"So, you promise that you called Mark?" Tom eyed Lola suspiciously.
"I already told you I did," Lola said turning onto her old road.
"What did he say again?"
Lola sighed. "He said he'd meet us here at nine this morning."
Tommy looked at the clock, and bobbed his knee up and down.
"Are you alright?" Lola asked.
"How are you alright?" he demanded. "Unless you've gone on a lot of potentially dangerous scavenger hunts, I can't see how you aren't afraid."
It was true, Lola had been jittery all morning, spilling her orange juice on the counter as she had tried to pour, slamming her finger in the bathroom door. But she was trying to be brave. Kyle had entrusted her, and she wasn't going to let him down.
Lola smiled at her little brother. "I know it will be okay," she said.
They pulled into her driveway behind Mark's car. Lola's heart sped up as she saw his silhouette behind the steering wheel. He looked like he was on the phone, gesturing with his free hand. He glanced in his rear view mirror then got out of the car, saying bye as he shut the door.
"Hi Tom," he said closing the door behind him. "Hey Lola," he said with a smile.
Lola smiled back, and smoothed her wind blown hair out of her face. She tried not to be aware of how he said her name, or the way he walked closer to her to make his way to the house. Her hands shook slightly as she took her house key and slid it into the doorknob. Mark waited patiently behind them until she swung the door open and stepped inside.
It was still the same as the last time she had been here. The curtains were drawn and the air smelled musty. A fine layer of dust covered the shelves. Mark walked in through the entryway and towards a small table that stood by the door. A picture sat of Kyle and Lola on their wedding, smiling. He picked it up, studying it for a moment, then sat it back down.
"Alright, Lola," Tom said. "You got he letter?"
She took a deep breath, and reached into her purse with with trembling fingers. Being here, maybe being even closer to the truth was fraying her. She already felt exhausted.
"It's right here," she said as she opened it up.
"What's the first line again?" Mark asked.
"Remember that time, when we sipped pink candy under the sunset," she said.
They all stood there for a moment. Mark frowned rubbing his eyebrows. "Pink candy...pink candy...is he talking about wine?"
"Maybe? We did have a favorite...well my favorite. I told him it tasted...like...like pink candy!" Lola almost yelled. "The next line says, Before the tides had changed, and the music had set. I don't know..."
“Let's hear the next and we can come back to that," Mark offered.
"We walked hand in hand to a land faraway, where treasures were found and where a hobbit might stay," she read.
"I know he loved Tolkien," Mark began. "Where did he keep his copy of his books?"
"Over here," Lola said and walked across the room to a shelf lined with books. Below was a stereo, and above was a landscape painting of a full moon above an ocean.
"That's odd," she said. "I don't remember this bottle being here." Next to The Fellowship of the Ring stood an empty wine bottle with a sun setting on the label.
"I get it!" Tommy yelled. "The bottle has a setting sun, just like the letter. Before the tides change...that's the picture...and the music has set...that's the stereo!" he pointed.
"Then I wonder...," Mark said reaching for the empty wine bottle. As he lifted it, a small piece of paper slipped off the shelf, and landed on the floor.
Lola inhaled sharply, then stooped down to pick it up.
The paper was thin between her fingers, and had already started to yellow. She wondered how long it had been sitting there. She tuned it over in her hand to see clean letters and numbers written on the back side.
BE/AC 1120
“What? What is it?” Mark asked.
“I don’t know…” Lola sighed and gnawed at the corner of her mouth. She handed the note to his out stretched hand, unaware that his fingers brushed hers.
Tommy walked beside Mark to look at it as well.
“BE/AC 1120,” Mark read to himself.
Lola began to pace the room, staring at the floor. The only part that made some sense to her were the numbers.
“Well,” she began. “I don’t know if it matters, but we got married on September 20th…1-1-2-0.”
She walked back to the shelves where the wine bottle had sat, and raised onto her tiptoes.
“Lola, I don’t think anything is still…” Mark started.
“What is this?” she asked reaching to grab book.
“I’m sure it’s nothing,” he said taking a step closer to her.
Lola brought the book down and studied the binding. In between the groves of the spine set a small lens, no bigger than her pinky nail. She flipped the book around and pried it open to discover a small camera.
She turned to Mark, a fierce glare in her eyes.
“Explain,” she growled.
Mark took a deep breath, sat down on the couch, and ran his fingers through his hair.
“I didn’t want to use them…I”
“Them”
“Yes, them, Lola listen,” he said more sternly. “I didn’t want to use them…not at first. The letter wasn’t the only thing Kyle left me. He also left a code that I later figured out was the password to your security cameras he had installed one year ago. I wasn’t going to use them, but I didn’t know how to keep you safe without it. What if something happen to you” he looked at her, his eyes piercing hers. “I wouldn’t have been able to live with that.”
“Where are they?” Lola demanded. She took a step closer to the shelves. “Tell me.” she said through gritted teeth. She looked at the books then grabbed each book one by one and flung them to the floor.
“Please Lola,” Mark said. “You have to understand.”
“I have to understand?” she said tears burning the brim of her eyes. She was so tired of crying. “I have to understand?” she said louder.
She made her way to the T.V. “Is there one hidden in here? Or is there one in the DVD player?” She ripped it out and threw it to the ground.
“Lola!” Mark repeated. “Please stop.” Lola ignored him and marched to her bedroom.
“How many are in here?” she yelled from the other side of the house. “How many times did you watch me cry myself to sleep?” She tore through her bedroom taking pictures off the walls and slamming them into the floor. ‘Or better, how many times did you see me throw up?” She stormed into the bathroom eyeing the walls and the shower.
“You say that Kyle put these here?” she yelled again. “I don’t believe you.”
“Lola,” he said as he watched her go from room to room. “You’re being ridiculous.”
“Ha!” she said finding another in the picture frame of a puppy in the hallway. “I bet you planted these yourself. You’re a journalist, you probably do this kinda thing all the time.” she said red faced and out of breath.
Tommy stood next to Mark, arms crossed as he watched his sister tear back and forth, now headed to the kitchen.
“If I tell you where the last one is, will you stop and listen to me?” Mark said following her in.
Lola came to a halt in front of him. “I’ll tell you what, you tell me where that last one is, and maybe I won’t press charges.”
“Seriously, Lola?” Tommy asked. “You’re sounding crazy. Just let him get the last one before you trash more of your own house, and then let him explain. Geez.”
She turned and glared at Tom, then motioned to Mark to retrieve the last of the cameras. He stepped forward towards to the refrigerator, and reached up to the dusty bear shaped cookie jar. He set it on the counter, took off the lid and removed the camera. The bear sat now with only one dull eye, the other had been the lens.
Lola reached for it, Mark obliged, and she proceeded to slam it into the linoleum.
“Are you done?” Tom asked. Lola ignored him and stared at Mark.
“Now,” she said. “Explain.”
Mark took a deep breath and leaned back against the counter. “I told you before that Kyle already had these up a year ago,” he said. “That was the truth. He called me one day about this time last year sounding really uneasy. He said he had information, information he wasn’t sure if he should have…he dropped Byron’s name, and said he was going to install the cameras as a safety precaution. He also told me that he didn’t want you to know. He didn’t want to scare you, and soon as he learned more he’d tell me. He said he might need the press involved.”
“And then what?” asked Lola, arms crossed.
“Then that was it.” he said. “ I didn’t ask anymore questions because I wasn’t sure what he could tell me.” he shrugged. “But then, I got my letter, which now you know, also included the codes to unlocking the privacy system to the cameras. I only turned them on after the funeral. When I said I didn’t want to use them, I meant it.” he reached out and dared to turn her chin so her eyes locked into his. “I promise you, Lola, I would never do anything I didn't feel was necessary, and I would never want to break your trust.”
“But you did.” she said.
“What would you have done?” he asked her.
She looked at him confused.
“You heard me. What would you have done in my place differently?” he said. Lola turned her back to him. “Let’s pretend, for just one moment that you were put in my position. That your best friend trusted you with caring for his surviving wife and their unborn child, knowing...” his voice raising slightly as his anger grew. He took a breath and closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb. “Knowing that something could happen to them,” he voice was more gentle. “What would you have done?” he asked again opening his eyes to stare at her. “Would you have turned a blind eye? Walked away? That would have been the easier choice, right?” he said. “But too bad for you, I couldn’t,” he sighed. “You need to understand that I was,” he shook his head. “I am…prepared to do whatever it takes to make sure you stay alive. Whether you want me to or not.”
Lola turned back slowly to face him, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“I know you would,“ she whispered. “I‘m so sorry,” she choked out. “I’m just - I’m just so overwhelmed,” she said. “I don’t know what I’m doing.” she motioned around herself. “Two days ago I was just trying to wake up in the morning. Then Bryon shows up, I find just a sliver of hope in that, in laughing again…I laughed for the first time yesterday,” she said in disbelief. “And now I think that my husband was mur…”she couldn’t finish, sobs broke out of her.
Mark closed the short gap that stood between them, and pulled her in against his chest, engulfing her in his arms and stroked her curls softly with his hand.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I tried to keep my distance,” he paused. “But I’m not doing that anymore. You can’t do this on your own, and I’m not sitting back to watch. You’re stuck with me now.” he laughed gently.
Tommy stood to the side awkwardly. Then he spotted a box of dusty tissues and handed one to Lola. "Sorry if it makes you sneeze."
Thank you so much for sharing this with me! For more info about freewrites, visit
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If you would like to check out the story from the beginning you can find the previous chapters here!
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To the amazing people that read this story! Thank you!
Much love,
Stacie D