Five
1700 Words
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Copyright © 2021 Cassey9
Third Person
Lawrence slowly pushes his weight against the office door, his head peeking inside in search of his wife. Karey’s workmate is absent from the room giving him the much needed privacy. His table as cluttered and full as Karey’s. He lived for this moments, moments he got to spend with Karey alone. There were his only chances of making things right by her. Showering Karey with attention and presents he could think off longing to bring their old lives back.
His heart skips a beat at the sight of Karey so engrossed in her work. Snippets of such moments so breathtaking he can’t help but stare on. Watching Karey play with the pencil in her hand. Karey tips the pen back and forth clearly upset by whatever she was reading on the screen.
His intrusion continues to go unnoticed offering Lawrence more time to admire her loveliness. Her hair had since been trimmed short, settling above her shoulder in wavy curls that make his hands itch. Lawrence feels a strong urge to touch the soft alluring tresses.
He grins as Karey’s glasses tip forward and she absentmindedly drives them back with the tip of her pen which ends in a total fail. Karey pokes her cheek causing a pained squeak to stem from her. It was this small quirks that made him fall madly in love with Karey.
“Ahem…” he clears his voice lowly but despite the sound cutting through the silence Karey doesn’t look upwards. Too absorbed by what she was noting down from her laptop to notice him.
Lawrence steps into the room softly shutting the door, “Hello Karey,” Lawrence loudly utters his greeting reverberating in the small space. His balance is tipped from the chairs aligned besides the desk near Karey’s and from straining to hide his hands out of Karey’s views, “Good afternoon Karey…”
The voice and her name being called out finally pull her attention from the intriguing file she’d been examining. Gazing up Karey locks gazes with a grinning Lawrence. His sudden presence impaling through her serenity
Her first impulse is to lash at his unwanted interruption but Karey swallows down the reprimand. Resolving to tightly gripping her pencil, the force too great it splits between her fingers.
Lawrence approaches Karey’s desk impervious of the raging anger. An emotion that constantly spiked whenever he lurked around. Karey drops the pencil pieces in her dustbin and forcefully shuts her notebook close. Hiding her research from his prying eyes.
A lot of time had passed since the accident and the case grew colder each passing day with no suspects being identified. The police appeared to be sluggishly dragging their feet concerning the matter. Mrs. Kimberley had been first to report followed by Kane then Lawrence before she could offer her statement. Her stay at the hospital drawing out to a month. CCTV’s mounted around the neighborhood never clearly capturing the car’s license plate number which dealt the case a major blow. The surrounding areas of the suburb expanse caught the car hurtling by after the accident only for its traces to disappear completely, like it had somehow fallen off the face of earth.
Despite all these dead ends, Karey’s interest for seeking justice was unwavering. Rain’s death wouldn’t be in vain and she’d vowed to search for the driver till her last breath. Putting a face to the maniac who’d destroyed her life and effectively seeing them locked behind bars. The idea of such a win gave her courage. They would pay.
“Karey!”
“Karey…honey!” Lawrence’s gruff voice discontinues her train of thoughts coming back to find him still present much to her displeasure.
“Don’t call me that,” Karey states forcefully. Her voice bouncing around the crammed room.
The office she’d occupied since her move from Crestview too small to be a shared but Karey made by with it. The change of institutions had been inevitable and truly a much needed change. She’d recovered, tended in her resignation and eventual found something similar a year ago.
“Um…I’m sorry. I didn’t me…”
“What are you even doing here Lawrence?” Karey asks the harsh words leaving a bitter taste in her mouth.
“Um…I came to invite you out for lunch. It’s your break right?” Lawrence says inviting himself to open chair before Karey’s desk, “My treat,” he adds trying to sound as enticing as the offer.
“Is it annulment related? Are our lawyers coming along? I’ll call mi…”
In a futile attempt to distract Karey he leans forward grasping her hand. Squeezing and stroking the soft hand he’d been craving to touch, “I…I miss you Karey. I miss us. Please for…” the declaration ends as Karey sharply takes her hand back. The withdrawal leaving his hand and heart ice cold. Her hostile gaze freezing up any hope he’d had.
“I’ll call my law…”
“I was thinking it’d be you and me. Alone.”
“Lawrence please…” Karey mutters, “I don’t have time for this. I have work to do.”
He sighs smiling sadly at her rejection. He’d gotten used to the turn downs but the ache intensified each time, “Please honey…”
“Save your breathe Lawrence,” she interjects shutting the laptop lid. Her frustration seeping to the surface, “I have work to do.”
Karey gets up squeezing through tiny gap between the tables and ambles for the door. The limited spacing offers him an advantage as he quickly reaches for Karey with his free hand. Pulling her to him as he rises from the seat.
They collide in an embrace, Lawrence holding onto her fiercely, “Please honey…” he whispers against her hair. Inhaling the striking scents coming from the luscious streaks, “I miss you…so much,” he whispers in a broken voice his words sincere and true.
Hurting Karey had never crossed his mind before but with Rain sticking to her side a rash that wouldn’t go away he’d gone and done the unthinkable. The guilt of his mistake eating him up the more Karey turned him away, “Please…please honey.”
“No,” she continues to mutter still firmly pressed against him. For a moments Karey wants to give in, Lawrence embrace unearthing a need lying dormant within. The needed love missing in his life, “Lawrence let go of me!”
“Karey…”
“No! Get off of me,” she snaps pushing him back, “Leave!”
“Don’t you love me anymore?” he asks in desperation wanting Karey to explain the sentiments in her heart. To let them flow and offer him peace and forgiveness, “Don’t you feel anything for me? Anything? Even…even a little bit.”
“No! Lawrence stop wasting my time. I have a class at two,” she lies jerking the door with great force its hinges creak as it hits the wall from the force, “Leave or I’ll call security…”
“Fine…” he concedes moving past a stoic Karey, the tear trickling down his cheek does nothing to erase her staidness. “I love…”
The door slams at the declaration leaving him tongue-tied and heartbroken. Karey sighs attempting to shrug of Lawrence’s negative aura she was past his whim. Karey’s stomach rumbles in protest and she regrets her earlier choice of turning down Dr. Trevor’s offer to go out for lunch. She’d have effectively avoided Lawrence’s fuss, something that was becoming redundant. Same story different days, and it was getting tiring.
Karey walks to the window resting her head against the glass that acts as the main source of daylight for the office. It remains sturdy against her weight as it hazes over mist from her hot breathes, “I miss you,” she whispers to herself feeling the sadness pool around her heart.
Staring out the two storey window the view is dull as her mood. Her sightings blocked by a myriad of building erected in different spots along the college. Bright colorful graffiti sticks out from the arts building drawing her in. The attention to details so intricate it makes the building pop out.
Her mind goes back to Kane’s words and she immediately shuts the ideas down. Building her hopes would only lead to more heartache. A whirlwind of emotions spinning through her body at the realization of Kane’s ‘suggestions’.
“I miss you so…”
“Hey! I brought you something,” Dr. Trevor says announcing his return, “And that man who claims to be your husband gave me this,” he says setting a box and three roses on the table.
“Is the Salad from him too?” Karey asks her stomach grumbling from the sight of food.
“No. That’s me,” he replies shrugging his coat off.
She’d encroached on his space since landing the new job at the community college but Dr. Trevor had welcomed her with open arms. He was sweet, charming man and one of the kindest people she’d encountered in her life.
She dumps Lawrence’s gifts in her bin and grabs the salad, “Thanks…”
“Are you okay?”
She chuckles and nods, “I don’t think I’ll ever be. Really?”
“Why so gloomy?” he asks swiveling on his chair to face her, “What got you so unhappy? Is it your ex-husband.”
“No. Life…um life has a way off stripping you of the things you love most and you have no power. It doesn’t matter. It’s life Dr. Trevor.”
“You are right about that Karey. Life’s a b***h!” his swearing gets her and she inclines forward in laughter. His accent so funny tears blur her eyes from laughing too much.
“Yeah…you…you are right.”
- Writer
