Page 1 of The Girl and the Lies

She was in the middle of a dream.

Fragments of it lingered with her as a sharp sound cut through, jostling Sabrina into that phase between sleep and wakefulness where everything and nothing seems real. The sound came again as the feeling of floating was replaced by the sensation of soft, white cotton sheets and her pillow beneath her head. She wasn’t sure if it was actually happening or just part of the dream that hadn’t dissipated yet when she heard her husband’s voice.

“Hey, Mom… Wait, what? What happened…? I’m on my way.”

By the time she realized Ander had answered his phone, she’d forgotten the dream. He tossed the blankets off his legs, the movement familiar even with her eyes still closed, and leaned across the bed to kiss her forehead.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, opening her eyes in time to see her husband pulling a pair of pants from the large cherry dresser on the far wall.

The dresser had been a wedding gift from her parents, and every time she looked at it, she thought of the happy days leading up to the wedding when they moved the bedroom furniture into the house. They had been living together for years already but in an apartment too small even to be cozy. This was their first house, with the swing on the front porch, the extra bedrooms with all the possibilities, and the huge bedroom with new cherry furniture.

“Something’s going on at Mom’s house. She says she needs me to come,” he said, shaking off his shirt and tossing it to the hamper.

She still liked looking at him without his shirt. His job kept him fit, and a little smile crossed her lips as he dropped a fresh shirt over his head.

“Do you want me to go with you?” Sabrina asked.

She stretched out against the sheets and rolled to her side to follow his progress across the room. Ander shook his head while he put on his shoes.

“No, it’s still early. You stay here. I’ll come home before going to work,” he said.

Sabrina was relieved. She would have gone with him if he asked her to, but she hadn’t been able to sleep for a few nights. She’d finally gotten a decent sleep last night and was hoping to sink back into it for a while longer.

“Are you sure?” she asked, her head already back on the pillow and her eyes fluttering closed.

“I’m sure,” he said. “I’ll see you in a bit.”

He started out of the room, but Sabrina lifted her head from the pillow.

“Hey,” she said.

Ander smiled at her and came back for another kiss, patting her hip through the sheet.

“Get some sleep,” he said.

Sabrina smiled and settled back into the bed, willing the sleep and the dream to come back as she listened to the sound of her husband leaving the house. She lay there for a while, drifting somewhere near sleep but not really ever getting all the way back into it. She rolled over and tried to shield her eyes from the sunlight now coming through the big windows. It wasn’t happening. She’d woken up, and there was no getting back to sleep this morning. She decided there was no point in continuing to toss around in the bed. There were things to do, and she needed to get a head start to her day.

Reluctantly leaving the comfortable cocoon of the sheets and blanket, Sabrina sighed and stretched, trying to completely wake herself up. She made the bed, smoothing out the sheets and fluffing the pillows until they looked perfect. It was her turn to go to the cherry dresser and take out clothes. She brought them with her into the bathroom and showered.

The hot water helped to get her blood pumping and clear away the fog. She stood beneath it, washing her wavy blond hair and going over the list in her head of everything she wanted to accomplish that day. She and Ander had plans to go out later that evening after he came home from work, so she wanted to get everything done early enough to relax a little before getting ready. She was shaving her legs when a sound downstairs startled her. She hissed as the razor nicked her ankle and she rinsed it, watching the diluted blood streak across her foot and head for the drain.

Another sound came from downstairs, and Sabrina felt her pulse in her temples. No one else should have been in the house. Only the two of them lived there. Nothing should have been making any noise anywhere in the house. Fear crept up the back of her neck, but then she realized it might have been Ander. Maybe whatever was going on with his mother got fixed before he got there and he was able to come back home. The sounds seemed to be coming from the kitchen area, which would make sense if he decided to make one of the big breakfasts he adored but rarely got to have on mornings when he was expected at work.

Sabrina slid the glass door of the shower open and leaned her head out.

“Ander?” she called. “Babe?”

There was no response, and the frightened feeling came back, but for another reason. Her husband was in great shape now, but he had experienced some health problems in the past, and she was constantly worried about him. She was terrified he was going to experience a sudden emergency like his father and not make it through. Maybe he wasn’t responding because something serious had happened and he needed help.

She finished rinsing off and got out of the shower, reaching for one of the towels hanging on the bar on the wall.

“Babe?” she called again. “Are you all right?”

Still no response. She quickly dried off and threw on her bathrobe. Rushing out of the bathroom, she continued to call for her husband, concern growing the longer she went without hearing his voice calling back to her. She went down the stairs and turned toward the kitchen. They were the last steps she would take before everything changed.

Just as one foot hit the tile floor, something hard hit her in the back of the head, and she felt herself stumble forward. Crying out with the pain that rushed through her skull and down the back of her neck, she tried to turn around to see what was happening, but she felt someone wrap their arms firmly around her from behind.

Sabrina fought hard against the grip, struggling to free herself from the person dragging her backward down the hallway. Remembering something she’d heard on a late-night show she watched one night she couldn’t sleep, she stopped fighting and instead went completely limp, dropping all her weight down toward the floor. The strategy worked to throw her assailant off guard, and the hold on her released just enough for her to get away.

---