Stranger

12

Chapter 12:

(Daniel's POV)

"John is her ex dead husband who is back." Paul stated getting straight to the point. 

"He obviously wasn't dead if he's alive?" I spoke, stating the obvious. I took a sip of my drink as he spoke. 

"He was meant to have died in 1814." He commented. I managed to swallow instead of spitting it all over him. 1814? What was he talking about?

"This isn't a joke Paul, if she's in trouble-" I said. Why would he start joking around when we were having a serious conversation? What were we 15 again? 

"-Who said I was joking? There were things that she can't explain to you, things about her life you won't understand." His tone was serious and blunt. I was a little taken back by his reaction to my reaction. 

"But you do?" I asked not understanding anymore what we were talking about. This conversation was turning to be a little ridiculous. 

"I've seen it with my own eyes." He replied making me roll my eyes. 

"If you're not going to tell me the truth then i'm going to go." I stood grabbing my jacked from the back of the chair. I wasn't going to sit here and listen to a story about her. I knew that I didn't really know her, but what Paul was saying was not only impossible, it was crazy. 

"And that's why she will never open up to you." He muttered before taking a sip of his drink. 

"Excuse me?" I said wanting him to speak up a little. The nerve Paul had today was unreal. I was easily getting annoyed with his lies and his attitude. 

"You will never see her as anything more than a stranger because you don't want to believe." Paul stated putting his drink down. He looked genuine as he looked up to me as he spoke. 

"When you saw her, you knew she was special about her, something different about Daisy. So if you want to learn the truth about her to try and help keep her safe, you're going to listen and trust that if you want to get to know her, you need to open up." He carried on. Even though I didn't believe him, and it's understandable with the crap he's saying, he had a small point. I put my jacket back on the back of the chair and sat down. 

"So what is it?" I asked. 

"She is immortal." He said. Immortal?

"She's what?" I asked making sure I heard him right.

"You heard me." He replied. 

"Yeah I heard you doesn't mean I believe you." I answered back. 

"She has been alive for two centuries even though she was only mean't to live for two decades. She was in an accident with her mother which changed  them both." Paul explained as a waitress stopped at our table. She picked our now empty glasses from the table and gave it a wipe before leaving again, giving me a chance to say something without sounding absurd. 

"We both know her mom is dead." I said. 

"Immortal doesn't mean that she can beat death, it means to live forever." He answered. 

"So how did this John guy get to live forever?" I asked wanting to know his story. 

"I don't know. And I think it's best that I don't know. But we need to make sure he doesn't go anywhere near her." He spoke. 

"If he was her husband, he can't have been that bad" I commented making a valid point. 

"He wasn't. From what she told me he sounded like a decent enough guy. The man that I've researched however is the complete opposite. He's been tracking her down for many lifetimes and he won't stop. Let's just say he's done a lot of work to make sure she is found." He explained. From what he was saying, this John guy didn't sound like a bad guy. He sounds like a desperate man trying to find his long lost love, it sounds like a soppy girly chick flick. 

"I don't get what you're saying." I made clear wanting to know how he could possibly turn this. I watched as Paul collected a brown thin file from his bag, opening it up to reveal photos and what looks like a detailed report on this so called John. Did he really have to go this far?

"In Nineteen-seventy-two,he was made medically unstable and unsociable as well as unaware to live in the world. They put him in a room after he cracked, the records show that he was going crazy trying to find Daisy when someone found him and got him the help he needed. He was released in Nineteen-ninety-five and the record shows he completely vanished from the face of the earth." He went into detail further. 

"So he has a bad past, I doubt he's going to hurt Charlie." I defended trying to see both sides of story for some reason. I cared for Charlie but I didn't want to exaggerate an issue in her life considering everything that's happened to her recently, even with her past if it were true. 

"In Two thousand and five he was charged for thirteen murders. All of the woman look exactly like Daisy. But he managed to be found guilty due to not enough sufficient evidence." He spread out the women across the table, each of the women having similar or looking strikingly like Charlie.

"Oh great." I muttered not knowing what to say back to that. 

"I don't want him to hurt her Daniel, she's been through too much." He stated putting all the photos back in the folder, sorting out his freakishly organised file.

"Why do you care so much?" I asked wondering why. He had put so much effort and time into her background history as well as trying to make sure she was safe. I could see she didn't want his help so why did he want to make sure she was okay so bad?

"Because I love her ... even if she doesn't love me like that." He hesitantly said, placing the file back in his bag. I could see on his face that Charlie had really done a number on Paul, making him this way meant that he really fell for her. And if what he said were true, she might have fell for him too but not been able to pursue it. 

"So do you know anything else?" I asked wanting to be sure I knew everything before I went guns blazing into the scene. 

"An old nanny of Daisy's kid confessed before she passed about an affair he had had with Daisy's twin sister Elizabeth." Paul spoke but once he said 'Daisy's kid', my attention blew out of the window. 

"Hold up. She had a child?" I quizzed feeling a little taken aback. 

"Yeah. Her name was Annabeth I think?" He recalled not fully putting much thought into it. 

"Was?" I questioned wanting to know more for some reason. He stood up with his bag making me follow in his lead feeling a little awkward now I wanted to continue the conversation but knowing he didn't want too. 

"She passed away when she was 76 I think. It's hard to remember it all. Look what you need to know is that this John guy is bad news and as long as she is protected from him, she'll be okay." He explained for the final time today. 

"I'll catch you in a bit." I said sitting back down as he left leaving me with all these questions and thoughts unanswered and in confusion.