Promises Pt. 07

"Raul was breathing, so I rolled him onto his stomach to make sure he didn't choke on all the blood from his broken nose and teeth. You two really did a number on him."

"He had it coming."

"Indeed, and if I hadn't been so busy, I might have gotten a few licks in myself. Instead, I called the front desk, requesting the police and a couple of ambulances, then threw on some clothes and grabbed some for Teri. When I got back to the bathroom, I found that Gabriela was very confused as well. I gathered that Gabriela had met the two of you before, but now Teri didn't know her from Eve. Still, she was doing what she could to reassure Teri that she was safe.

"Gabriela took the clothes I handed her and got Teri dressed, which helped her a lot. Teri didn't recognize anything else, but at least her own clothes were familiar. Meanwhile, I checked your pulse and made sure you were still breathing okay. I stayed with you until the resort's medical staff arrived a few minutes later.

"Teri was still quite agitated and not listening to any explanations, so they went ahead and gave her a sedative. She was functionally comatose by the time the first ambulance crew arrived. They insisted on taking Raul first because he looked like he was near death, so you had to wait a while longer. I took the opportunity to grab some clothes for you as well."

"Thanks for that by the way. You've got a very level head in a crisis."

Anna shrugs. "It's something you learn when you grow up on a farm. When the shit hits the fan, you've got to do whatever it takes. And often there isn't anyone there to help."

"I suppose not."

"The resort doctor made sure you were stable until the second ambulance arrived and rolled you away. Gabriela volunteered to go with you so that there would be someone who could explain to the hospital staff what had happened to you."

"Wow, good kid. I owe her."

Anna nods. "After that, the doctor drove Teri and me to the hospital. I would have gone with you, since you were injured worse, but I figured she needed to have someone with her who could answer her questions. And I knew you'd want me to stay with her."

"You figured right, of course."

"The doctors put Teri in a room with the promise of a visit from the consulting psychologist. She was calmer now, but still wasn't absorbing anything I said. She did ask to use my phone to call her parents, though. Knowing they were long dead, I figured she was still out of it, but humored her and let her try to call them.

"I could hear a faint voice at the other end, then Teri asked me where we were. I told her the name of the hospital and which room she was in. She repeated it into the phone, then said goodbye, hung up, and handed it back to me. Teri said her parents were on the way, then she curled up and went to sleep. A nurse came in then and said she was supposed to sit with Teri, so I went looking for you.

"The police wouldn't let anyone into your examining room, but they did let me leave your clothes for you. Your doctor told me your CAT scan was normal and she expected that you'd be fine, so I headed back to Teri's room and found her supposedly long-dead parents there. That's when I realized that something truly strange was going on."

"How in the hell did they get here so fast?" I'm sure my voice is way too loud for the room.

"Please, Peter, let me tell you all this stuff chronologically. I promise I'll answer any questions you may still have when I'm done."

I take a deep breath and nod.

"As you might imagine, Carl and Marsha were really confused about what had happened to their daughter. Teri was still asleep, but the nurse was gone and no one seemed to know anything."

"Naturally, the first thing I asked them was how come they were still alive. And beyond that, how on earth did they get here so fast? Of course they had a lot of questions for me, but before any of us could answer any of each other's questions, a cop walked in with questions of his own."

"Inspector Esquebel?"

"That's the guy. He interviewed us for about an hour. What he heard must have about blown his mind."

"I can't wait to hear it myself," I say, unable to hide my impatience.

"That's why we're here, Peter," she says calmly.

"Sorry Anna. You're doing great."

"Thanks, and I understand how hard this is, but I promise I'm going to tell you everything. It starts from when Marsha found Teri missing at lunch last Friday. Teri still lives in that house with her parents. Marsha's suitcases were gone too, along with a lot of Teri's things. They went to the police, who put out an APB, despite her age."

"Which is?" I ask, suddenly concerned that Teri may have been a lot younger after all.

"She was truthful about a lot of things, and fortunately, her age was one of them. She really did just turn twenty-three."

I sigh in relief.

"The police found no trace of her for a few days, but Monday afternoon they said they'd figured out that she'd flown to Cozumel the night before. Her folks told me they'd had no clue why she would pick Mexico of all places, so I told them about how she'd helped you win the radio contest and how she made you promise to take her with you."

"Yet I'm still accused of kidnapping," I grumble.

"They're parents, Peter. They worry."

"I suppose."

"The police had surveillance video that showed Teri getting out of a cab at the airport. From that, they found the cabbie who drove her there. He said he had picked her up at a cheap motel near the airport. The motel owner was able to tell the cops when Teri checked in, which was less than two hours after you met her.

"As soon as Carl and Marsha heard where Teri had gone, they flew straight down here to look for her, but none of the resorts had her name. I told them the story of how Teri pretended to be your child during check-in to keep her name off the registries."

"Okay, I get it. Her parents worried when she went missing and, uh, Teri was telling me tall tales the whole time. What I want to know is why? Why would she do that?"

Anna nods. "I'll tell you what I know. Her folks say that Teri was a very normal girl, except for her size, right up until high school. Then she had some kind of very traumatic experience that left her deathly afraid of people, especially men. Carl and Marsha didn't want to talk about what it was, and Esquebel didn't press them."

"Kira told me that she was abducted by the same unknown man, three different times. Each time, he held her for days. The last time, he repeatedly raped her."

Anna's eyes get big. "That fits if it's true. Her parents said that after that, Teri wouldn't leave the house, except for when she has one of these 'episodes.'"

"Which are?" I'm trying to be patient and let Anna tell the story, but it's hard.

"Her folks say that every six to eight months Teri goes into a manic phase. For a week or so she's suddenly much more outgoing. During those times she makes up outlandish, yet consistently detailed stories about her life and why she's otherwise been such a shut in. One time it was because she was some kind of sleeper agent, waiting for her coded signal to go out and complete her mission. Another time it was because she had some kind of dread immune system deficiency that meant she would die if she left the house. The only thing that recurs in every 'episode' is that there's a man or men out there who are trying to kill her."

"In this case, her 'husband' and some mafia goons," I say. "She made all that up?"

"Exactly. There is no 'Angelo Carlisi' and Teri has never worked at a law firm or anywhere else. Peter, Teri hasn't done anything since high school but write novels.

"Carl and Marsha watch her closely for the start of these manic phases. On every other occasion, they were there to talk her down. When she's told about it, Teri eventually accepts what's happening to her and dives into whatever novel her timid self has been working on. She usually writes day and night until she transitions back.

"This time, though, there was no one to talk her down, and her delusion just got stronger and more detailed as the days went by."

This is a whole lot of information to process all at once. I'm going to have to go back over everything that Kira did or said since I met her and try and figure out what parts were true, and which were delusional. It's wrenching at my heart.

"So the guy at the beach really was just a pervert with a camera," I say.

Anna nods. "There was almost certainly no pedophile stuff on Kira's laptop, and she definitely didn't get an email from any 'Jennifer' about hit men."

My mind is swirling. "So how long will it be before Teri remembers what's happened for the last week? When can I at least talk to her?"

"Peter," Anna says carefully, "when Teri is in her manic stage, she still remembers her life as Teri, however imperfectly. But it's different when she transitions back. She doesn't retain any memories from her manic state." The compassion in Anna's eyes is profound.

I sit in silence for a bit, trying to absorb her words. The implications sink in slowly, but the more they do, the more horrible they are. I look at Anna with stricken eyes. "But that means..." I can go no further.

"Yes, that's what it means," Anna says softly, and her own pain is heartbreakingly obvious. "Teri will never remember anything that happened to her this week. Not messing with you when you met, not changing her name, not coming to Mexico, not discovering sex with us, and not falling in love with you."

My mind is in such a state of shock that her last words sound like they are coming from a million miles away.

"Peter, in any way that really matters, Kira is dead."

For all the pride I take in my strength, it's Anna who has to call a cab and get us back to Hidden Springs. I'm numb in a way that I didn't know I could be. Logic has always been my steadfast companion and, in the past, any setback has been taken philosophically, but Kira had managed to wrap herself so tightly around my heart that her being torn away from me has nearly ripped that organ out.

I note in passing that the bungalow has been cleaned and that all traces of the confrontation are gone. The police must have gotten everything they needed in the hours we were away. The sun is nowhere near setting, but Anna has me put on my pajamas and get into bed, pulling the heavy drapes across all the windows.

Anna steps out onto the porch and I can hear her on the phone. I catch just enough to gather that she's updating her South Carolina companions on what's going on. When she's done, she rejoins me, putting on a long flannel nightgown. She slips into bed and spoons to my back, wrapping an arm around me. Her presence is comforting.

My numbness, and perhaps the lingering aftereffects of the concussion, soon take their toll. I slip into unconsciousness.

* * * * *

I wake to a slight shaking of the bed. The gentle red glow of the alarm clock says it's 1:15 am. I quickly realize that the shaking is due to Anna's quiet sobbing. I think about it for a second and decide that it's almost certainly because Anna is sad to lose Kira as well. In my pain and social ignorance, I hadn't even thought about that. I turn to her and see that her back is to me, so I scoot a little closer to spoon up behind her. I gently stroke her face.

"I'm so sorry, Anna," I say. "I was totally wrapped up in my own pain, but I know Kira meant a lot to you too."

"Thank you, Peter. You have a good heart."

I hold her gently until her sobbing stops. "Can you tell me more about Teri?" she asks. "I'm still trying to separate fact from fiction, and you got to spend more time with her."

Perhaps talking about her will be cathartic, I think. "Well, one thing I know is true is that she is a successful novelist. I've read her books and watched her working on her new one."

"I read more mysteries than science fiction, myself," Anna says. "I'd never heard of her books before this week, but according to her folks, writing is Teri's one real outlet. They say she's insatiable in her appetite for information about places and that, through her writing, she can go anywhere. She can even write positively about men, because in her books they're fictional."

I catch Anna's jab and tickle her for it. She squeals and wiggles, but I desist before things get out of hand. Eventually, she gets her breath back.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist," she says, "but it's true. What I found particularly interesting is that Carl and Marsha attribute her literary success to her split personality. The writing she does as Teri is evidently beautiful, lyrical and consistent, but not very compelling. What she writes during her manic episodes is completely undisciplined, over-the-top, and often sexually graphic. She writes about ten thousand words a day then, but afterwards Teri cleans it up and incorporates it with her own work to give her completed novels that certain mix that her fans seem to love."

I'm nodding. "Now that I know where it comes from, I think I could actually identify the parts of the books that Kira conceived. Those have always been my favorites."

"Peter," Anna reminds me, "Teri will probably have more episodes, but she'll never be Kira again."

I sigh. "Yeah, but I can't help thinking of her that way. It's easier to keep it straight if I think of her as two different people. The woman I loved was the one who decided to be Kira."

"Fair enough," Anna says.

We lie in silence for a while. It doesn't look like we're going to fall back to sleep anytime soon. "Wanna go for a walk?" Anna eventually asks. "The moon's nearly full."

"Sure."

Anna slides out of bed and pulls her nightgown over her head. I get out on my side and strip down as well. Getting undressed to leave the house feels like Opposite World, but here, at this place and in this moment, it makes sense. There's no sexual element to it, though, since without Kira, Anna isn't attracted to me in that way. Knowing this, I adopt the same attitude toward her that I'd assumed the day we met. Now she's just a friend, though a much closer one.

I lead the way out the front door and take her hand as we pad down the steps and out into the sand. Our comfortably intertwined fingers lend me a much-needed feeling of tranquility.

The temperature is just about right and there's a light breeze blowing, just enough to ruffle the leaves of the palm trees above us. The moon is nearly full, and lights up the sand and water well enough to tell us that we've got the whole beach to ourselves.

It's a perfectly romantic backdrop, but even though we've had sex, we aren't a romantic couple. I'm not sure exactly what Anna and I are to each other, but I'm glad she's with me for now. I keep thinking I need to say something by way of conversation, but we've pretty much talked out the events of the day. A couple of times I sense that she's about to speak, but she decides not to as well.

We walk clear to the far end of the beach, which is closed off by a fence and private property signs. We begin to walk back, still holding hands, but neither of us is ready to go back to bed yet. There's a tall, smooth boulder sticking up out of the sand above the surf line. I lead us there.

"Wanna sit for a while?" I ask.

"Sure."

I settle down into the sand with my back against the rock. Anna sits down between my legs and leans back against my chest, resting her head against my shoulder. I wrap my arms around her, supporting her large breasts on my forearms in a non-sexual sort of way. This whole thing feels very different from any way in which I've ever interacted with a woman (or anyone for that matter) but at the same time it's totally comfortable.

"Tell me about your accent," she says at last.

Anna is fascinated by the tale of my journey from fatherless child in the shadow of Chernobyl, to millionaire inventor in Minnesota, and it gives me courage to talk to her honestly about my steady march from cypher to playboy. "But those days are behind me now," I say at last. "Thanks to Kira, I've realized that my life doesn't need to be shaped by trying to become like everyone around me."

She nods. "I think that's a lesson we can all learn. In my own way, I've been just as bad, not being willing to disappoint my folks."

"What, you haven't told them you're a lesbian?"

She shakes her head. "It would kill them."

"But they must have figured it out, right?"

"No, I've gone to great lengths to hide it. I dated in high school and went to dances, even though the boys called me "Ice Queen" because I didn't put out. In college, I paid a guy to pretend to be my boyfriend for a couple of years."

"How exactly did that work?"

"Oh, it wasn't terribly difficult. All he had to do was take the occasional picture with me and let me keep him up to date about what I told my folks about him in case they ever met. They never did. Since then, I tell them I'm dating, but I complain a lot about how all the good ones are taken."

"They've got to be suspicious by now."

"Probably, and I'm going to have to break down and tell them sooner or later. You're lucky you won't have to be there for that, 'cause it's gonna be real ugly."

"I'd bet they'll be more understanding than you think."

"You haven't met my folks. I love them, but they're like the old couple with the pitchfork in the American Gothic painting. My mom especially is so desperate for me to settle down, get married and have children. I really feel awful that I'm going to disappoint her." Anna sighs. She cranes her neck to look up at me. "I guess we've both been living as someone we're not."

"Yeah, but at least you're doing it to avoid hurting others, Anna. You mean well."

She shrugs. "'The road to hell is paved with good intentions.'"

"You could still get married and have kids, you know. You may have heard that gay marriage is legal now, and sperm banks are convenient enough."

"Yeah, but I'd never do that. Call it a character fault, but I can't wrap my mind around the idea of same sex marriage, at least for me. I've lived with a couple of girlfriends, but never had even the slightest inclination to tie the knot."

"Would you have married someone like Kira?"

This appears to give her pause. "Peter, this morning, before I realized Kira was only amorous with me when you were with us, I was thinking that if things didn't work out between you two, I wanted my own shot at her. If that had happened, and if we had been together for long enough, well, I don't know. She might have been the exception to my rule. Still, when I think of marriage, I still think man and woman."

I chuckle. "You may be the most socially regressive lesbian I've ever met." I don't mean it as a pejorative, and I can tell that Anna knows that.

I feel her shrug slightly. "I just keep my politics separate from my sexuality."

We talk for hours, one subject leading to another until the glow of the rising sun begins to light up the sky. I realize that I've never spent this much effort getting to know anyone before. The odd thing about it is that the longer we talk, the easier and more natural it becomes for me. After a while, I realize that I'm conversing with her even more easily than I did with Kira.

I belatedly realize that this is what friends must do. It strikes me that I haven't had anyone in my life like that before. I've only talked to people when I had ulterior motives, whether it was for sex, education, career or other things that I wanted. I've never had a real friend before, but I hope that's what Anna and I can be for each other.