Page 17 of Split Screen Scream
“Good night.”
They both hung up, and Christie sat for a moment, thinking how lucky she was to have Tanya in her life. Christie had a job she loved, a home that was finally decorated just the way she’d always wanted, and a great best friend. Now, she just needed a companion, someone to cuddle with. A dog would be perfect.
Life was good, and it was good to be alive. But it was awfully quiet here. Tanya was right. Sometimes, she was lonely.Maybe I’ll look at dogs this week. Then I’ll have company and be safer.
* * *
Monday morning camelike other Monday mornings, yet not. This one came with the happy realization she’d be working with the flowers she loved so much, a thought she had every workday morning. But this time she had a new thought added.
What if some crazy person comes into the florist shop and starts waving a gun around, or worse, started shooting?
This was something she’d never thought of before, and the realization it could happen shook her world.
There was no going back. No way to return to innocence and the days of thinking everyone coming into the store was a nice man or woman. There were crazy bad people in the world and they’d pop up when you least expected it. When you weren’t ready. When you didn’t know what to do.
If there was a fire, she knew what to do. If someone tried to rob them, she knew what to do. She’d hand over the money.But a crazy person, someone who wants was to kill people? Shoot them in cold blood?That she wasn’t prepared for.How do you prepare for that?
She felt different now. Changed. Now, she expected violence. Knew it could happen. No longer, did she live with a naïve mindset that believed nothing like that would ever happen to her. Because now, it had.
She didn’t know what to do with these new thoughts and feelings. The shooting had happened, and now she didn’t know how to be. Her life now fell into a split screen of what had happened before and what had happened after. But the “after” part of her life story wasn’t written yet, and she was standing here on the page, not quite knowing what to do.
At least she’d slept last night, but her sleep had been restless. She knew she’d dreamed but couldn’t remember what the dream was about. Which was likely just as well. She had enough dealing with what was going through her head in her awake moments, without adding in the dreamtime thoughts, too.
Usually on her way to work, she’d turn on the radio and listen to music she liked, and sometimes she even sang along. But today, she didn’t even turn the radio on. She drove in silence until she pulled into her parking place behind the shop, and then sat in the car for a few minutes before turning it off.
Everything was quiet. In the car and outside of the car. It was early. She usually came in an hour before they opened to the public to start working on the arrangements needed for the week’s orders. The silence in the car was a new thing and a needed thing.
Then she opened the door, took her keys out of the car, and walked to the back door. Unlocking it, she cracked the door a bit and peered inside before pushing it open all the way.
All was quiet. She was the only one here.Good.
She pushed the door the rest of the way open and walked into the shop, quickly locking the door behind her.
No one can get in while both doors are locked.
For the first hour, the shop remained quiet as she worked on a silver arrangement with blue and purple flowers for the grand opening of a new hair salon. When that was done, she made three red rose arrangements for wedding anniversaries and one pink rosebud arrangement for a sweet sixteen birthday. The hour went by fast, and she’d just finished the arrangements when Mrs. Brown opened the front door.
“Good morning,” she breezed in past Christie and the beautiful arrangements standing on the long table. “Oh, these are lovely.”
“Thank you,” Christie quietly answered.
Mrs. Brown, always perceptive, slowed down to look at Christie more closely. “Something’s happened.”
“Yes,” Christie replied and looked at Mrs. Brown’s kind and concerned blue eyes. She was like a sweet, caring grandmother, and easy to talk to. Christie’s hands dropped to her sides. “You probably heard the news… That theater shooting? I was there. Inside, watching that movie.”
“Oh, Christie, no!” Mrs. Brown gasped. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re all right.” She reached for Christie’s arm. “Come over here and sit down.” Taking her by the elbow, she moved toward the small table and two chairs in the corner of the room where they took their breaks and meals.
Christie let herself be guided, and once they both sat, she said, “It was pretty frightening.”
“Why yes, that would have been. Terribly frightening. Tell me what happened.”
Christie blew out a deep breath. “We were just sitting there, watching the movie, when this crazy man came in with a gun and started shooting.”
Mrs. Brown nodded. “I saw on the news it had happened, but they didn’t name any of the theater patrons.”
“No, they’ll keep our names private.”
“That’s good. What happened with the Navy SEAL? I heard he saved everyone.”
