Buer

CHAPTER 14 - ANNABELLE

Instead of going out, all of us settled for a movie night. Of course the obvious choice was her house. They had decided to come to her house at seven. The theme was horror. It supposed to be Conjuring series.

Kevin was bringing the DVDs. The twins were in charge of pizza. Justin was of course beer and August was to arrange the popcorn.

She was on the chesterfield settled comfortably scrolling through i********: when she when the doorbell rang. It was six so it wasn’t one of her friends. Her Grandma had messaged her in the morning that she was busy this weekend and would drop by on Monday evening.

That left with only one option. Buer was here.

“Salut mon ange.” He greeted her, entering the house like he owned it.

[Salut mon ange. - Hello angel.]

“Okay. You've got to understand that I don't understand what you say.” She was still standing holding the door as he placed some grocery bags on the floor near the couch.

“Maybe I don't want you to understand.” Oh, now he was getting cocky! He was also smiling.

“Why are you so happy?” She shut the door and walked behind him to kitchen where he started unloading groceries.

“There was a land deal I was chasing for months. Finally got it locked.”

“In Jasper?”

He nodded as she observed him working around the kitchen like a natural.

“That great. Congrats.”

“We are going to celebrate chéri.” He looked so happy, so enthusiastic that it broke her heart to break his.

[chéri - darling]

“My friends are coming over. We're having a movie night. M sorry.” If Buer was disappointed he surely didn't show it. He still had the same smile. “That's fine. We can celebrate some other time.” He walked out back to living room with her following again.

“I believe your friends will be here in some time. I should leave.” He was leaving and somehow August couldn't just let him go. She had hurt him and now had this incredibly guilty feeling in her heart.

“Buer wait.” She took hold of him arm. That caused the sparks to return. In all the them they had spent together blast week, he had never touched her. At least no skin on skin. This was the reason.

“You've gotta tell me why I feel like this.” This time she was sure that he felt it too. His sucked in breath and dilating pupils were enough signs. When he said nothing, she continued. “How about we go somewhere this weekend? Kinda like a small trip.” She knew what was happening is not normal. She knew he was not normal. He knew that she knew. Yet August was confident in her instincts. Buer would never hurt her. If he even felt a half of the emotions she was feeling right now, she would be safe.

“Are you sure August? You don't know me.”

“For heaven's sake stop talking like Edward from Twilight and take me out somewhere.”

“Or am I am taking it all wrong?” She walked away from him. Watching him clench his fist. Wanting to be near her.

“No. Be ready at ten AM tomorrow.” With that and a strict glance he was out.

She was still feeling that sparks.

********

August got the popcorn ready by the time everyone arrived. They were all seated on the floor leaning on the furniture legs.

“Okay. So we brought your pepperoni Justin, sausage for you Kevin, Marcy's pineapple, mine and Julia's Margherita and your five pepper August.” We were all handed our own individual medium size pizzas. The girls shared one. Pizza wasn't a part of their diet.

“Okay, so here is the beer and popcorn.” She had kept the beer to chill for some time as she made the popcorn.

Then it all started.

Horror was a bad theme. Almost all of were scared and didn't want to go beyond the second movie. Which resulted in Kevin replacing his Anabelle CD with Netflix's Too all the boys I've loved before. It was a safe choice. Except for the fact that she would have to stay alone the whole night and definitely be plagued by nightmares.

“I hate you Kevin.”

“Hey, Marcy suggested the theme. I just brought the movies.”

“Sorry August. I'll take the blame for this one.”

She grimaced but didn't reply.

“Are you sure you don't want me to stay?” Marcy asked as the rest were cleaning the mess. She wanted to say yes but Marcy's family wasn't one of those families who allowed sleepovers. Clubbing fine. No no to sleepovers. Or maybe they just didn't like her. Well, she couldn't blame her family.

“I'll be fine. It's not the first time i will be sleeping alone after a horror movie.” August sounded confident enough to believe herself. Yes, this wasn't going to be first time. Also, she wasn't going to get any sleep.

“Okay. Take care babe. Message me if you need anything.”

There was a small sound on the window. August got up with a start. The first thing she did was check the time. It was two in the night. The next thing she did was to identify the source of the sound.

It was coming from downstairs. Shouldn't have watched the horror movies. With a flashlight in one hand and a baseball bat in other, she walked down the stairs.

The only sound she could hear was her own heartbeat. As she went to switch on the light of the main hall room, a huge figure reached her eyesight.

There was a huge doll, just like the one in the movies. Walking towards her. Its ugly scarred face visible in the pale moonlight.

It made a sound somewhere between a cackle and growl. Surprisingly August wasn't scared. She tightened the bat in her hand. Ready to strike. Come on you ugly doll!

Just as she was about to hit the doll, she woke up again. This time for real.

It was two. Just like in her nightmare. However, she couldn't hear any sound downstairs. So she did the one smart things. Quickly locked the bedroom and bathroom road. Took out the baseball bat from below the bed. Switched on all the lights and sat on her bed quietly.

She also clutched a rosary from her computer table. God, watching horror movies was such a bad idea.

Not knowing what to do, she checked if anyone was online on w******p. Or f*******:. Anywhere.

Knowing that this was a bad idea, she messaged Buer. Realising that it was silly to message a man at two AM and expect him to reply.

Knowing that he wasn't going to reply, she decided to go back the sleep. With the lights on, of course.

When she woke up again, it was already mine thirty. s**t, Buer will be here in half an hour.

She practically ran down the stairs. To make sure that everything was alright. That there was no human sized creepy doll. She carried her baseball bat. For safety reasons.

August didn’t find a human sized doll in any room. She did find a bear sized man in the house.

“What are you doing here?” He was setting up the dining table for breakfast. “Just because you have a key doesn’t mean that you can come and leave whenever you want. What are my neighbours going to think? That I have an older man coming to my house at random hours of the day? Do you know how bad this makes me look?” Realising that she was about to have a panic attack, August took in deep breaths. Just like how her psychiatrist told her.

“Here, drink this water. It has some lemon in it.” As she drank, he continued. “I came in last night. Your bedroom light was on. I knocked. You didn’t respond so I slept on the couch.” He walked to her. Taking the glass from her. Returning the sparks from last night.

Buer went on with his culinary tasks, leaving her a mess. “I came because of your message. You wouldn’t have contacted me if it wasn’t important.”

“People my age message others in the middle of the night. It’s quite normal you know.” She had to speak up. Couldn’t let the man turn her brain and heart into a mush.

“Ne te fais pas d'illusions mon ange.” He grasped her jaw in his thumb and index finger. A soft caress from a harsh man. “I made a promise angel and I plan on delivering it forever.”

[Ne te fais pas d'illusions mon ange. - Don’t kid yourself my angel.]