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Final Night
by Katie
The blinds were shuttering in the breeze, the
wind was howling, the night was fierce. Terri sat at the kitchen bench sipping a
cup of coffee awaiting for her love to return. She caressed the mug gently in
her hands, the warmth between her fingertips and palms as she contemplated where
Mitch could be, and when he would be home. Terri began to agonize as she glanced
at the clock realizing it was 12.06am. The coffee cup was now empty, reaching
for the sink to wash it out, and heading towards the front door. Peering out,
with her hand touching the glass, she quickly clicked the latch and pulled the
curtains shut. Heading back towards the kitchen, a weak noise making its way
from the bedroom caught Terri off guard. Quickly tightening her dressing gown,
she whisked into the room only to find she had missed the call. The answering
machine had taken over and Mitch’s voice filled the hallway.
‘Hi, you’ve reached Terri and Mitch
Stevens, we are unable to take your call at the moment. So please leave you name
and number, and we will return your call as soon as possible.’ She didn’t
think there was any need to answer the call; it would most likely be a wrong
number.
‘Terri, ah, it’s Mitch….’ Terri arose from her bed and quickly ran into the lounge room, her dressing gown flowing behind her. ‘Look, I’m sorry, but we’ve had a bit of a mix-up with Miss Stacey Hewitt, unfortunately I have been requested to stay longer. I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Love you!’ By the time Terri had run down the hallway, Mitch’s voice had disappeared. ‘Love you too’ Terri softly sighed to herself. ‘To listen to message press 1, to delete message press 2’. Her finger made its way to the erase button as she heard a loud beep and worked her way back into the bedroom.
As her wrist flicked this way and that, brushing over her glistening teeth, she
held her hair with her spare hand and washed her mouth with the cold water.
Hopping into her lukewarm bed, she cuddled up to the teddy Mitch had brought her
and lifted up the doona under her neck as she nestled into her pillow.
All ready for a good night's sleep, she couldn’t help noticing the patter
outside her window. Ignoring it, it began to produce a louder sound, until she
couldn’t handle it anymore, and went to see what it was, grabbing her dressing
gown in the process. Using her left hand, she swept the curtains out of the way
and peeped though the glass, only to find a branch blowing in the wind. That was
all, nothing to be alarmed of. Flicking her blown hair, which was shining due to
the moonlight off her shoulder, she trudged into the hallways, and over to the
front door. Opening the latch, she opened the door to be greeted from the warm
scent of summer nights. Entering the garden, she used the shoe stand rest upon
the door, and walked to the side of the house. Securing the branch among its own
branches, looked at it and sighed, then headed back in the general direction of
the front door. As she reached her destination she had realized that the shoe
stand had been pushed away from the weight of the door, and fallen to a halt
against the cold hard ground. Terri thought positively, though she knew it
hadn’t fallen on its own.
Catching the corner of her eye, Terri realized there was something in the house, or someone…Her heart began to palpitate, her fists were clenched. Oh, if only Mitch were there. Terri slinked around to her bedroom window as she saw the ‘intruder’ walk into the ensuite. Knowing exactly what to do, she ran through the garden in the front door, being as unvoiced as possible. Rushed through the hall way, only to find Mitch entering through the front door. ‘Terri, I’m home!’ He called out. Terri, relieved, placed her finger over her lips in order of his to be quiet. But to Terri’s astonishment, the ‘intruder’ had grabbed her by the neck, holding a blade in *her* hand. She couldn’t tell who it was until she saw a very familiar looking wedding ring on the ‘intruder's’ left hand.
‘Rose.’ Mitch acknowledged, ‘Don’t you dare!’….
* * * *
The screen went black, and the cast stood up.
‘Great take; see you all tomorrow for the
next episode shooting."
Georgie headed into her dressing room, and gathered up Holly’s things, as she
said goodbye to Erik, for the final time.
Terri was….history.
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