We were driving, the getaway car.
We were flying, but we'd never get far
- "Getaway Car", Taylor Swift
"So, first day back! How are you feeling?" Miles asks me as I set my coffee on the office table and sit down.
"Despite the fact I've been throwing up all night, extremely well," I say with a sigh. Miles sits down at the table and puts his arms around my shoulder.
"Sighing the first thing in the morning on your day back? Things are not looking good for you Luna," Arthur says while tutting loudly. He closes the door behind himself and sits on the chair beside me.
"Sorry Arthur, what do you need me to do right now? I'm a bit out of practice on this whole job thing" I say which makes both of them laugh.
"Well, I am assigning you to audio files, for now, then once we get braille, we'll continue with that, sounds good?" Arthur asks me.
"Sounds perfect actually, I'll get right to it. Miles can you help me get to my office?" I say and Miles helps me get up.
"Bye Arthur," we say in unison and I can just picture Arthur frowning, which makes me laugh.
Miles helps me into the office and as soon as he closes the door, I bombard him with my questions about him.
"Do you know why he's here of all places? Is he in the office today? Oh god, I cannot breathe this way, let alone work. Fuck, I'm hyperventilating now. Miles? ANSWER ME" I say in one breath and collapse onto my chair, my breathing getting faster by the minute.
"Shit fuck, just deep breathe okay? Count till 10, I'm here with you. Okay? You feeling better Luna?" He says and I deep breathe and focus on his voice alone and I find my way back to the present.
"Yeah, I'm better now. We work in a goddamned police department, the forensics one, I know but still. There's gotta be a way we can like uncover his identity or something, right?"
"Definitely, I'm one of the best detectives you know for a reason, hon," he says which makes me feel a hundred times better than I did several moments ago.
"Thank you, Miles, you know I love you," I say to him.
"That I do. Now you gotta help me plan this date with my boyfriend tonight, it is our first anniversary? Can you believe I lasted an entire year with someone?" Miles says and high fives with himself.
"Yes, you geek, always falling in love with the wrong people. I'm so happy for you," I say and he starts giggling like crazy.
"Okay, I'm gonna leave, Arthur's going to get the audio files delivered to you as soon as he can. If you need anything else, just call me okay?" he says and leaves.
Damn it, I should've asked him to open the window for me. I get up and try to open the window latch but it won't budge. I hear the office door open behind me, maybe it's Arthur.
"Arthur?" I ask but no one answers me back. I stumble forward to grab my cane leaning against my chair, but it tumbles down and I fall too, scrambling to pick it up. Rough hands grip my wrists and they try to hoist me upwards, but I am frozen on the ground. The person tries once again and finally hoists me upwards, handing the cane to me. I mumble a weak thank you and try to regain my gravity.
A breeze flutters past us, my hair blowing away with it. The soft patter of rain echoes around us but I await the thunderstorm. It's too calm to be this way and the silence of the person next to me worries me further.
"Lovely day, isn't it?" The person asks in a gruff deep voice.
Ezra.
Of course, it's him, I would recognize that voice anywhere, in the clouds of heaven or in the pits of hell, though judging by his character, it's most likely the latter.
"Drop the act, you know who I am," I say to him, my voice shaking with anger, the black in my head marred by red.
"Do I?" he asks me and I hear the smirk in his voice, this bastard.
"Why did you follow me here?" I ask him, not taking in any of his bullshit, been there, done that.
"You know something that you shouldn't," he says, coming closer to me but I don't step back.
"Like what? The gun that was in your hands or the blood on them?" I say and he steps even closer, his face inches away from mine.
"Don't act smart, it's not going to get you anywhere, Luna," he says, laying strong emphasis on my name and I gasp.
"Look, if you're worried I am going to rat your sick ass out to the police, don't. I could have done that two years ago when I had the chance, but I didn't. Ratting you out won't bring my son back, now get the fuck out of my way." I say and shove him, he falters slightly but regains his balance.
"Careful Luna, or do you wish to lose this hand the way you lost your eyes?" he says and drops my hand.
I hear the office door shut with a slam which makes me flinch. I try to calm myself down by deep breathing, but it's not as easy as it would seem. Slowly, as several moments pass by, I get back to the present and get myself off the floor. I search for my phone and find it lying near my purse. I call Miles but it goes straight to voicemail.
It's okay, everything is going to be okay.
I chant this in my head repeatedly like a mantra, hoping it gets truer by the second. I lock my office door so that no one can enter and collapse onto the bean bag in my office.
What the fuck just happened?
***
"So, you screamed at him?" Miles asks me, deadpanned.
"Yes, not well you know scream, but more like verbal abuse," I say as if that's any better.
"Why, what-I am just unable to comprehend this alright? What the fuck happened?" he asks me with his eyes full of disbelief.
"Trust me, I've been asking myself that for the past two hours, when I get to know, I'll tell you," I say to Miles with a groan. He pats me on my arm reassuringly and I muster a very weak smile for him. It's lunchtime at our office and so far, I have managed not to puke and go back home, with very little work done and I see this in a positive light, anything is better than running away. My appetite is lost as soon as we start talking about Ezra, not that the cafeteria food was very tasty, to begin with. The noise of the crowd around us blends away until it's just me and my very stupid problems.
"You're not quitting now though, right? Because listen to me Luna, it's been TWO years of despair and gloominess and finally, oh god finally, you've let yourself out of your cage and started living the life you did and I am not going to let you go back because of whats-his-name-"
"I'm done being that person, Miles," I cut him off and say.
"What person?"
"The 'quitter', I'm over it," I say with a sigh.
"Over what? Quitting?"
"This whole Ezra thing, it'll pass away"
Hopefully, I add to myself as a side note.
"Okay, well if you say so. I'm going back to work now, so call me if you need me and take care, okay?"
"Yes, of course," I say and give him a smile, a real one this time.
***
I get back to my office at around 2:30 PM and start googling Ezra, hoping to get some information about the guy who very randomly threatened me in my office. My screen pings me a notification immediately with results which are oh wow, would you look at that, a lot. Too many in fact and all about the same person. The disturbing fact isn't that they're all about the same person, but that the person they're about isn't even a hotshot or some mini-celebrity. I check the coordinates and they're around our city, he must be living close by then. But something doesn't feel right, a very cold feeling takes over me every time I read more of the information on the websites. This is definitely not your average person, these news articles and compliments feel forced, planned somehow.
But who is he pretending to be?
Maybe it's all just in my head but my police officer's urge( well, forensics department I am aware, so technically not a police police officer or a detective but hey!) takes over me. I need to find more information on this man.
Why did he come up to me, two years later, threatening me to not open my mouth about something which happened two years ago? When he knows, that if I wanted to do that, I would have already?
Then why come to my office and pretend to get a job?
Why come now in fact, after all this time?
Another website distracts me from my chain of thoughts and I almost drop my laptop. The title is about a car crash, a car crash two years ago, on the same very night, but it's not mine. I've never come across this before. Curiosity takes over me and I open the link.
Two cars collide on the highway, and a 37-year-old dies.
The collision occurred after a Prius travelling on the wrong side of the road hit an Audi.
A 37-year-old woman was killed on the Iowa flyover on Saturday night after two cars collided head-on. One person was seriously injured and was admitted to the Adair County Health System, Iowa. The accused driver managed to flee the spot after abandoning his vehicle.
The collision occurred after a Prius travelling on the wrong side of the road hit an Audi.
The woman was left lifeless and severely injured on the road. Her corpse remains unidentified to date.
Iowa flyover on a Saturday night?
That was definitely around the same timelines as my accident, possibly near mine too, but there was no one around.
Unless the voices I thought I imagined were real after all. But what was Ezra doing there with a gun and blood in his hands-
Oh no.
"You know something that you shouldn't," he had said to me.