The Haunting

Ian looked in the bathroom mirror. Damn, his nipples were almost bleeding from the bites. He grabbed the hand mirror, his back was crisscrossed with scratches. Ian smiled, thinking this what was missing from his marriage -- unbridled passion.

Lisa's mother stopped by Tuesday evening to commiserate with her son-in-law. It was a tense visit. If Francis Collins noticed the missing photos from the hallway, she didn't mention it. They spent the majority of the short visit trying to find something to say to each together, with little success.

If things weren't awkward enough, Ian's cell phone rang while they sat in the living room. Ian tried to ignore it.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" asked Francis.

Ian looked at the readout, it was Carmen, who probably assumed it was now okay to call his phone.

"No, just some reporters or spam."

The phone stopped ringing and immediately the burner phone Ian left on the kitchen table started vibrating. It was apparent there was a phone buzzing in the other room, but they both chose to ignore it, as if ignoring the phone suggested it didn't exist.

Francis left very soon after.

Although Carmen bitched a blue streak, Ian decided to spend Tuesday night at home. There were just too many calls from reporters, friends and family. So many people either offering sincere condolences or merely trying to placate their voyeuristic urges to be part of a travesty. Ian made plans with Dana Williams, Lisa's BFF, to have a secular memorial service within a month or two. Without a body, he needn't worry about the farce of breaking down at the gravesite. Ian began to practice his sad faces in front of the bathroom mirror.

He collapsed on the mattress, but something was wrong. Ian sat up and sniffed the air. "Creed" he said it out loud. But he hadn't smelled it after washing the sheets. Why now? He sniffed Lisa's pillow -- thinking that must be it. He carried the pillow down to the garbage chute by the elevators and went back to bed.

Ian woke the next morning and decided he needed to purge the apartment of Lisa's memory. If anyone made a big deal out of it, he'd pretend he was too distraught to be constantly reminded of her. He was still in his sleep wear, a pair of boxer shorts, when he entered Lisa's study.

Something was different, he looked around. He felt her presence somehow, as if she spent yesterday working in the room. Ian's logical brain understood this feeling was only his conscience combined with a bit of paranoia. Then he knew why -- there were three photos of the two of them on the wall opposite Lisa's desk. Ian looked at the photos, each photo taken during their annual anniversary vacation. Ian couldn't remember when she had mounted those photos, but then again, he hadn't spent much time in her study -- but for some reason he was aware of them today -- maybe that's why he felt her presence.

He grabbed a plastic bag to put the photos in after removing them from their frames. Then started to clear her desk. When did she put their wedding photo on her desk? It was a smaller duplicate of one of the photos he removed from the hallway. He spent another half hour filling in trash bags before deciding it was too early in the day to deal with all this. He went into the kitchen and opened a beer.

Ian was still sitting in his underwear having his second beer and watching some dumb mid-morning talk show when the front entrance buzzer woke him out of his daze.

"Who is it?" he called down, expecting it to be another reporter.

"It's Carol. Can we come up?"

Carol was another of Lisa's BFFs, she had a few. Swearing silently, Ian pressed the button to unlock the entry door before going to put his robe on. He made certain the study door was closed as he passed it. Less than a minute later there was a knock on the front door.

Carol and her husband stood in the hall, sad expressions on their faces as Ian opened the entry door. Carol had a dish in her hand.

"Ian, we didn't mean to disturb you. We just thought we'd stop by and leave you something to eat. I remembered the last time you and Lisa came over for dinner, how you to raved about my lasagna."

Ian opened the door wider and stepped aside to let them in, thinking it was his only option.

Carol stepped back but held out the dish. "No, we'll let you be. Just take the dish." Carol said the words, but it was obvious she was having trouble keeping it together. Ian took the dish and watched as they turned and walked down the hallway toward the elevators. He couldn't hear what Carol said to her husband after they walked away.

"That poor man. It's almost noon - the guy is still in his bathrobe and smells of beer. He must be completely devastated."

Ian called Carmen at her work. "How about I come over for dinner tonight and spend the night? I'll be there at six."

Carmen was thrilled and agreed to stop at Sammy's for ribs, fries and slaw. The two spent the night in her bed; Ian woke up early, jogged home and got ready to go into the office. As he shaved, something caught his eye. Sitting on Lisa's makeup table in the corner of the bathroom was her hairbrush. He could have sworn he threw it in one of the bags. Ian picked up the brush and took it into the study.

As he dropped the brush into one of the garbage bags, Ian looked down into the wastebasket, the wastebasket he could swear he emptied yesterday. There was a scrap of paper crumpled up inside; Ian picked it up and read the two names in Lisa's handwriting: Peter and Darlene.

Ian sat in Lisa's work chair and thought back to that night almost four months ago, it was one week before he met Carmen. Lisa and Ian finished watching some silly rom-com with a sappy ending. The couple get married and the female lead, Kate Hudson, is pregnant. Lisa was laying on the couch, her head in Ian's lap. She looked up into his eyes.

"Have you thought about us having a baby?"

Ian stroked Lisa's blonde hair. "Yeah, thought about it, but don't you think we're still kind of young for that commitment?"

Lisa sat up laughing, "Young? Ian, you'll be thirty even if I got preggo tonight, I'd be twenty-seven. We'd be older than either of our parents when they had their first."

Ian took the same attitude talking about parenthood as he took toward life -- with goofy humor. "Well, I do look forward to whatever it takes to make you 'preggo'."

Lisa slapped his chest and laughed. "I'm serious here. Do you still want children? You always said we could have two."

Ian didn't respond immediately, after too long a pause he hedged. "What about your job?"

Lisa wasn't going to let Ian off the hook. "My job will give me three months leave with three-quarters pay. C'mon -- humor me and I'll make it worth your time. What will their names be?"

Ian ran out of excuses and besides, the idea of a bribe sounded good; he decided to play along. "Peter for a boy, after your dad. Darlene if a girl, after my mom."

Lisa smiled; she liked those names but especially liked that Ian had given in. She slipped Ian's shorts down and gave him his reward.

Now, with Lisa gone, Ian stared at the names on the scrap of paper as a chill ran down his spine.

**

Ian showed up late for work on Thursday after three days off for 'bereavement leave', walking into the office and having to endure the sympathy of his co-workers. His admin Joan cried while giving him a hug. His boss Joseph looked like he was holding back his own tears as he spent fifteen minutes telling Ian how much Lisa would be missed by Joseph and his wife.

People continued to drop by his desk to offer condolences, it was getting harder and harder to fake his sadness. Ian was almost to the point of not answering his phone because he was still getting calls from reporters. Thank goodness they didn't have his work number.

"Genius Systems, Ian Burns speaking." Ian answered the phone, hoping it would be a new customer who could take his mind off his personal life.

"I know you let her fall and drown." was all the voice said before disconnecting.

Joseph chose that moment to drop by his desk.

"Damn Ian, you look like you're about to pass out. C'mon, let's go into the break room to get you a soft drink or something."

Ian let Joseph lead him into the break room. With a flick of his head, Joseph silently signaled to the two ladies in the room to give Ian and him some privacy. The ladies understood and exited the room as Joseph mouthed a "thank you".

"I know this has been tough on you. I can't imagine what you're going through. Would you like more time off?" Joseph asked Ian.

"No, I was going stir crazy in the apartment and thought keeping busy at work would be the best thing for me."

"I thought that might be the case. I have an idea. Would you like to get out of town for two days next week? The Jefferson Industries account needs one or two days onsite. Your choice. You can fly out Sunday and spend a couple days in Phoenix. Come back in the office when you're ready."

Ian decided getting out of town sounded like a great idea and asked Joan to book his flight, car and hotel.

When Ian showed up at Carmen's apartment after work and told her he'd be traveling for a few days the following week, Carmen went absolutely ballistic.

"You asshole. What's so important that you need to go out of town?"

Ian did his best to explain it was his job, but Carmen wouldn't listen and kicked him out of her apartment. Ian thought about banging on her apartment door to let him back in until he realized that would only cause the neighbors to notice the recent widower, whose face was plastered all over the weekend news, standing outside a young single female's door begging to be let in. Ian turned around and walked home.

**

As soon as Ian walked in the door, he once again sensed Lisa's presence and the chill ran down his spine. He turned around and went down to the pub to get dinner and an ale or two.

Meantime, a pissed off Carmen made a phone call. She'd been thinking about the sexy hunk from last weekend and called him.

"Hey big guy, it's Carmen -- remember me?"

"Of course darling, you calling because you need a rematch?"

"Yeah, get your cute butt over here. You remember where?"

"Can't tonight, got a buddy from school visiting. How about tomorrow or Saturday?"

Carmen couldn't believe the words as they left her mouth. "Bring him along, it might be fun."

Carmen had done a lot of outrageous things in her time, but this would make everything before tonight seem tame by comparison. She almost felt bad about cheating on Ian but justified it by telling herself that Ian cheated on his wife; besides, he wasn't paying enough attention to her. And she'd make it up to Ian the following Tuesday night when he flew home. If she wasn't too sore.

**

Ian finished his third IPA and walked back to his apartment. He called Carmen, but she didn't answer and he didn't want to leave a voicemail, so he hung up. Ten minutes later, his phone rang. It was Carmen.

"Ian -- you called?"

"Yeah babe. Can I come over?"

"Not tonight Ian. You made me mad and maybe it's time you thought about how hard it is to wait for you. I waited while you were married, now I'm sitting here all alone because you're leaving on a business trip."

"Not until Sunday. I could spend tonight and the next two nights with you."

"No -- we'll talk tomorrow." Carmen ended the call and went back to what she was doing before the phone rang.

"Who was that?" asked the guy playing with her breasts.

"My boyfriend. I only called him back to make certain he stayed away tonight. Now, where were we?"

Ian looked at his phone and swore. Opening another beer, he made a decision, but he'd wait until the morning to call Carmen and tell her. He took off his clothes and headed to bed. As soon as his head the pillow he smelled Creed. Ian jumped out of bed, "son of a fuckin' bitch!" and tore the sheets off the bed. He ran into the kitchen for a garbage bag, threw the sheets, the pillows and the mattress cover, even the blanket, into the bag. Passing through the hall, he opened up the laundry closet and loaded the extra set of sheets into the bag, got dressed and headed down to his car.

Ian drove down to Walmart, but before going into the store, drove around the back of the store where he found the dumpsters near the loading dock.

Ian threw the bag into the dumpster and was getting back into his car when the guy on the loading dock yelled out. "Hey buddy, you can't throw your garbage in there!"

Ian flipped the guy off and drove to the front of the store, went in and bought new pillows, sheets and blanket.

The Walmart employee cursed a few epithets aimed at the back of the car, then looked in the dumpster to see what the guy threw away. He'll tell the story every now and then of what he found in the bag and no one who heard the story ever came up with a reasonable idea why a guy would throw out perfectly good, clean bedding.

**

Early Friday morning, after another poor night of sleep, Ian called Carmen's number, trying to catch her before she left for work. Carmen answered the phone, sounding groggy; after all, she only got four hours of sleep after kicking the two studs out at two in the morning.

"What do you want Ian?" Carmen wanted to sound upset, keeping Ian on his toes and kissing her proverbial feet.

"What I want is for you to move into my apartment tomorrow. I'm taking the day off to clean the rest of Lisa's crap out of here. You can move in. I still have to go to Phoenix for two nights, but only two nights. I'll be back Tuesday evening."

Carmen was elated when she heard the words, "when you move in", she was hoping it would happen soon, but this was sooner than expected. Her lease ran out at the end of the next week and she didn't want to renew it. The two times she drove past Ian's complex, she couldn't believe how nice it was, she imagined herself living there. It even had a pool and workout room; it was all so much nicer than her crappy apartment building. Elated, but knowing how to keep a guy off balance, she answered. "Let me think about it. I'll call you tonight after work."

"Please Carmen. You'll see, we'll be a great couple, just give us a chance."

It took all of Carmen's will power not to break out laughing. The guy was hooked like a fish on a line. "I'll call you tonight Ian." She ended the call, the second time she ended a call without telling Ian she loved him.

Ian spent three hours Friday morning preparing for his trip to Jefferson Industries after Joan emailed all the materials Ian needed for the meeting. He spent the rest of the day searching every drawer, closet, cubby and anywhere he could find removing anything of Lisa's. The clothes went to a nearby Salvation Army donation box and the rest in the apartment dumpster. Ian spent that evening filling bags. Every so often he'd come across some memento from their life together. "I guess there was a time we were happy" he thought to himself, although he hated to admit it.

Friday evening at seven Carmen called from her car to be let into the building. Ian rushed downstairs to let her in and helped with her two suitcases.

"You can help me with the rest of my stuff later. My lease runs out a week from today, so we have time to get it. The furniture came with the apartment, we don't have to worry about heavy stuff." Carmen gave Ian a toe-curling kiss and smiled as he led her into the elevator.

**

"I thought you got rid of all her stuff?" Carmen was in the bedroom putting her things away in the closet and the dresser.

"What are you talking about? Everything of Lisa's should be gone." Ian was already wondering if this was a mistake. Everywhere Carmen went in the apartment, she made some remark how it should be different. Ian kept saying, "Whatever you want." and continued watching the baseball game. He told her which dresser to use in the master bedroom, now she was bitching at him from that room.

Carmen came into the living room and stood in front of the television. "This is what I'm talking about; these were in one of the dresser drawers. Carmen held up the sexiest pair of thongs imaginable. You always told me your wife was a prude, no prude ever wore these!" Carmen threw them at Ian's face, before he could get them off, he took a breath and couldn't believe it -- Creed, just a hint. "When will it ever stop?" he thought.

"She never wore these!" Even Ian had a hard time believing his own defense and he knew it was true, he couldn't remember Lisa wearing those since she claimed thongs were uncomfortable.

Carmen looked at him like he grew a third eye. "Bullshit!" Carmen recognized the scent, it was Creed. The same perfume Ian had bought Carmen a couple months ago as a gift. Now she knew why -- it was the same scent his wife wore, Ian didn't want to get caught so he gave his girlfriend the same scent as his wife wore. Very tricky. This just pissed off Carmen more.

"You're an asshole!" Carmen marched back into the bedroom to finish unpacking. Poor Ian spent the first night cohabitating with Carmen trying to make love and being rejected.

They spent Saturday getting the rest of Carmen's things from her apartment, doing their best to keep a low profile from any busy-body neighbors.

Ian had a two o'clock flight on Sunday and Carmen finally let him make love to her in the morning. By the time Ian left the apartment for the airport he was certain he made a mistake. But how to get rid of her? Little did Ian know his fun had just started. He threw his suitcase in the back seat of the car and started to pull out -- something was wrong.

Getting out and walking to the passenger side, he found a flat front tire. Ian hadn't had a flat since getting his driver's license. He remembered that day twelve years ago, his father offering a lesson in how to change a tire, but being spoiled kid, he declined the offer. "Dad, I have triple-A."

Pulling out his phone to call for service, Ian cursed himself when the dispatcher gave a two hour estimate before the truck could get there. Ian decided to try changing the tire, thinking, "How hard can it be if some grease monkey can do it?"

Ian assembled the jack per the owner manual's instructions before lifting the cover to get to the spare. Sitting on top of the spare was an envelope with his name on it. Although he was in a hurry, curiosity got the better of him and he opened it to read the letter inside. It was from Lisa and read:

Ian my love. If you're reading this letter it means you've had a flat tire and you're probably upset right now. I hope it helps to know that you have a woman at home that loves you and when you get home, I'll be glad to pour you a drink, give you a massage and (wink) maybe something else. With all my love -- your wife, Lisa

Rather than put him in a better mood, the letter pissed him off even more. The worse part? The letter smelled of Creed. Ian went back to the owner's manual, read the instructions, and finished the task of changing the tire. Now he'd have to hurry to make his flight.

**

Joey Bronkosky was a half hour from finishing his second day as a TSA agent when he spotted the guy in the security line acting nervous. Thinking back to his training, he watched as the guy kept fidgeting. Looking closer, some things didn't add up; the guy was dressed like a businessman, but his hands weren't the hands of a businessman, not with that grease on them. Plus, Joey thought the guy looked familiar, could he have seen his face on one of the 'watch list' posters in the locker room? Something about the guy was ringing a bell in Joey's head.

Ian placed his carry-on bag onto the conveyor before getting ready to step through the body scanner. He only had another fifteen minutes before the gate for his flight closed. "Hurry, hurry" he said to the woman in front of him who seemed to suddenly remember her keys were in her pocket. Ian tried to step around her, but she gave him a look, said, "Excuse me!" and wouldn't let him around her. She finally got through, Ian made it through himself and stood waiting for his bag to get through the x-ray machine.