Richard [Completed] ✓

A

Allocated lies, created for those who seek to forage for the truth.

Mr. Lewis went to bed that night in the room next to Laura's. He had her sleep in Luciana's room while he slept in the guest room. It had been a month since he let her into his home. In the middle of the night he would have dreams of his dead wife calling out his name, telling him that she would be home soon. A flash of white light would appear in front of his eyes and the scene would snap to the moments of Luciana's last breath in his vehicle after the crash. His eyes would fly open and his heart beat would pulsate in his ears. 

Often times he would get up in the middle of the night to go into Luciana's room and look over Laura. He would watch her for one hour every time he woke up, and if she stirred in her sleep he would not budge or panic. He would listen to her breathing to help him overcome his nightmare and found it soothing. He had the same dreams every night and always woke up in terror. Mr. Lewis would listen to Laura's breathing and he would hear her talk in her sleep loudly. The things that Laura said in her sleep sometimes made him sad.

Laura had multiple dreams about her parents fighting. She had dreams of a boyfriend being abusive to her. He came home drunk one night several months after helped her move away from her parents. Laura had accused him of cheating on her when it started became a bad drinking habit. He had beaten her multiple times and she started working late shifts to help pay for her schooling, and also to avoid him. She would go straight to work after attending her college classes and be there until two o'clock in the morning. Laura worked as a janitor at a restaurant with a built in bar. Whenever she drove back home, she had anxiety in her veins, hoping that her boyfriend was asleep by time she got back.

Mr. Lewis would hear her whimper in her sleep and he would see her kick her legs and twitch in her sleep. He would take his hand and rub her shoulder or the top of her head to help her calm down. He would always wipe her tears and kiss her cheek when she was settled. Mr. Lewis would go back into the guest room and sleep for the rest of the night until early morning came. His alarm went off and naturally, it was loud enough for Laura to hear in the next room. She always woke up with sweat on her body and she sometimes asked Mr. Lewis to help her get out of bed because her body was sore from old beatings so that she could go take her morning shower and freshen up.

The sun shined through the curtains of all the windows in the house. He loved the mornings because he enjoyed waking up to see Luciana. In the morning, Mr. Lewis always had a cup of coffee and eggs and bacon with his beloved wife. To see Laura sit across from him at the kitchen table eating right and for her to like his cooking was a big accomplishment for him. He felt like a younger version of himself being with her. He felt ecstatic for the first time in several months and it was the best feeling he's ever had. After they were both done eating Laura offered to do the dishes and Mr. Lewis told her to stay put at the table.

"It's so nice out today, I kind of want to go out for a walk," Laura said softly, staring out the living room window. Mr. Lewis froze while he dried the dishes and turned his head to look at her.

"You can't go out," Mr. Lewis said firmly. Laura gave him a confused expression and rested her palms on her lap.

"Why not?"

"You can't go out there looking like that," Mr. Lewis pointed at her clothes. Laura wore a T-Shirt and shorts and all her bruises were showing. Mr. Lewis was nervous to let her outside because she could wander off and try to escape from him. He could not allow her to slip past his fingertips because she was the perfect one for him.

"You live in the middle of nowhere, no one is going to see me and call the cops," She tried to reason with him. Mr. Lewis tried to stay patient with her by keeping his breathing even. He hated the cops because he could get into serious trouble. They would get in the way of his plans to bring Luciana back to life. 

"Yes, but your body is still sore and you need to stay and rest to let it heal," Mr. Lewis cleared his throat and put the last dish away into the cabinet above his head. "I don't want you to collapse have to search for you because you don't really have a phone either." Laura pursed her lips and stared at Mr. Lewis while in deep thought. He was right, but she felt more comfortable doing something productive instead of being in bed all day in his home. She didn't want to be a freeloader, but at the same time, she needed to look out for her health.

"Well, you are right. Is there anything I can do or help with at all today?" Laura offered. Mr. Lewis was silent for a few moments. He was trying to come up with a plan for today. He stepped over to the fridge and glanced inside of the drawers and the shelves. He needed to go out and buy more eggs and figure out what to make for lunch and dinner.

"There's really not much you can do, but you can watch TV, or I have some books in the living room you can read through. I need to go to the grocery store and I want you to stay here and keep yourself occupied," Mr. Lewis replied back to her.

"Oh okay.." She trailed off in a sad tone.

"I do have paper in the guest room drawers and some colored pencils and markers if you want to  make some art," He suggested and Laura's eyes lit up. He strained a fake smile at her and put his coat on and went upstairs to go grab his car keys. He started to remember Luciana's face and times where he had to help Luciana out of bed because she had a baby bump. The guest room he slept in was his sons room. He had to remove all the boy stuff and leave small remnants of it in the drawers and under the floorboards because he didn't have room for any of it. He had to sell his boy's belongings to make money and he also didn't want to think of him anymore. 

He didn't care to think of what his boy would've grown up to be like because he never got a chance to see Luciana give birth to him. He didn't have that emotional empathy towards his unbirthed child. Mr. Lewis snapped himself out of his train of thought and went back down to the living room to see Laura sit on the comforter with her legs crossed. She had his Bible on her lap opened to the first page. "Is there anything from the store you wanted me to get for you?" Laura lifted her head up and pursed her lips, she always did that when she had a hard time coming up with something.

"Could you actually get me some nail polish? I wanted to paint my nails and file them because they're dirty and uneven. I want red or black and blue," Laura held her hands up in front of her face and picked at her nails.

"I could get you a nail kit if you wanted and maybe some makeup if you wanted to play around and experiment?" Mr. Lewis shrugged and watched her close the Bible.

"That would be nice yeah." Mr. Lewis nodded his head acknowledging her response and put his hands in his pockets and slipped on his dress shoes by the front door. He could feel Laura watching him from a side angle and heard her get up from the comforter to go sit at the kitchen table.

"If you needed anything else there's the home phone by the stove next to the refrigerator," He walked back into the kitchen and pointed at it. "You can call the store phone number and tell them to put me on the line. I'm close friends with the manager there and she has her own office."

"Oh okay, thank you," Laura said in a hesitant tone. "Drive safe then. I'll absolutely let you know if I need anything." She felt him staring at her oddly before he double checked the fridge once more to see what he needed. Mr. Lewis walked out of the kitchen and left the house, locking the front door behind him. The nearest grocery store was one town over and he had to drive an hour to get there and he had to deal with the drive back. He knew Laura was going to keep herself occupied and that she wouldn't try to disobey him, so he didn't really have anything to worry about.