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"How could I forget? Are you sure you want to do this,
Marcus?"
"Well, it's a good sunny day, and monsters usually only
come out at night....Yes, of course I'm sure. Do you want to
go?"
"Of course I'll go with you! You're not going over
there alone. That's for sure."
"Good. I'll be over to pick you up in a few minutes.
Bye, honey."
"Bye. Nikki said as she hung up the phone.
She hoped she wouldn't regret this. If it returned him
to what he had been like for the past few days, she knew she
would. The thought made her sick to her stomach.
But as it turned out, they found nothing. There were no
tracks, and there wasn't a way that a person could have come
and gone to create such an illusion. What happened had been a
case of the supernatural, or more likely than that, purely a
mental aberration brought on by his head trauma.
The idea of a breakdown flew back into Marcus's head
with the ferocity of a demon. He knew for sure that he was
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falling apart now. He would rather be dead than lose his
sanity and everything that it entailed, Nikki included. He had
to take control and that was all there was to it.
Hopefully, Nikki didn't think that he was losing his
mind. No matter how much she loved him, he knew that it
wouldn't hold up through a breakdown. Hard times weren't far
behind them, and he knew that they could crop up again at any
time. He had to figure this thing out before it meant the end
of his marriage.
The drive home was a quiet one. Marcus was afraid to
ask Nikki what she thought of him, and Nikki was afraid that
anything she said would show her lack of faith. They were both
confused, and to say the least, scared.
Nikki hadn't lost faith in Marcus. She was becoming
afraid of him in many ways, but she had in no way lost faith in
him. The reasons for her fear were as deep rooted to her as
Marcus's reasons were to him. She was sure that he wouldn't
understand them either. She sure didn't know what was getting
to him. They were going to have to sit down for another talk
before it got any worse. Tonight..
The office had become peaceful for Norman since
Phyllis s death. No more nagging phone calls, no more hiding
his affair, and most importantly, no more going home to the
hag. Norman's brutal life had turned to sugar. It made him
wonder what would go wrong next.
"What do you want to do tonight, Janet?" Norman asked
as she came into his office for the thousandth time that day.
His admiration for her had increased even beyond what it
had been. They obviously belonged together, or at least he
felt so.
"Well, why don't we just stay in again?"
"Are you sure, Janet? You aren't getting tired of that
are you?"
"No..it's only been a short time since your wife died,
and I don't want any suspicion to fall on our affair. I know
it doesn't really matter anymore, but I would feel better about
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it anyway."
"O.K., that's fine with me. He said with a smile.
She was thoughtful. Thinking of their reputations all
along was just a small part of it. She was a real wonder to
him, and it seemed she always would be.
Time passed quickly for them, but they closed the office
early anyway. They were both ready to hit the bed, and they
knew each other well enough that evasiveness was well out of
their systems. It was becoming impossible for either of them
to keep their minds on work. If it weren't for the other
realtors under Norman's hire, they wouldn't spend a minute a
week in the office.
But as the door closed behind them, the few thoughts
they kept for the office passed from their heads. Only
pleasure was on their minds now, and they would soon be
absorbed in it. If this was love, they had fallen as far as
anyone could imagine, and possibly deeper.
The ride to Janet's apartment wasn't quick enough for
the two. Their desire was building beyond control. But as
soon as Janet had her key in the door, the phone rang. Ringing
more than twenty times, she hesitantly picked it up.
As Norman sat down on the couch, he heard Janet
hurriedly hang up the phone. A few seconds later, she entered
the living room with a blank look on her face that could only
mean trouble for Norman.
"Who was that, sweetie?"
"It...It was nobody.. There wasn't anyone on the line
when I picked up the phone."
"Then what's the matter, hon? You don't have to take it
so hard. It happens all the time."
"I know that. But something was different this time. I
didn't hear anything, but then I did.."
"Well then, what did you hear?"
"I don't know. But I heard something, and I don't know
if it was words or what it was. It was strange. It was very
strange."
"Well, can you put it out of your mind? If not, I think
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that we might as well go grab something to eat."
"Let's go eat then. I'm sorry, Norman. I shouldn't let
this bother me, but it is."
"It's O.K. We have the rest of our lives to have sex,
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