Prisoner of Love

Chapter Twenty - One.

Lili-Rose rummaged through her suitcase full of clothes, trying to find something she deemed appropriate for a funeral. She pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt, she zipped up her suitcase before pulling her car keys out from under the mattress of her bed.

Lili-Rose grabbed her suitcase and keys, she rushed to the front door. She could feel her car keys dig into the palm of her hand as she struggled to hold back her fear as she stood in front of the closed and locked front door.

She breathed out her nerves as she took the chain off the door, she breathed out her nerves as she unlocked the front door.

Her nerves started to push to the front of her mind as she reached for the door handle, her suitcase rested on the floor as she worked up the courage to open the door.

"Out the door, straight to the car." She spoke to herself "Out the door. Straight to the car." Her hand began to shake with nerves as she forced herself to open the front door.

Lili-Rose grabbed her suitcase, her heart raced against her ribcage as kept alert, she chewed down on her lower lip as she closed the front door and used her unit key to lock the door before rushing to a car hidden under a blue tarp that barely covered the full length of her discontinued Toyota Camry, the car's blue body covered in dust with peeling window tint.

She silently prayed as she hit the unlock button of her car, she didn't act in surprise when the button didn't work. She put the key into the boot of the car, forcing the boot open manually before chucking in her suitcase and pushing the boot lid down.

Lili-Rose jumped slightly when she noticed Horace, her neighbour blocking her driveway.

"I see that your back, did you enjoy your trip?"

She wasn't sure what Horace had been told, her nosey neighbour that wanted to know all the in's and out's of the unit complex.

"Uh. Um. I think so." Lili-Rose moved along to the driver's side.

"Your mailbox started to overflow, so I collected it for you." Horace stepped towards her, reaching out the bundle of letters "Is there someone else living here?"

"No. Why?" Lili-Rose panicked.

"All these are addressed to Lili-Rose, your name is Giselle. So, either someone else is living here or ..." Horace barely had a chance to finish his sentence when Lili-Rose cut him off.

"My cousin doesn't live here but she's uh, travelling a lot and her mail gets redirected to my place." Lili-Rose fumbled with her car keys as she tried to put her car key into the lock of the car door.

"What about that man that was here two weeks ago?" Horace questioned as Lili-Rose managed to finally open the driver's door, she took the bundle of envelopes from Horace's hand and dumped them on the passenger's side floor as she sat in the driver's seat.

"His no one. Definitely not living here." Lili-Rose gritted her teeth as she tried to close the driver's door.

Horace held her car door open "He sure looked like he did when he kept coming and going."

Lili-Rose glared up in realisation at Horace "I don't know who he is, Horace. If that man comes back than call the police." She gripped the handle of her car door, forcing it to pull towards her.

Horace took that cue as he quickly moved his hands off the car door.

Lili-Rose forced her car key into the ignition and prayed her car would start on the first attempt. It didn't. It took several attempts before her car finally gave a healthy sound, she ignored Horace as she reversed out of her car spot.

She drove out of the unit complex, into the streets blending in with the cars that on the road.