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Sara's POV
Michael hung up with a lighter voice.
I laid the phone next down to me and sighed heavily. Hearing him cry had made my whole body feel ten times heavier.
Tomorrow he'll be back. Then I'll be able to hold him and to calm him down properly.
How cruel. All his life long he thought his father hadn't been there, but Hector had been. I can't imagine how empty Michael must have felt, how much he had hated himself - no wonder he had exploded like that.
If I thought my parents hated me, if I thought I was the reason nothing worked between them, only to be told years later after being swallowed by depression that in fact I was innocent? I would have lost my mind.
I got up and ignored the heavy feeling in my gut and throat. Michael promised to stay in touch with me. Michael promised to be more careful. He said he would take the first plane home tomorrow morning and nothing would stop him.
Soon you'll be free of your shackles, my love.
I picked up the duster and dragged myself to the edges that needed to be dusted.
I just hoped all will go well. Michael deserved closure, happiness, a chance to move on and to live properly.
He wanted to be a father. He wanted to get married. He wanted to raise our babies.
My hand fluttered to my stomach. He wanted to love us, his future family.
Hector, let him close this chapter. Let him be happy.
I put the blankets away, puffed the pillows, scrubbed the floors, folded the laundry, ironed a few pieces, put those away - then I came across his not finished furniture.
I checked the time. 10:23. Enough time to work for a bit today.
I put away my cleaning stuff and tackled the desk that had been delivered.
After unwrapping it, I rearranged the pieces and started building away. Once this was done, I could cross it off my to do list, which never seemed to stop growing.
I decluttered Michael's papers that he hadn't touched in years and carried them to a bin bag I had set up in the living room area.
I texted Michael in case he would look at his phone and snapped a pic of his office desk.
I then went to the living room and sighed. I put my hands on my hips.
What could I do?
I could study the layout of my house for example and think through what I wanted.
I could look at the wedding stuff, some stuff still needed some pondering and planning.
Or I could read about baby stuff, how to try for a baby and what to expect - after all, that was more than half a year away, and that was quite soon for a big life change.
I got out the floor plans.
Before I could study them, something above me sounded.
Footsteps?
My body froze for a moment.
The sound had stopped.
I sharped my ears and listened closely.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence. Nothing else.
Maybe it was the floor creaking or the furniture making sounds - that was nothing unusual. I was just scared because I was on my own.
I went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife.
I still had to check it out though.
I crept up the stairs carefully.
I glanced around the hall area and went to the master bedroom and the empty bedrooms, each one of them I checked thoroughly and carefully, my breath low and my heart pounding.
I opened the doors widely, made sure they touched the wall behind them to know nobody was hiding behind of them.
I looked over my shoulders. I closed doors behind me.
Nobody.
I spotted the security camera in one of the empty bedrooms - oh yeah! I could check those!
I went down to the office where one of the monitors had been installed and scanned through them.
Me lying in bed.
Me dusting off the chimney, window sills, the hard furniture pieces.
Me decluttering through our papers and other things.
Me organizing the pillows, flower vases, arranging paintings, closing doors behind me.
Me stopping in the living room.
Then my blood froze.
Camera 5 had caught somebody in the empty bedroom above me.
It was a man. It was clearly a man!
Then he turned to the camera.
Was that-?
A sound behind me made me swirl around. "What are you-?"
I felt a sharp pain in my stomach.
Then another behind my head.
Then another.
I fell to the ground.
My vision went black and I fainted.
Darkness surrounded me.