The Shadows of Memory Lane (Book 2) [Gxg]

Chapter 9

Third person pov
Nick strolled through the streets. He rang the doorbell once he reached the apartment that he was headed towards. He ringed his wrists in anticipation as he stared at the ebony door that had now become all too familiar in the past two months.

He ran his fingers over the intricate patterns that had been etched in wood. The ridges and curves were covered with a layer of unnoticed dust. The doorknob was steel. It was a magnificent piece. Beside it was a plant, leafs galore. Spouting from every part of the thin bark. Under him was a doormat, white and fluffy. Contrasting the dark black flooring.

He had a good feeling that day. He held tons of bags n his hands. Presents. Of all kinds. Everything he could think of. Everything he thought that she would like. He was determined to make her forgive him. He was sure that that was the day. November 16th. Haley's birthday. He was going to succeed. He took in a deep breath. Waiting for the door to open. Waiting to be greeted by his beautiful daughter. She'd recently developed bags under her eyes. Her eyes, always dark and tired. Nick was sure that was her adoptive parent's doing. He'd heard the whole story when he was at Alejandro's house that day. He'd stood there helpless when his daughter had broken down. When her  had eyes welled up with tears. But he was better now. He was going to fix her. Get her back! And spoil her to no end. Take care of her like a princess.

But then he started to notice that something was wrong. For the door never did open. His repetitive apologies were never again spoken. He waited for an hour. Ringing the doorbell every ten minutes. Then he waited for another hour. Nothing. Finally he heard something. But it wasn't shuffling from the other side of the door. It was from behind him. Underneath, rather. Sirens. Police.

Nick's heart started beating faster... what was happening? He watched from a nearby window as the red and the blue lit up the road outside. The noise filling the serene silence with impurities. With panic. A few officers rushed out of the car, running towards the building. Nick didn't understand. What was going on? He heard their pounding steps as they rushed up the stairs. The thumping matched his heartbeat. Its pace, increasing by the second. What was wrong? Then his mind start racing. Thinking of possible crimes. Theft...? Kidnapping...? MURDER?!?

Haley.

Her name was the only thing in his mind. His heart beat got louder. Deafening. It overcame all the external noises. His fingers started to shake. He reached out to the doorbell and rang it again but in vain. As it had been for the past two hours... no answer. He watched with tears in his eyes as the police forced open the door and rushed inside. They tried to ask him questions but the words wouldn't come out. They gave up, eventually deciding that whatever had happened inside was more pressing. Nick entered after them, terrified of what he was about to witness. He smelt it before he saw it. The sickly stench of blood. Its odor made its way up his nostrils and invited bile up his throat. He auietly followed the police up the stars, to wear he presumed her room was. His feet padding against the stairs.

The sight that greeted him made his heart wrench. There she was. His beautiful daughter. Haley Hallows. Her face had a smile, as if she was content. And from her abdomen, a knife was protruding from her abdomen and it was surrounded by a thick fluid. Crimson. The fluid that was causing this stench. It flowed in rivers through the creases of her top, ending in a pool on the floor. Her head rested on Linda... her girlfriend. She had signs of crying embedded in her eyes. They were red and there were droplets on her cheek. But her eyes seemed to be dry, now. And were void of emotion. They seemed like never-ending pits of nothingness. Oblivion. Nick fell on his knees. Tears spewing out of his eyes. A scream of pain rushing up his oesophagus. But no sound came out. For, as was Linda, he was empty. The person he'd lived for. The person who carried all his love, pain and regrets... was now dead. The last remaining person who invoked any positive feeling in him... was dead. His Haley. The one who he'd left behind fourteen years before. The Haley he'd forced diapers on. The Haley he'd stuffed into for a whole year. Had vanished. Just when he had thought he could make everything right again. Just when he had thought he'd be forgiven for his mistakes.

"Who?" It was the only word he could get out of his mouth. Before realization seeped through him.

"WAS IT YOU?" He screamed, pointing an accusatory finger in Linda's direction. His shock had obstructed his thoughts. If he wasn't so heart broken he would have known that Linda could have never done such a thing. But he was a victim of misery. He got up and rushed towards Linda, grabbing her throat and beginning to choke her.

"Please kill me," was all she said, closing her eyes as the tears started to fall again.

Those three words were enough to bring him out of his illusions. He slumped back, as the police pulled him off of her.

"Then who?" His voice was so silent but Linda understood.

"Jordan. Kira. And YOU!"

He ran out of there. Could he have been the cause? Could he have actually driven his own daughter to kill herself? The thought overtook his mind. It made him implode. He felt like he was caving in. The air was sucked out of him. He felt like he was suffocating. He fell down on the middle of the road. Crumbling on the inside. His thoughts devouring his sanity. The sky seemed to be dark. With no stars. The world had lost its light. The world had lost his Haley. The only speck of goodness that had been left in his life. The only possibility that he'd ever be happy again. Gone. He tugged at his hair, wanting to pull out the thoughts. His fingernails dove into his skin to pry him back to reality. Nothing worked. He scratched his face. Slapped himself. Everything. But he was still stuck. In a maze. A maze of guilt that told him that he was the criminal. He'd killed his own daughter. The one he had abandoned yesrs ago and had been searching for ever since. The daughter that reminded him of his love. His Inanna. The duaghter that had been the only living remainder of Inanna's existence.

The rest seemed blurry, but he soon found himself in a bar. Wanting to drown his thoughts before they did so to him. He drank. One after the other. Finished countless cigarette packets. But nothing worked. It was still a fresh scar slashed into his mind with Hakey's blood oozing out of it. He was the murderer. He walked through the streets in a daze. Fallig from one lampost onto another for support. Looking at the world through a blurry vision. He was a mess. Only two people had ever been able to pull him out of this state. Where he was stuck in a limbo between the Earth and Hell. One had been Haley... and the other, obviously, was Inanna. He tried to imagine her. Pulling him out of this labyrinth.

But he didn't have to...

"Sir... are you alright?"

A person approached his half-alive self.

"Inanna?"

Memory #9: Whenever Haley was down, Linda would sing to her. More than talking about it, Haley liked to drown her problems. After a while, just by observing her reaction to something bad, Linda was able to figure out what had happened. She was so familiar with her actions and movements that everytime something was unusual and Haley didn't bring it up, Linda would tug Haley into her and sing into her ears, her breath warming the tips of her esrs and her angelic voice, sending shivers down her spine. The voice that only Haley had heard.