Chapter 1

2539 Words
Chapter 1                   Angelica splashed through the puddles quickly as she hurried towards the movie theater entrance trying to get out of the rain.  The weather outside tonight matched her mood perfectly, angry.  Tonight, had been her and her husbands regular weekly date night but he had cancelled at the last minute to go to dinner with clients.  It wasn’t the first time he had done this, and it probably wouldn’t be the last either.  It wasn’t even the fact that he had changed his plans that had her fuming but the fact that she had just spent two hours dressing up for tonight and then he waits to call until five minutes ago.                 “Is it so hard to be even a little considerate once in a while?”  She muttered out loud the sound of the thunder drowning out her words as lightning forked across the sky.  Picking up the pace she reached for the lobby door.  They were originally planning on watching the new romantic comedy, but she wasn’t in the mood for that tonight.  Not now anyway.  Making her way over to the ticket booth she took out one of the tickets she had already purchased earlier in the week.  Hopefully they would let her exchange it for the horror movie that was playing instead.  A little nonsensical violence was just what she needed right now.                  “Hi, I bought this ticket earlier in the week and I was wondering if I could change the movie to the other one instead?”  Angelica smiled her most flirtatious smile at the teenage kid manning the ticket booth while batting her eyelashes at him.  She wasn’t the most gorgeous creature to ever live but for a 45-year-old housewife she did clean up pretty well.  Especially since she had put extra effort into her appearance for the night.  So what if it had originally been meant for her husband.  His loss was her gain, especially if it got her the movie ticket she wanted.  She didn’t make a habit of flirting with other people.  It usually made her feel weird to do it to anyone other than her husband Kevin, but tonight she was making an exception.                  With a shy smile of his own the kid exchanged her ticket for her telling her to have a nice time.  If only he knew she planned on transplanting the face of her errant husband on every victim in the movie.  She would have a nice time indeed.  Taking the ticket from his offered hand she gave him one more award-winning smile, this one was genuine, before moving off to get snacks.  The best part about Kevin bailing on her was that she wouldn’t have him hoarding all the popcorn.  Heck maybe she felt like candy instead and would actually be able to get it.  Maybe, she would go wild and get a full dinner of nothing but junk food from the concession stand and just skip out on eating out.  After all Kevin wasn’t with her tonight she could do as she liked for once without having to think of someone else.  When was the last time that happened?  Try as hard as she could she just couldn’t recall the last time she put her own wants first.  With that epiphany in mind she approached the counter prepared to go all out on herself.                 Carrying her armful of goodies away she chuckled to herself.  The look on the teenager’s face as she ordered popcorn with extra butter, three different kinds of candy, a pickle, nachos, and a big gulp had been classic.  So what if she was dressed up like she was going to a five-star restaurant later, she was going to pig out and enjoy every minute of it.  Angelica admitted she would probably have the world’s largest gut ache the next morning, but it would be worth it.  She may even skip her daily exercise routine tomorrow just because she felt like going on a mini rebellion.  Who was to stop her from doing so anyway?  Her husband?  Not likely.  He probably wouldn’t even notice, too busy regaling her with talk of his business dinner to really notice her.  If she didn’t fix his breakfast before work, that he would notice.  She chuckled to herself debating the possibility of doing just that.  She nixed the idea after lightly entertaining the thought for a brief time.  While it would gratify her to take a small dig at him for ditching her tonight, she knew she would feel bad about it not long after.  She was such a push over when it came to her family.  After all both of her kids were grown and in college and she still called them everyday an hour before their first classes to wake them up.                  Deciding on a seat near the front of the theater Angelica settled in with her bounty of junk food kicking her heels off and tucking her feet beneath her.  Thank goodness for yoga or she would have gotten stuck just trying to do something she used to do with ease in her youth.  Maybe she wouldn’t skip out on her exercise tomorrow after all.  Who knows what condition she would be in in a couple days if she didn’t keep at it?  Besides she liked to stay active.  She always felt slightly physically ill if she didn’t take care of herself.  Just one of the many joys that came with growing older.  She kind of missed the days when she could lay around all day or stay up all night and not suffer the consequences later on.  Then again, maybe the way her body was now in middle age was the consequences for enjoying her youth, a little too much sometimes.  It’s a good thing she settled down as she had gotten older.  While she missed the days of ease when she was younger, she also enjoyed the things that came with growing up and maturing.  When she was younger, she would have never been allowed to do what she was doing at this exact moment.  Anticipating a horror movie while pigging out in front of everyone who joined her in the theater and not giving a damn what they thought about it either.  Angelica curbed her thoughts as the opening credits scrolled across the big screen.  Even though her night had started out unsatisfactory she found she was actually enjoying herself quite a bit.  She might even forgive her husband by the time the movie was done with.                 The movie had been just what Angelica had needed to calm her anger.  She was feeling much better after watching two hours of gore followed by the predictable ending of good saving the day.  She took her time putting her stuff together and retrieving her shoes where she had left them.  The rest of the patrons seemed to be in a bit of a rush as they swarmed the isles resembling sheep in a shoot on their way out the door to the lobby.  Normally she would be in line with them as Kevin hated to wait in the rows when he could hurry to get out.  She usually had to rush to keep up with him but not tonight.  She grinned as she lazily put her heels back on.  Tonight, she got to take as much time as she wanted, and she fully intended to make the most of it.  Getting up from her seat she stretched working the kinks out that had settled in her joints from being stationary for too long.  She looked around her seat making sure she had gathered up all of her trash.  She realized that the theater employed people to clean up after each showing but she always felt bad if she left a mess behind.  Kevin never seemed to have such qualms though.  Maybe it was because he knew she would gather it up for him.  She rolled her eyes realizing that it was entirely possible that that was what he expected.                  Angelica returned the grateful smile of the usher that had come in with a trash can, broom, and dustpan.  Poor kid, she thought, she hoped the theater paid her enough to clean up after so many people.  After depositing her trash properly, she made her way to the theater entrance putting her light dinner jacket on as she went.  Once outside she took in a deep breath of cleansing air.  She always loved the smell after it rained.  A sense of calm would always settle over her in the quiet that seemed to drape over the atmosphere following a good hard rain.  It was still lightly drizzling out but was not where the raging storm it had been when she had ventured out for the night.  She listened to the little patters as the small drops of water hit the puddles that littered the street and near by parking lot.  There was a type of peace that came with being out in the rain.  She soaked in the feeling as she made her way to her car that was parked in the parking lot just a street over.                  On her solitary walk she contemplated if she was feeling hungry after her junk food binge or not.  After all it wouldn’t hurt to hit a fast food drive through on the way home.  She definitely wouldn’t want to cook anything after getting settled in for the night anyway.  She wouldn’t want to come back out either but would rather snuggle into the overstuffed sofa with a nice throw, a comfy pair of sweats, and a good book to read while the pattering of rain drifted in an open window.  It sounded like heaven and a good end to her otherwise rotten date night.  The kids were home from college for the summer but would be out with friends for the night and Kevin would probably stay out late as well.  She would have the whole house to herself.  Well her and her six-year-old german shepherd Cooper.  If no one else appreciated her at home at least the dog did.  He was always so excited whenever she came home, he would greet her at the door wagging his tail in excitement.  The rest of them may take her for granted but at least Cooper always looked forward to spending time with her.  They had originally gotten him for protection for her on her morning runs.  Instead of going with a breeder however they had gone to the pound to look for one that needed a home.  They hadn’t even known what they wanted to adopt but she had told Kevin they would know the perfect dog for them when they saw it.  Cooper had been owned by someone who had neglected him and left him outside all the time having very little interaction with him other than to feed him.  When she found herself a fiancé Cooper had to find himself a new home as the woman’s fiancé didn’t like large breed dogs.  When Angelica saw him, she was a little off put with his breed and size as well, but when she really looked at him her heart had gone out to him.  By the time they left they were proud owners of one special needs animal though they hadn’t known it at the time.                  Cooper had stomach issues, something they weren’t told when they got him and only figured out when he started doing impressions of the exorcist in the backyard.  It took some research to figure out what the problem was, but after they put him on the appropriate diet and limited any extras he got, that problem straightened itself out.  Although, he has such a touchy stomach that if he gets overly excited, he will cause himself to throw up.  Then there were the abandonment issues he came with.  He was so afraid of being left alone outside that he would stay stuck to the person’s side he went out with.  Angelica found she had to run laps around her own backyard just to get him to exercise.  And he hated thunderstorms.  His first storm after being adopted sent him into a full-blown panic attack.  She had never seen a dog where their eyes turned completely white with fear.  It had freaked her out to see that the first time and she panicked right along with the dog.  Through trial and error, they found him calming treats that wouldn’t make him sick and helped to keep him calm.  Although cuddling with his owners worked well too.  After they had had him for a year, and he got use to his new family he slowly came out of his shell.  While he still had trouble with big thunderstorms, he was otherwise a healthy and very happy 100 lb. dog.  If she hadn’t witnessed all the things he went through that first year she wouldn’t have believed it herself.  Cooper was a completely different dog than the one they had first adopted.  She was glad they were able to give him the loving home he deserved.  Thinking about her big-hearted companion waiting for her back home Angelica decided she would make the trip to a fast food place.  She would get some greasy fries for herself and a flame broiled patty for Cooper.                 Keys in hand Angelica smiled to herself as she thought about Coopers reaction to his treat when she gave it to him.  A contented smile graced her face as she made her way over to her sedan in the lot.  Plan in place she couldn’t wait to get back to the comfort of her home and her four-legged companion.  Angelica was so caught up in her inner thoughts that she hadn’t noticed that she was alone in the parking lot.  The noise of the other movie goers long since falling away as she had taken her time getting to her car.  Nor did she notice the human figure that peeled away from the shadows of the nearby building as she passed it on her way to the parking lot.  She had been so wrapped up in her own little world that she hadn’t even noticed that someone followed her now as she walked across the pavement of the relatively empty lot.  She hadn’t even registered her own bodies growing alarm, so lost in her own thoughts of her upcoming quite night at home.  By the time she noticed something wasn’t right it was too late for her.  Her assailant was already on her just as she had reached her vehicle.  She barely caught a glimpse of the figure behind her before the pavement was rushing into her vision.  All she could think of was that the only one who would notice she wasn’t home was Cooper.
Free reading for new users
Scan code to download app
Facebookexpand_more
  • author-avatar
    Writer
  • chap_listContents
  • likeADD