THE DOOR – Chapter 9 By Teri Borseti The next morning when she woke up Shelly lied in bed for quite a while trying to make sense of this thing she’d gotten herself into. The first night was so much fun but last night witnessing Rasputin’s murder was horrible. The fact that she had no idea where she’d be sent to or how it would turn out was a major gamble – even with the magic words at the tip of her tongue and she wasn’t sure she wanted to continue. She realized it had been days since she actually accomplished anything in her regular life. Outside of writing about The Door in her journal she still didn’t feel like writing anything let alone try to sell it. Luckily her family had left her considerably comfortable financially so there was no hurry for her to reinvent herself. She decided to step back into reality by heading out and getting into, or trying to get into her normal routine again. An hour later she was at the gym. She walked on one of the treadmills and gazed out of one of the large windows. She was deep in thought when she heard a voice say “Earth to Shelly.” It was her friend Mike who had taken the treadmill next to hers. They’d met at a gallery a couple of years ago and later she was surprised to learn that he too had joined the gym. The pair often chatted about superficial things and even had coffee one day but she really didn’t know a whole lot about him. “Oh hi Mike, sorry I guess I was daydreaming,” she said with a laugh. “Serious daydreaming I’d say. I saw you in here the other day and you were completely distracted. If you don’t mind my asking is everything alright?” he asked. “Oh of course it is Mike I’ve just been busy but I don’t have anything new to report I’m afraid,” (she said lying through her teeth). They continued to walk, getting nowhere when Mike asked “I was wondering if maybe one of these days you’d like to have lunch……or dinner with me.” Shelly was completely caught off of her guard. Her husband Luke had only been dead for 15 months and she never gave the idea of dating a thought. He sensed her hesitation and said “You know what, you don’t even have to answer me now. Think it over, take a look at your schedule and let me know when you can. With that he got off of the treadmill and gave her his card which she gracefully accepted. She looked at the card and realized that she didn’t even know he was the editor of a magazine. She knew he was also a writer but wasn’t aware of his position. Perhaps it was new. Lately everything she did and everywhere she turned made her suspicious of people. What if Mike was an associate of Saliba’s? She headed back to her car and then stopped at the post office, bank, liquor store, and food market. On the way home she passed the vacant building where Larue was – or she thought it was briefly. The entire matter still gave her the willies but being able to time travel was an amazing adventure. She decided not to tell anyone about it for many reasons. It was the simply the kind of secret one didn’t share. When she got home there was a message on her machine from Jenny asking if she was alright. Shelly had just about forgotten about Jenny and her strange reaction of a few days earlier. She dialed her friend’s number and Jenny answered. “Hey how’s everything? What the hell was wrong with you the other night? I had no idea what you were talking about. Frankly I was a bit worried about you.” said Jenny. Shelly knew she had to make light of the situation and said “Oh I ran into an old friend in the square and we had a few drinks. I was tired and my stomach was empty so I got pretty loaded. When you called I had just fallen asleep. I don’t even remember what we talked about,” she said hoping she sounded convincing. “You goof, you should have called me if you had too much to drink. I would have driven you home. You were a mess. You weren’t even making any sense,” Jenny said. “No worries my friend all is well. Let’s try to get together over the weekend,” Shelly suggested. “Deal girlfriend, talk soon,” said Jenny before hanging up the phone. Shelly was somewhat relieved but in truth this secret made her feel like she might explode. Later in the day she decided to go for a walk along the beach. She promised herself that she wouldn’t go near the painting tonight and instead she’d curl up on the couch and watch something on the history channel.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 12:19:41 +0000
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