The next thirty seconds went by quick. I grabbed Nathan's arm and drag him to the front door, making sure to grab my bag that was on the table next to it. I close the door and run down to the elevator with Nathan limping behind me. He lets out painful groans every move he makes. He's fucked up, but I couldn't just leave him to die.
I repeatedly push the downwards arrow button on the elevator and look up onto the digital screen above the doors to see how many floors there is to go. Four more, that's good, I was expecting it to be all the way near the ground floor.
I looked around and saw a housekeeping cart behind us. I grabbed a silk robe off the cart and put it on. It was embroidered above my left breast reading, 'Michael Jackson'. Do rich people always need their names sewn onto their clothes? I take a towel off of the cart for Nathan.
"Here, use this to stop the blood," I throw it at him to catch. The elevator dings and we rush in. Nathan pushed the Lobby button. When the doors shut I let out a loud breathe and crouch on the ground, not letting go of the railing. I let out a long blood curdling scream with all these emotions running through my head. It feels good to let that out.
"What's the plan?" Nathan asks, pacing around. I take a few deep breaths and stand up.
"I don't know about you but I'm leaving, Nathan, I can't unsee what I just saw and if I go back god knows what's gonna happen to me," I whisper, not wanting to think about that room.
"What about me? He could come after me too!" He shouts.
"You were good, but I'm not sure anymore, I found a couple files on people, one of them being you, he said that he was just going to torture you but not kill you," I say, "anyways, with all the money you have you could go into hiding. I don't see why you're worried."
"What other files were there?" He gulps.
"His um...uh ex wife,"I say looking down at my bare feet.
"Oh Lisa... and?"
He knew Michael's ex wife?
"...his parents," I revealed. He just shook his head in disbelief and ran his hands through his blonde hair. I decided not to tell him about the other paper I found.
"What the hell is wrong with this dude? My whole family and I went to both of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson's funeral and he showed no emotion whatsoever. I thought he was acting brave... but I guess I was wrong," he spoke.
The elevator dinged again and the doors opened. There were two elderly ladies waiting and stared at us. We awkwardly walked out and starting walking down the corridor.
"What the fuck were they looking at?" I question, looking back behind us to see if they were still looking.
"Well, I mean I am walking around with a bloody towel around my leg, or maybe because you have hickies all over your neck with just a robe on," he jokingly suggested. I looked at him with a straight serious face. Not the time to joke.
"I don't think we should go through the front doors, maybe the side ones where there aren't any people," I think, "or maybe through the back like the one of the kitchens or something."
"Follow me, I know all the exits like the back of my head in this place," he limps down to another corridor, and through some double doors.
This hall wasn't fancy like the others, this one had plain white walls and utility boxes hanging out the walls. There were busboys and maids pushing carts through other doors, in and out. They didn't even pay attention to us. Too busy working I guess.
"How?" I ask.
"My parents drag me to banquets here at least a couple times a month here, and I learn a new way to sneak out every time. And I even found new places to take the ladies, if ya know what I mean," he smirks, making me scoff. He opened one last door at the end of the hall. Sunlight shines onto my skin, we were finally outside.
We stepped out into an alleyway that connected to a street. This one wasn't as busy as the one in front but it had a few taxis and people walking around.
"Taxi!" Nathan whistled. The taxi stopped in front of us and Nathan opened the door for me. Once I got in he did too.
"14 Palace Way, then take the lady wherever she wants to go," he told the taxi driver, who nods and starts driving. There was silence for a couple minutes.
"So what are you gonna do?" He asks.
"I'm going back home for a few weeks, hopefully Michael won't come after me. Then I'll come back and try to move out to different apartment, maybe even to a different borough. I'm not exactly sure," I answer.
"I don't think he might come after you, since I'm guessing you guys just had a one night stand?" He assumes, "or maybe he will because you just found out his secret."
"I'm not his one night stand, I'm seeing him... or was... we weren't exactly official. Can I ask you something about his ex? How do you know about her?" I question.
"Lisa? Yeah I met her a hand full of times, she's super hot. Everyone loved her, she was nice and always greeted you with open arms. But I guess we all noticed when their marriage was spiraling downwards when she wouldn't stop drinking. And then they got divorced from she left. I guess we now know why she left," he said.
"Oh... okay, anyways, what are you going to do?" I ask.
"First, I'm gonna get my doctor to patch this hole in my leg right now. Then, I might just stay around my dad more until everything's cool, or take a two week vacation to the Bahamas," he answers. Ugh, rich people.
The car comes to a stop and I look out the window. There's Nathan's house, a big fancy brownstone in the Upper East Side. Nathan shoves his hands down his pocket and pulls out a couple crumpled hundred dollar bills and hand them to the driver.
"Make sure she gets home safe," he tells the driver who nods. I watch as he hobbles towards the gates of his house as we drive off.
—
"Thank you," I tell the driver, "wait, can you wait here for a couple minutes? I need to get something."
I run to my front door and unlock it, stepping inside. I go into my bedroom and grab a duffle bag. I shove my clothes and essentials I need for my trip back home. I take off the robe and put on some real clothes along with my vans.
I walked past my coffee table and saw pictures of Michael and I from a photo booth. We took those when he took me on a date to Coney Island. I pick them up and run my hand fingertips over the glossy finish of the film. Oh why couldn't I have found this out sooner? Before I caught feelings for him?
I take one last look at my apartment before closing the door. I won't be back for a long time after all.
——————————♡—————————
"One ticket to Saint Anthony's Town, please," I tell the lady behind the bullet proof glass, it actually had bullet holes. I mean what did I expect in the most ghetto bus terminal in all of New York?
She looked up at me from the computer she was typing away on, "There's no more tickets. Next!" Before the next person in line could get in the way I slam my hands on the counter.
"There has to be tickets, how is the bus going to most smallest town all booked?" I yell at the lady.
"Check it again!" I command. She rolls her eyes and nods. She clicks her mouse and then the printer next to her prints out my ticket I'm guessing.
"Here you go. Next!" She hand me my ticket. People these days. I move aside to let the next person through and look at my ticket.
Leaving: New York City
Destination: Saint Anthony's Town
Gate: 4
Depart: 10:30 a.m.
Arrive: 12:30 p.m.
ROUND TRIP
I look at my phone to check the time. It's 10:27 right now, I got here three minutes before the bus left. I walk to gate four and see that the bus is already there.
"I guess you're the only lucky person to be on this bus here today," the driver jokes as I hand him one of my tickets.
"I guess I am," I smile at him, going to the middle isle and sitting in one of the rows of seats. I put my duffle bag in the seat next to me. I can't believe the lady in the ticket booth tried telling me the whole bus was booked. I'm literally the only one here.
We wait the more minutes to see if more people would get on. Only a women came on with her two young children before the bus started going to our destination. I look out the window at the scenery for a while before closing my eyes to take a nap. Saint Anthony here I come.
━━━
I woke up to the sound of the bus coming to a harsh halt. I look out the window and see a huge sign saying, 'Welcome to Saint Anthony's Town'. I grab my bag and get out of the bus, not forgetting to say thank you to the bus driver of course.
I could call a taxi, but I feel in more of a walking mood, just to see the town I missed so much. The bus stop is at the edge of town while my house is at the other end, so that's just gonna be a thirty minute walk.
When I'm one or two blocks away from my house, a school bus pulls up the corner. It's from the high school I went to, St. Anthony High. I probably know most of these kids because I just graduated last year.
I turn the corner and spot my house from down the street. It's the last house at the end of the cul-de-sac. Oh how good it feels to be back home. I couldn't wait any longer so I sprinted down the middle of the street and ran up the porch steps. I pulled my keys and out bag and unlocked the door.
"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" My yells echoed through the high ceilings. Oh wait, I forgot. It was weird that I could longer say that, ever since I was a little girl I would come through the front doors and call them out.
I have nothing to do here so should go down to my parents pharmacy right now, I haven't seen any of the employees since the last time I was here, which was the will reading. I drop my bag by the door and go through the back door to the shed in the backyard. I open it and pull out my bike I used to ride all the time. I pull it out the fence gate and start riding down to the Main Street.
Once I made it there I put my bike on the bike rack and went through the automatic sliding doors, making it ding as I walked it. One of the workers, Sally looked up from stocking up the shelves to see who walked into her store. She's been working for my parents long before I was even born.
"Sahara! You came to visit!" She exclaimed, running towards me with a hug which I gladly accepted. I needed this right now.
"My dear, I missed you so much. How have you been? How's college treating you?" She asked, leading me to behind the counter at the check out.
"Sally, I have to be honest, not too good. I think I'm in danger."
━━━
After I explained to Sally my whole situation she told me to stay at her house and come to the pharmacy everyday so she knows I'm fine. I told her that the offer she made to stay with her was kind but I wouldn't want to burden her. But I did promised her I would be around the Pharmacy everyday until I leave. She also was about to call the cops but I stopped her before she did, warning her that nothing could stop Michael. He's a powerful man.
Sally locked up the store a couple hours later so I'm riding my bike back home. I go through the driveway and lock the bike back up into the shed. I head inside and lay out on the L shaped sofa in the living room. That long tiresome journey sure did make me hungry.
"Should I get Chinese or pizza?" I ask myself as I pull out my phone. After a ongoing debate in my head I made my decision.
"Pizza it is," I tap the call button to the closest pizzeria.
"Hello this is Patsy's Pizza, how can I help you today?" The person asks.
"Hi, can I get a plain small pizza for delivery?" I say. They ask me for my address and I give it to them.
"It's quite busy today, so you're delivery's going to be there in maybe an hour," the person says.
"Yeah that's fine, thank you," I say and hang up. In the meantime I turn on the Tv and watch random channels.
━━━
Ding.
That must be the pizza. I get up from my spot on the sofa and rush over to the door. The second I swing the door open the pizza boy shoves the pizza box into my hands. Week isn't someone having a bad day. I take it and look up with a confused look.
"H-he told me to t-tell you that you should be expecting," he stutters.
"Expecting the pizza?" I asked still confused.
"No-," he was about to say something but quickly turned around and ran back into his car.
"Wait, what about the money?" I shout out. But he just reversed out my driveway and speeds out of the neighborhood.
That was weird, but hey I got free food. For the rest of the night I ate my pizza and caught up on a couple shows until I felt sleepy.
I went upstairs to my parents room. I didn't feel like sleeping in mine, plus their room is the master bedroom so score. It was still the same as I last saw it. I didn't realize how the house wasn't dirty at all. Sally must have come by once in a while to clean.
Speaking of clean, I should take a shower or a bath. I go to the bathroom and run the bath. I pour out some bubble bath into the hot water before I start stripping off my clothes. Once the tub was filled I slowly eased myself in, getting used to the hot water.
As I got relaxed I heard leaves rustling outside. The windows are directly next to the tub so I reached over and pulled the blinds aside just enough to look through the window. The branches on the tree outside were shaking. Ugh, those squirrels are so annoying, I didn't even know they came out at night. Or maybe they were owls.
I sit back down and listen to the smoothing music coming from the speakers which I had put on before climbing into the tub. Buzz. I look over at my phone and see a text notification from Jessica.
From: Jessica
Hey S! You weren't in class today and I wondering if you're okay, I know that nasty flu is going around. Anyways, I have the notes for you when you come back.
Shit, I forgot to tell my professors that I would be gone for who knows how long. Great, another thing to be stressed about.
To: Jessica
Oh yeah I should've said something earlier or texted you about it, but I had some family emergencies back home and I'll be back soon. Thank you for keeping the notes for me.
I feel bad for lying but I have to. I stayed in the bath for half an hour before getting out and drying myself off. I changed into T-shirt with some shorts and made sure the deadbolt the doors before heading off to bed to sleep.
━━━
I woke up early in morning to the front door slamming shut. I quickly roll over, getting up from the bed and run into the hallway. I look over the balcony and look over the foyer.
"Sally?" I call out. Maybe she dropped by to check on me. I slowly go down the stairs, my back sliding against the wall. I glance around seeing if anyone was here, but I didn't see or hear anything.
"Okay she must have dropped something off then," I tell myself, walking into the kitchen. I gasp looking at the bouquet of red roses on the table. Sally wouldn't have gotten me flowers, why would she anyway? Only one person would have gotten me a bouquet of red roses... Michael. My body jitters as I see that there's a note attached to them.
Expect me soon, Angel
Love, M.J.
So that's was the pizza boy was talking about. Expect him soon... How does he even know where I'm at? I'm not sure if I should stay here or go to Sally. He knows where I live, maybe he doesn't know where the Pharmacy is. Or I should just wait here for him, I have a feeling no one can outrun him. If I stay, he might kill me, if I go, he might also kill me. At least I can try to save myself.
━━━
"Sally! Sally!" I yell, running into the store. All the customers and workers look up from what they were doing and stare.
"Sorry," I awkwardly say, blushing hard from the embarrassment. I see Sally by the cash register and go to her.
"What an entrance you made," she chuckles, "I feel like you're the same girl you were when you were just five."
"Yeah, I didn't know there would be that many people here today," I awkwardly laugh.
"So um, he found me...," I whisper to her, pushing a piece of hair behind my ear. Sally stopped what she was doing and looked me dead in the eyes.
"I told you once before to call the police and you told me not to, now I'm going to have to, Sahara, for your safety. This man praises the devil and I don't like that at all," she sternly said, grabbing the phone off the stand. I quickly pushed her hand down, putting the phone back down to the receiver.
"Sally, do you not understand? The cops won't stop him, he's Michael Jackson, do you think they'll take us seriously? I'm not lying when I'm saying he's a psychopath, he will kill, I've seen the pictures!" I whisper shout, looking around to see if anybody heard us.
"There's a man harassing you, I can't just ignore it," she says. I don't think she really believes me on how crazy Michael is.
"Just forget it, you don't understand," I sigh.
"You came really late today, it's about time to lock up," she looks at all the customers leaving and says bye to the employees who were too, "I'm taking you to police station to file a report, then we're going back to my house. That's it young lady."
"I'm not going to file a report, like I said earlier, forget about it!" I fumed. She didn't say anything after that. About twenty minutes passed before everyone had left and only the two of us were left. I was helping Sally in the medicine aisle checking inventory.
"Sweety, it's about time to leave. I'll drive you home," she says getting up from the floor. All of a sudden, all the lights in the store went out, making it pitch black. I let out out a tiny gasp, before realizing what happened.
"That's weird, I don't know why the power went out, but even if it did the generator should should have gone on," she frustratedly sighs, "I have to go in the back and flip the switches in the fuse box, be right back."
She was going to do what she said but the sound of glass being shattered rang through our ears. No one could have seen the expression on my face because of how dark it was, but it was pure fear.
"What the hell is that?" I whisper, clinging on to her arm.
"Angel, you tried to leave me!" A man shouted from the front of the store. Now I think we all know who this is. I start to hyperventilate and cling onto Sally harder. I guess she was in shock too because she wasn't moving or talking.
"I gave you all my love and you repay me by this?" Michael shouts. The hear things on the shelves being pushed off, making loud crashing thuds. Sally pulls me in the corner of one of the aisles, and hovers over, holding me tightly.
"I'm not gonna let anything happen to you," she whispers in my ear. I slowly nod, covering my mouth so I won't let out any sounds.
"You know what Sahara, I'm going to admit this now, I was going to kill you the first time I saw you," he shouts. A loud bang rang through our ears. He must've hit one of the metal shelves. But it didn't sound like he was doing it with his bare hands. He has a weapon with him.
"Sally, he has something with him," I whisper, moving my hand away from my mouth. She hushes me. I feel her body tremble.
"But I saw how pure you were."
Bang.
"Innocent."
Bang.
"Kind."
Bang.
"Beautiful."
Bang.
"And I fell in love with you."
His voice moved closer and closer to where we were. He pushed a shelf two aisles away from us over making a domino effect of the rest of the shelves. Sally and I flinched as the force of the wind from the shelves blew to us. I hear his footsteps come towards us, and I shut my tears eyes shut, praying that he won't hurt us.
At this point I just knew he was a couple feet away from us. I tried getting out of Sally's grip, but she held onto me tightly. A strong force pushed against us and Sally let out a painful groan. Her body immediately fell on me. I open my eyes and run my hands over her back. I touched something metallic and it was wet.
I gulped as I realized what it was. Michael had killed Sally. In shock, I let her lifeless body fall to the ground. I couldn't see anything in this pitch black darkness, but I knew Michael was right next to me. He moved right by side and placed his lips near my ear, breathing in and out and pushed some stands of my hair behind me ear.
"Expect me soon, babygirl," he whispered, leaving a soft kiss behind my ear before walking out the pharmacy. The taps of his fancy dress shoes echoed throughout the whole store.
Before I knew it, the lights were back on. My eyes were still fixed on the direction Michael left in. I was too scared to look down. But I did anyways. Sally's dead body on was laying on the ground with an axe sticking out of her back. Her blood was splattered on the racks behind me and soaked through my clothes. A pool of blood surrounded her.
I fell onto my knees and cried. Sally was one of the few people left in my life, and now she's gone and it's all my fault. I shouldn't have ever dragged her into this. Maybe I should hand myself over to Michael. If I don't he'll just kill more people in my life