Sinners Row

Chapter 4 - Death By Stalking

Finally free from Miguel's grasp, Rachel leaned against the wall of the hallway, started to breathe heavy. She could still feel the wave of emotions of anger and fear flowing deep inside her. She clenched her fists and thought about imagining the wall as Miguel's face and then punching it as hard as she could. But, she changed her mind as she didn't want to lose her hard-earned money from her paycheck if she damaged the wall in any way.

Rachel collected herself for a few more minutes until her rage finally settled and then walked off to the staff lounge to grab a steaming hot cup of coffee. Feeling that it would set her mind at ease.

As she walked into the lounge, she heard the sound of sniffling coming from where the couch was situated in the middle of the room. Walking closer she saw her friend, Megan sitting there dabbing her eyes with a tear-soaked tissue.

Worried about her friend, Rachel walked around the side of the couch and then sat down beside her and wrapped her arm around Megan's shoulder and then asked gently. "What's wrong. Why are you crying?"

"It's...it's...Matt." Megan stuttered as she tried to tell her best friend what had happened.

"What happened with Matt?" Rachel asked, curious as to what had happened between Megan and her boyfriend.

Megan sniffled and balled up the tissue in her hand, and then turned her head and looked at Rachel with teary green eyes and then said. "You remember last night when I said that Matt had something important that he wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yeah, I remember you telling me about that. Why what happened?" Rachel asked her friend and then let go of Megan's shoulder.

Megan reached and grabbed another tissue from the box on the small table that was in front of the couch and then dabbed her eyes again and then answered. "Well, I met up with him at the restaurant that he told me to go to. We had a nice dinner together and I thought that he was going to propose to me. But, instead, he broke up with me. He said that I was too clingy for his taste."

As soon as she heard that, Rachel reached out and took Megan into her arms and gave her a tight hug and said. "Oh, sweetheart. I'm so sorry, I can't believe that that jerk would do something like that to you. Don't worry it's going to be okay." She said, trying to comfort her friend.

She then let go of Megan and stood from her place on the couch and walked over to the coffee maker and poured two cups of the steaming hot, brown liquid. And then grabbed the two hot mugs and brought them back to where Megan was still sitting at and handed Megan her cup, and then went around the side of the couch and sat down beside her.

"Thank you, for the coffee. I appreciate it." Megan said, and then slowly took a sip, so that she wouldn't accidentally burn her mouth.

Rachel also took a sip of hers and then placed her mug down onto the table and then turned her head and looked at Megan and said. "Hey, I have an idea. Since it's Saturday an all. How about we go out for some drinks. We'll make it a girls night. What do you say?"

"I like that idea, it's been forever since we had a chance to get out and have some fun," Megan answered, Rachel could see a little bit of happiness finally returning to her friend's face.

"Alright, well, we will go once we get off from work. Now, I have to go, I am getting paged." Rachel said as she felt her old pager that the hospital still used for emergencies vibrate against her hip.

"That sounds good. I'll see you at 8 pm. Bye!" Megan said as she waved to Rachel when she got up and walked out of the room.

The emergency that Rachel had gotten called to. Turned out to be a code blue call for a patient named, Mr. Anderson. Who tragically lost his long battle with stomach cancer. His death had made Rachel want to cry. In fact, she could feel the wave of sadness filling her soul.

She had met Mr. Anderson when he was first admitted by his daughter a couple of weeks ago, and during his stay and she was assigned as his nurse. She had formed a close relationship with an elderly man and she kind of thought of him as a father figure, considering that he ran out of her and her mother when she was a small child.

In fact, every time that she saw him, he always had a smile on his face. Hell, when she came into his room to help him, he would always give her candy and tell that he was okay and not to worry so much about him.

"Well, at least he was finally able to be with his wife in the afterlife." Rachel thought to herself as she finished typing up some last minute work that needed to be done.

Once finished, Rachel saved the file and then looked down at the clock on her computer and saw that it was 8 pm. She turned off her computer and then grabbed her purse and then clocked out, and then left to meet Megan out front in the lobby.

When she got to lobby, she saw Megan standing against the wall at the entrance of the hospital, playing with her phone. Rachel put on her best smile and then walked over to her and said. "Hey, you ready to go get wasted?"

Megan looked up from her phone and placed it in her pocket and then said. "Of course. I've been waiting for this all damn day!" She said excitedly.

Rachel walked through the automatic doors when they opened with Megan following close behind her. When they got to the main driveway of the hospital, Rachel turned to Megan and asked. "So, do you have any idea where you want to go to tonight?"

"Yeah. There is this bar that is a few feet from the hospital that I've never been to before. How about we go there?" Megan asked.

"Sounds good. Since it's close by let's just walk there, I really need to clear my head and I think some fresh air would do me some good." Rachel replied. And then watched as Megan started walking off to the bar and Rachel followed.

After several minutes of walking, they finally reached their destination. A seedy looking bar that honestly looked as if it had seen better days. Rachel was kind of nervous about going in. But, Megan told her not to worry so much. So, she dropped some of her worries at the door and followed Megan inside.

Once they were inside, Rachel followed Megan to an open table and sat down. She couldn't make out what kind of music was playing as it was being played so loud that she couldn't understand a damn word that was being sung by the lead singer at all.

However, as their time went on in the bar and the many drinks that she drank, Rachel just didn't care anymore. And even danced with several random guys that they met at the bar. Once she was finished with her final dance, she walked back to the table where she saw Megan chatting with some guy, who stunk of too much cologne.

The smell alone made Rachel want to puke. She even thought about telling the guy to go home and take a damn bath. But, considering that this was supposed to be about Megan, she decided against it.

When she sat down in the chair, Rachel gave the guy an angry look and the man quickly walked away from them. Rachel shrugged, and then looked down at her watch and saw that it was nearly twelve o'clock.

She cringed when she saw that because she knew that she was going to receive a tongue lashing from Derrick when she got home, considering that she never bothered to call him at all. Quickly, she looked up to Megan who was taking a sip of her drink and said. "Listen. It's getting late. I think it's time that we call it a night."

"Sounds fine to me. I'm about ready to go anyways, there is no one here who strikes my interest." Megan replied, and then left and paid the bar tab.

Once everything was paid for they grabbed their things and walked out. Outside the bar, they decided to go their separate ways and then hugged each other and then walked away from one another. However, once Rachel had gotten a distance from the bar, she had this weird feeling that someone was following her.

Quickly, she turned around and saw a tall robed figure standing behind her. Upon seeing the man, she quickly took off and ran until she reached a nearby gas station. Rachel quickly opened the door and ran inside, hoping that she had finally lost whoever was following her.

She walked over to the counter where a young man with curly blonde hair was standing behind the register. The young man finally noticed Rachel's presence and then walked over to her and asked. "Yesss?"

"Excuse me, sir. But, are you the cashier here?" Rachel frantically asked.

The young man looked at her like she was crazy and then replied sarcastically. "Well, what do you think I'm doing behind here, selling kisses?"

"Of course not. Listen do you have a phone here that I can use? There is someone following me and I need to call the cops." She said.

The young man cleared his throat rather loudly and then replied. "No. Our phone is broken and it won't be replaced until Monday. I'm sorry about that."

"Damnit." Rachel thought and then replied. "Thanks anyway." And then left the store and went back outside, hoping that who followed her wasn't waiting on her.

She looked around for a few minutes, not seeing anyone she started walking off. But, when she did she started getting the feeling that she was getting followed again. Quickly, she spun around on her heels and saw the man who was following her before.

Rachel tried to make a mad dash across the road, but, as soon as her foot touched the paved road. She felt something slam into her hard and then felt herself float up into the air, the world spinning as she came back down to earth, landing on the pavement hard.

Her entire body was in utter pain and she was having problems breathing as her lungs were starting to fill with blood. Her vision went dark for a few seconds and then she started seeing this warm glowing light that was beckoning her to come closer to it.

Upon witnessing Rachel get hit by a drunken driver, the man removed his robe and threw it on top of her bloody body and then scooped her up in his arms and ran off into the night.