Eleanor's Demise ✔️

Chapter 18: I Believed Her

Adam couldn't shut his eyes. He hadn't slept for well over four days since it had passed Eleanor's one year mark. His eyes remained wide open just as they had for weeks.

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out.

"Babe, where are you?" Magdelene's familiar voice rose in a familiar disappointment. He had gotten used to it.

"Maggie, I'm on a business trip. I'll be back soon." Adam said, hoping the lie didn't sound forced through the telephone lines.

"Business trip?" Magdelene's voice rang sharply. "When will you be back?"

"A few months." Adam calmly replied, mentally preparing himself for the storm he had just unleashed.

"WHAT! Our wedding is in thirty-six days Adam! You can't go on a business trip for a few months! Adam are you even listening to me, honestly I feel like I put all the effort in our relationship and I can't deal with this right now. Call me when your brain is functioning!" Magdalene hung up. Adam sighed, rubbing his temples as he tossed the phone aside. He felt bad about neglecting her, but his mind had never been one to worry about that sort of thing.

Eleanor was never that obnoxious when he went on business trips. Sure she called a couple times but it was just to apologize, not tell him what an incompetent and heartless partner he was.

The street was frozen. The sky was frozen. Adam was frozen as he lay on Josiah's front lawn with his gaze lifted at the stars.

After Josiah told him what he had said, Adam didn't know what to think. He couldn't consider the possibilities because it hurt too much. Too damn much to realize his instincts were right. He had been right all along.

"Eleanor Carnegie, your wife, she..." Josiah took a long pause. "I don't know if this is accurate at all but..."

Adam sat patiently on the couch, studying the room. It had a familiar smell of the sweet pea perfume Eleanor had always worn.

That was probably the first factor that ticked away the eggshells of the lie.

"Six months ago, a girl showed up in this town. Her hair looked like a rat's nest and her eyes were such a vibrant blue. I was hooked instantly. She looked lost, so I wanted to help her."

Adam shut his eyes, trying hard not to imagine Eleanor. The room was dim besides the light coming in from the kitchen as the two men sat across from each other. Josiah seemed afraid, having even forgotten to change his clothing after church. He had offered tea for Adam or coffee even, but Adam refused his hospitality. Southerners could be so much more different than those from elsewhere.

"She said her name was Bree Walker. She said she was looking for a job and that she wanted to find a place to live. She didn't have any money with her. I wanted to help her- that's just how I had been raised. Help the poor and so good to those who hurt you was something my church taught me at an early age. I got her a job at lavela's bakery and we were happy. She was happy- telling me her dream job was to be a baker all along. But Bree... Bree always wore this really expensive-looking ring that she would always tell me was a family heirloom. It was stunning, it looked like it had been personally created for her, but since she said it was passed down, I believed her." Josiah looked lost in thought, staring at the open window from the dimly lit room. He didn't bother turning the lights on as Adam's breathing shallowed. He was putting two and two together- solving the equation that haunted his dreams.

"I knew something was up when she started dying her hair brown, she would use a portion of her income to pay for our rent and then another portion to buy hair dye. I loved her spontaneity. And I went along with it when one day she randomly told me that she wanted to visit New Jersey. I had no idea why she would want to do that. Honestly, I was always confused what Bree wanted. I would have expected her to want to go to Texas for her family. But she insisted. And in the moment, we packed a few bags, got in my car and drove to New Jersey

And when we arrived, we first went to a coffee shop." Josiah turned to look at Adam, Adam who was looking at his feet and locked in the hole of his mind. He wondered if Adam was annoyed at the detail of his story, if he wanted to know everything leading up to Bree's discovery. Adam remained silent, he didn't even sound like he was breathing at this point.

"She was infatuated with you. Bree, she kept her eyes trained on any TV station that featured you. You were her only obsession and I just couldn't understand why. She passed it off as just a celebrity crush and I believed her. It was perfectly normal for a girl to like a wealthy attractive man so I didn't care too much about it."

Adam's gaze met Josiah, a tear slipping as he turned back to train his eyes on the carpeted ground. Letting the thoughts of Eleanor invade him. Letting her scent envelope his being.

He wasn't sure who this Bree character was, but he was willing to find out. Still confused about how she had Eleanor's ring or even if the ring was a family heirloom. He wasn't in the mood to talk, he just wanted to know how Bree had Eleanor's ring. Perhaps Bree had been the one who had stolen Eleanor's body.

He had to find Bree and put an end to her charades.

"I met Bree." Adam finally spoke, interrupting Josiah's focused train of thought. "I would walk every night to the road, the stupid cross roads that Eleanor had finished herself off. I... She talked to me. I can't remember what we talked about. I just remember thinking about how familiar her voice sounded but she wouldn't look at me." Adam couldn't put two and two together. He didn't want to make that sort of jump and realize that he had been wrong. He needed Josiah to confirm his thoughts.

"She told me she was going for a walk." Josiah replied, then went back to his expressionless daydream. "She didn't sleep that night. Or any night there for that matter. Actually she stayed up to watch you on television, I'd wake up around three a.m and she'd be replaying a clip of you smiling. It made no sense- I thought she loved me. I didn't know Bree had such a huge crush on you or even how or why until she told me. She told me she did something really bad and she basically blew her cover. But I had no clue what she was talking about. She told me I knew too much and asked me to keep her secret.

No I didn't believe her until this crazy detective broke into my hotel room and knocked me out. It was when I woke up that the i.o.u letter she had left me was gone. But I'm getting way ahead of myself. "

"What did she say?" Adam shook, his heart beat steadily in his chest as he waited for the words to be spoken.

"When she came back, she told me, and it's crazy to even believe it but she was very anxious to leave. And when I asked she had trouble telling me."

"What did she want from you?" Adam interrupted again, his interest peaked and it felt like the earth was shaking, his mind was, in hindsight, the only stable thing, but a horrible headache took over. He felt his head pulsating in his mind.

"Nothing. I has no clue what she wanted from me. I loved Bree until she told me what was the truth- who she was- and how her existence was basically a lie." The cold words burned Adam's mind and he felt like he could just faint.

"What? Just spit it out." Adam's patience was running out.

"Patience Mr. Carnegie. She asked me to keep her secret so that's what I am doing. I will, however tell you that she left me minutes after she told me. I have no idea where she went or what she did. Come to think of it, I never truly knew her. She seemed to always be on the lookout for herself. I..."

"What. Did. She. Tell. You?" Adam hissed, anger filling the voids in his dark brown tried eyes. Josiah had to make a decision. To either keep the important secret of a woman he knew nothing about but loved or to tell her heartbroken husband that she was still alive. Either way couldn't end well- seeing Adam act this way made him feel like a liar in need of confession.

"She..." Josiah contemplated for a second whether he should tell the man in front of him the secret that Eleanor had him promise to keep. But then again, she may have a new costume by now. She may be some completely different person now. And without further delay, Josiah's decision had been made as Adam's mind swiveled in circles.

"Bree Walker. . . She didn't wear a family heirloom. She wore a ring and she took it off once because she didn't want to lose it. Inside, it read: Adam, my love. I know what that means now."