“We all have two lives,” Melina said to Nara late that night as they lay huddled together in bed with the covers tucked snugly around them.
“Huh?” Nara said in a voice that was full of more emotional exhaustion than physical exhaustion.
“We all have two lives. There’s the one we dream of having and then there’s the one that’s meant to be.”
Melina could sense Nara’s mind mulling over her observation in the darkness.
She continued with, “I really loved your mother. Not like I loved Ari, but I did love her. I didn’t really enjoy the sex very much because she wouldn’t participate. We had sex for me and not for us. I love to be pleased and spoiled by my partner, but I also like to return the favor every now and then and she wouldn’t let me. But I really, really did love the hell out of the woman. She even had some traits about her I adored that Ari didn’t possess. I just don’t know how she managed to fool me like she did. There were simply no signs whatsoever of any insanity underneath the happy and stable-appearing exterior.”
“I guess she fooled a lot of people, but of course, so did Ted Bundy,” Nara said in a voice that was full of sad resignation. “All we can do is just remember the good times.”
And oh, how Melina tried to do just that. But the upcoming months would be filled with heartache and stress to an almost overwhelming degree, and she would begin to wonder just how much more of it she could take before she lost hold of her own sanity.
They searched and searched, but Lucia and her dog Ricardo remained nowhere to be found. Melina, Nara and Rena felt certain that she would call at some point, but she never did. Eventually, under the protective eye of the Italian police, the family emptied out Lucia’s house and store and sold them both.
Melina and Nara, as well as Rena and Armando, felt it best to leave the area due to all the negative publicity floating around. Rena made plans to move her family up to the northern part of the country, while Melina and Nara made their own plans. They talked about going to the U.S., but Nara didn’t want to move that far from her son who was also up north. And so they agreed on settling in a cottage in England where Nara had a friend who would help them get started. They would live off of a combination of the money Melina had won, as well as money that had been split between them and Rena from the house and business sales, while Nara took the time to find work in a new college.
Melina loved Nara and Nara loved her. That had always been a fact. Had it not been for Ari and Lucia, the two would have naturally gravitated towards each other.
“Two people fell in love with you the day you first came to the college as a tourist,” Nara told her about a month later. “Only one of us had the wonderful fortune of capturing your eye.”
“You captured my eye,” Melina assured her. “I was just so preoccupied with Ari at the time because I saw more of her, and you were still busy going through one hopeless date after another.”
“That I was,” Nara said with a bitter laugh.
“I guess sometimes it takes us a few times to get it right, even though I’ll always wish none of it ever happened.”
“Me too,” Nara agreed, a serious expression returning to her face as she pulled Melina towards her. “But you know what they say. Three time’s the charm.”
And so it had only seemed right for Melina and Nara to be together. They knew each other. They loved each other. And they were attracted to each other.
As with the others, Nara had her own traits that made her the individual that she was. Melina loved her height at just under six feet tall, and she felt safe having her around.
She was a good lover as well. Not a great one as Ari had been, but she was good and very gentle for her size.
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?” asked Nara a short while later, entering the bedroom where Melina was taping a box she had just packed for tomorrow’s move.
Melina glanced up at Nara. Her long black hair and dark brown eyes contrasted beautifully against her light skin.
“Nah, I’ll be fine. If she hasn’t come around since the police protection was lifted, I don’t see why she would now,” replied Melina.
Nara hesitated.
“Go on, I’ll be ok. You’re only running to the store and back, then tomorrow we’re gone.”
“Well, ok. If you’re sure you’re ok with being left alone.”
“I’m sure,” Melina said with a smile.
“Ok, just don’t answer the door under any circumstances, you hear?”
“I hear.”
“Not for anyone, Melina.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Be back as soon as I can.”
“Okie Dokey. Don’t drive too fast.”
“I won’t,” Nara said, and then she was gone.
After she heard the door to the SUV slam shut and the vehicle pull out of the driveway, Melina almost wished she had gone to the store with her after all. The packing could’ve waited fifteen minutes. Besides, she was almost eight months pregnant. She could use a break.
The silence was eerie and intimidating. Why were there no sounds of life outdoors? Try as she would, Melina couldn’t hear a thing. No cars going by, no dogs barking, no children playing… nothing. Just dead silence.
But then she heard strange sounds coming from the kitchen.
Melina’s heartbeat started doing double-time. What the hell had that been?
Trying to convince herself that it was simply the sounds of the house settling, she began to pack knickknacks into another box.
She heard it again.
Don’t even try to kid yourself. There’s no denying that someone’s breaking into the house. Right this very minute!
Cell phone! Where was the damn cell phone?!
Melina quickly scanned the bedroom but didn’t see it. There was no way she would risk running into the living room to look in there when the intruder would certainly be inside the house any second now.
She hurriedly tiptoed over to the closet and slowly swung the door open. Then she stepped inside the closet and closed the door behind her, hoping it wouldn’t make any sounds to alert the intruder of her whereabouts.
Realizing that the person may check the closet anyway, she trembled fearfully as she sought to hide behind some long dresses as quietly as she could, sorrier than ever for not going to the store with Nara. Her grossly extended abdomen made it hard for her to crouch down.
It seemed as if an eternity had passed – a lot longer than Nara should have needed to run to the store – before Lucia found her hiding spot and yanked her out of the closet.
She kicked and screamed and punched, but the older woman had amazing strength. Especially since she wasn’t pregnant and bogged down with 30 extra pounds of weight she wasn’t used to carrying.
“Let go of me! Why are you doing this? I thought you loved me,” Melina pleaded.
“Oh, I loved you, alright,” Lucia hissed. “Until you went and betrayed me. You could have had it all, you know.”
Lucia momentarily released Melina and Melina turned to face her. She looked pretty good for a woman on the run. “You know they’re looking for you, don’t you?”
Lucia nodded and said, “Thanks to you I was able to keep track of what you wouldn’t tell me by reading your own journal. You may’ve gone private as far as outsiders were concerned, but you were anything but private to me.”
“You checked my laptop?”
“Yeah, and you also forgot to clear your history online, so I was aware of your email to Nara as well.”
Melina simply stared at Lucia incredulously. How had such a seemingly sane and loving woman become such a monster? Then again, Melina now knew that Lucia had been a monster all along. She just hadn’t seen it, and that was something that really scared her. It taught her that anyone could fool anyone.
Maybe Nara was just as crazy.
“I don’t know how you got in here, but please, please just leave,” Melina begged me. “If you love me as much as you say, then you will go. I won’t say a thing. I promise. I would rather you be free to be on the run out there than in jail, so please, please get out of here before Nara comes back. She’ll be back any second now.”
Of course, Melina wanted her caught, punished and imprisoned, but she also wanted to stay alive. And if staying alive meant that Lucia went free, then so be it.
“Lucky for you that my friend had that emergency and I was stupid enough to trust you alone. That night you and I were going to do a little packing of our own.”
“We can still get out of here…”
“Don’t give me that shit, Meli!” Lucia screamed. “Do you really think I’m that stupid?”
“No, I don’t think that,” Melina said, stalling for time. “You’re the one that always told me nothing’s impossible if you put your mind to it.”
“And it’s true, too. And right now my mind’s on you.”
Melina glanced nervously down at Lucia’s hand which was reaching into the pocket of her jacket. “What are you going to do?”
Lucia pulled out a pair of handcuffs and said, “Just give me a little reassurance.”
“Oh, come on. You don’t have to do that. I could still kick and scream even with those on, and if you bind my legs and gag me, that would only draw just as much attention. Certainly, you’re smart enough to know this. So let’s just walk out of here peacefully like two civilized adults, ok?”
The sounds of vehicles screeching to a halt were suddenly heard outside.
Melina tried to run past Lucia, but Lucia was quicker, stronger, and not the least bit pregnant. “Don’t even think of it, girl!”
In Italian, the two women could hear orders being shouted through a loudspeaker for them to step outside with their hands up.
Lucia dropped the handcuffs and pulled a gun from her other pocket. Then she grabbed Melina and made her walk in front of her, one arm around her neck, the other holding the gun. “Walk! Now!”
Melina coughed as her throat began to constrict from the pressure of Lucia’s arm. “Please!” she gasped. “Don’t hurt me. If you love me, don’t hurt me!”
“Just shut up and move it!” demanded Lucia.
In the living room, they could see out the large picturesque window which overlooked the street and even part of the driveway and around the corner as well. There were a number of police cars as well as Nara’s SUV. Several officers, including Nara, could see Lucia holding Melina hostage at gunpoint.
Nara grabbed the loudspeaker from one of the officers and pleaded through it to Lucia. “Ma, please don’t do this. Per favore, lasciala andare libero.”
“Get out of here!” Lucia screamed in Italian, placing the gun against Melina’s temple.
Melina’s heart never beat so fast in her life. Her body broke out in a cold sweat as Lucia began to squeeze the trigger. Her breathing was quick and shallow. She would have fainted if it weren’t for the thunderously loud pops that echoed off the walls of the room and sent her straight into merciful oblivion.
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