Coffin Scent: A Testimony

Chapter Seven - Plan B

PLAN B
And all seven heavens heard I was damned.
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As soon as he fell asleep, I awakened. Stuck in Alan's head, watching as he made love to Laura, as he dropped Haze off to school and kissed her forehead. This was what I had wanted for him: salvation. However, I didn't feel at peace watching it. It wasn't real; Laura wasn't Florence and Haze wasn't Adrianne. This family didn't love him. His wife did not accept his past mistakes, and his daughter was clueless to his sacrifices. For a long time, I didn't do anything because I didn't want to disturb the peace, but I knew I had to look for Adrianne. I had told Laura bits of the truth: that he had neglected Adrianne for the longest time, and that she was lonely without me. I told her that he was weak, that he had made mistakes. But, the more I told her, the more she felt disgusted with me. So, I stopped talking to her. I stopped telling her anything. She made me angry, and I only knew one way to express my anger. After that, every night, I would leave the house, quietly if she was asleep, after a fight if she was awake. I was aware that my alter self thought that it was a dream - a nightmare, even. But, that was okay since that was all he could remember.

After that, I found Adrianne in the cabin and looked after her while he slept. When I first went back for her, she was scared; I know she was. She backed off, but I didn't want to hurt her: not her, not anymore. But, with time, she warmed up to me. She told me how she had been living until that day. I wanted to hurt myself then, every day more. I despised that I'd left her to survive on her own all that time. I explained that although the police had been a surprise, now everything could get back on track - well, almost. I was found innocent of the crime, and we could now live together as a family without much disturbance. However, in the time it took him to be released and to overcome his addictions and finish his rehab, he fell in love with a woman and got married to her. That would've been fine if she had accepted the circumstances I explained to her, but she didn't. So, Adrianne and I decided it was time to act again. We drafted another plan that would allow us to live together again, and to remind him of all that was important. For a while, I needed to keep doing what I was doing. I silently watched myself in the morning, and crept out of the house at night, trying my best to avoid the woman in the house. Meanwhile, I introduced Haze to Adrianne, recorded proof of Laura's intentions, and handed Haze over to Adrianne while I set everything else up. I stuck a note on my fridge hinting at the location of the cabin. I took down a suicide victim and chopped him up, pushed a wrapped letter into his fist, and hung his parts in a sack. I then took a picture of it and attached it to the note in the magazine. All this while, Adrianne was rehearsing and recording her lines for the cabin speech. This way, we were sure that he would finally come back to his senses. The family would be united again, albeit without Laura - at least for a while. Since he was no longer addicted to alcohol and abuse, he would pose no threat to our sweet little barbie. Given enough time, he would be able to accept things and perhaps patch things up with his wife. Then, he would be able to live a healthy life in a place he could call home. Then, he would no longer need me. For now, though, I have to keep tabs on him.

Everything has been going according to plan so far. He's found all the hints that we'd prepared for him and successfully reached the cabin. He's begun to understand things, and - although he tried to bring me out when the truth became overbearing - he soldiered through the guilt and confusion. I believed that he would be able to accept it all in time. For now, I am glad that Adrianne was not there to listen to his replies. However, it's about time that he finds the hideout, especially with the police here. For safety's sake, it seems I will have to lead him there myself.

I navigate through the graveyard, finding the specific grave that I was looking at that day when Adrianne came to call me home. I pull up the secret door to the underground tunnel and find Adrianne looking up at me. She was supposed to be hidden deeper in the tunnel, but alas. She is smiling - a smile quite different from the one I was used to - and that is enough for me.