Second Chances (ON HOLD)

Chapter 12: Quidditch Pitch

She opened the door slowly with mounting dread. The door creaked a little, and revealed to her a faint light of the florescent lamp that streamed through the little partition. The sight before her caused her to let out an audible sigh of reassurance, almost causing her to let out a tear in the process.

She walked in, moving closer the tiny, fragile looking silhouette of her sleeping daughter, safely tucked under her blanket and her doll. She bent down and placed a soft tender kiss on her forehead. Cory let out a muted sigh and leaned into her mother’s touch. Vanessa couldn’t help but watch as a lone, long-awaited tear finally slipped from her eye and landed lightly on Cory’s flushed cheek.

Nothing could compare to the love of a mother. No bond, no relationship, no person could hold a candle to the promise of beauty and warmth, motherhood brought.

 

Treading a little unsteadily she walked out, with an abundance of anxiety that had been weighing her down, lifting off of her shoulders making her feel free. Up ahead a faint light was visible through the swaying wind-chime by the window and Vanessa’s heart gave a wild leap of horrification as she stopped in her mid step. She walked up ahead the wooden flooring, her knees shaking harder with each step. The bedroom lamp was on!

She reached for the door handle, mumbling a disjointed prayer that it wouldn't be locked because she had no key, and breathed a sigh of relief when it opened easily. She closed it cautiously, then turned around. The bedroom was in shadow, but there was the mellow glow of lamplight streaming into it through the open doorway from the bedroom.

This was it. She pulled the red, rather very catchy top she wore, off her shoulders and dropped it on the floor. She extended her arm at the hooks installed behind the door and ran shaky hands over the soft pale blue cotton dress that hung close by. With one swift motion, she shrugged it on. It scooped very low in the front, exposing a glimpse of deep cleavage, had narrow shoulder straps, no sleeves and virtually no back. She combed her fingers through her long hair, then started walking very quietly towards the bathroom to wash her face off of the day’s grime and drama.

In the bathroom doorway, Vanessa stopped to steady her rioting nerves and yelped out in fear—Mitch was lying on the couch in her room, his hands clasped behind his head, staring at the ceiling. His coat discarded amidst the pile of clothes on the right side of the couch. His white shirt was unbuttoned nearly to his waist, and he hadn't bothered to take off his shoes. His profile was so bitter and desolate that Vanessa’s chest filled with remorse. She gazed at the dark, austere grimness of his face, the despair and virility stamped in every line of his un-moving posture, and her pulse raced with a mixture of curiosity and trepidation at the same time. There, lying down on her rather decaying couch, Mitch seemed like a very formidable opponent.

She took one step into the room again, moving away from the bathroom and throwing a shadow on the ceiling across his line of vision. Mitch's head twisted toward her, and Vanessa froze.
He stared at her, his stark brown eyes piercing through her as though he wasn't really seeing her at all.

"You didn't leave," Vanessa whispered inanely. At the sound of her voice, Mitch shot up and off the bed in one lithe, terrifying lunge.

His granite features were an impenetrable mask, and Vanessa was too nervous to notice anything about his mood except that he was tensed, ready to spring at her. "Why… why d-did you not go," she stammered. He stepped forward and Vanessa stepped back. "Corrine is asleep in the other room," she told him quickly.

"Oh, is that right? Corrine is it?" Mitch said in a low voice. He started toward her and Vanessa started backing away.

"I—I'm sorry if I hurt you or your feelings down there. I just couldn’t let Cory go through the pain,” still noticing the unchanging, granite features of his face she continued. “I can still introduce you to her as a fellow colleague," she volunteered as he stalked her through the bedroom doorway and into the living room she had just vacated.