No. I think you’re being a selfish asshole who needs to pull her head out of her ass.
You don’t know anything you’re talking about!
I know you called me on my bullshit, and now I’m calling you on yours. Grow up Emmalyn. We’re all just trying to take care of each other and be the best people we can be, and this time it’s you we’re worried about.
Emmalyn didn’t respond, but she did shut down the connection she shared with her sister.
“Well, I guess that didn’t go well,” Analise said.
“What’d she say?” Barron asked, hovering nearby, anxious to hear the gist of their conversation.
“That Mom had no right to tell everyone her business, especially not you. She’s downplaying any danger at all. I told her to get her head out of her ass and grow up.”
“I’m sure that made her happy,” Barron said.
“She shut me out.”
“So, now what?” Remi asked.
“Now, we have some hot dogs. Get the kids and Angelle back in here and laugh a little bit. Then we do whatever we have to do until someone spots this guy.”
“I’m going back to watch Hellen’s,” Barron said.
“I’ll come with you,” Remi said.
Chapter 11
Just before dark Emmalyn sat back, resting against the overstuffed cushions adorning Hellen’s sofa. “I can’t breathe,” she said, patting her full stomach. She leaned forward and set the empty bowl on the floor at her feet, then sat back again. “Should not have eaten that much,” she grumbled, though she was smiling happily. “It was good, though.”
Her cell phone started ringing again, and she dug around in the blankets and pillows that had become her nest until she found the irritating vibrating thing. She glared at it when she saw that Analise was calling again, and dropped it on the floor beside her empty bowl. “All I want is for all you people to leave me alone,” she said. “Barron over here pounding on the door like I’m gonna let him in. Analise telling me I’m wrong. They can all go pound sand. Only one I’m talking to is Hellen. And maybe Remi.”
She located the channel selector and flipped channels for a few minutes until a movie caught her attention. “Ohhh, I remember this one,” she said, smiling like a delighted child. She changed her position to a half-reclining one, preparing to lie down, but stopped herself halfway, looking over the back of the sofa toward the kitchen and the crock pot and chopping board and mess from cooking and serving her plate that she’d left on the kitchen island. She knew she needed to clean up. “I’ll get it later. I’ll clean it up after the movie,” she told herself.
Lying back against her pillows and snuggling the blankets close as she watched the lighthearted romantic comedy, she had no idea that she was not alone. Not an inkling that she wouldn’t even be allowed to finish watching the movie, much less clean the kitchen.
~~~
The glow of the television was more than enough to illuminate the darkened room and the woman softly snoring on the sofa before it. Over stressed, overly emotional, and over fed, Emmalyn had fallen into a deeply restful sleep. It was a perfect situation for the lone intruder to approach her. The perfect situation for him to attack without risk of her fighting back. And he wasted no time in taking it. He crept into the living room, his syringe at hand. He laid one of the pillows that had fallen to the floor across her upper body and arms, then pressed the needle of his syringe into her neck while he pushed his knee across the pillow, holding her arms pinned against her own body with his body weight.
Her eyes popped open in surprise and fear as he depressed the plunger on the syringe, forcing the liquid into her body.
“It’s Sodium Thiopental. Three milligrams. You’ve got thirty seconds until you lose consciousness. Have anything to say?”
“Fuck you, Harland,” Emmalyn managed to get out as she struggled to get her arms free despite the drug rapidly dragging her into unconsciousness.
“Oh, no, fuck you. And quite a bit before I finally leave your body for your friends to find.”
Emmalyn’s eyelids fell closed, unintelligible sounds gurgling from her lips as she fought valiantly to stay alert, but it was all in vain. Her world went dark.
Harland smiled down at her now unconscious form, petting her hair like he would a favorite dog before he leaned over and tore the pajama top away from her breasts. He leaned over and licked her shoulder, sitting up quickly to look at her face and make sure there was no response. He positioned his head and ear right over her heart and waited for a heartbeat. “Ah, there it is. Faint, but still there.” He laughed sardonically andbegan taking her clothes off. Since those in her immediate circle prevented him from taking her back to his home and making her a permanent part of his new collection, he’d have to take his pleasure while he could and leave her body behind just to prove to the assholes in Atlanta that he could do whatever it was he chose to do, and not a single one of them could stop him.
“Emmalyn! Open the door!” was suddenly shouted from the front of the house, and the door was pounded on so hard it seemed that it might crack in two.
Harland startled at the unexpected shouts and noise.
“Emmalyn! It’s Remi! Open the door!”
Emmalyn’s phone started to vibrate and Harland looked down at it. He watched it curiously for a few seconds until it stopped ringing. He picked it up and swiped the screen to wake it up. The contact who’d tried to call her just happened to be named Remi… the same name of the person knocking so forcefully on the door.
