Authors: Glenna Maynard
But here I am still going through the motions…
Happy Birthday to me,
not
. I don’t know where my Gram got the idea at that I would want to celebrate my birthday. I guess I understand why she is doing it, I feel guilty that she has to suffer through my screams at night. My nightmares are back, but his time around they are of Cut — Ryan.
I get showered and dressed to go to the falls.
When I go into the kitchen to grab my keys, Gram has a cherry cheese pie waiting on the counter for me. I know she means well but the only thing going through my mind is images of me and Cut — Ryan on my Gram’s porch swing on Thanksgiving. That was the last time I had any cheese pie.
How can I miss him, knowing what he was doing to me? Lurking in the shadows making me think I was being visited by Harlan. What a twisted since of romance, he must have had. I find myself waking some nights and screaming out his name, though I know it’s wrong the moment it happens, I can’t stop it. I am so tired of crying for a love that doesn’t exist. I thought losing Harlan was hard but losing Cutter hurts so much more. I know I will never get Harlan back, but Cutter — his face is still out there. I can’t pretend he doesn’t exist as much as I try to forget — the way he made me feel like I was really the only one he could ever care for — like the stars only shined for me…
I pick the pie up and toss it in the trash. I probably shouldn’t have left it where my Gram would see it, but I am not in the mood to care. I know it will hurt her feelings, but at the same time she should have known better. She should have known celebrating my birthday is the last thing I would want; my life is anything but normal.
Normal is overrated and so is love. Fuck love.
Putting a cigarette in my mouth and lighting it even feels off, fucking Ryan has ruined everything for me. I peel out of the driveway and race towards the falls. Parking my car in a hurry, I don’t even bother taking my keys from the ignition.
Making my way up the trail to the bridge I get a feeling that Harlan is here, and it better not be fucking Ryan screwing with me. I know they said he is on house arrest, but I don’t put anything past people these days. I get to my favorite spot in the center of the bridge where there is a perfect view of the falls rushing into the lake. I look up at the beautiful blue sky only to be reminded of the blue shade of Ryan’s eyes. He’s everywhere I go.
“Harlan,” I whisper the name that has brought me so much pleasure and pain. “Please Harlan, I need you.”
“Nope guess again, Bells,” Nolan comes to stand beside me.
What is he doing here? How did he know I’d be here? I get a horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.
“About time you came out of hiding, I thought I was going to have to drag you here myself?” he laughs and it seems off somehow. I take a better look at him. There are dark circles under his eyes, and he is so skinny.
He looks nothing like his brother now. He appears sickly, and gangly. His eyes look empty, black almost. Like the guy who once lived in his shell of a body is gone. Like the Nolan I have always known has disappeared.
“I’m confused Nolan, what are you talking about and why are you here?” I take a step away from him.
“I’m here for you Bells, happy birthday by the way.” He tries to kiss my cheek, but I dodge his advance. He looks hurt by my rejection—angry even. “It was all almost too easy. Fucking Ryan Monroe played right into my plans. Bella if you would have just given yourself to me years ago, none of this would have been necessary.”
I look at him completely oblivious to what he is talking about.
“Oh I am sorry let me dumb it all down for you doll face.” He pulls a pistol out of his waistband.
I take another step away from him; he is scaring the shit out of me. He takes a step forward grabbing my mouth and squeezing it hard with his free hand. Then he smacks me right along my jaw line. But he doesn’t use enough force to really hurt me.
“You see Bella, I met you first, you just don’t remember but if you try real hard it will come back to you. You were probably in junior high at the time. I had just gotten my drivers license, I offered you a ride home from the county pool, but you turned me down. I let the rejection go and found someone else to play with for the time being. And it is so ironic who she was, can you guess? I’ll give you a hint, her last name was
Monroe.” He looks so pleased with himself, almost as if he is gloating.
“What in the hell are you talking about Nolan? How do you know Ryan’s little sister?” I try to take another step away from him, but he catches me by my wrist and digs the barrel of his gun in my side.
“Eh, eh you aren’t going anywhere, Bella Rose; we are just getting to the good stuff.” He proceeds to tell me how he wanted to have me all for himself but Harlan got in the way when he set all of this in motion by asking me to dance. He goes on to tell me that Harlan knew about Carson Monroe, what he did to her, where he buried her body. I pull away from his hold enough to throw up over the rail of the bridge.
He is sick; it has been him all of this time. How did I not see it and where does Ryan fit into all of this? I know I need to keep him talking, I am afraid of what he plans to do to me. I try to will my knees to stop trembling. I don’t want him to sense my fear. I need to play it cool. He needs to believe that I am cool, calm and collected.
“Do you know how hard it was to see you with my brother Bella, watching him put his hands on what was meant to be mine? I tried to give him every chance to leave you alone, but he couldn’t let you go. No matter how many girls I dangled in front of him, it was always you he wanted,” he laughs at his own twisted thoughts. “I was always watching the two of you — always having to bear witness to your intimate moments. Harlan liked to rub you in my face. This was a big mistake on his part. He underestimated me and the lengths I am willing to go to get what’s mine! I was there that day at the falls. I pushed him you know?” He grabs my face again and runs the barrel of the gun over my mouth.
I can’t stop my body’s initial reaction, fear, and the tears pool in the corners of my eyes. My heartbeat is pumping so fast, I am so afraid.
“I pulled you out of the water that day. I saved you Bella, because I thought you would finally see. I thought that with him out of the way, you would finally turn to me. I thought just maybe you would seek comfort with me. But instead you go and involve yourself with Monroe, of all people. I should have let you drown.” He waves the gun in the air.
I am afraid he is going to shoot me at any minute, or even worse he is going to drag me to the woods and rape me. Nolan killed Harlan, it wasn’t an accident. I would throw up again, if I had anything left in me. My tears are falling freely; I can’t hold them back any longer. I am never going to see my Gram or Ryan again. I picture Ryan in my head, and I wish I could go to him now and tell him I’m sorry. My judgment was so clouded and now he will never know about his sister. There are so many things I want to say to him.
“I thought maybe if you thought you were seeing Harlan and hearing him, you would come talk to me about it. But you didn’t, so I had to take matters into my own hands. I needed to get rid of fucking Monroe — he was always in the way. It was clever of him to change his name. I wouldn’t have known it was even him if I hadn’t started checking him out.” All I can do is listen to his rant — his confession. I can’t find my voice. Even if I did dare to scream, who would hear me out here?
“It was even easier to blame it all on him. I just had to wait for the right moment, and everything fell into place so perfectly. Placing a few items in a box and waiting for it to be seen, that is all it took. You believed it all so easily. You claimed to love him, and to want to marry him, but you gave up on him so quickly. You see Bella, you aren’t loyal. And well loyalty is an important quality in a life partner. You weren’t loyal to Harlan either, I saw you in bed with Ryan, the things you let him do to you. I would have cut you; all you had to do was ask. We could have shared something beautiful Bells — you and I.”
I look to my left and see Dr. Peters watching us from the other end of the bridge. I quickly turn my attention back to Nolan; I don’t want him to see Alex. I am disgusted, he was there in my apartment, every single time I thought I was seeing a glimpse of Harlan, and it was Nolan. He is sick, who does that?
“So you have me here now, what do you want from me Nolan?”
“What do I want? Haven’t you been paying attention Bella? I wanted you. But you have ruined it, by fucking my brother and Monroe. You aren’t pure anymore Bells. And now you know too much. So it is time for you to go. Everyone will think the pressure of your life got to you and you finally cracked. You see this gun; I stole it from your sweet ole Gram. I’m glad to see she is up and about. Really, I am. I never meant to hurt her, but she got in the way,” he points his gun in my back. “Climb up on the ledge Bells.”
Think Bella, he is going to fucking kill you! “Nolan, you used to want me, you could have me now. I know everything you did was all because you love me.” I place my hand over his heart hoping like hell I am convincing. “We could be together like you wanted just you and me, no one will have to ever know any of it.”
I just need to bide enough time for Alex to make his move. Normally I wouldn’t have thought Dr. Peters could take on Nolan, but now he looks like a scared little boy. I have faith and for the first time in a long time — I pray to God to get me through this. Harlan and Carson’s deaths can’t all be for nothing. Nolan and his sick ways have to end today.
“I don’t believe you Bells, convince me.” He pushes his chest into mine. “Kiss me, show me that you are willing to forget them both Bella. We can leave here today and never have to look back on this town. Ryan can go to jail, Harlan well he can’t get in the way from the grave.”
I have to fight what little bile is trying to rise up my throat so I can do what I have to get out of this alive. I am about to lean in closer to this sadistic freak, when finally Dr. Peters rushes up charging into Nolan’s back. All in one swift motion, I take a side step from Nolan, as Alex sends him over the rail and into the falls.
Alex takes me into his arms and hugs me tight, “Are you okay, did he hurt you?”
I pull back from him and look over the bridge, “Not physically. I’m just shaken up a little. How did you find me?” I don’t see any sign of Nolan in the water rushing below.
“Your Gram called and asked me to look for you after she found your pie in the trash and your car gone. If I hadn’t got here in time I— I don’t know what he was planning for you.”
**
We hear the wailing of police sirens in the distance. Dr. Peters and I meet the police in the marina parking lot. They want me to be checked by paramedics, but I refuse.
Oh, gawd it hits me. Harlan, Carson, Ryan. Ryan is going to hate me; I will never be able to apologize enough to him. But it still doesn’t excuse the fact that he lied to me about who he is.
I tell the officer everything that Nolan was saying to me. I mean some of the things he said didn’t even make sense. Like the stuff about Carson Monroe, did he really take her and kill her? Or was he just trying to screw with my head. And all of the times I thought I could feel Harlan with me, was it just Nolan. And I was feeling his presence instead?
I am taken to the station with Dr. Peters to give our official statements and to be questioned further. While we are waiting to be questioned more, Alex starts telling me about his visit with Ryan. He tells me that Ryan was in the hospital receiving treatment while I was there. The only thing he admits to doing is leaving the daisies on my pillow at night.
Ryan swears he didn’t follow me around, and he didn’t steal my patient file. He also claims he didn’t steal my pictures or follow me around taking the pictures of me that was found in his room… The only thing in the box that belonged to him was the paper flowers.
I feel really bad. But I don’t know how to fix it, or how to deal with everything that has transpired today. Alex — Dr. Peters says he will speak to the judge on behalf of Ryan, he doesn’t think they can make any of the charges on him stick, as long as they find evidence proving the things Nolan confessed to me on the bridge. It helps that he too heard the things Nolan was saying to me.
I am asked repeatedly if I was romantically involved with Nolan, and if were we playing some sort of game. The thought of it all makes me sick. I understand that the police need to look at it from all angles, but seriously, a game? I am just trying to piece it all together in my head. I mean it all makes sense in theory. But why didn’t I see him push Harlan off the cliff, I suppose my vision could have been affected and distorted by the camera lens and I might not have been able to see everything clearly. And I was in shock that day. Was it him leaning over me when I came to? Someone did pull me from the water, I didn’t imagine it.
How could he kill his own brother and all because he said I was his? I get chills down my spine. They still haven’t located Nolan. It is unclear if he is in the water or if he survived the fall into the falls and swam to shore. There is a helicopter doing a sweep of the woods for any sign of him. They have search and rescue boats out on the water also.
I am released to go home, an officer brought my car to the station so I don’t have to go back to the marina, and they have the road blocked anyways. No one can get in or out. The campus is on lockdown also. They aren’t taking any chances. If Nolan is out there somewhere he is armed and very sick.