Enigma

I spun around on the chair. The furniture in the room flashed by, but my mind stayed focused on one object; my computer. I had deleted every way that I had of contacting her. Part of me knew that it was wrong to just cut her out of my life completely. But I couldn’t help it. That night I had been so angry with her that I had to get rid of her. I just could not stand to think about her.

But it was all I had done since that moment.

“Fuck you.” I spat at the computer as I forced the chair to stop. It watched me as I glared at the screen, blaming it for my present frustration.

The phone on the desk buzzed loudly but I ignored it. I knew it would be Stacey. She had been calling me constantly for three days. I just couldn’t bring myself to answer them. I knew that if I did I would have to pretend that everything was okay, and that was something that I would not be able to handle right now.

I watched the phone as the vibrations caused it to dance across the desk. After a minute it was silent. It buzzed again. Stacey had left another voice mail. The urge to throw it out the window boiled under my skin and I groaned loudly. “Stupid, stupid, STUPID!” I slammed my hands down on the desk.

I clicked the internet icon aggressively and breathed deeply, struggling to contain this anger. When it finally loaded I typed in the address of the site on which Annette and I had first met. I was able to find her page with ease. But there was a new picture. It was of her and some guy. He was much taller than her and stooped slightly to wrap his arms around her. Her face was alight with happiness as they stood in each other’s arms. Her hair flew everywhere and they almost looked as if they were struggling to stand still.

The feeling of happiness was palpable, even though it was only a picture. I ground my teeth together. That has to be David. I hated him with a passion that was completely unreasonable. I had absolutely no reason to be as protective of her as I felt. There was absolutely no reason in the world for me to feel like going to Ireland at this very moment and kick him for even thinking about touching her.

I closed the webpage quickly and turned off the computer so that I wouldn’t be tempted to look at it again.

My phone buzzed and I picked it up.

“Where have you been?” Stacey’s anxious voice floated through.

Ha, as if she truly cares, I snarled mentally.

“At home.” I replied shortly.

“Why haven’t you been answering my calls? I’ve been worried about you.”

“Sorry, I lost it. I just found it now.”

“Whatever Marius.” I could hear that she was becoming impatient with me, but right now I couldn’t care less.

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. “Look, I’m sorry. Do you want to come over?”

There was a pause and I could hear her talking in the background. Probably conferring with one of her duplicates.

“Okay. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

“Okay.” I hung up before she could say anything else.

Ten minutes later the doorbell rang. I walked slowly down the stairs and opened the door for her. I stared in surprise. She wasn’t wearing make-up.

“You going to let me in or not?” She asked.

I stepped out of the way and closed the door behind her.

“So, do I get an explanation?” She turned and placed her hands on her hips.

I grabbed her hand and led her up to my room. She lay willingly on my bed and I sat on top of her. “I’m sorry for ignoring you.” I smiled at her, hoping she wouldn’t notice how insincere it was.

“As you should be.” She retorted. Maybe she could see right through me.

“I just haven’t been feeling good lately.” I leaned down and kissed her neck softly, just the way she liked it.

I could feel her trying not to respond, and failing. “Mmm?” Her fingers caught the bottom of my shirt and pulled it up my back. “And why would that be?”

“Doesn’t matter anymore.” I whispered, pushing every thought from my mind.