As Branden drove home, he rehearsed over and over again what he would say to Maria. He thought he’d never be able to say just the right thing to lessen the blow of the situation and help her move on as soon as possible. He didn’t want to tell her. He wished he could just push this under the rug like he has before, but she needs to know. There’s no way for her to not be upset about it, but he still thought if he just worded it properly… 

He saw the trees beside the road where Jonathan ran off. Maybe he should do the same. Crash his car in the trees and run off. None of his current problems would bother him if he did that. He turned his eyes back to the road. Not like it mattered, the road was nearly empty. 

He went over what he’d say again. 

“Maria, I’ve got some bad news about Jonathan. The police, and me, found some evidence to suggest that he’s guilty of serial murder. He ran away and couldn't be found.”

She’d probably be making herself dinner when he got back. He couldn’t tell her while she was cooking, it would ruin her and she wouldn’t want to finish it. He couldn’t tell her while she was eating, she wouldn’t want to finish her food. He couldn’t tell her after, she’d already be in a good mood, but confused why he got back early. He’d text her. Prepare her for the bad news.

Hey, babe! I’m heading home early. Unfortunately, I’ve got some bad news, though. It’s about Jonathan. I’ll tell you when I get back.

He pushed send and immediately put the phone face down. A couple minutes later, it buzzed. She replied. He was scared to see what she said. He slowly picked it up, his hand’s sweat sticking onto the phone.

Oh, okay. See you then.

He could tell she was worried. The usual enthusiasm she had in her messages was gone, replaced with an aura of subtle stress. He put the phone down once more, intending to keep it down, as more cars began to come into view. He spent the rest of the drive in silence until he eventually arrived back home. He walked up the steps of the apartment building, going to the 3rd floor. As he unlocked the door with his key, the smell of chicken and rice wafted through to his nose. 

Maria turned her head towards him, smiling. “Hi, honey! Welcome back,” She says, walking over to him and kissing his cheek.

“You said you had some bad news about Jonathan? Is he okay?” She asks, turning serious. Her eyebrows turned down towards her brown eyes and she frowned slightly. “Let’s go sit down.”

They both walk over to the gray couch behind the small TV in their living room, sitting down next to each other. 

“Well, I guess you could say he’s fine. But the police, and me, found some evidence to suggest that he’s guilty of serial murder. He ran away and couldn't be found.” 

Maria gasped. She didn’t say a word as she processed the information given to her, putting her head in her hand and fidgeting with her ponytail with the other. “I don’t know what to say,” She spoke, her hand muffling her words. She sat up, attempting to compose herself. 

“What did you find?” 

“Well, there were a lot of letters sent to him from a man named Brian. I’m not sure of his last name, but I think he was probably working with Jonathan from far away. He primarily kidnapped young girls, highschool aged, and none of them or their bodies were ever found. While I was staying with him, there was also lots of screaming, from his barn, and I saw a girl run from his property into the forest. I think he was planning on killing her, too.” He spoke with uncertainty laced in his tone and played around with his sweaty hands. He wished he could have planned out this half of the conversation better. 

Maria stood up, saying she needed some time alone to process what he said, and went to their bedroom, closing the door behind her. He looked over at the kitchen area, and began to put the leftovers away. If he knew Maria, he knew she probably wouldn’t want to eat anything after all that happened, and neither did he. He attempted to clear his mind and put on a lighthearted show on TV, watching it for the next hour. It was nearly 7PM and Branden quietly peaked into the bedroom, to see Maria sleeping in bed. He closed the door, used the bathroom and slept on the couch for the night. 

*****

He woke up the next morning at 9AM, and Maria had already gone to work. He had nearly another week left off before he had to go back to work, and had no idea what he would do with himself, but still wanted to take advantage of the free time. At least he had it. He cooked himself an egg and ate at the kitchen table, looking through his notifications. None of them interested him too much and there weren’t any news articles yet of the commotion that had happened yesterday, but he suspected there would be soon. He read a book that he had been meaning to for a couple hours and after getting bored of it, made himself lunch and watched TV while he ate.

He had never realized how dull his life was without work to occupy him. He would need to find something to entertain him until he could head back to his office job. He worked as a graphic designer full time and had been for three years now, and Maria was a baker at a cupcake shop a couple minutes down the road. They both earned more than enough money to support both of them and were considering getting a pet. Branden wanted a dog and so did Maria, but they couldn’t agree on what kind. He looked around on his phone for possible breeds to adopt, but that didn’t entertain him for too long.

He began talking to himself and eventually decided to go shopping. He was going to treat Maria to a nice dinner of spaghetti and meatballs. He wasn't very good at cooking many things, but that dish was manageable. He got in his car and drove down the road for about fifteen minutes until he made it to the grocery store. He walked inside and got all the things he would need for dinner and a couple of extra treats to share with Maria, and headed home after paying. 

As he drove down the road, he swore he saw a truck identical to Jonathan’s, but at closer inspection, calmed himself as he saw the driver was different. This got him thinking about Jonathan once again. What if he was never found? Surely he wasn’t that good at hiding. What if something happened to Maria or him? He reassured himself that they would be fine and could soon get back to life as normal, but the thought still lingered in the back of his mind. He attempted to push it back further. 

He parked his car directly in front of the building and walked up the flights of stairs. As he walked, he felt as though someone was watching him, but as he turned around, not a soul was in sight. He opened the door and placed the groceries in the cabinets and fridge, and with another several hours to kill before Maria got back, decided to take a nap. He set an alarm for 2:30 and laid down in bed, falling asleep soon after. 

As he slept, he had a dream, not scary enough to be a nightmare but too unsettling to be considered a normal dream. It was haunting and made him feel emotions that he’d never felt before while dreaming. His senses were alert and he could feel, smell and see everything so clearly. He’d never experienced something so vividly eerie before in his life, but as soon as he woke up, he forgot nearly all of it. The only thing that came to mind was Jonathan’s haunting figure, standing in a field next to the decaying barn. He was far away but Branden could still feel his cold eyes staring directly into his soul, tearing away at his sanity.

He woke up still with another hour until the alarm went off. He set it to go off at 3:00 and laid back down. He wondered if the dream was trying to tell him something. He wasn’t normally the type to think that way, but considering its relevance to what had been happening, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of worry concerning the future. 

He eventually fell asleep and woke up to the sound of the blaring alarm. He got out of bed and went to get a glass of water. He spent the rest of the day until Maria got back wandering around the house and watching TV. At 5:30, he began making dinner, as Maria would be back soon. A half hour later, the door was unlocked by Maria, and she stepped inside, hanging her keys and purse on the hooks attached to the wall. 

“Hey, babe,” She says, hugging and kissing him on the cheek. “Sorry I didn’t say bye to you this morning. I was in a bit of a rush and you seemed so peaceful,” She adds, smiling. 

“That’s fine, honey. How was work?” 

“Good! The usual, you know. Customers weren’t too bad, the workload was fine, got off a bit early, too. What’s this you’re cooking here?” 

“Spaghetti and meatballs. Figured I’d treat you after you’ve been cooking for yourself for the past two weeks. Hope you like it!”

“Oh, it looks great! When will it be ready?”

“As soon as the bread is out of the oven. Could you set the table?” 

“Sure,” She says, grabbing two plates and placing them on the table along with forks, knives and napkins. 

“How was your day?” 

“Pretty uneventful. I took a nap, went to the store, just messed around a bit. Guess I’ll have to find something to entertain me for the next week. It’ll be nice to get back to work though, that will give me something to do.”

“Yea. You’ve been softened up with all this sitting around,” She jokes, nudging him on the shoulder. 

“Oh, I’ve been busy! At least you get to make cupcakes all day. I was doing hard, manly work!” He jokingly replies, flexing his muscles. 

“Ha-ha, as if. We all know what you were really doing.” She laughs, grinning.

Branden leans against the counter, grinning back. He’d missed this. 

The oven timer beeps, and Branden takes the bread out of the oven, placing it on the counter. He divides it into four sections, and after serving Maria and himself, they begin to eat.

“It tastes amazing, Branden. You should make this more often,” Maria says, wiping her mouth with the napkin. 

“So, how have you been handling the news?” Branden asks, trying to hide his worry. 

“I’m not really sure what to think of it. I guess I just never thought of dad to be capable of something so awful. There’s still no updates on if he was found?”

“Nope. I wonder if he’ll ever show up again, honestly. But whatever happens, we’ll face this together.”

They finish eating and after cleaning up, they sit on the couch together and watch TV until they’re ready to go to bed, though most of their time was spent catching up with each other’s lives. At around 10:00 they retire to bed after doing their nightly routines, and sleep together for the first time in what felt like forever. 

The next several days, Branden continued to do about the same things as the previous day, attempting to get through the week, anticipating the day when he could get back to work. He wasn’t normally so eager to get back to his job, but considering the circumstances, he was looking forward to getting back to normalcy. 

One week after he had started working again, he had to stay late to finish a big project. After locking up for the night, he headed out to his car. The lot was empty at this point except for one other co-worker’s car, who also had to stay late. The sun had just finished setting and Branden sent a text to Maria, informing her he was heading home. She replied nearly instantly and Branden did the same, and after putting his phone into his pocket, unlocked his car. As he placed his hand on the handle, two slight footsteps came from behind, and Branden was knocked on the side of the head, and just before he fell to the ground, unconscious, he felt a strange sense of déjà vu.

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