Far From You

Chapter Six

It's been exactly a week since Michael told me everything. I got up early in the morning to go for a run. I cooked two eggs and made toast with avocado. I decided to make fruit tea instead of coffee. It was a nice change. I put on sneakers with laces that are constantly tangled. It took me a few minutes to untangle and tie them up. Kate was still asleep. I needed to clear my head, so I went for a run before work.

I quickly ran down the stairs to the front door and saw someone running towards me. The person was standing behind the door. I remembered that Kate said she owed money to some mafia and I thought it would be one of them. I was trembling with fear. I didn't know what to do. What is done in such a situation?

He was a character like a man. After a while, the man behind the door left. I was very relieved, but I thought, what was the man doing there when he didn't go inside?. Maybe he knew about me and that's why he finally changed his mind and left.

I unlocked the door and slowly opened it just in case. No one was there. Luckily. I ran out and headed straight for the woods next to the house. I always go there for a run because the air is nice. I was running past Michael's restaurant and saw someone inside sitting on the stairs. It was Michael. He stared at the ground. He didn't see me. I ran after him to make sure what was going on. I stepped inside and a shiver grabbed my back. Michael held a bottle of rum in his hand. I've never seen him like that at the bottom before. He looked into my eyes and drank rum. I stood for a moment, staring at him from the door. I gathered all my courage and went to take the bottle from his hand. He held it tight, but my strength from fear and nerves was stronger.

"What happened?" I said with my last strength. No answer. I went for it more vigorously. "Did you have to set yourself up like that? it's not even nine a.m..." He looked at me offended. "I lost everything, I have nothing left."

"You haven't lost everything, you still have me," I said with a smile. He leaned over and kissed me. I didn't even move. I didn't mind. Deep down, I may have wanted it. But like this? He drank almost a whole bottle of rum. Anyway, he will wake up later with a hangover and will not remember any of it. Maybe he did it just to forget his ex or because he was drunk and didn't think. Maybe he thought I was his ex. Maybe I didn't even want to know. I helped Michael get up and lie down on the sofa in the corner of the restaurant. By the time I could get up with the keys that had fallen on the way, he was already asleep. I left the keys on his desk and locked the door as I left.

In the woods, I thought of nothing but him. I even almost stopped thinking about the man standing at our door. I began to think of him as soon as I heard the screams that echoed in the distance of the forest. I went there to look quietly, but I stepped on a branch that crunched and broke. The screaming stopped, but I heard someone running towards a black car parked nearby. I didn't see anyone, I just heard them. I ran to hide behind a bush so they wouldn't see me. The car quickly drove out of the woods on the road, leaving only a trail of wheels. I ran out of the woods and ran to the police station.

"It was a woman's scream, but I didn't see anybody," I told the cops. Without evidence, they may or may not believe me. They decided not to trust me. They told me it could have been anyone doing something legal... They told me to go home and rest. Maybe they were right.

I went home and took a day off from work. Michael was asleep anyway, so it benefited both of us.

I went all sweaty to the shower. That cold shower refreshed me. After the shower, I reached into the bottom drawer for sleeping pills. I drank them with the mineral water I had in the fridge and went to bed. I rolled around in bed for a while before the pills worked and I could go to bed in peace.