Long Live the King

Two

There were two sides at war in Adrienne's mind. One party was of the opinion that she should have phoned the police as soon as that man left her apartment. She would have been able to describe his appearance in detail. The opposing side insisted that involving the police was only asking for trouble. They would assure her she was safe while doing nothing to prevent the man from coming after her again.

The latter side was winning, but as night swept in with its darkness and its silence, she started to wonder if her decision had been wise. On any normal night she would have been in bed an hour ago. Tonight she tossed and turned beneath the sheets, startling at each noise only to find that it was Mushroom jumping off the counter or a car rolling by on the streets below. After an hour of paranoia she pushed back the covers and headed into the kitchen.

Mushroom was perched on top of the refrigerator, green eyes gleaming. As her owner entered the kitchen the lithe cat leapt down and walked across the counter. Ignoring the cat, Adrienne pulled down a mug from the cupboard and turned on the hot water. From the drawer she unearthed a packet of instant hot chocolate. She mixed up the powder and water then carried her steaming cup to the living room. Mushroom followed carefully behind.

Sinking into the chair, Adrienne reached for her book and flipped open to the folded page. She hoped that a chapter or two would be sufficient to put her to sleep. Mushroom leapt up on the arm of the chair and pressed her head into her owner's arm. Absentmindedly reaching out one hand to scratch between the cat's ears, Adrienne immersed herself in the words.

#

At 3 am it became apparent that all the reading and cocoa in the world wouldn't get Adrienne to sleep. Not only had she finished the novel, but she was now deep in the middle of a second one. Suppressing a yawn, she got up from the chair, careful not to disturb the sleeping cat. She padded into the kitchen, lifting her cell phone off the counter.

With precision she punched in all ten digits of a number. Her thumb wavered over the call button but then she quickly set the phone back down. 3:04 am was never an appropriate time to make a phone call. Just because she couldn't sleep didn't mean she had to drag others down with her. Then again, this was not an ordinary circumstance. She could be in actual danger right now. Her friends would want to hear from her. At least then they would have something to tell the police if she were to disappear.

Adrienne's hand shot out and grabbed the phone. She punched the call button and brought the phone up to her ear, cringing a little as she heard the ringback. There were three drawn out rings and then an answer.

"Hullo?" a groggy voice answered.

"Hi Marshall," she said apologetically. "I know it's really late and you're sleeping--or at least you were--but you said if I needed anything that I could call you. Of course this probably isn't what you meant but I am panicking right now and--"

"Addy?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"You--can you give like two minutes and I call you back?"

"Of course."

"Great. I'll uh... I'll call you."

The other side went silent. Adrienne set the phone on the counter, watching and waiting for the screen to light up again. She brought her hand up to her mouth, nibbling at the edge of her index finger. The screen brightened and the phone buzzed against the countertop. Quickly, she answered the call.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi." He sounded more awake now, speaking clearly. "What's wrong?"

"I probably should have just waited until morning to call you," she said. "It was stupid. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I told you to call me if you needed anything. What's wrong?"

"Yeah, but I'm sure 3 am isn't what you had in mind."

"Addy, it's okay. Really. What's going on?"

"Earlier today this guy showed up at my apartment..." She launched into an explanation of how he had barged in, threatened her and demanded great sums of money. "...and so now I can't sleep. I'm terrified he's going to come back."

There was an extended pause on the other end.

"Are you sure you don't want to get the police involved?" he asked.

"I'm sure," she said. "He was right about them, you know. They won't get anything done until something happens to me... although they would at least give my murder investigation a valiant effort."

"Not funny," he said. "I was just checking. For now why don't you just double check that your doors and windows are locked." She nodded at his words even though he couldn't see her and wandered over the door to try the knob. "I'll be there as soon as I can tomorrow."

"What?" She almost dropped the phone. "Marshall, I wasn't asking you to come out here. You really don't need to."

"Of course I do. I want to. Besides, I haven't seen you in awhile. We can get lunch maybe and ah, catch up."

"Thanks, I guess." she said. "So I guess I just won't be sleeping tonight."

"You should at least give it a shot," he insisted. "Go lay down. I'll stay on the line and we can talk. Maybe you'll fall asleep."

"I don't want to keep you up," she said, carrying the phone back to her bedroom.

"I'm already up." He laughed a bit. "Besides, you think I'm going to have an easy time sleeping, knowing that you're there alone?"

"Okay. It's your call," she said, turning the light off and setting her phone face down on the night stand after putting him on speaker. She settled back into the bed, dipping only her toes under the messy covers. "What do you want to talk about?"

"There's a new bakery here in town," he said. "We could talk about that. They have the most amazing pastries you will ever have in your life. I'll bring you one tomorrow. What kind do you want?"

"Well what are my options? What would you recommend?"

"I can bring you a couple of things actually. They have a mean cheesecake and their eclairs are to die for. You can't go wrong with the classic chocolate chip cookie though."

"Mmm," she hummed, secretly relieved that he had decided to stay on the line. "Decisions, decisions. Maybe I'll just have to let you surprise me. What else do they have?"