Comatose

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

                Angelica made her way to the front door done watching the memory she was currently in.  She paused as she thought back to what happened in the kitchen.  She wasn’t sure now if she could pass through the exit or if she would collide with it if she tried.  She had clearly passed through the memory of herself earlier upon entering the house, but she was able to lean on both the fridge and the counter.  A little weary of the object Angelica slowly reached out her hand placing it firmly against the wood surface.  He hand hadn’t passed through it but meet with a solid obstacle.  Huffing out a breath she looked it over wondering how she was going to leave.  If she opened it would it change the memory making the occupants of the house think it was haunted?  She dismissed the thought outright chiding herself for the foolish notion.  What she did in her memories didn’t affect the outside world.  If she opened the door it wouldn’t just randomly open in real life.  At least she didn’t think it would.  If that were possible she would enjoy giving her husband a fright or two.  The likelihood was improbable which was only a little disappointing.

                Clearing her mind of all the useless thoughts she had been entertaining Angelica brought up her next memory.  Taking a firm hold of the knob Angelica pulled it open timidly looking beyond it with surprise.  Instead of the porch and yard she had half expected to find she found herself looking at the main street in her town.  She stepped over the threshold moving from one memory into another.  Glancing around she spotted her past self, rushing from shop to shop.  She was doing her daily errands of Kevin’s dry cleaning, picking up the mail, and shopping for the evening’s meal.

                Taking her time Angelica glanced about the area trying to see if anyone seemed overly interested in what she was doing.  Everyone she saw was either equally as busy or visiting with someone on the sidewalk.  As far as Angelica could see no one was paying any particular attention to her as she went about her business.  The only ones that had even acknowledged her were the people she herself greeted and waved to.  She had hoped to see someone, anyone that stood out but was sorely disappointed when everything was normal.  She didn’t want to have to keep going through every mundane memory trying to find the one person that would stand out.  Never mind that the task seemed utterly dull, but it would take too long to accomplish.  Time wasn’t something she had an abundance of anymore.  She watched as the memory of her vanished into the local supermarket.  Not wanting the entire thing to be the bust she feared it would be Angelica rushed across the street carefully avoiding traffic.  She didn’t want to know what would happen to her if she collided with a moving car. 

                Shuddering at the thought she rushed through the doors in behind another shopper that had just entered.  Rushing through the woman Angelica ran into the building after her memory not wanting to lose sight of her.  As she raced past the floral department she noticed that instead of the vibrant display of mixed bouquets all the of the vases were full of nothing but stark white lilies.  Her steps faltered as she took in the sight but pushed herself forward knowing she didn’t have the time to stand around gawking. 

                Angelica rushed down the eerily vacant aisles while the noise of dozens of shoppers surrounded her.  The disjointed messages she was receiving sent a shiver of unease through her.  She picked up the pace wanting to find where she was in the store so the market would right itself.  She just couldn’t handle the nightmarish version she found herself in much longer.  She had almost made it to the pet food aisle when a sound that shook her to her core had her freezing in her tracks.  The laughing seemed to echo all around her disorienting her as to where it was coming from.  She couldn’t mistake the noise, however.  She would never forget it as long as she lived.  It was the maniacal, gleeful laugh she had heard the very night she had been attacked.  Ice traveled though her veins as she realized that he was there.  He had been in the store that day.  Somewhere inside the supermarket was her killer and unless Angelica had seen him while she had been shopping that day she would be unable to find him. 

                She raced off frantically running through the building to find herself.  There was a small chance that she had noticed him, but any chance was worth it.  She finally came to the right place just as the memory of her was leaving it.  Angelica ran down the aisle zipping past the still figures of the patrons that were even now fading from sight.  Shivering slightly, she didn’t stop.  Careening out of the walkway to turn into the next one her eyes quickly moved about the vanishing figures hoping to find the one who was laughing.  They were disappearing to fast for her to take them all in however making the action a waste of effort.

                As she entered the next aisle she wasn’t watching where she was going.  She was getting used to being able to just walk right through everyone.  She passed right through herself only to be blocked by the shopping cart in front of her.  Angelica stood shocked by the abrupt stop.  The memory of herself was overlapping her form as it moved about taking what she needed from the shelf.  The visual was as if she had split herself in two to accomplish multiple tasks but since she was standing inside of the very memory of herself it shook and moved jerkily making Angelica nauseous.

                She stumbled away to put space between them.  As soon as she had the memory version solidified moving smoothly once more.  She was shaken and distracted by what had just happened.  She failed to notice the other shopper that was following behind her other version at first.  It was only after another customer moved their basket in the patron’s way that Angelica took notice at all.  She chastised herself as she looked the man over.  He was creepy to say the least.  The man was middle-aged and portly, stooping over with a slight hunch.  His clothing was wrinkled and a bit soiled.  He himself appeared unwashed.  The grease on his round face shone in the hash florescent lighting of the store as his beady dark gaze turned into a scowl directed at the person who got in his way. 

                Angelica glanced at herself who was mindlessly shopping a few feet away.  She couldn’t believe that she had completely disregarded the disturbance behind her that day.  Not for the first time she thought herself a fool.  She was sure that her creeper wasn’t the man who had attacked her that night, but it was clear that he hadn’t had good intentions either.  How many times in her life had she been oblivious to nearby danger and only escaped it by sheer luck?  Clearly it hadn’t been luck this time as someone had intervened to protect her.  She couldn’t make out the features of his face since Angelica didn’t see them herself at the time.  There was something overly familiar about her savior, however.  It didn’t take long to figure out what either.  Tyler walked down the aisle coming to stand next to the shopper that had saved her.  Jacob turned his head nodding to Tyler when he joined him.  The features of his face filled in as she had obviously seen him in profile.  Angelica looked back at herself only to find her waving with a smile.  Looking back to the boys she found that they had moved to block the creeper from view as they waved back in acknowledgement.  Angelica steadied her gaze on Jacob and for the first time wondered if there wasn’t a reason that Rebecca had acted so jealous in her kitchen in the earlier memory.  She would have said no before but now she wasn’t so sure.  She could chalk it up to him protecting someone he saw as a mother figure to him but something in his stance to begin with just appeared off to her.

                Filing the information away for later she walked down the aisle to stay with her memory.  Her eyebrows slammed down as she took in yet another customer a little too keen on what was happening behind her.  She shouldn’t have been so shocked to see Trent there, but she still wasn’t used to knowing he had been around her at all.  He stood with his back facing out and a magazine lifted as if he was reading it.  Angelica watched her memory walk right by him never noticing a thing.  She rolled her eyes in annoyance but stopped when she realized that maybe she hadn’t known it was him.  The only reason Angelica knew what he looked like now was because she had seen him in her college memory.  Her past self, however, hadn’t.  It was very possible that she had walked right by him several times never knowing who he was.  If he made sure to cover his face every time as well it was no wonder she hadn’t been aware of him.

                She had expected his gaze to follow her form but was surprised to find him narrowing his eyes at the boys back down the aisle.  His features froze as her memory passed him never changing from the calculating look that adorned his face.  Angelica rushed past him uneasy with the knowledge that he had been following her around.  Pushing the thought from her mind she hurried her pace dodging carts as she went to avoid any more contact with them.  She followed quickly behind scooping out each person that passed.  No other shoppers took more than a passing glance at her as the memory continued on her way to the check out stands.  When her past self took her place in line, Angelica opted to move around to the end to wait.  What she saw took her breath away.

                There was a pair of customers walking away from the check stand but that wasn’t what had caught her unaware.  It was the fact that it was Kevin accompanied by one of the female bank employees.  Angelica recognized her as one of the loan officers that worked at Kevin’s bank.  She had seen the woman many times over the years when they had attended one of the many company parties she was required to go to with her husband.  What had her scowling though was the closeness of the pair.  They didn’t look like work friends out for lunch by any means.  The woman stood a little too close for that and the way that they teased each other was more than just friendly banter.  Angelica glanced at herself standing in line blissfully unaware at what she was seeing through her peripheral vision.  She was both happy and dismayed at the same time.  She wished she had been closer so that she could pick up their conversation but was glad that she hadn’t noticed the pair.  Unfortunately, Kevin noticed that his wife was standing in line and after glaring unhappily, he rushed the other woman from the store.  The woman not understanding his need to hurry looked behind them before surprise and fear fell over her features.  Turning back to the front she followed Kevin out the doors quickly.

                Bile rose from Angelica’s gut as she realized Kevin was having an affair.  Not only that but the woman was willingly sleeping with a married man.  How many times had Angelica greeted her kindly in the past not knowing what was going on?  How long had it been going on anyway?  From the familiarity the two showed with each other it wasn’t a new relationship.  Angelica chuckled bitterly as she knew that Kevin would never divorce her to be with his mistress.  It would tarnish his image at the bank and that was something he wouldn’t tolerate.  Now she knew why he had been so quick to pull the plug on her comatose body.  He could be rid of her in a way that wouldn’t look poorly on him and bring his mistress into the light after an acceptable amount of time had passed.