Page 48 of Perfect
Theo, 11:41 AM:
Are you going to respond at any point?
At lunch, I run down to the rec center, leaving my phone at the office to get some reprieve. I try to lose myself in the yoga class, but I’m so scattered that I fall out of a pose, and I spend the rest of the class in child’s pose, just trying to keep myself from crying.
Theo, 12:22 PM:
Are you okay?
That fall looked painful.
Theo, 12:49 PM:
You forgot your gym bag at the rec center.
Okay, so I’m constantly under surveillance. Fuck, he’s takingeverythingaway from me.
Theo, 1:15 PM:
Alex, you need to eat something.
I pretend everything is fine, but I think Suzie can tell something is wrong. She keeps giving me this concerned look and asking if I’m okay when she comes down for coffee, whichshe’s doing far more than usual. I just force a smile and tell her I have insomnia, and I think she can tell I’m lying, but she grabs her purse and slips me an Ambien anyway, telling me to get some sleep.
Theo, 2:39 PM:
Please don’t take medication that’s not yours.
Theo, 3:18 PM:
You shouldn’t have caffeine this late.
I sigh in agitation, shoving my phone in my desk drawer. He’s going to kill me, but apparently he’s going to mother me first.
Theo, 4:45 PM:
Do you need a ride home?
I leave work a few minutes early and walk home quickly, looking for him everywhere, but he’s nowhere to be seen. When I get home, I look around my apartment for anything suspicious, but nothing seems to have changed, except that my planner now has “DINNER” on Wednesday written in red ink. I close the planner and slip it into a drawer.
I guess that’s not mine anymore, either.
Theo, 5:55 PM:
Are you seriously not eating at all?
Theo, 6:02 PM:
How about dinner tonight?
Alex, please answer me. You’re being rude.
Fine. I’m coming over.
Panic flares through me and I scramble to leave my apartment. Ignoring him isn’t going to work, and I need to get out of here. Roger is still gone, and there’s no one in the rental right now, but maybe someone else can hear me scream if I’m not in my apartment.
I walk up the hill towards the center of town, silencing my phone to ignore the chiming. I’m jumpier than usual, constantly looking over my shoulder for any sign Theo, taking streets I’m not familiar with.
I end up in an older neighborhood that looks out over the river, full of nicely kept Victorian houses on big plots. I panic when I realize I’ve walked down a short, dead-end street. There’s only one large house at the end, partially obscured by trees, and there aren’t a ton of streetlights.
