Episode 37 - Confrontation with the Past
'The number you have called is out of range or the phone is turned off. Please try again later,'
The stalker listened to the polite and mechanical voice on her phone. She had forgotten to turn the mobile on that was connected to the bomb that she had so carefully constructed. Her detonator was useless.
She started to pound her own mobile against the steering wheel, screeching abuse at herself, cursing her own imbecility. She abruptly stopped pummelling her phone and regained her composure. She sat stiff in the drivers seat in stern concentration.
The stalker reasoned that Sara would have seen the contents by now and disregarded any notion that she might turn on the phone. The package reeked of peril. No one would be that stupid
She tapped the steering wheel with her fingernails and considered what she should do next. She heard sirens approaching and decided it was time to go.
She turned the ignition key and nothing happened. She tried it again, only to be rewarded with a dull click.
‘Can this day get any better?’ she hissed through clenched teeth.
Even though she knew nothing about cars, she felt it was her dykely duty to pop the hood and at least look at the bits she knew nothing about.
She rummaged around and checked wires. She had learned a little bit about the rules of electrics while she was constructing her bomb and hoped that it was just a loose terminal. While she was fiddling, Chloe rounded the corner on her bike.
Chloe recognised the black sedan as that of the woman’s who had delivered the package. The only thing that stopped her riding by was the fact that this woman obviously had intentions for Sara. She wanted to know who her competition was as far as Sara was concerned and eliminate that element.
The stalker twiddled with wires and greasy bits and didn't see Chloe coming.
‘Hey, aren't you the chick that dropped a parcel off earlier?’ Chloe said as she braked beside the car. The stalker jumped like a cat and bashed her head under the hood. She looked at Chloe wide eyed.
Realisation suddenly hit Chloe. She knew she had seen that flushed, owlish face before. She was the principle’s daughter, the one that she seduced in the showers in high school when she was 16. The snooty prefect that had run from Chloe embarrassed after she had succumbed to a good fingering against the tiles in the shower block.
Chloe remembered her name, Olivia, only because all the grrls at school giggled that their principle must of had a mad crush on Olivia Newton John before his daughter was conceived.
‘I knew I knew you!’ Chloe exclaimed and Olivia took off like the devil was on her tail. ‘Hey, what's your problem?’ Chloe shouted after her.
Cop cars, fire engines and an ambulance screamed passed Chloe and she saw them pull up at her apartment building. Nan came around the corner and pointed towards the car. Chloe began to think that maybe Midge hadn't over reacted after all and she took chase after the pseudo terrorist.
Chloe, deciding to be a hero and not thinking out the possible consiquences, stood up on the pegs of her bike and pumped her legs furiously. She gained on Olivia easily then realised once she had caught up she would have to drop her precious carbon framed bike and risk breaking it if she was going to tackle her. Chloe was still pissed that she had to buy new running shoes, even though she got a discount after a bit of heavy petting with the sales clerk in the change rooms so she wasn’t about to bust her bike up. So she rode beside her, making idle conversation.
‘Hey, so what have ya been doing since you left school?’ she said casually, cruising beside the short grrl who was panting and puffing and obviously out of shape.
Olivia stopped dead in her tracks.
Chloe was actually talking to her. For months Olivia had observed her from afar and now she was actually speaking to her. Chloe pulled up beside her.
‘I’ve been waiting for you,’ Olivia said, breathlessly. Chloe raised an eyebrow.
‘You have?’
‘Yes,’ Olivia sighed, ‘I knew you’de come around eventually. You just needed a bit of a reminder,’
‘I did?’ Chloe said, wishing she didn’t have her bike helmet on so she could scratch her head.
‘Yes!’ Olivia shouted, making Chloe jump a little, ‘Remember our first time in the school showers? I still have the tile that you rested your hand on when we made love, the one above the soap holder. I snuck in there and pulled it out with a claw hammer when I graduated. While all the others were out doing silly things and celebrating, I remembered us, Chloe.’
Olivia reached into her coat and produced a piece of ceramic tile. Her fingers caressed it as if it were a precious gem.
Chloe looked at the nutbag before her and decided it was time to go home...where the police were.
‘Yeah, OK. Nice seeing you again, Olivia.’ Chloe stammered nervously, ‘I better be off. I think I left the oven on.’
Olivia frowned,
‘You think I’m crazy too, don’t you?’ she snarled. Olivia grabbed the handle bars of Chloe’s bike and reached behind her waist belt and produced a very long and sharp knife. ‘I don't think you have to go anywhere, Chloe. You’re just making excuses.’ She pondered the knife for a moment, then looked at Chloe, her eyes becoming moist.
‘Chloe,’ she whimpered, ‘do you still love me?’
to be continued... |
