The Waiting One

Chapter 44 of 48- The Ugly Truth

Chapter 44- The Ugly Truth 

Serronie looked at the clock on the wall, then back at her computer screen. She was bored and going through the folders on her computer watching the feeds from the surveillance system. Now and then she chuckled from watching herself dance around, trip, eat, and have animated phone conversations. Everything was in fast forward for her amusement. Her mood was decent. The baby was sleeping and giving her a break. She stared at the screen chortling and rubbing her belly. Then she began to think, “Wow, in two months I’m going to be a mommy, and meet this stranger growing inside of me.” She grew to love her unborn child. It was the only thing that she felt was keeping her alive. Her mind drifted as she began to daydream about how much fun it would be to finally interact with her kid. To her surprise, two months couldn’t pass fast enough. 

The cell phone began to vibrate on the bar table. It was Zachary’s ringtone. Grunting as she leaned forward, she grabbed the phone and answered, “Hello?” “Hi, I was just around your way, and I wanted to know if I’m allowed to stop by and speak?” She rolled her eyes around the room, thinking. “Hmm, yeah it’s okay for you to visit.” She heard the smile in his voice as he replied, “Okay! I’m a few minutes away! I’ll be there shortly. And there's something I have to say to you.” “Well, the door will be open”, she said as she strolled to the door and unlocked it. “Open, as in already unlocked? I know you’re not saying you’re leaving the door unlocked until I get there?” “It’s no big deal, and you’ll be here shortly as you say. It’s not easy for me to get up and down like I use to, so the door will already be open.” “Damn girl, you’re so hardheaded it’s sick. I’m speeding now.” A grin grew across her cheeks, “I’ll see you in a bit.” Serronie felt an odd happiness that she hadn’t experienced in a long time.

 To pass time she continued watching her videos. She’d avoided the folder from the month that Zachary left because that’s the last time everything was normal between them, they were painful happy memories. Gaping at the folder, she clicked the right button her mouse pad, and hovered the pointer over “delete”. Her eyes closed and she inhaled and exhaled deeply. “Stop being scared”, she told herself. Then she clicked on “open”. Some would argue that that was probably the best or worst decision she could have made.

She watched as they moved all of her things into the apartment. The chemistry between them, even in fast forward was radiating. The days flew by on the screen, as she watched a great time in her life. As the hours elapsed on the screen, he heart softened, and old feelings were coming back. At that moment, she was very happy that Zachary was coming to visit, and she was hoping to share the video with him and talk about possibilities. He apparently still cared enough to pay her a visit. Images from when he moved then began to scurry across the screen. She came in everyday, alone. The routine was monotonous, on the computer, working out, watching television, and leaving the video frame to go to her room. There came a deviation when the day popped up from when Jesse visited her to get his sweatshirt that Zachary left at the apartment.

Footage continued to play until something caught her attention. She leaned the screen back on her laptop to get a better look and she pushed rewind, then play. Serronie sat erectly and leaned in closer to the display.  She watched in the feed how she greeted Jesse, they talked for a bit at the bar, and then she left the room. Once a few seconds elapsed, he craned his neck to check around the corner and turned back around. He grabbed her open bottle of water, reached in his pocket, grabbed something out of it, quickly threw it in her bottle and swirled it around. Then he had a startled reaction and quickly sat the bottle back down on the bar and left the frame of the camera.

Serronie’s heart began to pound and her stomach turned over and she intently looked at the computer. She started feeling sick. Serronie and Jesse came back into the visual radius of the camera together. They talked and she drunk from the bottle. In shock, Serronie slapped her hand over her mouth. Her hand shook as she clicked fast forward. Once Jesse left, there was an empty living room for a while. Then she appeared, almost stumbling, and she fell out on the couch.