawled on the front in a graceful, calligraphy-like font was mine. I opened it cautiously, gulping back the tears that dared to escape.

‘Dear Zara,

First of all I am so sorry.

They had to take me away, the shadows found me again. In here. I suppose it wasn’t too hard to guess but they are really trying to kill me this time. Or get something from me … I don’t even want to think about it. Last night I got better, a lot better. It was you who helped me recover J well I got better to the point where they could take me off the drip, and they had to take me immediately. The shadows managed to slip past everyone and get outside my door. Luckily, the police were protecting me last night. But I don’t know what they would have done if I was alone.

Zara, I really tried to stay, I did. You’ve been a blessing these past few months and I can’t thank you enough. I really do love you. You will always have a place in my heart and you mean the world to me. I’m sorry I put you in danger and had to lie to you. But, I ask of you one thing. You need to stop loving me. This is the end of our road unfortunately and I am so sorry you got hurt in the process. I am bad news and I attract a lot of bad attention. It would be best if you just forgot about me, then the Shadows will leave you alone. I’ll never regret loving you, but I’ll regret lying. Our whole relationship was based on love and lies.

I hope you have a good life.

William x x x

Oh my god. I gave up on gulping back the tears and let them stream down my face. William had left me. I folded up the letter and pushed it into my back pocket then walked out the hospital, not caring about crying in front of other people. They were the least of my worries. Anger soon replaced loneliness and heart break.

He had to leave because the shadows had found him. And there was only one way they could have found him.

Maybe it was time I paid Jonah a visit.

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Ahhh, sorry it has been ages since I've uploaded a chapter on this story. I've been working on 'worth the fall' and another story called 'By process of elimination' that I co write with phoebeleach. Have a look!  Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it, fan comment and vote! x