Chapter 13

It seemed as if nobody was home. Heather stood right beside me, still holding onto my hand. According to my plan, the judge should already be looking into the barrel of my gun. Neither the judge nor the gun was there.

When Heather switched on the light in the hall, I nearly jumped out of my skin. I was so nervous, I almost pissed myself. That would have been the ultimate display of manliness on my part. Looking around, I noticed that the hall was old, lots of wood and stone and dark colors. It was not very inviting.

After a few moments, I turned to Heather. She had not moved and was looking at me. I guess she was waiting for me to say something. Although there were dozens of questions going through my mind, I had no idea which of those I was supposed to ask first. Heather took pity on me and told me that her parents were apparently not in that evening.

That statement should have calmed me down. In truth, it seemed that it just increased my nervousness. I had that irrational fear, and there was nothing I could do about it. Through it all, Heather just held my hand. She seemed to sense my fear and uncertainty.

“I don’t know where they are,” Heather said silently, “but I’m certainly not complaining. I was afraid of what might have happened if you met my father.”

I just looked at her, unable to say anything. There was no way for me to admit to her just how right she was with her assessment. Despite not saying anything, the look on my face had to have said enough. Heather gave me a small peck on the lips, told me that she was going to show me her room, turned on her heels and dragged me after her. Like a lamb being led to the slaughter, I just followed her.

She did not even turn on any lights. With the confidence of having lived in this house all her life, she just headed for her room. At least she switched on the light in her room after dragging me inside. It was a lot bigger than my room, at least twice the size. I was pretty impressed. The furniture was very tasteful and obviously expensive, her TV was, how do I describe that thing, kind of futuristic-looking with its speaker like a bar somehow right in front of it. If you want to spend more than 10k on an ugly TV look for B&O. That company should stick to speakers, as far as I was concerned. Let me just say that they had money, serious money from the looks of it.

Turning to Heather, I asked her if she knew where her parents were and when we needed to expect them back home. She told me to follow her and started for the door. Once again, I followed her through the dark house. When we got to the kitchen, she flicked on the light and went to the fridge. Right next to it, hanging on a nail, was a calendar, one of those family planning things with five different columns, one for each of four family members and one for general stuff. Apparently, they had not yet arrived in the modern age where everything was being digitally organized. I asked myself how that fit with that TV in Heather’s room. Not coming up with a satisfying answer, I just let it go.

After looking at the calendar, Heather told me that her parents would not be returning that night. According to her, they were out to some function, and they would generally take a room somewhere near. Something about being able to drink and it being less stressful. I was not really listening to her, I have to admit. That is until she said that the judge would be leaving the next day for about a week. Hearing that, I nearly broke down. Heather would be safe for a whole week. I would not have to leave her alone with her father. Until that moment, I was not aware of how heavily that had weighed on my shoulders. Even though this weight was lifted from me, I sank to my knees and started crying. All the tension left me, and with it, my strength and determination. All that was left was an emotional pile of teenage drama.

Once again, Heather was, actually had to be, the stronger one of us. Once again, I was shown how utterly useless I was. Before I knew it, Heather was kneeling right beside me, took me into her arms and held me. I guess I was blubbering some kind of nonsense as she tried to soothe me. Why was I not laughing or jumping or anything else to show my joy? What was wrong with me?

My memories of that moment are vague. I know that we spent quite a while on the floor of their kitchen. And I know that we had to have gone back to her room at some point. But, my next clear memory is of Heather and me, lying on her bed. Heather was whispering in my ear, and I became aware of myself and my surroundings again.

I had planned to kill the judge that day. That did not work out. At least the result would be the same. Maybe I should say nearly the same, as he would return in a few days. To our other plans, these few days could prove to be critical. As long as he was not around, he could not harm Heather, and he could not interfere with what we wanted to do. There was still her mother to consider, but I viewed her as an unimportant player in this game.

What to do now, I asked myself. This was an unexpected twist. In all honesty, I had not planned beyond the judge’s death at all. All my thoughts ended with the judge lying at my feet, bleeding to death. I fully expected to go to prison shortly after. My family, Heather and especially Sarah would have been pissed at me, but all of that was a price I was willing to pay. I had to admit to myself that it had not been much of a plan. Back to having nothing at all, it was.

When my mind returned to the real world, I noticed that Heather was staring at me. She had an absolutely undefinable expression on her face. There is no way even to try to describe it, except maybe as being a typical female. Most likely, it was a mixture of anger, pity, exasperation and curiosity.

How does a male typically react to something like that? I put an embarrassed grin on my face, of course. What else was there to do, as I had absolutely no idea what was going on in that pretty head of hers? Like every other man on earth, I had to wait for her to enlighten me. Probably she was going to let me die of old age waiting.

Then there was a little twinkle in her eyes. She was amused. I fully expected her to laugh at me, the clueless male. Preparing myself for the worst, I did not even notice when she started to move her face in my direction. Then I felt her lips on mine. Time stopped. Or maybe not. How should I know?

“You’re just too precious.” She whispered after the kiss ended. There was still some amusement in her voice.

What the fuck did she mean with that? Should I feel insulted? Were guys even supposed to be precious? At least, she did not seem to be condescending.

“You know that we are completely alone in this big house,” she continued silently, “nobody is gonna be home until tomorrow late morning.”

I thought she was hinting at something, but I did not want to jump to any conclusions.

“You think you might get scared all alone?” That was my pathetic try to continue this conversation while keeping it open. At that time, I honestly thought I was smooth.