The Dove And The Grenade.

Chapter 11: Raspy Eyes.

It made Matty angry to read these messages about Eliese, she wasn’t a slut, she wasn’t sleeping with Andrew and she’s not cheating. Matty shook his head and frowned pathetically at his phone, he knew that he’s betrayed Eliese’s trust just by texting Andrew. And if he wants a faithful and happy relationship he needs to comply with her wishes.

“Adios you piece of shit.” Matty mumbled before deleting Andrew’s number and all of the messages they have. Matty decided that he should really finish packing before Eliese got home, maybe even run her that bath. ‘Yeah that sounds like a good idea. But I should see when she’ll be home before I run that bath.’ Matty thought honestly then pulled up his conversation with Eliese.

7:02: What time are you going to be home?

‘She’ll answer me when she gets to that store where she buys her water.’ Matty thought to himself before getting up off of his butt to check off those things on his newly updated to do list.

It took Eliese almost an hour and a half to run two and a half miles. She hit her turn around point and stopped to get a bottle of water from the small corner store. She chugged it down after paying a dollar for it; the lovely Asian woman smiled and told her to have a good run before Eliese exited the store.

Eliese stood outside in the fade and drank the cold water. She scrolled through her phone to see if anyone texted her, she felt her phone vibrate a mile back but she couldn’t stop to see who it was.

7:02: What time are you going to be home?

7:22: 8:30 maybe 9.

She tapped out of her text messages when all of a sudden all the hair on the back of her neck stood up. She felt something electric running through her body. She sighed and screwed the cap back on the water bottle; she looked around at the side of the expressway before she restarted her music and began to make her way back to the house. Her speed was faster this time; she was frightened for some reason. She didn’t know why but she was. And that scared her even more.

She could feel her stomach begin to harden as she breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth with each large strike her feet took against the pavement. Her heartbeat hummed like a hummingbird inside her chest so quickly it felt like it wasn’t beating at all. Her legs flew through the air, carrying her faster and faster.

It was when she realized why she was so scared that took her to a whole new level of running, yeah, running for your life. Andrew’s old beaten up car lazily rolled down the street, fifty yards behind Eliese. Sweat streamed down her face, burning at her eyes as she ran. Her jaw was locked to hold in a scream of fear. Her fingers had punctured holes in the plastic water bottle, water dripped between her fingers as she ran.

Shockingly, Eliese made an hour and a half run in forty-five minutes. When she saw Matty’s house his name crawled up her throat and pressed at her tongue. She wanted to cry for him to come rescue her but instead she skipped up the front path and swung open the door. An overwhelming sense of relief caught up to her when the front door closed behind her. Her drenched back pressed against the door as her chest heaved for breath.

Matty was upstairs wondering what that loud noise was, Eliese was forty-five minutes early. He dropped the neatly folded pile of clothes and went to the sound of Eliese’s loud whimpers. He found her leaning back against the front door, her brown eyes wide with fear and her chest struggling to catch a steady and healthy rhythm. He furrowed his eyebrows and skipped down the stairs.

“Eliese, what happened?” He stepped towards Eliese only to have to hold his arms out when she took an unsteady step towards him and fell to her knees. She sobbed fearfully and breathlessly. She gripped his shirt and panted heavily, clusters of tears and sweat dripped down her cheeks.

“H. . . .H. . . He followed me, Matty! He. Followed. Me!” Eliese exclaimed in a distressful way once she caught a grasp of air. Matty knew exactly what and who she was talking about. And that made him angry. Instead of going outside to confront Andrew (who had driven off when Eliese went inside), Matty held Eliese in his arms, he helped her to her feet and almost had to carry her up the stairs. He drew a hot bubble bath for her and let her get changed. He gave her a big glass of her favourite homemade peach wine.

Eliese sank into the nothingness of the hot water and sighed softly, her eyes fluttered shut. She relaxed against the hot water and let it creep into every crevasse and flood every valley, and engulf every mountain on her body. Matty stood at the sink with a clean towel in his hands. He looked down at his distressed girlfriend grimly.

“Are you going to be okay?” He asked curiously. Eliese opened her eyes and looked at him tiredly. She forced a realistic smile and nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Thank you, Matty.” She smiled up at him. Matty shared a single nod before leaving the bathroom to go finish packing. They leave for the airport in six hours, and there is a ton to be done still. But now he was worried for Eliese; did he make things worse for her by doing what he did?