Unsuspecting Culprit

Chapter Six

You'd think Ray would have stayed awake the rest of that eventful night. But, nothing of the sort occurred. Not even two hours after typing whimsically away on her computer, heating her legs to a warmth that lulled her to sleep, she fell away into a dreamlike state. For once, she slept through the night. When daylight came spilling into the home, small dust particles circulating in the air, Ray's eyes fluttered open and she glanced around her living room carefully.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, the memories of the night before flood into her mind with intense blows. Her face scrunches up a bit before she realizes one thing. She let Charlene stay the night. Her eyes open up to the sight of her hung over friend slumped over the edge of the sofa. Charlene's arm dangles in the air, becoming cold to the touch throughout the night. Her mouth is slightly opened as slobber dribbles out onto the edge of the sofa.

Rayleigh feels a bubble of disgust come up through her stomach but she laughs at the sight. Despite the drool, she looks quite silly. Standing up quietly so as to not wake her drunken friend, Rayleigh tip toes to the wooden desk set along the wall farthest from her and places her laptop ever so gently down. Taking one last look behind her to Charlene, she then tip toes to the coffee pot waiting for her touch on the marble countertop.

~

"What the he-" Charlene says rubbing her head as she cringes at the filtering light around her. Ray laughs from her place in the recliner, sipping a steaming cup of freshly brewed coffee. Her friend glances her way and grimaces as the sun shines into her eye. Charlene's head spins and her voice is gruff from hours of being unused and coated with the contents of shot glasses.

Rayleigh decides it's probably best to avoid the incidents of last night. No use in worrying her friend who had only slight clues of what happened the night before. So, instead of bringing up the disheveled topic, she decides to talk with Charlene in in the simplest of small talk drinking hot coffee. Ray hopes the coffee will wake Charlene up enough to drive herself home. Hopefully enough to have Ray's head clear enough to walk into town to find her car she so incompetently forgot about as well.

"You think you're ready to go home? If you're not, I can drive you or you can spend some more time here just to get your head straight." Ray tells her friend, a little too hopeful on the first statement.

"Oh, um. Yeah. Shit, I should get home. I have shopping I have to do for Robby. He's going on a business meeting and told me he doesn't have much time so I'm left with a few errands." She begins to throw the blanket to the other side of her body and stands up shakily to her feet. Her head swivels and she again squeezes her eyes shut. The pounding is increasingly painful. Rayleigh quickly sets her mug on the coffee table and swiftly moves to her side.

"I'm going to walk you out to your car. Just for safe measures. Let's not slam our face into the steps as we descend to the ground below it, huh?" Rayleigh says hoping for some sort of chuckle or slanted smile from her. Charlene doesn't even respond.

After reaching the car, Ray helps Charlene into the driver's seat. She eases in slowly and readjusts the seat and mirrors.

"Are you sure you can drive?"

"Positive." Charlene says with a reassuring smile up at her friend. "I'll be fine. Maybe I just needed a little fresh air. I'll call you when I can." With that, Ray steps back, looks both ways as Charlene slams the car door shut and walks around the rear of the car to the front door. She glances back at Charlene and waves. Then Charlene's off to her own erratic life.

~

The cold air stings Ray's arm in soft, delicate pinches. She pulls her sweater closer to her body and shivers. She remembers the way the man touched her. Strangely enough, the only details she could sharply pin point were his hands and his height. Everything else seemed to fade away. His hands were at least twice the size of hers. They weren't soft. Only a rough surface with a few scars here and there. Nothing severe, might as well have been from changing car parts, scraping them on the sharp edges. Anything could be the cause but why should she care? He assaulted her. What's more intriguing?

Although it's only Saturday, Ray thinks it may be a good idea to get a start on that newspaper article about the woman who was taken in for questioning upon being accused of stealing a large sum of money from the local bank. She decides that today she'll work to keep her mind off things. Tomorrow she'll spend the afternoon relaxing with a book. First things first though; getting her car back.

~

Walking on the cracked sidewalk going into downtown Barrett, Minnesota, Rayleigh feels a pair of eyes on her. Just like before. She continues to walk as if she realized nothing. Her car is only a few hundred yards away, parked across the street from the music store where she left it. She takes a quick, risky glance behind her. A shadow moves out of view behind the edge of the building across the street. She almost wonders if she hardly saw anything at all.

Finally, she reaches her blue Toyota. Before getting in, she looks both ways. 1.) To look for anything out of the ordinary and 2.) To check for traffic. She climbs in once she sees nothing. Looking back over her left shoulder she checks for cars. As she turns her head back around, she sees him. He's there: her neighbor. Eyes dilated and body still, almost as though it's restricted of motion. Something lurks behind his look. Curiosity, maybe? Who knows? By the time she's thinking all this, her cars out on the road again, soon to be turned around to go back home.

Will he follow her all the way home like he did when she went grocery shopping? Or will he disappear like he usually does, leaving Rayleigh pondering his absence? As Ray drives, she repeatedly has the impulse to look back over her shoulder, expecting him to be there. But, he never is. She begins to feel a little crazed. He probably was never there in the first place, right? Right.

When she turns into her house on the left side of the street, she gawks at his house, unable to look away. His car's in the driveway. His Black Sonic Sedan Chevy. Sitting there as if it were never gone, staying in the same place all day. What the hell's going on? Rayleigh thinks to herself. She puts the car in park and turns back around after stepping out of her car. How the hell did he get back before I did?