Mad Woman✓

10. Yes, I got your letter

"Yes, I got your letter. Yes, I'm doing better. It cut deep to know you right to the bone"

   POV TAYLOR SWIFT:

The past four days went by in a haze.

Joe and I spent every day reading by the beach... We went to the grocery store together and we made dinner together.

After dinner, we'd go for a walk or find a field and watch the sun go down.

And we'd spent the nights entangled with each other... Whether it was in bed, in the car or in one of those fields or in the sauna in our backyard.....

I am just putting on a loose red dress when I feel his hands on my hips. "What do you think about doughnuts for breakfast?" he asks, looking at me in the mirror.

I turn around in his arms and peck his lips, "Perfect." "I will be back in five minutes." "Wait.." I grab his hands and kiss him again. He sucks in a breath and pulls me close to him.

My hands move down to unbuckle his belt but he shakes his head, "I have to go to the bakery now, it's already ten am and the doughnuts will probably be sold out soon. After breakfast..."

I pout but let go of him anyway. He brushes his lips over my brow and then leaves me alone.

I smile at myself in the mirror.

Joe and I have been very good... Since I told him about the killing thing, he's not changed which might be a little concerning, but right now we're just in a happy - naked - bubble.

He still has nightmares, I know that. I don't talk about it, but I try to calm him down when he's vomiting over the toilet every night... He wakes up in the middle of the night, sweating, even screaming sometimes...

I always try to help him, I rub his back, I tell him it's just a dream. But he doesn't have to tell me about his nightmares.

And if he needs to talk about it, he can talk about it with me. He knows that.

He just doesn't want to, and I understand. I don't talk about my nightmares either.

I apply a soft pink lipstick to my lips and then go downstairs. I set the kettle on the stove and then go outside to grab our mail and to greet the neighbours.

Back inside, I quickly look through the daily mail... Newspaper, a magazine...

And a letter.

To Mrs. and Mr.

I open the coffee-coloured envelope, frowning.

The paper inside is thick and folded in half. I open it and when my eyes fall on the letterhead, the paper falls from my fingers onto the floor.

No.

No, no, no, no, no.

I start sweating, my body is quivering.

Breathe, I tell myself, just breathe...

But I can't-

It's like a large hand is closing around my throat, closing my airway. And a knee is pressing down on my chest, I'm suffocating.

I gasp for air, gripping for something to hold me up.

Everything turns black and all I hear is my own rigid breath and the whizzing of my blood in my ears. And his voice in the back of my head.

"Wherever you are... I will find you. So don't be stupid, my little diamond. I know where to find you."

"Oh god", I cry, "No, oh god..."