It felt like a deja Vu when I first saw her, I was headed home from work as usual when my car broke down two blocks away from the house, I never felt so frustrated before I had to walk back home despite my fatigued situation, my only relief was that the car was inside the estate where I live at least it was safe where it was so I took a short cut through the street behind mine at least to reminisce about the old times I almost never had time for the neighbors anymore due to my new job as an accountant at the CPA firm. it then hit me to actually use this opportunity to check on the shepherds, an old couple that lived directly behind me, they were usually outside on their lawn most evenings receiving fresh air.
As I got closer I started noticing changes they made to the house and wow was it nice, they repainted the walls and grew flowers around the house which got me so excited to finally meet the old geezers again as I stopped by the entrance I saw the gardener passionately trimming the flowers, it was a young lady by the looks of it, probably the same age as me, she covered her face from the nose down with a nose mask and goggles for her eyes, she trimmed the flowers so personally, maybe it was their granddaughter who lives in New York i was wondering when I noticed her notice me, "oh snap " I exclaimed in my thoughts, I'd been starring this whole time and now I felt really weird for being caught but the gardener didn't seem to mind at all, she took off the goggles and her gloves to wave at me with her dry-small palms while I awkwardly returned the gesture.
She asked if I was lost and I explained that I lived directly behind the house and then I asked back if she was the shepherd's granddaughter but she confirmed negative by moving her head sideways so I asked if she was the shepherd's gardener but she couldn't reply as the question got her laughing, a very elegant and gentle laughter at that, she then finally took the mask off, she was as pretty as a fairytale, I was hit by surprise that I lost composure. "who're you then?" I asked flabbergasted toward the obvious which got her laughing again "you should've seen your face" she teased me and at this point I was definitely attracted to her, she then gave me her name "Nora, and my stalker?" she teased me again "Christopher, you can call me Christopher" I said with a shy smile on my face, I'd already forgotten how frustrated I'd been thirty minutes ago, I wasn't even tired anymore, there was something really familiar about her I just couldn't figure out as soon as she mentioned that word "stalker". After we exchanged pleasantries and she then explained to me how she just moved in a month ago after the previous residents must have moved out because she met the apartment empty "so that means you've been a terrible neighbor to not be aware of the ones around you" she jokingly said as we both laughed it off "Ill call them later tonight but then I can explain I promise" I said in defense "over dinner sometime though" I added ceasing the opportunity "are you asking me out stalker?....okay then, i'll be available by theweekend" she said.
We went out on that date then another one,then another until we started dating three months later, the circumstances surrounding our relationship felt so good like it was meant to be, we both liked and enjoyed talking about nature,we had similar sense of humor, we had a favourite restaurant we always and a favorite hobo out the back of the restaurant we always tipped on our way out, his name was Chuck, sometimes we got him a meal on our way out or leftovers because he was really friendly, we both had flowers growing at our backyard, we liked the same music, art, sculptures, tv shows and so on. it was perfect for me, for us both, until one certain evening we had just stepped out of the restaurant to the alley out back where Chuck usually was but he wasn't there
so we left what we got him by the corner where he slept, Nora suggested that I covered it with the blanket we had given him a month back, she was going to wait in the car and so I bent again proceeding to do just that when i heard my name "chr-chris" Nora was stuttering for some reason, she never called me by my name and I'd never heard her sound that scared before which made me fear for the worst, I looked up the way she went and I saw Nora with both her hands in the air, I immediately ran towards her only to find out she being held at gunpoint and then quickly but gently, I stepped in front of her with my hands in the air, this robber looked really familiar although I could swear I'd never met him in my life "what do you want? you can take my wallet please just let us go that's all I'm with" I said as I tossed him my wallet trying to remedy the situation "she already tossed her's but unfortunately my friend I'm not here for money" as he moved closer I noticed he had been stepping on Nora's purse I looked at him again, he seemed really angry to see me "what do you want from us then?" Nora asked, he looked at her then placed focus on me again, that was when I noticed that it was personal to him "you both talk too much as usual, I'm just glad my search has come to an end, goodbye my friend" these words struck me again as he made aim for me while I quickly turned around to cover Nora "babe run!...now--" the last thing I heard was the sound of a gunshot as I fell to the floor, I'd been shot but I was satisfied seeing Nora make it out the alley as I passed out on the floor slowly "run nora, run" I kept saying amidst my situation, my mouth tasted like blood and everything was turning black, I couldn't stop my eyes from closing ,my life flashed before me some of the images I couldn't place
and then it was pitch black.
When I came to, i saw a bright light, there was a bit of commotion going on, faces in surgical masks and voices all over the place "someone get her out of here...ma'am I'm sorry but you can't be here, you have to let us do our job...no!, I have to be there with him!" then it started to go pitch black again "N-Nora" was all i managed to cough out before passing out. Waking up again it was morning now, Nora was beside me, she had fallen asleep, my guess was she'd been there all night "that's my girl" I said under my breath, I tried reaching her when I felt a very sharp pain on my right arm which was in a cast, that was when I started wondering how it was possible that I was alive at all, I'd been worried about nora this whole time that I forgot that I got shot, I closed my eyes as I tried recalling what actually happened the previous night when I heard a voice "you're very lucky I got there on time else he would gotten you both again" it was Chuck, he looked different, he was neatly dressed and spoke really good "Chuck?... what the hell's been going on with my life recently?" I was beginning to lose my comprehensive ability "relax" new Chuck said calmly "I'll explain later but for now we gotta get outta here, he'll be back" Chuck said as he moved to wake Nora up "wait a second... what do you mean he'll be back?...What happened last night Chuck?" he paused for a brief moment "he was going to gun you down but I stabbed him from behind causing him to miss, sorry about your arm by the way--" "I'm fine thank you" I quickly said "I owe you my life Chuck" I tried getting up "no need for thanks, rise and shine miss, we have to leave now" he gently tapped Nora on the shoulder "oh hey Chuck, stalker you're awake!!, I thought I'd lost you" gave me a very warm embrace we almost fell back on the hospital bed, I immediately teased her "ouch babe take it easy on the patient--we have to go now!!" Chuck mentioned, cutting the reunion short, we grabbed what we could and headed out "my car's in the garage but we have to move fast" Chuck added "you have a car? Who are you Chuck?...babe you met the new Chuck yet?, he's the one who saved me by the way" she didn't reply me which got me further confused so I remained quiet till I was sure we were safe in order to find out whatever was going on because they both seemed more worried about the status of our situation than I was which made me feel ungrateful for the second chance I'd just been granted. I concluded within myself that they might already met while We all got into Chuck's car, by the next minute we were outside the hospital when i spotted a police car tailing us "the cops are behind us" I mentioned to chuck "thats not the police, he's back" he said
"who's he?" I asked but there was no reply from Chuck who's eyes were on the road at the time
"babe do you know anything about this?" I asked Nora who had her head down the whole time "babe I gotta tell you something ...please don't freak out" whatever she was going to say next, Nora was nervous about it "that person that's been after our lives since last night is- he's my husband" she looked into my eyes with tears rolling down hers "but you're not married, what do you mean?" I was confused once again but I still helped wipe the tears on her face, she held both my hands, her head down again she said to me "if any of what Chuck told me last nght was right then I was once married to that man but in another lifetime and we've both been running away from him for ages but whenever he finds and kills us both we get reincarnated and somehow end up finding each other again" all I could say was…"who's Chuck though?(
