Page 75 of Making Home with You
Me: I’m at your house and you have no fucking lights on!
Finn: Sorry, babe.I’ll be home in ten.Slow night here anyway.And it’s fucking Rockport, btw.
I laugh at Finn’s text.He’s right; it’s a small town with little going on.I’ve watched way too manySnappedepisodes and not everything in life is a worst-case scenario.
I exit my car and walk down the driveway to Finn’s mailbox, but before I can reach it, I hear a woman’s voice call my name.
I look around in the darkness but fail to notice anyone.The streetlights barely light the road and sidewalk, and with no lights on at Finn’s it’s difficult to see anything.
The person calls my name again, and it’s a voice I don’t recognize, but it’s melodic and high, almost eerie sounding.
I stop again, my hand on the mailbox, but this time when my name is called, the person is standing right in front of me.
I startle, nearly screaming out into the blackness of the night.
It’s Carla.
“Hey Sarah,” she says, her high-pitched tone overly friendly.“So glad I caught up with you.I know Finn’s working late tonight and I’m sure he’d be a little freaked out by his ex chatting with his new girlfriend, but you know, whatever.”
It’s not a whatever, and I stand starring at her, my eyes wide and my body frozen, wondering if I should just walk away without even acknowledging her.
When I don’t respond she keeps talking, her voice growing unnaturally higher with each word, her eyes scanning everything around her as she speaks.
I hate that she knows Finn is working late.I hate that she called herself his ex.But above all, I hate that she has me out here in the dark…alone.This was exactly what she was going for.
This girl has lost her fucking mind.
“He’s yours though, Sarah.”And the way she says my name makes a chill run up my spine.
“Okay,” I respond as I try to move around her and back toward the house.
She grabs my arm when I try to slip around her.“Did you hear what I said?”she snaps, and her fake friendly tone is long gone.
“Yes.”
“I said he’s yours.I’m giving him to you.”Her breathing is abnormally fast, each breath coming out in short little wisps that float out of her mouth as small white puffs of air in the cold.
“I don’t think you can give away something that was never yours, but okay,” I shoot back, not wanting to upset her, but needing her to realize she’s quite wrong.
She stamps her foot loudly and the wet ground splatters beneath her foot.I move away from her, stepping back this time, putting some distance between us just in case I have to run or possibly hit her.
“Fuck, Sarah,” she screams and it’s so loud that I’m certain Finn’s neighbors will be out at any second.This is a small town and any noise can attract a crowd, especially on a quiet night like this.“He was mine and you fucking ruined it, you whore!”
I’m taken aback by her constantly changing personality and the fact that she’s obviously lost touch with reality.
I have no idea how to handle this, so I once again respond with “okay” and clearly that’s not what she’s looking for because she begins tugging at her hair and pacing back and forth.
“Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, don’t you get it?You’re not what he wants.”Carla’s tone is now strangely calm, but also patronizing.“You’re a stupid girl to believe he likes you.You’re just like me…” she trails off, her thoughts a reckless mess of nonsense and I think she might be crying now.
I listen to her suck in a hard breath and exhale raggedly just as a pair of headlights presents themselves on Finn’s street.I look from Carla to the car driving up the road and when I look back again she’s gone.
Finn’s car pulls into the driveway quickly and hauls into the garage.I watch him jump out and race toward me.
“Sarah, what are you doing out here?”Finn demands, but his voice is filled with concern rather than judgment.
I’m starring down the street trying to figure out if I imagined my encounter with Carla or if it really happened.How the hell did she disappear so quickly?But when I look down, her muddy footprints trail along the sidewalk and vanish behind Finn’s house.
“Sarah, you’re freezing,” Finn says, taking my face in his hands so I’m now looking at him.“Oh my god, you’re shaking.What the hell happened?”
