Two Weeks Later
Sarah
We are sitting alone and things have been relatively quiet for a while. He only allows me to speak with my parents with him sitting beside me. They said they wanted to come visit, but I have been warned beforehand that if they do, he will kill them.
I have little doubt he would.
The phone rings and I watch as he takes the cell phone from his pocket to answer it.
“I’ll let you talk to her, Kaitlyn.”
Poor sweet Kaitlyn. She was so enthusiastic about this relationship and about me marrying Daniel. She thinks I’m living a fairytale instead of the nightmare this has become.
Daniel likes Kaitlyn, because Kaitlyn seems to like him. If she knew the hell I was living on a daily basis, she would despise him. I constantly think about Julianna words and how much she disliked him. I wish I’d heeded her words.
“Kaitlyn wants to talk to you,” he thrusts the phone toward me, but keeping the mouthpiece covered. “If you say a word,” he warns and I nod.
“Hi Kaitlyn,” I answer.
“Julianna is still missing,” she says.
“What?” I sit up. “What do you mean she’s still missing?”
“Sarah, I don’t know how to tell you this, but the police are now classifying her disappearance as a homicide.”
“A homicide?”
Daniel walks over to me and takes the phone.
“What’s going on, Kaitlyn?” he asks. “Hmm.”
I look at his face as he’s talking to Kaitlyn and I see the rage building inside, though I don’t know why. He hands the phone back to me.
“Why do they think it’s a homicide?”
“They found some blood.”
“Blood?”
“Yes. They also found fingerprints though they’ve come up empty finding who the fingerprints belong to.”
As I’m on the phone with Kaitlyn, there’s a knock on the door. Daniel goes to answer it and I know now is my chance.
“Kaitlyn,” I whisper. “Kaitlyn?”
“Hold on,” she says. “My battery’s almost dead.”
“Kaitlyn?” I whisper again.
But it’s too late. My chance is gone, and Daniel is back.
“Who was it?”
“Just someone selling something,” he said. “What else does Kaitlyn have to say?”
“I’m back,” I hear Kaitlyn say. “I had to plug in my phone.”
“Put it on speaker,” Daniel says. “I want to hear what she has to say.”
I do as I’m told and put the phone on speaker.
“What’s all this about Julianna?”
I can hear Kaitlyn sniffling on the other end. “I’m sorry. I just can’t believe what they’re saying on the news.”
“What are they saying?” Daniels asks.
“That she’s more than likely dead and whoever killed her disposed of her body somewhere and they just haven’t found it yet.”
“What? How could that be? Who would do this?”
“It’s her risky lifestyle,” Daniel offers. “You can’t live like she did and not end up with some kind of tragedy.”
I look at him and cannot believe I have married someone so unfeeling and callus.
“When is the last time anyone saw her?” I ask. “Maybe she’s just left for a trip.”
“The last time anyone saw her was at your rehearsal dinner.”
My heart lurches in my throat at her words.
“What? But that was months ago.”
“No one has seen or heard from her since. Her parents are sick with worry and filed a missing person’s report a week after you left for Texas. When the police started investigating, they found traces of blood in her room as well as an unknown male’s fingerprints.”
“Oh my …”
“But they don’t know who it is?” Daniel asks. He looks agitated.
“No, but the news people say their sources claim the police are closing in on someone.”
“Who?”
“They haven’t said, but they think it’s someone she knew.”
“Oh Kaitlyn,” I breathe out.
“I’ve got to go. I’m going to be late for class, but I wanted to touch base and let the two of you know,” I can hear her sniffling again. My own eyes tear up.
I hang up the phone and look at Daniel, the sick feeling that I may be looking at Julianna’s murderer unfurls in my stomach.
“This is horrible,” I swallow, not wanting him to know I suspect him. “Who could have done something like this?”
“I don’t think she’s dead,” he says, pacing around the living room. “I think she just ran off with someone.”
“She was acting odd in the days leading up to our wedding,” I say, trying to stay calm. “Maybe whoever was causing her to be so off was the person who did this. When they find him, I hope they give him the death penalty.”
I never saw it coming.
The back of Daniels hand violently struck me across the face so hard I ended up on the floor. I didn’t have time to register what had happened before he was sitting on top of me, his fists hammering away at my face and body until the blessed release of darkness welcomed me.
Sarah
I spent two weeks in a medically induced coma. That was followed by six months of hospital stays, surgeries and rehabilitation following that final beating. Fortunately, I don’t remember any of it aside from the first few punches. I’m told the assault was so bad I nearly died and was hooked up to life support machines for over a week before the doctors thought it would be okay to wean me off.
It’s been a long road to recovery, the only visible scars are from the surgeries I endured as the doctors tried to make me whole once more.
I doubt I’ll ever be whole again.
The weeks turn into months until finally, I’m released. The next day I was asked to come into the police department for a meeting with Detective Sanchez who has become like a family member these past few months.
“Sarah,” she starts and takes a deep breath before continuing. She looks at my parents, before looking back at me. I’m not sure why, but that look makes me nervous. Whatever she’s about to say must be bad. “I think you’re going to have to go into our Witness Protection program.”
My mother reaches for my hand and squeezes. I see a single tear slip down my father’s cheek before he wipes it away.
“I don’t understand,” I say. “Daniel’s in jail. He’s going to trial for attempted murder. I know he murdered Julianna. He’ll have to go to trial for that too. Shouldn’t that mean I’m safe?”
It’s been months since Daniel’s arrest. It turns out the person selling something at our door was an undercover police officer verifying that Daniel was inside. He had been a suspect in Julianna’s disappearance since day one. The detectives needed to have more evidence in place before getting their arrest warrants and had been watching our house. They knew something wasn’t right when they came to the door posing as salespeople so they decided to come back. That’s when they heard Daniel beating me senseless and kicked in the door.
“Daniel is facing arrest for murdering Julianna and from what I understand, he’s also suspected in his ex-girlfriend’s disappearance. I should be safe.” I say again and look at my parents. “We should be safe.”
“I wish that were true. Unfortunately, he’s already tried to hire someone to kill your parents and you,” Sanchez explains.
“What? How?”
“He was asking his cellmate and other inmates if they know someone who would get the job done. The other inmates don’t like him much and snitched.”