What They Deserve

FORTY-TWO

He noticed the color drain from her face. She had stood and turned to face him, a sheen of sweat glistening across her forehead.

"Thought you might like some breakfast. You were dead to the world when I came in." He held up the tray of food and made his way to the living room. His smile faded when he noticed that she had a weary look and she didn't break eye contact with him. She seemed skittish.

"I...I had another nightmare." Bailey swallowed hard, as if it took a lot of effort.

"What was it about?" He stood, unsure if he should try to reach out and comfort her, not even sure if he wanted to know what she'd dreamt about. With the way she was acting, he feared he wouldn't like the answer.

"You."

Shock made him feel numb. "Me?"

She only nodded.

He watched her eyes change from fear to what looked like hatred. The worry he'd been feeling since the initial newscast turned into trepidation about their relationship. "What...what happened?"

Bailey took a deep, shaky breath. "You killed a woman. I didn't know it was you until now. But you stabbed her repeatedly."

He squeezed his eyes shut. For a moment, he thought she was talking about reality, but realized that she was telling him about her nightmares.

"The next one, you found me at Sasha's and tried to stab me with an ice pick. I woke up just before..."

A strangled sob was the only noise he could make.

"And this one...you were here. You...you had a knife and...you were going to..." Her chest heaved, her eyes watered.

"Bailey, I would never hurt you." He reached out to her, but didn't dare step forward.

She flinched at his outstretched hands and took several steadying breaths. "But someone else?"

His lips quivered, knowing he wouldn't be able to lie to her.

"Those women on the news are from the same place you moved from. You can't deny the worried looks you've had every time you watched the news. Who looks worried about someone they don't know getting murdered? You changed the channel too quickly. And these nightmares I'm having...why are they of you? And you're a murderer in them? Why?" Her body shook, her tears stained her cheeks. Her voice had risen the longer she'd spoken.

"I thought I knew you." She breathed, shaking her head in what felt like slow motion.

"You do." It came out weak and he knew she was past the point of believing anything he had to say.

"I...How many others have there been? Sasha?" Her voice cracked as she asked about her best friend.

He couldn't look her in the eyes again. He knew that if he did, he would break. She already knew. He couldn't give her the confirmation she wanted.

"I can't...I can't do this." Bailey wailed, her body shaking as she struggled to contain herself.

"If that's how you feel..." He managed to barely speak. Before either of them could say another word, he turned away and left, closing the door without a sound.

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He did everything he could to make it seem like he'd never existed. It was only a matter of time before Bailey turned him into the police. And she had a picture of his face on her phone. It was going to be impossible to hide now.

But he couldn't bring himself to leave.

Whether she knew he was close or hundreds of miles away, didn't matter to him. He only needed to see her.

But weeks went by and there was no story on the news or in the papers about him. Bailey had gone to the police, so why wasn't anyone looking for him?

Instead, there were stories about Sasha and an estimate of when she'd gone missing. The police were searching for her, but there were no leads.

He watched Bailey and mourned their relationship. He missed her more than he thought could ever be possible.

And he imagined she felt the same. There had been several occasions he'd seen her staring at her phone. She'd swipe slowly and wipe at her eyes before lying down and crying. One night, he went into her house while she slept. When he looked at her phone, she had the picture of them, newly engaged, opened. He thought about deleting the photos, but then thought it might be best to just leave it all alone. He'd just broken into her house, after all.

Several months went by and all the stories had died down. Life seemed to move on except for the intense sadness he felt without being able to hold Bailey or tell her how much he loved her.

Life seemed to move on for her as well. She began dating a guy, but seemed reserved with him. She didn't laugh as much with this new guy. Or smile the way she had with him.

The selfish part of him was happy that she held back. But he wanted her to be happy. To make sure that he didn't do anything rash, he moved away.

It was while he sat at the counter of a small diner that he felt the need to punish return full force.

He turned his head enough to watch the woman shimmy out of her coat with more movement than was necessary. She flashed the man she was with a flirtatious smile, making sure to thrust her chest out as she sat down.

He turned away and smirked, ready to get started.