Anna turned the corner and bumped into John. She'd agreed to come to the office to talk but she hadn't expected him to come out of nowhere. It had been two days since the airport and she wasn't any closer to deciding what to do. She'd had nightmares about it the last two nights and couldn't focus on anything. John had called and asked her to meet him at work and she'd agreed because she needed to move forward somehow. "Anna it's so good to see you." His hand reached out for hers but she pulled back. John flinched, never realizing how much a simple gesture could hurt. He wanted to hold her, to make her believe in him and his love with nothing more than the strength of his love but he knew she wasn't ready for that. "Is it?" She asked looking anywhere but at him. "Anna if you will just listen I know we can make it through this. Look at all the crazy we have dealt with so far." Anna nodded knowing that he was right, but she just couldn't shut up that nasty little voice inside her own
Anna pulled away from John and stretched. She walked toward the desk and picked up the papers staring at them. "you know you don't have to do this?" She said as she turned to face him. "I know I don't, but you deserve it and I want to share everything with you, the good and the bad. I want to share all parts of our lives. I've felt like that for a while and having you come work at the company helped but I still didn't feel right.""Why didn't you tell me?""Have you seen our lives in the last few months?""I know right?" Anna laughed as she put the paper down. "It was like the universe was against us."John came and put his arms back around her and pulled her to his chest tucking her under his chin. "We have too much going for us to waste time worrying about the universe. ""How do you do that?" "What?""Make it all sound so logical.""I have to because how else am I going to convince you to stay with me." "I already said I would stay." "But what if you change your mind? All I can
"I don't have anything else to say to you, John already said it all." Isabel laughed, "Wow you are better at pretending than even I thought, how is it not killing you that John and I were in your bed together?""You weren't "Together" John explained it all and Melissa admitted it. ""Amateurs," Isabel said with a grimace as she looked at Anna and shrugged. "I should have done it myself but I needed a little help. The biggest mistake I ever made." Anna found the pulse at John's throat and breathed a sigh of relief. He still didn't stir but she'd been feeling around his head while Isabel was gloating and the large bump behind his left ear was scary beyond belief. She had to do something."No the biggest mistake you ever made was trying to come between us. John loves me and I love him. Nothing is going to change that." Isabel laughed and stood snuffing out the lighted tip of the cigarette she was smoking. "I think I can change his mind. He is so accommodating, isn't he? Allowing me t
Their screams echoed on the buildings around them as they began to go over the edge. Anna mourned the loss of the life she'd wanted, the one she'd wanted so badly that she'd traveled back in time. Darkness began to swallow them as they started over the edge, but suddenly Anna was jerked back. Isabel's eyes went wide as Anna was jerked away and she lost her grip on Anna. The hand grabbing Anna's shirt was a solid link to safety and Isabel realized this as her hands slid free and she fell into darkness. Anna was pulled back and she saw John's strong hand had been the one holding her. Anna collapsed into John's arms as Isabel's screams died away into the darkness. The thud of her hitting the ground was loud despite the thunder and lightning and in that moment Anna curled into John as the horror seeped into her bones."Anna are you alright?" John panted as his arms wrapped around her as they both slid down the wall to sit in the rain. "It's you I'm worried about, seeing you laying there
Six months later Anna still woke up screaming. The counselor said that as time went by and with therapy that the trauma would fade. Anna stared into the mirror and could almost see the bruises that had encircled her neck for two weeks after the accident. She ran her hands over her neck and shivered as the memory of that rainy night came back to her. The times when she woke up screaming were awful but thinking about them while awake was worse. Tears began to fall slowly and she tried to shake them off. Isabel had been damaged in many ways but she was the last member of her family she had and now she was gone. Anna knew she shouldn't cry for her but found herself doing it anyway."Princess, please don't cry," John begged as he slid the door open and wrapped his arms around her. He sat behind her on the bench in front of the mirror encasing her with his body and she leaned back with a sigh."I know I shouldn't but I just can't help it when I think about it.""I'm so sorry, I wish I could
It was one of those days that everything that could go wrong had, it seemed like Los Angeles was determined to chew her up and spit her out." But when is that anything different?" Anna grumbled as she gripped the grocery bags tighter to her chest. "Of course" she muttered with a curse as one of the bags split. She pushed a strand of long red hair back behind an ear and tried to juggle the grocery bags. She really needed to sneak past her landlord's apartment. "Holy Sh87!" She hissed quietly as the other bag ripped. She sighed, her blue eyes watchful as she stepped around a pile of trash bags. She did not have the money to pay her rent and she knew her landlord liked to collect in other ways. "Anna," a cold snakelike voice wheezed from the shadows, "can we talk?" "Mr. Droshky! She said with a gasp barely holding onto her bags as he stepped from underneath the burned out bulb "Can it wait till tomorrow? "I just worked a double and I am dead tired." "Mr. Droshky was my father," he s
Anna popped one blue eye open as she tried to see straight. Her head throbbed and she wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep. "What's going on? She muttered to herself as she rubbed her head and gasped at the huge bump just above her left eyebrow. She gently ran her fingers over it and winced at the pain as memories rushed back, her dingy apartment, the intruder. She shook her head to clear it as she rubbed her head where the bag had hit her. "What the actual hell." She said loudly as the room came into focus. The dim light from the bathroom showed walls painted a light golden yellow. The platform bed was covered in a dove grey comforter. Walk in closets came into view and a shiver of recognition pulled at her conscious but confusion swirled inside her brain her head really hurt. Most concerning though was the man lying beside her holding her hand, Her Ex-husband John. "Oh No, Please no." she said softly as she tried to convince herself that this was a hallucination. "This c
"I promised I'd make it worth your while, let me show you." The thunder sounded loud in the distance and Anna Jumped again. God she hated thunderstorms and it just made the confusion in her head worse."Did he really say wife? But that makes no sense." Anna thought to herself as she saw his wedding ring gleaming on the hand he locked around her own. The sight of the gold band made her whole world spin." Where am I?" She thought muddily as she let herself be pulled along "Why is he calling me his wife?" She looked around the room as they made their way towards the bed. She realized that somehow she knew things about it. Like how many steps it was to the bed from the bathroom and the fact that she knew there was a flashlight in the drawer. "Maybe you should.. show me?" Anna asked distractedly, in a confusion of desire. She looked into John's green eyes and her mind swirled as he stopped and picked her up in his arms. His eyes burned like fire as he looked down at her. He growled as he