So this is the start of a story that I was originally going to turn into a book but life happened and I got distracted from it. Luckily for me it kind of works as a stand alone short story. I think that one day I might come back to it but for now it'll stay as a short story. As always I hope you enjoy it and don't hesitate to tell me what you think.
Stay With Me
Jordan Lucke was still trying to get over his wife's passing. Four months since Sadie died and it was just as hard as it ever was. Everyday there was constant reminders of the love they had. A song that she used to love playing on the radio, going by one of her favorite places to eat, or just being in the apartment they had lived in for 3 years would send flashes like an old school still frame movie through his mind. He remembered the last time he saw her. The sun sparkled off of her beautiful brown hair. They walked down the shore of a little river in a small upstate New York town, which no one has ever heard of, called Colton. The light almost seemed to float around her in that perfect moment. Her eyes glistened like two beautifully blue crystals. He wished he could stay here forever. But he knew that in a couple of seconds this memory would be over and he would be alone again. He had hoped that it would get easier. Everyone said it would get easier. But how could it? She was everything to him. She was the most important thing in his life, the only thing keeping him going. And then she was gone. Now he had nothing. Now he was nothing.
He woke up the same way he did every morning for the past four months, hungover and depressed and sprawled out on a dingy motel bed in a very "outback" style motel. Flies buzzed annoyingly by the windows making a pathetic attempt to escape. The TV sat about 2 feet from the edge of the bed atop a dusty small square wooden table. It was still on from the drunken stupor the night before. The tv only got three channels, probably from being in the middle of nowhere, the news, ironically enough the TV guide channel and a random channel that played nothing but Christian gospel. It was on the Christian channel when Jordan woke up.
He laid there in the bed listening to the guy on the TV going on about how, "God forgives those who have confessed" and how, "Jesus is our savior." Jordan didn't buy in to that crap. He was a strong believer in that he makes his own decisions and suffers his own consequences. But then the guy started talking about life after death and how God does everything for a reason. This thought scared him because if God did everything for a reason then that meant that he took his Sadie from him on purpose. "If he could see how real and magical our love was, then why would he take her away?" "Were we not meant to be together at all?" The thoughts physically hurt him to think about, sending shots like little needles through his head, so he shut the tv off and slid to the end of the bed.
His head throbbed as he sat up. Running his hand through his shoulder length greasy black hair, he found that at some point last night he had vomited and some of it was still in it.
"Ugh" he said trying not to puke again when he felt chunks. Just then he could smell the vomit soaked bed sheets. It hit him like a smack in the face with a hand of putrid stench making him gag a little.
He slowly stood up, being sure not to move too quickly, and headed for the less than clean bathroom. When he walked in the first thing he noticed was the same chunks that were in his hair spread across the floor by the toilet.
"How much did I drink last night?" He thought to himself.
Most of the night was a blur. And for that matter the last 4 months were really nothing but a blur. He entered the dingy bathroom, trying to ignore the acidic smell in the air from the bile filled vomit on the floor. The smell burned his nostrils.
"Feel bad for whoever has to clean that up." Jordan thought to himself. The bathroom was pretty basic. Directly across from the door was the toilet which Jordan assumed was pretty gross even before he vomited all over it. It had a small sink that was located to the left as soon as you walked in. Across from the sink was a stand up shower with a frosted clear shower curtain. It had a slight yellow hue making it so you could just barely see through. The walls were a soft green color. Probably to go along with the "Adirondack" feel of the place.
Jordan walked carefully trying not to step in the vomit on the floor. He stood over the soap scum covered sink and looked into the mirror that was placed above it. He stared into it getting lost inside of his depressed and broken green eyes. There was a small light above the mirror that shined off of his oily tanned skin. He rubbed his right cheek feeling the black stubble that was just long enough to be considered a beard. His eyes were desperate and filled with pain, which showed in the deep creases in the outside corners of his eyes like mini canyons formed by too many tears.
He turned on the knob with an H on it. It squeaked as it turned. The faucet let out a high pitched scream, as the water began to warm up, sending sharp pains through Jordan's head. He put both hands in the shape of a cup under the water and bent over to splash it on his face. He did this a couple of times almost wishing it would just wash the hangover away. One final time he filled his hands with water and just before he bent over to splash it on his face the light above the mirror flickered a couple of times. Jordan didn't pay any mind to it and commenced to soak his face one last time. It was kind of fitting for how shady this place was. As he looked back into the mirror there was a naked silhouette of a woman in the shower staring right at him. Her eyes were a deep glowing blue. They pierced through him.
"What the fuck?" Jordan screamed! His heart smashed against the inside of his chest. He whipped his body around and in one swift motion he also grabbed the curtain and yanked it off the bar it was attached to. Nothing.
"What the hell?" He thought to himself. "I know there was someone..." The thought trailed off. He stared at the shower for a while debating if he was losing his mind or if he was seeing things bc he was still a little drunk from the night before. He turned back to the mirror and still there was nothing.
"Fucking Christ that was weird" Jordan thought to himself. Not seeing anything in the mirror gave him a sense of relief. His heart slowed to a normal speed. Brushing the incident off Jordan decided it was time to shower and clean the vomit out of his hair. He didn't know what just happened but he figured it was just his mind playing tricks on him.
When he got out of the shower the whole bathroom was full of steam. The dried up vomit on the floor had started to liquefy again. There was a small layer of water over everything. When Jordan opened the shower curtain his heart seized inside of his chest. Written in blood on the mirror was the phrase "Stay with me love bug" The water on the mirror had made the blood drip down. It's only then did Jordan realize that the sink was also filled with blood. He got out of the shower without drying off and immediately got dressed. He paid for his room, got in his car and started to drive.
Even though the sink was filled with blood all he could think about was the phrase on the mirror. "Stay with me love bug." That was what Sadie used to call him. He used to call her his little button. They were kind of pet names that Jordan hated to to think about now because it brought up so many painful memories.
"Who could've known that?" He thought to himself as he drove down a backwoods dirt road. The more he thought about it the more he remembered the woman he could’ve swore that he saw in the shower. Just standing there staring. He thought of those eyes. "Could it have been her?" He thought. "Of course it wasn't her, she's gone and she's never coming back." He started to tear up a little from that thought. As a tear ran down his face the lights on his dashboard started to flicker. Jordan looked up into the rear view mirror only to have the same luminous eyes that he saw in the bathroom once again piercing through his soul from the back seat.
He screamed "Holy shit" as he jerked the wheel left, skidding his small light blue Honda Civic sideways. He skidded for a few feet trying to straighten it out. In the midst of all of this he could still feel the eyes burning holes through his reality. Finally the car skidded to the right and started off the side of the road. The car caught a hole in the ground flipping it onto its side. Jordan had tried to leave the motel in such a hurry that he forgot to put his seatbelt on. As the car rolled he flew to the passenger side breaking the window in the door with his forehead. The car fell and stopped on its hood.
Laying there bleeding out from his head, the only thing that Jordan could think about was those eyes. They were literally the scariest thing he had ever seen but they also had unusual warmth to them, almost like he knew them. Then just as everything started to fade black he saw the same silhouette that he saw earlier walking outside of the totaled car and coming towards him. He wasn't afraid now. He knew it was Sadie. It had to be her. He could feel it. She reached towards him. He felt her icy touch against his head. She touched the wound that was gushing blood by the minute. When he felt her fingers of frostbite touch his head there was nothing but sleep. There was nothing but dreams. Dreams of her.