They Know

The red wall had black flakes. Teagan Davis sat, elbows pressing into her knees. The room - frozen in chaos. The couch she sat on was askew, glass shattered laying throughout the room, picture frames fallen and cracked, a little black notebook splayed out amongst the clutter, just out of sight. Money strewn on the floor of the kitchen in the other room.

A dark blemish could already be seen surfacing just to the side of her light-colored eye. Scratches up and down her arms. All there was to her, however, was that wall. The black flecks were like eyes, staring back. Black sins, lies, all that he told and how many she would have to tell. The specs were the darkness that had tainted her soul. They represented the notebook that lay on the ground.

So small, so innocent looking, that raven colored notebook.

For what seemed like hours she sat there, watching the wall as though it was the only thing in the room.

Blaring into the silence, she jumped so hard it hurt, grabbing the phone and slamming it back down. This beige phone. What had she done? Why? The phone rang continuously in her head, over and over, echoing in every crevasse. What was she going to do?

Without warning it began again. Ring…ring…. ring. Her eyes glassed over. Waiting…

~~~~~

"Thank you for calling The Law Offices of Peter Tillman, this is Teagan…" The call was short and the telephone clicked down without a glance. Even though the day was just beginning, she was already flustered. She reached down to start sorting the coffee out of the tray she carried in.

"Hi," A deep voice brought her down to Earth.

Teagan held her jump inside somehow. There had been no warning of someone walking in. With a slow concentrated breath, she looked up with a smile. "Good Morning, how can I help you?"

Almost instantly she fell. His rugged jaw covered in dark stubble. Her heart did a little flip as he replied, "Yeah, my pal Pete said he would help me with a little legal trouble I fell into."

She cleared her throat, preparing herself, "Oh, I don't have your appointment here?"

"Oh…Did he not pencil me in?" He smirked, tilting his head up to one said.

She felt her eyes were wider than usual. "I see…well, Mr. Tillman won't be back for about an hour, he had—"

He cut her off, hand shaking in front of her as if to make her forget he said anything. "I'll come back later. Oh…tell him, Roderick stopped by."

Before he turned to leave, he bent over her counter, grabbing one of the coffees on the tray. With a smile and a wink, he was gone. She was stunned in his wake, a redness brushing onto her cheeks.

****

Many nights Roderick and Peter walked out of the office with deep throaty laughs. It never seemed that the "Legal work" he mentioned was ever that important. For weeks they met and were in his office for about an hour. Peter would always leave first; Rod making some excuse to stay behind. Teagan began locking the doors to the office at night with him standing right beside her. It was only a matter of time before they were getting drinks, dinners, and before anyone even knew they were dating a ring appeared on her finger.

****

Ten years. Ten years, and he couldn’t even call. Teagan sat in her cute pajamas, satin shorts with matching thin strapped, deep cut top. Her long dirty blond hair, highlighted here and there in lighter tones, curled in deep loops over her shoulders. The red tinge to her lips was clearly marking a special occasion that was going to go un-celebrated.

She looked down at her phone, pushing the side button to splay the display. The blank screen seemed to yell at her, no new messages. It sent a clear one, but she was always hopeful. Gut tight in anxiety, she looked up to the window.

“The young beauty queen lived in a small town in Georgia. Everyone knew each other, there was never a need to lock the door…” Teagan couldn’t stop her curiosity, turning her face back toward the television. It was late, she was all alone, and these True Crime documentaries made her feel alive, though really did nothing but make her more and more stressed.

Again, a quick look down at the phone before her stomach reminded her of her hunger. Without really any need, she slapped the top of her phone in the process of getting up. There was no need to mention the loneliness she felt in that instant, and even though she knew he wouldn’t be there, she tip-toed over to the window.

“Maybe she heard a sound or something outside the door and went out to investigate…” Teagan stopped short, looking back to the screen. Her heart starting to pound. Nothing is outside… she reminded herself, but when she reached up to move the curtain her heart began beating faster. Her fingers touched the cotton, she was holding her breath. With a deep breath to steady herself she took the cloth, barely from the side, and peeked out. Nothing.

Quickly she straightened, laughing at her stupidity. Though she also felt worse, without someone here with her, the fear began to string her out. One deep breath, two. Nothing was going to happen, she repeated to herself, making the mental note of her insanity before her stomach growled again.

With a quick second glance, she headed to the back room, the kitchen. There were two sliding doors, and though the fact that they had no curtain on them never bothered her before, tonight was another night. She tried to avoid the windows, not needing her delusions to go any farther, but her eyes glanced through anyway. It was then she stopped dead.

There was something there. It was dark, and in the very back of the yard, but there appeared to be a shadow there. Staring, trying to make the form out. Was this all her imagination. Was she making herself see things?

She tried to focus her eyes, force and outline to draw itself. Her heart beating like crazy, a knot grew larger and larger in the back of her throat. She actually thought she might have thrown up; the anxiety was so bad. It was getting harder to breath.

The entry in the front slammed open, making her jump almost onto the counter.

“What’s for dinner?!”

Roderick’s drunken cries settled her nerves down as she refused a second glance out the back door.

~~~~~

The phone stopped ringing. What was she going to do? With what seemed like only moments passing, a loud banging came from the door. With a second though she noticed that it wasn’t a banging at all, it may have been barely audibly, the knock at the door.

Teagan stood, feet stepping through the mess without a worry of the painful glass.

As she reached for the door, she felt pain in her chest that was nothing to that evening so long ago. Her heart wouldn’t stop thundering. It felt as though nothing else could be audible above it. Hands wrapped around the door handle, she pulled it to face a neighbor at the step. There they were and she couldn’t even say hi. She could only stand and stare.

There was a moment of questions, and she vaguely remembered answering. It was only when she closed the door that she heard their last words vibrate within.

“…calling the Police…”

She took a panicked breath, looking over to view the legs sticking out from behind the couch…

~~~~~

The house was dimming in the evening light as Teagan slipped from her heals and into her fluffy pink slippers. After a long day at the office, she felt pain in her shoulders and the pull of comfy clothes waiting for her.

She passed into the kitchen, the house quiet again. Roderick, apparently working on his newest work of fiction, hated writing in his home office. Most likely he sat at a local Café, where she imagined him meditating to the steam of his coffee.

The high pitch whistle of the kettle woke her from her daydream. A quick glance of her watch she was surprised to find it was already six thirty and though the sun was going down, the yard just visible. The hot fluid filled her cup before she placed the teapot down. It wasn’t until she went to take her first sip at the counter that a light targeted her eyes. She lifter her hand to stop the offending glare, looking to find its origin. The sun was setting to the front of the house, it was so confusing the direction the shine could be coming from.

Her heart seemed to stop in her chest. There, it was there. The same place from the other night. The image of the dark figure in the yard still haunted her. Up until this point she even believed she must have imagined it. With a deep breath, she placed the mug down and without changing out her shoes she was out on the tree line looking in the dirt.

*****

‘Today I paid the electrical bill, took 35 for us’

‘End of the month, she still thinks rent is 100 more…’

Just a few paces away, all of his secrets hid. There in the back of the yard was a poorly dug hole, he didn’t even bury it very well. The corner stuck out and reflected a shine that would give him away. Inside the metal box was bills of every denomination, but the total…must have been thousands… and there on top sat a little black notebook.

A journal describing every time he slipped money from her. There was a running total that said the total of over $20,000. How long had he been doing this? How long was he planning to do it? The largest question throbbing in her head, why?

The door clicked as Roderick walked in. The questions just stopped. There at that point was only pain and the sense of betrayal. Teagan rolled her head up, slowly, meeting his glance. He didn’t look shocked, not even a little surprise. Just a “well there you go” look.

She stood and did the only thing she could, literally threw everything she could at him.

~~~~~

With a swipe of her hand, Teagan covered Roderick’s face with the dirt. Here, the same place he hid his treasure. The air normally silent in the evening, was filled with the coming sirens.

His end was quick, so quick she still wasn’t sure any of it was real. The walls were still white, the rooms were still spacious, but she felt only suffocation and paranoia. They’ll know, they’ll know, they’ll know. A knock shook her to reality, but her chest was tight and her hearing felt obscured. The only thing Teagan could do was get up and opened the door. Two men stood there, uniforms, hands at their wastes. Their lips moved and she knew what they were saying, but all she could hear were the words that circled her mind.

She let them in, they looked around the house, there was a good amount of time they stood over the money, asking questions. It was when they were getting ready to leave that they saw the darkening red spot on the carpet. No, officer, that had to be her blood she must have said, but they insisted on taking the evidence that would seal her fate. So little, but she knew it would be over. It just was a matter of when.

The door closed, it was then that she felt the world drop its weights on her. Husband and everyday life and job; gone. She could already feel the handcuffs surrounding her wrists as she cried.

They know…