Trapped

Chapter 3: Where it All gets Confusing

Twenty minutes away Anastasia sat at the top of her bed, her back leaning against the pillows and face buried in her hands as angry tears rolled down her face. Her face felt swollen and hot. Her palms started to hurt from the constant pressure of fingernails digging into them. But she didn't care. She had cried out all her tears over the past hour and now just sat staring at her lap. She balled her fists up again, smacking the nearest pillow. "That helped' she thought sarcastically as she continued to beat the pillow until she felt the anger seeping out of her. Finally she picked it up and chucked it as hard as she could across the room where it hit the wall with a smack. Then she threw another, and another, until all her fancy decorative pillows were in a mess on the floor. She breathed heavily, then slumped back down against the now almost bare headboard.

She jumped when she heard knocking at the front door, hard and fast. She knew it was too late for it to be any of her friends, and her parents were out of town until the end of the week. "Maybe it's Julian" she thought. Her heart ached with the longing to see Julian's face. She checked the alarm clock on her bedside table, "11:30" it read. As she walked cautiously to her bedroom door she noticed her appearance in the mirror; disheveled, with puffy eyes and red cheeks. "Good", she thought to herself, "if it is Julian he should feel bad and if it's not maybe I'll scare the person off". 

The knocking kept coming, getting quicker and more frantic. Anastasia felt like her own heartbeat was trying to match the beat of it, yet she continued creeping closer to the door. Stepping lightly across the carpeted hallway she stepped up to the peephole. "Please be Julian", she thought, "It's not Julian" her brain fought back. She felt like her brain and her heart were locked in a battle that could only be won or lost by looking through the hole. She steeled her courage and looked through, then stumbled back in confusion and worry when she saw Eric standing there looking scared and lost, covered in dirt, a tear in his black shirt.

She flung the door open so quickly Eric almost continued his knocking on her head and instead had to jump back in surprise. He stood there like a deer in headlights for a moment, the two taking each other in. Eric had thought of Anastasia a lot this past year that her and Julian had been together. But seeing her now, with messy hair that fell down past her shoulders onto her blue "Hailstorm" Tshirt she wore as a night dress, he would be content to stare at her for hours.

"Can I come in?" He asked, looking over his shoulder again for good measure. Something told him he would be doing that for a long time yet. Not for the cops, Eric could handle them. After all, he knew all too well how worthless they really were. No, it was Julian he was looking out for. Julian, who thought Eric was the new kid on the block excited to learn from "the master". Who thought Eric had tripped him by accident or out of fear. Who thought the alarms had accidentally gone off, or the police just happened to be nearby. Who would show no mercy if ever found out otherwise.

"Um, yeah sure" she said quietly, her voice was scratchy and Eric could see that she had been crying. She led him down a hallway and into her bedroom. Eric had imaged what it would look like, planning this moment when things would click into place. He saw a messy bed in the corner, decorative pillows strewn around the room; a long dresser covered in jewelry boxes, small figurines, and photos of her, with a large mirror attached to the wall above it. He lingered on every photo of her for a single moment before continuing his sweep of the room. He looked at her and realized she was talking, but his ears weren't working and it sounded like he was underwater.

"Are you okay?" Anastasia asked again. Eric didn't look great and it almost seemed like he was ready to topple over at any minute. Anastasia was suddenly embarrassed by all the mess she'd caused only moments ago, and then remembered the fact that she was still red and puffy, and wearing nothing but a large shirt meant for sleeping in. "Why don't you sit down? I'll go get you some water and change into something else real quick", she closed the door and walked toward the kitchen. After grabbing a glass of water she walked into the laundry room, grabbed an extra pair of sweatpants to go under her shirt and slipped them on. As she was walking back her mind tried to wonder why Eric was here and acting so strange, but it felt so numb after everything that had happened today. When she stepped back into her bedroom Eric had sat himself on the edge of the bed and already looked a bit more aware of his surroundings.