Questions by Odessa McNiel (ebook voice reader .txt) 📖

I watched her chest rise and fall with each quiet, steady breath, silently preparing myself to tell yet another lie.  She looked so peaceful, so innocent.  She was my angel, my love.  I could hardly stand to lie to her like this, but what choice did I have?

I swept a lock of her long, blonde hair away from her face, kissing her neck gently.  I heard her inhale sharply, sighing.  She turned her head towards me as I lifted my lips from her neck, staring into those stunning emerald eyes.  A smile spread across her face.  Cold fingers grazed my stubbly cheek, raising goose bumps on my skin. 

“Good morning,” I whispered, kissing her finger tips.  Her other hand wound its way into my hair. 

“You’re up early.” She glanced at the clock on her end table. “It’s only four-thirty.” She slowly took in the fact that I was already dressed in a suit and tie. 

“I know.” I told her, giving her the excuse I always used. “I’ve got a patient who needs emergent surgery, though.  The hospital just paged.”  I kissed her.

“Mmm,” she moaned against the kiss, “you need to get going then.  Don’t let me keep you from your patients.”

I pressed against her lips harder. “I promise to make it up to you, okay.” I mentally reminded myself to kick my own ass when I left. “How about dinner tonight, anywhere you want?  How does that sound?” She kissed me back, rolling on top of me and resting on my chest. 

“That sounds like a plan.  Nine?” She smiled and propped her head atop her hands.

“Nine it is.” We kissed one last time before she rolled off of me and back to her side of the bed.  I rose from the bed, straightening my tie and the wrinkles in my suit, and grabbed my jacket off the coat rack by the closet door.  I looked back at her one last time, smiling.

“I love you, Nicole.” I whispered to the darkness, realizing she was already asleep again.  I sighed, turning for the door.  She had no idea that I wasn’t a doctor or a surgeon for that matter.  It was a cover for my real job, but I wasn’t allowed to tell her that.  I was barely allowed to breathe around her let alone date her.  I was tired of using everything I did in my life as a cover for my job.  I just wanted to kiss her without them watching my every move. 

I opened the bedroom door and entered the living room.  My cell phone was sitting on the glass coffee table, vibrating like an earthquake.  The screen’s backlight glowed neon blue.  I instantly recognized the unknown number on the caller id. 

“Hey, it’s me.” I said, answering the call.

Static sounded on the other side. “You got the instructions?” A deep, electronic voice asked.

“Yes,” I briefly remembered the message I’d received from the guy in the blue swim trunks on the bus yesterday.  I was to be in the alley just before the corner of North Street and Central Avenue by five-thirty to discuss our plan of action.  “I’m heading out the door right now, sir.”

“Good, make sure all-“

“I know, sir.  ‘Make sure all exits and entrances are secured and locked before I leave.’” I subconsciously glanced around the blackened room, cursing myself for not checking it before my entrance.

“Yes, come prepared as well.  I have a feeling that they will try something this morning.”

“I always am, sir.  I’ll see you there.” The line went dead, and I stuffed the phone in my pants pocket.  I could feel the faint outline of my occupied gun holster against my back as I pulled my jacket on, covering it up.  After checking the locks on everything, I picked up my briefcase by the front door and left the apartment.

The halls were quiet as expected for four-thirty in the morning.  I made my way to the elevators and pressed the down button.  Suddenly I heard shoes, probably heals, clacking against the tiled floor to my left.  I turned, prepared to pull my gun out, only to realize it was our neighbor and Nicole’s friend, Risha.  She walked towards me wearing a bleached white blouse, gray pencil skirt, and as expected, a pair of black stilettos. 

“Good morning, handsome.” She exclaimed a bit too cheerfully, slinging her purse over her shoulder.  

“Good morning to you, too, Risha.  A bit cheerful today, aren’t we?” I cracked a smile.

“I’m a morning person, you know.  Morning people are always cheerful in the morning.” She smiled too as she caught me laughing at her. “Okay, I may have had one more cup of coffee than I should have had.  So, a caffeine rush is expected.  Plus, the person I share my cubicle with- also the person I despise- got fired yesterday, so, until they replace him, I have the cubicle to myself.” I had forgotten that Risha worked in the marketing branch for one of the companies here in the city. 

“That’s horrible!” I laughed, “Someone just lost their job, and you’re celebrating.” I shook my head.

“Hey, if you had to spend nine hours next to someone as obnoxious as he was, you’d be glad he got fired, too.”

“I suppose I would.” Now we were both laughing in the middle of a silent hallway.

“We’re going to hell, aren’t we- for laughing at a someone getting fired?” Risha asked.  I nodded, fighting back another fit of laughter.  She cleared her throat as the elevator dinged open, and we entered.

“So, how’s work at the hospital going?” She questioned, pressing the lobby button.  The doors closed.

“Good, they paged me in for an emergent surgery.” The lie rolled easily off my tongue again. “I’ll tell you they’re throwing them at me left and right.  I’m surprised Nicky’s not mad at me for the forty-eight hour shifts sometimes.  I can see that it’s hard on her.”

Risha patted my back gently. “She’ll be okay.  Besides, she has me to keep her company when you’re not at home.”

“Yea, I promised her dinner tonight at nine.  I’m hoping the hospital doesn’t overload me again.”

“Good luck with that.” The doors opened again on the lobby. “See you later, Kyle.” She walked towards the car garage as I headed for the front doors. 

The brightly lit street was already bustling with taxis and early risers.  Billboards advertised new clothes brands and shoes.  Flashing lights called the drunks down to the depths of yet another glass of scotch.  People rushed by on both foot and bike, their collars turned up to keep their ears warm.  Some had ear buds in, listening to music or a local podcast. 

I took a right, turning up my own collar.  I could feel my nose turning pink by the second as the temperature lingered at a chilly forty degrees.  A breeze swept through the streets, knocking the color turned leaves off their branches and sent them swaying to the ground.  It was another sign that snow was on its way. 

It was refreshing in a way that a sugar rush was.  It woke up my sense and helped me pay attention to the people around me, reassuring myself that I was not being followed.  No one else was to know of this meeting.  I could get my ass canned for it or worse if someone else knew.  The entirety of my job was this way, always in secrecy.  It was something I resented, but knew was necessary.  People would freak out if they knew truth of the organization for which I worked.

I checked my watch.  Five-fifteen.  Damn!  I picked up my pace, crossed the street in front of me, and veered left at the corner, glancing at the street sign: Church Street.  I was getting close.  At the end of this street, I took a right and crossed another street.  I was at North Street; now, I just needed to follow the sidewalk to the end of the street where it ran into Central Avenue. 

As I approached the corner, I slowly entered the alley on my left.  I checked the roof tops, behind me, and every single cut out and crevice of the alley.  When, I was satisfied I took a seat on a crate near a dumpster.  It stunk, of course, like rotten fish, decaying rodents, and God knows what else.  

I checked my watch again.  It was five-thirty.     

I rolled over and closed my eyes, silently hiding my disappointment that he couldn’t sleep in longer with me.  Kyle was always at the hospital running test and scans or performing surgeries.  I understood that he was saving lives and making history, but was it so bad that I wanted him to have a life with me, too?

I pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders.  Maybe sleep was all I needed.  After all, I would see him tonight at nine.  So, no need to become possessive, right?

“I love you, Nicole.” I heard him say.  The declaration was barely a whisper.  I smiled to myself, feeling special because of this rare declaration.  I thought about answering him but kept silent, savoring the moment.  He sighed when I said nothing and probably assumed I had gone back to sleep.  The door knob jangled open and then almost immediately clicked shut.

Suddenly, a buzzing noise sounded.  I looked towards my phone that was sitting on my end table.  I half expected it to show a call from Risha, but the screen remained blank.  I blinked, confused- not from not getting a call from Risha at four-thirty in the morning, but because I didn’t understand what was making that God-awful noise.

A thought occurred to me.  Maybe Kyle forgot to grab his pager on his way out.  I sat up, looking anxiously towards his end table.  Nothing.  His end table was void of anything on the surface except for a picture of us we’d taken on our trip to Paris, France.

***

I remember the trip as if we’d taken it yesterday when it was actually four years ago.  He’d come home from the hospital that night, and I remember being so pissed off at him because of all the time he’d been logging at the hospital instead of at home.  He was just coming off his intern year at the hospital, so, he was expected to be at the hospital that long.  However, me being the poor little waitress girl I was at the time, I didn’t understand the three day shifts and overnight stays- not that I understand them any better now except I don’t complain as much.

Anyways, he’d come home that night like he always did no matter how early he got off- droopy, saggy, purple bags hung under his amazing blue eyes, no shower and kind of smelly, hair disheveled and sticking up everywhere like Alfalfa, the wrinkles in his suit destroyed the almost perfect ironing job I’d done, and the scent of a dozen cups of coffee and several peppermints lingered heavily on his breath.  (I had wondered at one point if the patients he cared for had ever felt just