Snaked🐍

Chapter Nine

I ended up going to work, dragging my feet across the floor everywhere I walked and unintentionally giving people looks that could kill. I just wasn't in a mood that screamed rainbows and sunshine and every little thing seemed to be getting on my very last nerve.

I'm a real estate agent at one of the best known agencies in the city and I'm forever piled up with work. Usually I get my assistant, Kayla to do all my filing and post in reports to the head of management. Suffice to say, I'm not very good at my job. I mean, well, I am, I'm just very lazy and now that I just slept with Carter, my body seems to have gotten lazier. Not too lazy for him, oh God, he's on the menu every day of the week and - NO. I'm doing it again, aren't I? My apologies.

It was a long bore of a day to say the least and on top of it all, Kayla was extra bubbly because she had just got engaged. Don't get me wrong, I was really happy for her, but my face would beg to differ.
"Do you want to catch the special at Toté Nouz after work?"
Kayla asked, looking very hopeful.
That was something we'd do once or twice a month, when the prices were extra good. We'd go to Toté Nouz even though it was about a half hour away, and we'd sit there for hours on end eating everything edible we could afford. Sometimes, if the special was on a weekend, we'd get pissed and stay the night at the nearest hotel. It was quite the life, if I do say so myself.
Except today I just wasn't in the mood for Toté Nouz. All I wanted was to go home, take a long shower and climb into bed.

"Maybe some other time, Kay." I brushed her off.
"No, no, no!" Kayla smacked my arm. "You've been blue all day. What you need is a real afternoon out. It'll be a hectic weight off your shoulders."
Kayla had a point. Maybe going out would help me forget about the shit-hole that was my life for a few hours.
"Okay, fine." I rolled my eyes. "Just until seven, no later."
Kayla was thrilled that she had convinced me to do something other than my compulsory work.
As we got closer to Toté Nouz, I took the thought of Carter and pushed it to the back of my mind, found some old debris and placed it in front so it would be almost impossible to reincarnate. For the next few hours I had hoped.

"Look at all these nasty photographs." Kayla made a face as she pointed to an article in the newspaper.
'Suspect sentenced to five (5) years behind bars for attempted murder of ex partner'
There was a picture of a lady who looked slightly familiar but I just couldn't put my finger on it. Ragged, fawn hair, thick eyebrows. Even the shape of her mouth looked familiar.
"I know her from somewhere." I said to Kayla.
"Ehh." Kayla shrugged back. "She probably just has one of those faces."
I highly doubted there were many other people who looked like her. She was like a bat out of hell.

I began reading the rest of the article.
'Victim prefers to remain anonymous to the public.'
I moved my finger further down the page like a cursor.
'Jessica Marricks.' It had read.
I knew that I had heard that name before but I didn't make it a big deal. I decided to go along with Kayla's statement. Maybe it was all just an innocent case of deja vu... but that's not what it felt like. I thought there was a darker secret behind Jessica Marricks. Something I had kept locked away in my sub conscious. I really wasn't sure at that moment but I was going to find out.

It was really hard to focus on anything, though, because just as I thought I was going to have a mystery case of my own to solve, the debris perished and Carter's face invaded my head. He was always there. I was losing myself. Slowly but surely, I was losing the only sanity I had left.