Haunted

Chapter 3: Unsettled

As I quietly opened it and stepped inside, the air felt different; I could breathe again. I quietly walked down my hall and stopped outside my bedroom door, which was shut again. The thought of what might be waiting for me on the other side made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. I took a deep breath and flung it open. I stood there looking into my empty room for a few seconds before I reluctantly walked in.

Contrary to what I had imagined I'd find, my room looked the same way that I had left it. My sheets were flung back, just how I'd left them when I had fled, and my phone still laid where I'd dropped it. I wonder what Billy had thought about my sudden departure, leaving him hanging on the line. I almost laughed at the thought, now that it was daylight and I wasn't as afraid. 

I picked up my phone and wasn't surprised to see several texts and voice-mail notifications, all from Billy. For the first time since we had broken up, I read them.

R u ok? — Im worried bout u. Answer ur phone. — Dont ignore me jacynda. R u ok? — Please just let me know ur ok — I promise I'll leave u alone just let me know ur ok.

After reading his texts, I didn't want to listen to his voice-mail, so I deleted it. I'm sure it would just be more of the same, anyway. And who cares? Not me. If he cared, he should've worried about me before he slept with some blonde in our bed. He should've cared then, not now.

When I finally found my keys, which had somehow ended up on the other side of the kitchen and in the floor, I left for work, hoping traffic wasn't bad so I wouldn't be late. I talked on the phone to Eric all the way there, telling him about the eventful night I had. He seemed a lot more interested than Kim did, but then again, it was Eric I was talking to. 

"Girl, what are you going to do? Are you going to move?" he asked in his usual animated voice.

"I can't move. Not again. And I love my house." I thought about the terrifying night I'd had. "Well, I did love it." 

We talked about my house and the upcoming day in the salon as I pulled into the parking lot. He assured me that we'd figure something out, and knowing him, I'm sure we would. Or at least, I hoped we would. The thought of what tonight might bring frightened me all over again.

"Okay, I'm here," I told him as I pulled into our parking lot. "I'll see you in a bit."

We hung up and I gathered my things, ready to occupy my mind with work. I loved my job. I truly understood what people meant when they said if you love your job you'll never have to work another day in your life. That's how I felt about the salon. I never dreaded coming in, and to be quite honest, I usually looked forward to it. Since I was the manager, I could pick and choose what clients I wanted and had set myself up with only the best; they were friends, not just clients. It was like I was getting paid to laugh and chat with friends, all the while making them look and feel good about themselves. It was a win win situation.

I was smiling when I got out of my car, trying to let my thankful mood replace the bad one I had to suffer with through the night. But as soon as I shut my car door and turned around, my smile quickly faded.

"Well, I'm glad to see you, too," Billy said. "You had me worried sick and then you show up here all smiles. What happened to you last night?"

I stood there, speechless. Not just because he had no right to be standing here almost yelling at me, but because he actually was standing here almost yelling at me. This was the first time I'd been this close to him since we'd broken up. Even when he came to beg for forgiveness, I had kept a door between us. Now here he stood, smelling so good, with his blue eyes staring down at me from underneath his dark hair that I wanted to reach up and push back out of his face.