Comatose

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

                Angelica stood on shaky legs still surprised by her husband’s request.  Her doppelganger remained beside her a scowl marring her face as she stared off into the distance arms crossed against her chest.  While Angelica was stunned the other woman was visibly angry.  Angelica’s own reaction to the news was disconcerting.  She thought her revelations over her marriage would have hardened her heart a little.  Clearly she still had some distant feelings for the man she was married too.

                “We need to get this started.”  Her subconscious stated matter of fact.

                “Because of Kevin?”  Angelica asked knowing there was a slim chance he could figure out a way to get what he wanted.

                “There is that, but I was thinking more about those flowers.  It’s possible they’re from the person that tried to take your life.  If he’s already figured out you’re alive, then we’re running out of time.  Kevin may not have to find a way to end your existence.”  Angelica shivered in fear at the thought of having been found.  She didn’t know how it was possible but what was done was done.

                “Let’s get started then.  The sooner the better.”  Angelica sighed the other woman nodding in the affirmative beside her.  The noise from her hospital room faded away until silence enveloped the two of them once more.

                “Remember what I told you.  Pick a memory and concentrate.”  Angelica nodded turning to face away from her subconscious.  The least amount of distractions she had the better.  Picking a point in time she fixated every thought on making it as clear as possible.  It didn’t take long before the fog around her began to stir pushing out away from her once again.  She closed her eyes to what was going on around her trying to maintain her focus. 

                It seemed to only take a small fraction of time.  Peaking out of one squinted eye Angelica confirmed she had done it.  Her eyes flew open in shock as she looked around her street in wonder.  She had decided to start in the more recent memories and work her way backwards.  If the killer has only been active for a short period of time she reasoned that it was more likely that she came into contact with him in her current day to day activities.  Angelica glanced around trying to gauge what day it was.  When she had picked her memory, it had been more about zeroing in on her routine then a specific time.  Clearly she hadn’t thought that part out very well.  She chastised herself for the oversight knowing she didn’t have the time to make such mistakes.

                Voices from across the street caught Angelica’s attention.  Her gaze moved to the Miller’s house just across from her own.  Ashley Miller was talking to the mail carrier that had their neighborhood as part of his route.  Angelica hustled across the street to get a better look.  When she reached the Miller’s front step she dismissed Mrs. Miller completely knowing without a doubt that the one who attacked her that night was a man and not a woman.  Angelica turned to face Mr. Peterson their mailman.  The height seemed right but she wasn’t entirely sure.  When her attacker approached her from behind that night she had seen his darkened image reflected in the window.  If she had to make an estimate of how tall he was she would say he had been around Kevin’s height.  She had come up to about where his chin would be which is where she stood next to her husband.  Facing the frozen postman Angelica came up to about his chin as well.  Backing up a little she took in his physique.  Mr. Peterson was in better shape then most for his age of 52.  He still was slightly rotund around the middle which she knew her attacker had not been.  Also, the skin of his hands while roughed had a younger feel to it.  She knew from experience from shaking Mr. Peterson’s hand in thanks many times before that his hands were more dried out then work roughened.  The skin on them was also looser causing the flesh that covered them to squish and move slightly with pressure.  Sagging in resignation Angelica let the scene move forward.  She didn’t know why she was so disappointed.  It wasn’t as if she had expected to stumble across him within the first memory she came to.  She also really didn’t want it to be Mr. Peterson.  He was a well liked and respected man in their community and Angelica had always thought of him as a genuinely nice guy. 

                As the postman walked back down the steps away from the house a mustang pulled into the Miller’s driveway.  Angelica looked at it with interest waiting for the driver to vacate his car.  Ashley had turned to go back into her home but stopped upon seeing her oldest pull in.  A lanky young man exited the car heading across the grass to the house.  Ashley smiled at Kyle welcoming him home.  It wasn’t like Angelica could hear the words but knew she had witnessed the scene from across the street.  Glancing at her own home she found herself sitting on the steps with a glass of water waiting for Mr. Peterson to deliver the mail.  She saw herself waving at Mrs. Miller before turning her attention back to the postman’s progress.  Angelica turned her attention back to the person she was waiting on as well.  She was just in time as Kyle bounded up the steps to give his mom a hug.  She thought he was a sweet young man.  She knew there weren’t many teenage boys his age that would have willingly done such a thing.  Her own included.  That had changed after her children moved away to college though.  Now whenever they visited they both gave her a hug as often as they could while they were there.  Heck even her children’s best friends had gotten into the habit.  When Kyle stood back up Angelica frowned.  She didn’t have to freeze the area this time to know he hadn’t been the culprit.  She came up to Kyle’s chest making him much taller than her attacker.  She watched as mother and son entered their home closing the door behind them.  Angelica crossed Mr. Miller from her list of suspects as well.  She knew that Chris was 6’0” tall but she was looking for someone around 5’11”.  Moving away from the house she walked to the middle of the street.  Turning in a circle she viewed her neighborhood through jaded eyes.

                Starting from the end of her side of the street and working clockwise Angelica ticked off her neighbors one by one.  First, there was Harry and Florence Clark.  She didn’t give Harry a second thought though.  Not only was he too old at 72 years of age but he was built like a scarecrow.  There was no way he could have held her down that night if it had been him.  Next, was Blake Walker one of her next-door neighbors.  He was a single guy living alone, 27 years old, a mechanic by trade, and around the same height as Kevin.  He definitely fit the bill.  However, he was one of those sweet shy guys that was always willing to lend a helping hand when needed.  She had seen him more than once rush to the aid of one of the more elderly residents to help carry in groceries or scoop their walks.  Any time she had seen him out she would wave and smile at him.  He was always quick to wave in return giving her a shy smile.  On the other hand, he wasn’t one of the more sociable neighbors either.  Partly because he worked late at the garage and partially because she had always assumed he was too shy to approach others.  Blake kept to himself as well.  When she did manage to engage him in conversation he never spoke much about himself.  When asked a direct question he always gave as short of an answer as possible.  In the past she thought him to be a very private person but maybe it was more.  Turning her attention to the house on the other side of her own she crossed them off as well.  John and Danielle Richardson.  They were a couple in their thirties.  That was the only thing that worked for her list but everything else about John Richardson didn’t fit.  He was a lawyer by trade, so he didn’t have callouses on his hands, at least not the kind she had felt on her attacker.  He was an African American with skin darker than just a healthy tan in color.  He was also over six feet tall.    Next to them was the Anderson family.  Justin and Michelle were the youngest couple on the block.  Both being in their twenties.  Justin however was too short to be her attacker that night.  Angelica was able to look him nearly eye to eye, he just wasn’t tall enough.

                Turning to the other side of the street she began her list again.  The first house was Grace Flores.  She was a 32-year-old single woman.  While she had the right skin color, she was the wrong gender.  Just before she moved onto the next house however Angelica saw someone leaving Grace’s place.  She quirked an eyebrow in curiosity as she watched a young man saunter down the steps while putting his shirt back on.  Grace leaned against her front doorway in her short silk robe blowing him a flirtatious kiss goodbye.  When the young man turned down the sidewalk Angelica gasped.  She watched James as he walked down past Helen Collins’ house, past the Miller’s house, until he finally started up the walk to his own.  James Hill was a 22-year-old kid with no future plans in life.  His parents paid all his bills for him and as far as Angelica could remember he didn’t have a job either.  He was outgoing and charismatic; people were always hoovering around him.  Like Blake he was helpful to the neighbors that lived on their street but after seeing what he and Grace had been up to she doubted he helped for the same reasons Blake did.  While Angelica had felt bad to place Blake Walker on her suspect list she had no such qualms about putting James on it.  He was athletic, tan, and the right height.  Perhaps she found him a bit of a creep as well now too. 

                The last house on the street belonged to George Howard.  He was a 78-year-old crotchety elderly man.  While he didn’t get along with any of the people on the block, and she would love to add him to her suspect list he was too old and too short to make the cut.  Not to mention he had a permanent stoop to his stature due to a hump on his back.  He was a mean old man but not the culprit she was looking for.  As she was staring at his home a car pulled up with the logo of the local grocery store on the door.  A teenage boy exited and rushing to the trunk to retrieve a box of groceries.  It was Nate Murphy.  A local teen that made grocery deliveries to the elderly in their town.  Hustling up the steps Nate’s foot had just connected with the top one when the door was pulled open.  Apparently old Mr. Howard had been watching for the poor kid to show up.  He moved to the side allowing Nate to enter with his parcel scowling at the boy for who knows what reason.  She watched as Nate walked in front of Mr. Howard noting that the two of them were around the same height.  She mentally crossed Nate off her list as well.  That was everyone that lived or came to her neighborhood on a regular basis.  Well except for Joshua Perry their paperboy.  He was 10 years old and Angelica was certain the kid wasn’t even close to five feet tall yet.  Not someone even worth considering a suspect. 

                Turning to look down the street Angelica watched herself as she placed something into old lady Collins’ mailbox.  It was probably a piece of mail.  Mr. Peterson, while a nice and prompt postman was constantly delivering mail to the wrong houses.  It wasn’t the first time Angelica had to redeliver something that had ended up in her mailbox instead.  She watched as her memory self went rushing back across the street paying little attention to the road.  Helen Collins had a disposition similar to Mr. Howard and was always spying on the block along with her cat.  The two made a creepy pair.  At any time of day, you could usually catch either one or both watching out the front window.  It always gave her the willies.  Angelica shivered while looking at the house.  As she thought about it she laughed humorously to herself.  What she didn’t like about the elderly woman before she now wished she could pick the old woman’s brain for.  Shaking her head to herself Angelica was startled out of her inner musings by the blaring of a car horn.  She whipped her head back to her past self as she watched her duck her head in apology while waving her hand in thanks to the driver for stopping.  Angelica froze the scene just as her past self made it to the other side of the street.  Scowling, Angelica glared at the car.  She was bound and determined to at least see who almost ran her over.