Walking the Gallows ✔️

Chapter 7

The feeling of her lips was just as he had expected; soft. It wasn't wet or dry. It wasn't disgusting or overly complicated. It lasted an eternity, but it was something he had never known he needed. The feeling of her hands behind his neck and in his hair stuck with him as he drove back to his house. It was an addictive feeling having someone touch him. It had been a long time since anyone had wanted him to touch them back. It made him giddy to think about. He was so swept up in the romance, he hadn't realized how fast he was driving. Within half the time it usually took to get to her home, he was already pulling up into his driveway. The smile disappeared as he walked up to his front door.

Guiltily, he peaked at Earl's house. Nothing seemed different until he noticed deep tire tracks in the dirt. He didn't need Tony to tell him that the tires belonged to a police car. He wondered what the result of it all was. Maybe they had taken him away in handcuffs or he had confessed. Either way, he would know someone would have dobbed him in and he wouldn't have to think hard to know who it was. If there was ever a time in his life when he felt most unsafe, it would be the day that he was released from custody.

He made the decision to only water his garden at night. If Earl had come, he would only have the time to catch Andy during the day. It would more than likely make a negative effect on his backyard, but it was worth it if he was to avoid his neighbor at all costs.

It was the first time he had walked into the house smiling in a long time. Thoughts and worries of murderers were long forgotten while he stripped bare and took a bath. He didn't often take baths as showers were more effective. Something was different. For the first time in what felt like years, he was happy. Unlike small and temporary pleasures that would usually result in some kind of destructive backlash, everything was okay. It was as if Charlotte had taken his heart and mended it back into a single piece. It warmed him to know that she had that kind of affect on him and silently hoped that one day he could return the favor. She had made him happy from within.

The water wasn't warm to begin with but it was cooling quicker than he had expected. Despite it being summer, things seemed to always become colder quicker in the afternoons. His eyes started to see everything in a slight shade of blue. It was the sign telling him how tired he was. The slow movements and yawning came later. What he had expected to be a thirty-minute soak in the tub turned into a five-minute in-and-out. He cracked his neck uncomfortably and wrapped the towel securely around his waist.

His skin pinched unbearably with goose-bumps as he walked back to his bedroom. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as he reached the doorway. At the back of his mind, he knew his body was screaming to him to not go any further but he didn't know why. He stood in the hallway looking around with what felt like a stone in his abdomen. There was nothing else he could do. He stood almost completely naked debating with himself.

Almost nothing was different. Everything looked, felt and smelt the same way it had always been. Nothing should have been different, yet something was. Maybe nothing he would immediately notice, but something his body had picked up on the second he walked through his front door. He grasped the sides of his towel roughly in frustration.

There was a small noise coming from downstairs. At first, he jumped but considered it more likely to be Vin than an intruder. Still, he ran down the steps despite still being in his bath towel. The sunset glow was beaming through the backyard windows at the time, but other than that there was no other difference. He ran to the kitchen and had hoped to grab a meat cleaver. He instead settled for a bread knife after looking for it for about a minute.

"Hello?" His voice called out with a tremble as he stood with his knife held up and ready. He crept around the house calling quietly in each room, hoping to find the source of the noise and his unease. The entirety of the downstairs was almost cleared. He jumped suddenly at a crashing noise coming from the upstairs.