Love Lies Dying Read Free Page A

“I’m sure she’s never mentioned you.”
    Zoe shrugged her shoulders, drained the last of the coffee from her cup and stared deep into his eyes. John found himself mesmerised by the deep brown pools.
    “I’m probably a secret, Johnny,” she said. “We all have secrets, you know.”
    John sunk backwards and broke her stare. He took a gulp of coffee and looked at her again, at her smile, and at her perfectly formed straight white teeth. Her smell wafted over him again. He noticed for the first time that she had a small scar running across her left eyebrow.
    “It all depends who we tell about them,” she said as she sat back and picked up the book.
    John looked at his watch: 12:04.
    After midnight? This has gone on too long.
    “Okay, I better go and find Helen,” John said as he stood and placed the coffee mug to one side. “She’s been gone way too long.”
    “Don’t have a fit, she’ll be back soon.”
    “No, I better –”
    “Now you’re going a bit crazy.”
    John turned and headed down the hallway, grabbing a coat off the hallstand as he went.
    “Johnny, I wouldn’t,” Zoe called after him.
    “Don’t worry, I won’t be long. I’ll take my car and be back in a few minutes.”
    “She’s probably got caught up somewhere. Or taken that drive I told you about! The moment you leave she’ll arrive and we’ll have to search for you!”
    John grabbed his keys from the key rack by the door and turned to face her, “I’ll be back soon.”
    Zoe was standing at the other end of the hall, “Don’t go crazy on me, Johnny.”
    “I’m not going crazy. I’m just going to find Helen and then we’ll both be back,” he said.
    “Don’t do it!”
    “Just relax and I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
    “I don’t think so…”
    John stopped and stared at her. Her face was a mix of emotions again, making it hard for him to read her. The silence between them was heavy.
    “You can’t stop me,” he said.
    Zoe’s hands went to the back of her jeans and then swung around quickly. The blur of movement solidified before his eyes.
    He stared at the revolver pointed at him.
    “Yes I can.”

Two
    “You can’t leave me, Johnny,” Zoe whispered.
    John stared back at the revolver, his mind whirling.
    “What are you doing?” he asked.
    “I told you, you’ve got to stay here with me.”
    John ran a hand through his hair.
    Is she serious? he wondered.
    “Look, I have to go and try to find Helen,” he began, nice and slowly. “She shouldn’t have been gone this long. The store’s only down the road and if she drove she should have been back by now. She could be in trouble and I have to go find her.”
    Zoe leaned against the hallway door. The gun was still aimed at his chest. She stared at him but didn’t say a word.
    “You understand, don’t you? I mean, Helen’s your friend too. You’d want to help her if she’s in trouble, right?”
    She stared at him, but he could tell what she was thinking. Her forehead furrowed and her face changed from anger to uncertainty.
    And then she began to cry.
    John stood at the other end of the hallway, car keys in hand, watching as Zoe lowered the revolver and dropped it to the ground. The gun clattered onto the wooden floor by her bare feet. Her hands went to her face and she buried her tears in them. Her chest heaved as she pulled in gulps of air and strands of hair escaped from her ponytail as she shook her head from side to side.
    The muffled sobs carried down the hallway to John. He continued to stare at her and occasionally down at the gun now lying on the floor.
    “I’m sorry, Johnny,” she said between sobs. “So sorry.”
    Her voice sounded so afraid, so childlike. Suddenly the woman before him had turned into a scared, sad child. How quickly she could change.
    John placed the keys back on the key holder and draped his coat on the hallstand as he walked towards her.
    “Hey, now,” he whispered as he neared her. “There’s no reason to get all