Drip Drop Teardrop, a Novella (3 page)

It was,
wasn’t it?
She thought, her heart picking
up pace again. She was frightened again. Because now this weird
stranger seemed so familiar.

An upbeat dance track
merged into the last chords of the song and a gust of cold air blew
across Avery’s skin. She blinked, opening her eyes, gobsmacked to
find she was dancing alone, the dark scarred guy nowhere to be
seen.

***

“
Seriously,
girl, I thought Josh was going to bust a blood vessel.” Jemima
chuckled drunkenly as the cab driver headed towards Avery’s
apartment. “Did you dance with that ugly guy just to piss him
off?”

Avery shrugged, smiling
weakly, feeling a little sick. “I don’t know.”

Sarah nudged
her with her shoulder, her blue eyes concerned. “I dunno if you
should have danced with him, Ave. He’s really…
ugh
… and I think he may have paid
the DJ to play that song just so he could dance with
you.”

She flinched
at her friend’s unkind words. But hadn’t she been thinking the
same? God, they were all so shallow.
So
what
, she argued with herself, frowning.
Scarred guy had drawn a huge amount of attention to her by dancing
with her and she was furious. Every time she thought about it she
shuddered in horror. He deserved the cruel words.

“
Did you guys
see where he went?” She asked softly, her rational mind telling her
that no person alive could move that fast.

“
Nah,” Sarah
replied, “I’m just glad he left. You didn’t give him your number,
did you?”

Avery shook her head,
refusing to acknowledge what felt like a twang of disappointment in
her chest.

“
Oh my God,
Ave!” Jemima squealed gesticulating wildly in her JD infused haze.
“You should have got
his
digits! He may be creepy ass but there’s
something kinda sexy about the idea of doing it with him! I’d bet
he’d be super grateful, if you know what I mean!”

Avery grimaced at all the
squealing in the cramped cab. “Can you make it stop?” She pleaded
with Sarah, gesturing to Jemima.

“
Yeah, can
you?” The cabbie groaned.

Sarah giggled and patted
Jemima’s arm. “Jammy, babe, you wanna lower the tone a little huh?
You’re deafening children in Africa.”

“
Pfft!” She
waved them off before promptly thumping her head back against the
seat, her eyes slamming shut.

“
Wow,” Avery
whispered, “You’re like a witch or something.”

Sarah giggled again and
then began telling her to ignore Jemima. There was nothing sexy
about some built stalker guy who has a knife slash across half his
face.

Avery was so
thankful when the cabbie pulled up outside her apartment. She
needed to get away from all the lecturing and questions. She needed
to get away from thinking about that weird guy and the way he made
her feel. Like she wasn’t who she thought she was. Like she was
meant for something else. God, was there anything more traumatising
than an identity crisis? Yeah,
no
, she definitely didn’t need that
right now.

As per usual she offered
Sarah some money for their expensive cab trip but Sarah shook her
head adamantly. Too tired to argue, Avery said goodbye and hurried
up to her apartment.

“
Avery, that
you?” Her aunt’s soft voice called to her as she moved around the
sitting room, kicking off her heels and stretching her feet out
flat against the cold wooden floors.

“
Ahh, that
feels good,” she murmured before hurrying into her aunt’s room. Her
Aunt Caroline was still awake, her book opened on her lap. “You
can’t sleep?”

“
I wanted to
see if you had a good night.” She smiled softly at her.

Avery clucked her tongue
reprovingly. “Aunt Caroline, you should be asleep.”

“
Did you have
a good time?”

At which
part?
She felt like asking.
The part where I told off my ex-boyfriend or the
part where I slow danced with the ugliest, sexy guy I’ve ever
met?

“
Yeah, I had
a good time.”

“
Did you
dance?”

She grinned. “Of course.
You know I love to dance.”

Cold Breeze
Cutting Through

the Summer
Air

The following month
wasn’t a great one. Aunt Caroline underwent another round of
palliative chemo and spent the next few days suffering from severe
fatigue. Avery stayed home from work so they lost more income. That
didn’t matter so much as how strange Aunt Caroline was starting to
look, kind of bloated as well as emaciated at the same time, if
that were even possible.

When she was starting to
feel a little stronger her aunt told the doctors she wasn’t going
to have any more chemo. They didn’t argue with her. Avery wanted to
but it was selfish to ask Aunt Caroline to go through the ordeal of
it all just so she wouldn’t have to live without her for an extra
couple of months.

Weirdly the decision
seemed to put a spring in Caroline’s step. Finally facing the
cancer, facing the inevitably of her death, had lifted a weight off
her shoulders and the last week of the month she had been strong
enough to go to the market – they’d even gone to a movie together.
She was exhausted afterwards but there was colour in her cheeks
again.

Nightclub
night came around as quickly as it always did and for once Avery
wasn’t as worried about her aunt. Her friend, Stacey, from
Greener World Magazine
had come over with some wine and Caroline had said “to hell
with it” and was forgoing her meds to have some. She was a grown
woman. Avery wasn’t going to argue with her. She left the two of
them giggling at the television in the sitting room and ventured
out to find Sarah waiting for her. Jemima had a modelling job the
next day and was on a 24 hour fast because of it - it involved no
alcohol and an early night in bed. Josh still wasn’t talking to
her, and Aaron and Adam were on a double date with a brother and
sister (Avery refused to get into their complicated dating life),
so it was just her and Sarah tonight. Avery didn’t mind. Sarah was
the only one who seemed to be as addicted to the dance floor
anyway.

They hopped
in a cab, Avery thankful she’d worn skinny jeans and a leather
jacket tonight, considering the bitter wind blowing in from the
north east. They were early so there wasn’t much of a line outside
and it wasn’t long until they were inside
4.0
sipping mojitos at a table in
the corner. As soon as Jennifer Lopez’s
On
the Floor
came on Avery was shrugging out
of her jacket and dragging Sarah up to dance. Like always, she was
lost, carelessly dancing with random guys and girls who were
enjoying the beat as much as she was. But somehow as the hours
crept along she began to miss something. And then she choked,
coming to a stop when she realised what it was. There was no
familiar prickling sensation tonight. She spun around, searching
the crowds and the club for tall, dark scarred guy - the tall, dark
scarred guy she was afraid to admit had crossed her mind more often
than he should have this past month. Huh. He wasn’t here
tonight.

Of course he
isn’t
, Avery snorted inwardly,
it’s not like he’s stalking me or anything and
only comes to this club on the nights I’m here.

“
You OK?!”
Sarah shouted over the music, her brow creased with
concern.

“
I’m fine!”
She shrugged it off and continued to dance. But the rest of the
evening was somehow poisoned by the thought of him not being there.
Avery felt a little sick. Which was just so weird… considering the
guy scared the crap out of her.

Sarah didn’t seem to
notice how distracted Avery was and they danced on into the night.
They burst out of the club just after 1am, people milling around
outside. There were no cabs.

“
We’ll have
to walk a little, I think,” Sarah grumbled.

Avery groaned, the blue
stilettos she had borrowed from Sarah pinching. Giving into her
fate she tucked her arm into Sarah’s and they strolled down the
street together, not surprised by how busy it was even at this time
of night. Just as they made it out of the busier section, Avery
felt an alien chill rush over her at the sight of three people
ahead of them. Two guys and a girl. The girl stood in between the
guys who were clearly facing off, their bodies bristling with
aggression.

“
Jake, cut it
out!” the girl screamed, trying to pull the taller of the two men
away.

“
Oh God,”
Sarah muttered, “Domestic.”

Avery tugged on her arm,
somehow desperate to get to them. “Come on.”

“
Avery…”

They grew closer, the two
guys shouting in each other’s faces now, the girl having been
pushed away from them.

“
You think
you’re a tough guy?!” the shorter of the two screamed, spittle
dripping from his lips. “Yeah, let’s see how tough you are now!”
There was a flash of silver and then he seemed to punch the Jake
guy in the stomach. But as the girl screamed and Jake fell to his
knees, Avery came to a stop, bile rising in her throat at the sight
of the bloody knife pulling back from its attack on Jake’s body.
The short guy brandished it at the girl. “Told you not to mess with
Dominic! Bitch!” The guy spat and then he took off at a
run.

“
Oh my God,
oh my God!” Sarah was trembling as the girl screamed over her
boyfriend’s body. “Avery, oh my God!”

Avery pushed past the
fear gnawing at her gut and hurried over to the girl. The girl
looked up at her, tears streaming down her face, mascara all over
her cheeks. “Help me!” She sobbed, her hands shaking, covered in
blood.

Jake lay on
the ground, clutching his stomach, his white t-shirt completely
soaked through with blood as it spread at a worrying pace. He
shuddered in little starts that told Avery he was going into
shock.
Shit!

“
Sarah, call
911!” Avery yelled over her shoulder and then pulled off her
leather jacket. She whipped her top off, goosebumps erupting across
her skin in the cold night air. Quickly, with trembling fingers,
she pulled the jacket back on and zipped it up. Her top she balled
up and pressed to Jake’s wound to try and staunch the bleeding. He
cried out at the pressure.

“
It’s OK,”
Avery assured him, breathing too fast. “It’ll help, Jake. It is
Jake, right?”

“
It’s Jake,”
the girl answered, shaking hysterically.

“
They’re on
their way.” Sarah cast a shadow over them. Avery looked up at her,
noting a couple of people who now stood to the side, pale and in
shock, watching them. Sarah was crying.

A prickle caught at the
back of Avery’s neck and her heart seemed to stop. Slowly she
turned and stared across the street. She gasped. Tall, dark scarred
guy was standing on the opposite sidewalk, pale and serious - his
dark eyes fixed intently on Jake. There was a sense of finality
about him. He sighed heavily, putting his hands into the pockets of
his black wool coat before he turned away from them, slowly
striding out of sight.

And somehow Avery knew
without looking down that the ambulance wasn’t going to make it in
time.

Jake was already
gone.

I’m Going to
Watch you

While you get
me Wrong

The next few weeks were
not good. Her aunt had deteriorated quickly, whether it was the
shock of finding out Avery was a witness in a murder investigation,
or the cancer had decided to take hold with a vengeance, Avery
didn’t know. Despite Avery and Sarah’s descriptions, the guy who
had killed Jake hadn’t been found because Jake’s so-called
girlfriend swore she didn’t know who had done it. She was clearly
afraid of whoever was behind it and Avery knew she probably should
be too. Instead she was a bundle of emotions: surprised that her
irrational fear of being centre of attention had dissipated during
the events of that night, despite the crowds that had gathered
around to watch her huddle with a grieving girl and her dead
boyfriend, and despite being the focus of attention from a few
police officers. As well as that she was furious. A blood-boiling
anger lived inside her for the stupid idiot with his knife… and
tall, dark scarred guy. It was irrational. Impossible. But somehow
Avery felt he was responsible too somehow.

Avery sighed, leaning
against the doorframe of her aunt’s bedroom, watching the soft rise
and fall of her chest. Aunt Caroline was sleeping a lot lately. Her
energy was just… non-existent. Avery hadn’t been into work at all
this week. She felt her throat closing, the muscles working
painfully to stop the spill of tears and the sob that was desperate
to wrench out of her. Tonight she’d actually had to help her aunt
bathe. Her capable, beautiful aunt. The truth of it all made Avery
want to throw up. It looked like Caroline had less time than they’d
thought.

Eyelids heavy with
exhaustion, Avery pushed away from the door wishing to God she
could scream until she was hoarse. Instead she turned silently and
padded into the sitting room, fully intending on collapsing on the
sofa bed and sleeping for a million years.