Back to the Trees

Chapter 5 - Haunted Memories

Lee's POV

The image of her lifeless, bruised and broken body haunted every thought. The image of her in his arms only made the torture of losing her heart so much worse. She'd be happily married now, off on a honeymoon somewhere hot and sunny.

The day he put that ring on her finger was the day I could finally take it no more. I left her to her flat and her fiancée an went back to the house in the woods.

I replaced the kitchen window, I built a new table and refashioned the chairs to match. I did anything to keep my mind occupied.

She'd been gone almost ten months now and those images still haunted every thought, every moment of sleep, every second of silence, and it was always silent. There was nothing else left to do. I slumped down in the armchair in the lounge. I switched on the to for some background noise and was greeted with Kieran's face on the news. The headline across the bottom of the screen read; 'Left at the alter one month, Lottery winner the next.' For a second there was a glimmer of hope that she might just remember me but then everyone had tried for so long to remind her and she hadn't.

I switched the channel over but numerous questions still thrummed through my mind. Did she remember? Was she waiting for me to come back? Had she left him at the alter because of something he'd done or because she knew she loved me? If she remembered, would she want to come back here? Or would there be too many bad memories to come back to? Did she know what I had when I realised she didn't recognise me? If she did, did she hate me because of my actions? Did she fear me because of my anger?

I turned off the tv, threw down the remote and began to rush round, preparing to get her back. I collected the big buckets of paint from the basement and loaded them into the truck I'd bought after I'd killed Adam.

Lily had always wanted to live in a cabin in the woods, I remembered her saying that when she first began to warm to me. So I would renovate the cabin Adam had tried to hide her away in. I'd put in windows and make it light and airy. I'd make it a home she'd be proud to show her mum, a home where she'd be overjoyed to raise children up in. I cut down trees to create a garden and make furniture with the timber.

I packed every article of clothing she'd left behind into a large suitcase I'd found in garden shed. Then I packed all my own things with them and threw the suitcase into the truck with the paint.

Lily's POV

I threw the tv remote across the room, it shattered on wall.

"What the hell was that?" Mitchell came running through. I simply pointed to the screen, too angry to speak.

"Kieran McConnolly, aged nineteen, won thirty million on last nights lottery rollover. He is in fact the youngest person to win such a large amount of money. He says that this has all happened at a low point in his life. His ex fiancé left him at the alter not a month ago. He's told us that this money is going to go towards proving to her hat he can look after her and be the perfect man, but will she see it that way? Back over to you at the studio Tim."

"Oh." Was all Mitchell replied with as the report came to an end. "Maybe it time to disappear again little Lillian." He kissed the crown of my head before going over to the tv to turn it off.

"I won't let him win Mitch. I'm needed here with you and Alannah and the babies when they come along. If I disappear now, he's won." I stood up and went to run a bubble bath to try to relax myself. All I had to do was ignore Kieran and just wait and believe that Lee was coming back for me.

"One day I'm going make everything perfect for you." He kissed my forehead. "We'll raise our children in the trees and we'll have your mother stay. We'll have sons and daughters, nieces and nephews running around. We'll be a proper family. I promise." His eyes were full of joy and yet at the same time they were drowning in sorrow. We had lost our first chance at being parents but it wouldn't be our last. We could make it through this and we would make it through anything. We would live through any hardship and disaster life threw at us. We would be stronger for it too.

"You just rest my queen, I'll go talk to your family and let them know you're alright." He kissed my forehead again and the bed shifted as he stood up and left the room. He loved me with every fibre of his being and I could see it in every action. 

I woke with a start. My heart was aching and the water was cold. My fingers had shrivelled but I wasn't particularly bothered. I had to go to the house in the woods. I had to search everywhere he might possibly be. I had to put this right. I hurried out of the bath and wrapped the towel tightly around myself. I had to get the house now.