Their Next Chapter

Chapter 15

A week had gone by and things were quiet on the front of Don and Meryl's stalker; eerily quiet. Andy Malone, their Private Investigator, didn't have any luck on tracking this mysterious man down. Don and Meryl were basically staying in their apartment. They both were so glad all of the kids were out of town; they were constantly checking on them to make sure they were okay. Don and Meryl were barely apart; neither of them left the apartment without the other. Don knew he was probably driving her crazy but he didn't really care. He was terrified on Halloween when he couldn't get ahold of her and realized that his delivery was a ruse. This is just how it would be for now. They were extremely jumpy but were still trying to live their lives as much as possible.

***

Don was in the office working on billing and his website; while Meryl was reading the script for her next movie, August Osage County. She threw her script down. She had to do something outside of the apartment. She looked at the clock and realized it was nearing on her scheduled pool time. She had the apartment pool reserved for her, and Don when he joined her, several times a week when they weren't in Connecticut for her to use their pools there. It had been a week since Meryl had swam her laps and she was missing it. She decided enough was enough.

***

Don was sitting in the office trying to focus on updating his website as rain started to pelt the windows causing him to jump. He shook his head. He and Meryl were so jumpy; and he hated it was like this again. He kept telling himself it was all for her safety, as well as their family's, and that was most important. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard her voice behind. "Don Man; I'm going swimming."

"What?" Don asked as he swiveled around in his chair to look at her. "What do you mean you're going swimming?"

Meryl sighed as she stood there in a cotton dress covering up her swimsuit, flip flops and her towel thrown over her shoulder. "I need to do something. I feel like we're just sitting here waiting for something to happen. I miss swimming my laps. It's almost my regularly scheduled time. I'll just be downstairs. And I have my phone." Meryl said showing it to him.

"I'll come with you." Don said turning around to close his laptop.

Meryl shook her head as she stopped him from closing his laptop. "Baby, I love you're so concerned but we need to live our lives. I'll just be downstairs; this building is incredibly safe. How bout you come down and join me when you're finished? You haven't been going to the gym or playing golf because of all this."

"Okay." Don sighed as she bent down to kiss his lips. He knew she was worried that he hadn't been getting his exercise in. "I'll join you in a bit. Please be safe and call if you need ANYTHING."

Meryl ran her fingers through his hair. "I'm 10 floors away; right under you."

"Where you like to be." Don winked.

Meryl kissed him one more time. "Always. See you soon."

Don watched her walk away and was filled with dread. "The fucking website can wait." He then got up to go get dressed.

***

Meryl was swimming laps when all of a sudden the lights went out and she heard some sort of explosion. She immediately got out of the pool to try and find her phone for the flashlight but she couldn't. She then heard another explosion and she was transported to 30 years again when she and Henry were held captive, in the dark, by Kevin Mann. She was terrified he was in there with her and would beat her and torture her like he did then. She started crying as she tried to open the door over and over.

***

Don was walking towards the pool in the basement of the apartment building when the lights went out. When he got up to the door he saw his wife crying as she was struggling with the door. He then heard another explosion. Something was NOT right. Don was praying whoever was after her wasn't involved. He ran to the door and tried to use his key card to get in. He couldn't get it open. He knocked on the door and she jumped. "Baby, I'm here. My key isn't working. Open it up, sweetheart."