M. Marshall - The End Is Nigh

“I can imagine. I’m sad to have missed it.”

“I wanted to talk to you. Can we?” Before giving me time to reply he placed his open palm on the base of my spine and guided me over to the barn that he’d just walked out of. “I tried to tell you this the day after, in the morning. But then all of this happened and I feel like you should hear it.” I listened. There hadn’t been a day since that I hadn’t thought about that night. I hadn’t imagined that he would have been thinking about it too.

“What is it? You want to apologise?”

“For God’s sake Elizabeth.” He hit the wall behind my head and moved his body so that he was directly in front of me. “No, I don’t want to apologise. Unless it’s to say that I’m sorry it hasn’t happened every night since and that you’re a pain in the arse. I wanted you to hear this from me before one of your new army buddies find out for you.” I looked at him. His eyes locked on mine. “I didn’t tell you the truth about my situation when we met.”

“What do you mean your situation?”

“ I hadn’t just got out of prison.”

“What? Why would you tell someone you’d been in prison if you hadn’t?” He wasn’t making any sense. His hand slid down the wall behind me and fell on to my shoulder.

“I was still in prison when the bombs fell Lizzy. I had a life sentence. I was never supposed to get out. When I was with you the other night, it was amazing. But I didn’t know how to tell you the next day. I woke up and you were gone. I thought I’d screwed up. I hadn’t touched a woman like that in over ten years.” I was stunned.

“So you didn’t regret it?”

“No. It was one of the best things I’ve ever done, allowing you to seduce me.” I scowled up at him and he laughed. He tilted my head up towards him and bend down to kiss me. His lips brushed against mine before I pushed him off.

“You lied about being in prison? Why?” He turned away. “You said you’d hit someone.”

“Yeah. I did, I killed him. So what? I had a longer sentence than I said, but that doesn’t make me a different guy from the one you were screwing last week.” I looked at him shocked at his change of mood. He grabbed my waist and pulled me to him.

“A longer sentence, Liam? You just said life! Get off me.” I could see he was getting angry. What did he expect me to say?

“You aren’t who you said you were either. You’ve been replaced by a cold woman. I don’t even recognise you anymore.” It struck a chord. I shoved the heel of my hand up into his face. I hadn’t intended to do it, but I heard his nose pop under the force of the blow. He let go of his hold on me. “What the fuck?” He was bleeding, but I was too angry to care.

“Who do you think you are talking to? You don’t just come over here and pull me around like a piece of property. You should learn some fucking manners now that you’ve escaped from prison, they’ll help you blend in.” I spat back at him and walked away.

He grabbed the side of my jacket and yanked me backwards ripping my top in the process. He caught me in his arms to stop me from crashing into the wall of the barn. Before I could recover, he grabbed both sides of my head and kissed me. His unshaven chin scraped against my face. I tried to pull away but he was too strong. His tongue invaded my mouth and one of his arms looped around my back giving me just enough space to pull my head away from his. Then he grabbed my chin and turned my head so that his mouth was right by my ear.

“This murdering piece of shit is in love with you. You scrappy bitch. What do you think your army friends would think about that?” He let me go then and slapped me hard on the ass. I stumbled away from him and back towards the house. I looked over my shoulder to check he hadn’t followed me. I ran inside and slammed the door falling in to a stunned heap on the floor behind it.

I avoided him after that. I was so confused that It was the only thing I could do. I was pretty sure that I’d hurt him that night but for him to say that he was in love with me. I couldn’t decide if I was still angry with him or not. The churning feeling in my gut whenever I saw him told me that as much as I would like to deny it, I had feelings for him.

Another week went by and I would come home from the army base late. I was so tired that I’d sometimes fall asleep in the armchair by the fire. Waking up to find Shadow curled up by my feet and that someone had thrown a blanket over me. A couple of times I would wish that Liam would come down and talk to me. I missed his company more than anything, but I was beginning to wonder if we would be any good for each other.

I’d fallen asleep like that when I was woken by Kate tapping me on the shoulder.

“Liz, Lizzy. Wake up.” I opened my eyes and saw her crouched on the floor in front of me with tears in her eyes. Thinking there was something wrong I sat up and looked around the room.

“What? What is it?” As I looked past Kate, I thought I saw Liam’s dark figure standing in the doorway. The fire flickered and reflected light off his skin. The hairs on the back of my neck rose up. Shadow sensing my change of mood stood by my feet and growled at the stranger watching us in the dark.

“Well, I had hoped you would be more pleased to see me.”

Matt walked into the light of the room and knelt down in front of me, his arms enveloped me and held me so tightly that for a moment I struggled to breathe. He pulled away from me. “I can’t believe it’s really you. I’ve scoured the entire length of the country trying to find you.” I started to go into shock. I wanted to scream but my throat wouldn’t make the sound.

“I.. I thought you were dead. I saw you under the rubble. Your parent’s house?” He pulled me forwards over his shoulder and stroked my hair as I tried to suppress the urge to throw up.

“Oh, Baby I’m so sorry. My parents and I weren’t there when it collapsed. One of Dad’s old drinking buddy’s owns a car garage down at the end of their street. They had all been rushing out to take shelter in the basement just as I arrived on my bike. It was amazing that I caught them when I did. I didn’t even have time to put on my jacket before they were out the back door.” As his words sunk in, I began to understand what had happened. We had missed each other somewhere.

“I found your wallet. I thought you were dead. I’m sorry.”

He had no idea that I had slept with someone else and not just anyone. Someone who lived in this house. Shit. I looked up at Kate over Matt’s shoulder her eyes were wide. She looked as shocked to see him as I was.

“I see I’ve been replaced.” He already knew?

“What? I didn’t know that you were coming back.” He was taking it better than I had expected.

“That’s okay we can keep him.”

“What?”

“You’ve obviously grown quite attached to your four-legged guard dog.” I gulped as I realised he had been talking about Shadow. Who was still sat with his ears pinned back and grumbling at my feet. That was close.

“Where’s Rosa? How did you manage the trek up here with a baby all on your own?” Still dumbstruck it took me a few seconds to answer.

“I wasn’t alone. I met someone.” I felt my face flush red. Scared that he would see right through me, I bent over to disguise myself and scratched Shadows ear “This is Shadow. He and Rosa are best friends.”

“Don’t forget the other stray dog you found on your travels.” Liam stood with his arms folded across his chest taking up most of the space in the doorway. He was intrigued to learn more about the man who held me so closely. “I’m Liam; I take it you knew each other from before?” Liam held out his hand to shake Matt’s hand. I swallowed hard.