Desperation

Amelia and the Man

The rain drizzled as the church bells rang ominously. Behind the church, in a cemetery, there was a group of men and women who were wearing all black. They were formed in neat rows of two, forming a sort of aisle between them. A casket, carried by two men in front and another two in the back, was walked down the aisle formed by the two groups. It was then placed on a small elevated table so the entire crowd could see it. Inside lay a man, a well respected man that was also a father of two daughters and a son. The man, unfortunately, suffered from a heart attack while he was at work.
Amelia, a 24 year old daughter of the deceased man, sat in the front row where other family members were. However, Amelia was having trouble focusing on the eulogy that was being delivered by her brother. Earlier, before the two neat rows of mourners had formed, Amelia had spotted a man in which she found attractive. The man was tall and fit. He had a dirty-blond color of hair that was slicked back. His face was well sculpted and lacked any facial hair. His eyes were a brilliant shine of blue and his posture was pure perfection.
Now, as she sat through her brother's eulogy, she kept turning around to try and see if she could gain another glimpse of the attractive young man. Each time she turned around, however, her older sister kept tapping her arm and shoulder to have her turn back around.
As the eulogy and burial ceremony ended, everyone was up and sharing their respects to the son and daughters of the deceased man; only one daughter actually received them full-heartedly though. Amelia was up and about, weaving her way through a crowd of people giving her their respects, trying to find the man she spotted earlier. Unfortunately for her, he had left as soon as everything was over.
Amelia returned home disheartened. She had really wanted to talk to the man she had seen and possibly have gotten some sort of alternate way to contact and communicate with him. Instead she only got a lingering image of him in her mind.
"Give it a few days," she told herself on the drive home. "He will be forgotten and it will all be a distant memory."

Three weeks had passed and she still could not manage to forget the man. No matter what she did or tried, no matter how many people she met, that one man lingered in her mind like a curse. The entire first week after the funeral was spent with Amelia meeting all sorts of men with her friends in an attempt to forget the man. Half of the second week was spent the same way, while the other half was spent with her giving up the attempt to forget and instead trying to find out as much as she could about the man. However, everyone she knew and talked to in her family and close friends had no clue who he was. Some even said she was just imagining things to try and hide away the sadness of the loss of her father, but Amelia knew and was convinced this was no hallucination.

At the beginning of the third week Amelia dove deep into thought. The man she glimpsed was not familiar to the friends or co-workers of the dad (who were also the ones who said Amelia was hallucinating the man), but some of her more distant family members said to have recognized the description she gave them, but could not fully recall who the man was. That gave Amelia the clue that the man must have actually had a tie with her family somehow. If that was the case, Amelia's late father should have something close to a contact card or information on the man. The only problem was she had no clue what the man's name was so it could have been anyone. She needed to see him again, but how? The man seemed to have arrived on the passing of a family member, but Amelia had no family member remotely close to dying. Her mother had run off on them years ago and her siblings were young and healthy. The father had no siblings and his parents died as well. However, a death was needed in order for her to see the man again, at least, that was her thought process. She spent the entire morning contemplating on what to do, and after coming up with a plan, she grabbed her keys and winter gloves, then walked out the door to her car.

Amelia's older sister, Irene, had just finished her shift as a call receptionist and was headed to lunch. As she walked out of the lobby of the building, she noticed Amelia sitting on a bench nearby.
"Amelia!" she called out, waving. "Hey what are you doing here?"

Amelia smiled and got up, walking to greet the sister in which she had been waiting for.
"I wanted to apologize," she said. "For how little attention I gave during the eulogy for Dad. It wasn't respectful."

Irene smiled. "It's fine. Why were you so distracted by the way?"

"Th-There was a cute man I saw," Amelia said with a blush.

Irene laughed.
"That's so you!" she said with a giggle. "Always distracted by boys. You haven't changed a bit since high school, you know that?"

Amelia smiled awkwardly. "True..."

"I'm about to head out to lunch," Irene said with a smile. "Would you like to join me?"

"Oh, yes!" Amelia nodded. "Let me take you. It'll be my treat."

Irene smiled. "Always so thoughtful too, you're such an awesome sister!"

The two got into Amelia's car, which was parked on the next block over, and Amelia began driving while Irene recollected her past three weeks. Finally, Amelia parked in this old parking complex far out in the city's outskirts, a place where nobody has really been for years.

"What's this?" Irene asked. "This isn't a restaurant."

"... I'm sorry," Amelia said quietly. "I need to see him again."

Irene looked at Amelia in confusion, then slowly started to piece together what Amelia meant when she said that.
"Y-You're talking about that man, aren't you? The one you got distracted by at the funeral? Amelia, don't be stupid, we can find out who he is in a simpler way!" she said, stepping outside the vehicle.

Amelia slowly got out as well, going around the front of the car until she was walking straight toward her with no obstacles.
"No," she said calmly. "It won't work. Nobody knows his name. Nobody! I know he's affiliated with our family. If something tragic happened again, then maybe he would come again."

Irene was out of her wits at this point.
"You're doing this based off of a theory? A presumption? Amelia there are other ways!"

"There aren't," Amelia said, noticing small movement from Irene's hands. "What are you doing?"

"Calling Dom," Irene said. "He can help convince you through this stupid plan."

Amelia's eyes widened.
"I can't allow that!"

She ran straight for Irene, lunging at her when she was in comfortable range, tackling her and sitting on her waist.
"Get off! Get off!" Irene screamed, weakly pummeling Amelia's shoulders. "Somebody help!"

"Screaming won't do," Amelia said, reaching for a broken pipe beside her. "Nobody can know about this except for you and me."
She raised the pipe and brought it down forcefully onto Irene's temple. There was a horrified shriek as the first blow hit and more cries for help, each cry bringing more hits from the pipe until, finally, Irene's arms fell limp and her voice died down.

Amelia got up and looked at Irene's motionless body. Blood flowed endlessly from the multiple blows she had received.
"I'm sorry," Amelia whispered, reaching for her own cell phone in her coat pocket. She dialed the number of Dom, her brother.

"Hello?" came his voice. "What's up, Amelia?"

"Dom??" Amelia said, feigning a trembling voice. "Irene was just murdered!"

"What? How??"

"Well," she said, still with the trembling voice. "I got a call from her but when I answered all I heard was a terrifying scream."

There was silence on the line for a bit, then finally Dom spoke again.
"Go back home while I call the police. I don't want you to be a potential victim."

- Oh the irony - Amelia thought.

"Once I'm done talking to the police," Dom continued. "I'll drive over to your place and we will have to organize a funeral for her."

"O-Okay.." Amelia said, a sick yet joyful looking smile spreading across her face. "See you later..."