Fever Dream

Chapter 7

Karen stood looking down the street as the doorbell rang. It had taken her a long time to prepare herself. She felt as though she was betraying Mike by doing what she was planning to do. But he had insisted that they had to keep in touch. He had told her that he thought that they couldn't afford to let each other drift apart any longer. He seemed to be completely serious about his opinion.

She heard the bell ring again, and she hurried down the stairs. As she opened the door, she smiled brightly.

"Hi, Mike," she said.

"Hi," he replied, holding the door open for her. "Come in. It's cold out here."

"Yea, I noticed that when I walked past the window."

She followed him upstairs, and he handed her the boxes of pizza which he was carrying. They sat down at the kitchen table.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"A little bit."

"Good. I'm starving, too."

They ate in silence for a few moments until Karen spoke.

"Mike..."

"Hmm?"

"Do you want to talk about...what happened earlier today?"

"Not particularly. I just want to forget about it. Besides, it's pretty late. Let's leave it for tomorrow."

"Right. I understand."

"Did you get everything that we asked for?"

"Yep. We got everything."

"Good. Now, let's go upstairs. We should probably finish unpacking."

As he helped Karen put the last of the clothes away, Karen began reminiscing about her time working at Mr. Landon's company.

"So, remember how I used to help out at Mr. Landon's office sometimes? That wasn't real work. He hired me because I was really smart, and he knew that I was interested in law enforcement. I helped him write his case notes, sort them out, and basically made everything run smoothly. Sometimes, he'd ask me to help him type letters and answer calls. Once in a while, he'd hire me to make copies of documents."

Mike stopped what he was doing and turned around to look at her. His expression showed concern, and he started walking towards her.

"Are you upset about something, Karen? You seemed sad when we talked earlier."

"No, it's nothing. I'm fine."

"Alright. If you say so. But it doesn't sound like you are. Do you want to tell me what's bothering you?"

"It's not important."

"If it's bothering you, we need to talk about it."

"Really? Why does it matter to you?"

"Because I care about you and I want to help. Tell me about it."

Karen sighed.

"Okay. There's no point lying about it any more."

"Okay. Shoot."

"Last night after I'd gone to bed, I couldn't sleep. So, I got out of bed and went to sit outside for a bit. Then, I heard noises coming from the direction of the office. At first, I was scared, thinking that someone had broken in or something. But I didn't think it was the building. The sounds weren't normal; they sounded like someone was crying. I got curious. So, I decided to go see what was going on. And when I got closer to the building, I saw someone sitting on the ground with their head resting against the wall. I didn't know who it was, because they were wearing all black. I figured that they were homeless or something, and they were crying. So, I approached them and asked if I could help. They didn't respond to me. So, I tried talking to them, but I didn't even know who they were. And then, all of a sudden, the person standing next to me said something."

She paused briefly and took a deep breath before continuing.

"They said 'you're not my mom'."

After hearing Karen's words, Mike froze in place for a few seconds. His mind was racing with many thoughts. The only thing he could hear was her voice repeating what the stranger said to her.

"I wasn't your mother."

He remembered seeing her picture. Although he couldn't recall having ever seen her face, he remembered how beautiful she looked. All of a sudden, he understood why Karen had been so worried.

"Who is she?"

"I don't know. But I know that I am not her daughter."

"Did you recognise her?"

"Unfortunately, yes. She' s my ex."

"Your ex?! How can she be your ex?! Isn't she dead?!"

"Yes, but apparently, that woman isn't. She somehow managed to escape from prison, and has been trying to get back at me ever since."

"Why would she want to hurt you? What did she do?"

"She tried to kill me, that's why. She broke into our house and tried to strangle me. I managed to throw her off me and kick her in the stomach, causing her to fall and break her wrist. From then on, I called the police and called everyone that could help me. That was over two years ago. When the police arrived, I was living in a hotel room. I had just gotten my memories back from being brainwashed, and it was difficult for me to deal with people asking questions about it all. Anyway, they arrested her and locked her up for a few weeks."

"And you haven't seen her since that time?"

"No. Not once."

"What does she want with you?"

"I don't know. She must have been desperate to get hold of me. Maybe she thinks that I can change things and return her daughter to her. Whatever she wants, I can' t do that for her. I hope that she never finds out where I live. Or about this job I have, for that matter."

"Maybe she'll understand eventually and give up. She won't do anything stupid anymore."

"I doubt it. I hope that I'll never have to see her again."

"Well, she has caused you enough trouble. I wouldn't worry too much about her."

Mike nodded in agreement. He knew that Karen was right, especially given that he himself had been through a lot recently, and that she had been through a lot too. For now, it was better not to involve anyone else in his problems. Especially Karen.

Later that afternoon, Karen was packing some of her belongings into her suitcase when she heard the doorbell ring again. This time, Mike answered the door.

"Hello, Mrs. Parker. Are you ready to head out?"

"I am. Thanks for helping me clean up downstairs. I didn't know that we were still going to do that."

"You said that you wanted to, so we might as well do it. I'll carry this stuff to the car."

The two of them carried the boxes down the staircase, where Mike set them down by the front door. After doing that, he went back upstairs to collect the rest of the items they had bought at the store. Karen was finishing putting her suitcases together when he came back down with everything they needed. He picked up both the suitcases and held the door open for Karen. Before leaving the apartment, he kissed her goodbye.

"See you tomorrow morning."

"See you later," Karen replied as she walked through the door. "Oh, and Mike?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't be angry with me. OK?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you left yesterday without saying goodbye, I was afraid that you were angry with me."

"Sorry for worrying you. I guess I' m a little upset about what happened, but there's nothing I can do about it now, I suppose."

"That's okay, Mike. Just don't be angry at me next time, please. See you tomorrow."

With that, she closed the door behind her and walked across the hall to her own bedroom. As she was placing the keys on the coffee table near the door, she noticed a package lying on top of her bedside table. It was wrapped neatly with an orange ribbon tied in a bow. Her curiosity piqued, she pulled off the wrapping paper.

"What's this?" she whispered to herself.

Without hesitation, she carefully undid the ribbon and opened the box, careful not to spill anything out. Inside the box was a book. Upon opening the cover, she saw that the inside was lined with paper. On one side, there was a list of the names written in pencil and the other side consisted of several words written in the same handwriting. It was hard to read them due to how small it was, but she eventually got through the whole thing.

When she finished reading the book, she realized that she couldn't believe that this could be hers. It felt strange to her, but also amazing. She wasn't sure how long she sat there staring at the book in shock. It didn't take her long to remember what she had come here to do.

She put the book aside and started lookingthrough her closet.