Helping My Girlfriend
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“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.”
It was a familiar response. It had been the same when he’d tried to get her to go out with him in high school and it would be no different now.
He knew she wasn’t going to change her mind about this one way or another so there really didn’t seem like any point in trying anymore. He sighed heavily as he slumped back against his seat. His girlfriend of two years sat next to him on their couch watching TV while they ate dinner together. She looked over at him and smiled softly before turning away again.
They were both twenty-one now, still living together after college graduation despite not being engaged yet. They had talked about getting married eventually but neither of them seemed ready for marriage just yet. The fact that they hadn’t even discussed engagement probably meant they weren’t ever going to marry each other anyway.
His phone buzzed from inside his pocket and he pulled it out. It was an email notification from work saying that someone else’s project needed help because they couldn’t make deadlines. This happened often enough that he almost expected it by now.
He glanced up at his girlfriend who was looking down at her plate without eating anything. “Sorry,” he said quietly as he stood up quickly.
She watched him curiously until he grabbed his coat off the rack near the door. Then she turned back to the television screen and continued watching whatever show she was watching. Her eyes never left the TV as he walked past her into the hallway where he put on his shoes and jacket. When he came back downstairs, she was sitting exactly how he’d last seen her: staring blankly at the TV.
The car ride home took longer than usual since traffic was bad due to construction on the highway. By the time he got home, he was already tired and frustrated. He unlocked the front door and stepped inside, dropping his keys onto the table beside the door. As soon as he closed the door behind himself, he heard a loud thud followed by a scream.
He rushed upstairs and found his girlfriend lying on the floor in the bathroom bleeding profusely from several wounds all over her body. A large knife lay nearby along with some bloodied clothing. He could see she was dead through the doorway. There were also bloody footprints leading out of the room and down the stairs.
As he stared at her lifeless body, he felt something cold press against his neck. He spun around to find a man standing directly behind him holding a gun pointed right at his head. “Don’t move,” he ordered. “You’re under arrest.”
***
“What are you doing?”
“Just taking care of things,” the man replied calmly. “This is my house.”
“No it isn’t! You don’t own this place!”
“Yes I do. Now please stay calm and let me take care of everything.”
“Why? What did she ever do to you?”
“Nothing. But we have our ways of dealing with people who try to hurt us. Just sit tight and wait for your turn. We’ll get to everyone eventually.”
A few minutes later, he saw a police officer enter the house carrying a black bag. He went straight to the bedroom and began searching through it. After what seemed like forever, he finally removed a small box from the bag. He opened it carefully and looked inside. Inside was a single white rose.
“That’s it?” he asked. “Is that all you’ve got?”
The policeman shrugged. “We only searched part of the house. If there’s more evidence here somewhere, then we missed it. That’s why we need to search every inch of the property. Otherwise, we might miss something important.”
“Fine. Let’s finish this.”
After the policeman finished searching the rest of the house, he led the man outside and showed him to the patrol car parked in the driveway. Once he was seated inside, the policeman drove him to the station and booked him into jail.
***
When he woke up, he was in a cell. He sat up slowly and rubbed his face. Everything was blurry and he felt groggy. He reached up and touched his neck gingerly. The skin was tender and slightly red. He remembered the night before and realized he must have been cut during the struggle with his girlfriend’s killer.
He stood up unsteadily and leaned against the wall. He was surprised to feel a sharp pain shoot through his chest. Looking down, he saw that his shirt was covered in fresh blood. He lifted the fabric and examined the wound closely. It was deep and long.
He pressed his fingers against the edges of it and winced as he felt the flesh tear apart beneath them. He dropped his hand and looked around for a first aid kit. Finding one, he ripped open the package and used the gauze and tape to wrap the wound tightly.
While he waited for the bleeding to stop, he tried to remember what had happened the previous day. His mind kept coming back to the same thing: his girlfriend lying dead on the bathroom floor. He recalled seeing the man come into the house and kill her. He didn’t know why or how he’d managed to escape. All he knew was that he needed to figure out who killed her and why.
He spent most of the next week locked away in a cell waiting to be questioned about the murder. During that time, he made sure not to talk to anyone except the guard assigned to watch him. He wanted to avoid giving any information to the detectives working on the case.
They would probably want to question him again once they learned he was being held without bail. He figured if he stayed quiet, he wouldn’t give anything away.
Finally, after almost two weeks, he was released from custody. He walked out of the building and headed toward home. When he arrived, he noticed someone sitting on the steps outside his apartment. She was wearing a dark blue dress and had short blonde hair. Her eyes were hidden behind sunglasses but he could tell she was staring at him.
She smiled when he approached her. “I’m sorry to bother you. I just wanted to thank you for saving my life last month.”
“Oh yeah? How did I save your life?”
“Well, I was walking down the street and these guys jumped me. One of them grabbed my purse and started running off with it. Before he could get far, though, you came by and knocked him unconscious. Then you helped me chase him down until the cops caught up with us.”
“Wait a minute. Are you talking about the guy who attacked me yesterday?”
Her smile disappeared. “Yeah. Did he really attack you?”
“It wasn’t an accident. Someone stabbed me while I was sleeping. And now he’s trying to frame me for killing his girlfriend.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Unfortunately, no. This whole thing has gotten way too complicated.”
“Didn’t you say you were going to call the police?”
“I called them already. A detective named Ressler took over the investigation. Apparently, he knows the victim pretty well. So he’s looking into it.”
“And what does he think so far?”
“Not much. He said he needs more evidence to prove who actually committed the crime.”
“But you can still help him find some, right?”
“Maybe. But I don’t know where to start. There are a lot of people involved and none of them seem willing to cooperate with each other. Plus, I’m afraid that whoever is responsible will try to hurt me again if I do anything to make their job harder.”
“So what should I do? Should I go to the police myself?”
“No,” he replied quickly. “Don’t do that. You’ll only complicate things even further.”
“Then what should I do?”
“Just stay out of it. Don’t let anyone see you. Keep your head down and wait for everything to blow over.”
“What if it doesn’t?”
“If that happens, then I guess we both lose.”
“That sounds like a good plan.”
They stared at each other silently for a moment. Finally, he turned and started heading inside the building. As soon as he got upstairs, he went straight to his bedroom and closed the door. He lay down on top of the bed and fell asleep immediately. He didn’t dream about his girlfriend this time. Instead, he dreamed about the woman who saved his life.
***
The next morning, he woke up feeling refreshed. The nightmare from the night before seemed to have faded completely. That was good news because he hadn’t been able to sleep very well since the incident. Now that he thought about it, he realized he never had trouble falling asleep before.
Maybe it was something else bothering him. He decided to take a shower and put on a new set of clothes. Afterward, he sat down at his desk and opened his laptop. He checked his email first. Most of the messages were spam. He deleted them all and moved on to checking his social media accounts. He liked to keep tabs on the latest trends and gossip. It was one of the few ways he found to relax.
As he scrolled through his feed, he saw a post from a friend he met online. The message read:
Hey! I hope you’re doing okay. If there’s ever anything I can do to help, please let me know.
—L
After reading it, he clicked on the profile picture of the person who posted it. His name was Andrew. They’d known each other for years but had never met face-to-face. Still, they talked regularly via text or video chat. He wondered why Andrew was contacting him today. Was it related to the situation he was currently dealing with?
Andrew’s profile photo showed him standing against a brick wall. In front of him stood a large, old house. All of the windows in the structure were boarded up. The roof looked like it needed repair. And the paint on the exterior walls was peeling away. It reminded him of the abandoned houses he used to play around in as a child.
He typed back a quick response:
Thanks, man. I appreciate it.
How’ve you been?
Good thanks. I’m glad to hear you’re doing well.
Me too. I haven’t seen you online lately. What’s going on?
Sorry to ask, but… how are things between you and your girlfriend?
Things aren’t great. We broke up recently.
Damn. Sorry to hear that.
Yeah, it sucks. She was the love of my life.
I understand. I wish you two nothing but happiness together.
Their conversation continued for several minutes. Andrew asked him questions about the breakup and tried to offer advice based on his own experiences. Then, after a while, he stopped responding. He assumed Andrew must be busy.
A minute later, another notification appeared on his screen. It was from someone named Lola. She wrote:
Hi! How are you?
Great. Thanks for asking.
I wanted to check in and see how you’re doing.
Okay. Cool. I’m sorry to hear about your breakup. Hope things get better soon.
Thank you. Yeah, it’s not easy.
You’re welcome. Just remember, things always work out eventually.
I really hope you’re right.
She signed off without saying goodbye. He figured she must have gone offline. He sent her a quick reply:
Thanks. Take care.
When he finished typing, he noticed a third message waiting for him. This one came from a different user:
Hello! My name is Sarah. Are you okay?
It was the same girl who’d approached him outside the club last week. He recognized her avatar from their brief interaction. Her profile picture showed an attractive young woman wearing a black dress. She smiled brightly into the camera.
He typed back a short message:
Yes, I’m fine. Thank you for asking.
Do you need any help?
Not at the moment. But thank you anyway. Have a nice day.
Sarah responded almost instantly. She said:
Oh, no problem. You’re so sweet.
Take care.
He replied again:
Have a good one yourself.
This time, he waited a little longer before sending his final message. When he did, he included a smiley face emoji. He hoped that would make her feel more comfortable.
After he hit send, he returned to browsing his social media feeds. A couple of hours passed before he received the fourth message from Sarah. He was surprised by its content. It read:
Are you sure everything is alright?
What do you mean?
Well, you look sad. Is something wrong?
No, I’m just tired. That’s all.
That’s okay. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.
See ya then.
The next morning, he woke up early. After taking a shower, he went downstairs to eat breakfast. As usual, his mother wasn’t awake yet. So, he made himself some toast and coffee. While eating, he checked his messages. To his surprise, he found a new one from Sarah. He opened it immediately.
Hey! Good morning.
I hope you slept well.
So far, so good. How are you?
I’m doing pretty well. I’m glad you asked.
Can we meet up sometime this weekend?
Sure. Where should I take you?
Anywhere you want to go will be perfect.
They exchanged a few more messages. Then, they agreed to meet at a local café. They decided to meet there in an hour.
As he ate, he thought about what he might say when he saw her again. He wondered if he could tell her anything useful. Or maybe he shouldn’t even bother trying. Maybe he should just let her figure things out on her own.
But he couldn’t bring himself to give up. Not now. He had to try. If he didn’t, he knew he’d regret it forever. And he refused to live with that kind of guilt.
Andrew arrived at the café ten minutes early. He took a seat near the front door and ordered a cup of tea. The place was empty except for a middle-aged man sitting alone at a table in the corner. His eyes were closed as he sipped his drink through a straw.
A few minutes later, Sarah walked in. She wore a long white sweater over a pair of jeans. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She looked beautiful.
“Good morning,” she said. “Sorry, I’m late.”
He stood up and held out his hand.
“Hi,” he said.
She smiled warmly and shook his hand.
Then, they sat down together.
“How have you been?” he asked.
She shrugged.
“Pretty much the same as always,” she answered.
He nodded.
For a moment, neither of them spoke. Instead, they stared across the table at each other. Andrew felt nervous. He wanted to know how she was feeling. But he also dreaded hearing the answer.
Finally, he cleared his throat.
“Look, I don’t want to pry or anything,” he began. “And I definitely understand if you’re not ready to talk about it. But… um…”
Her expression changed abruptly. She turned away from him.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I can’t talk about it right now. Please forget I ever mentioned it.”
He frowned.
“Why won’t you tell me?” he demanded.
“Please, please just drop it!” she pleaded.
He was taken aback by her tone. He hadn’t expected such anger.
“Okay, I get it,” he said. “You don’t want to talk about whatever happened. Fine. Whatever. Just promise me you’ll think about talking to someone else. Okay?”
“Fine,” she muttered.
He sighed heavily.
“Listen, I’m going to leave you alone for a while,” he told her.
“All right,” she agreed reluctantly.
When he got up to go, she followed him.
“Wait,” she called after him.
He stopped short.
“Yes?” he asked.
“Do you mind if I come along?”
“Of course not,” he replied.
She hesitated for a second. Then, she gave him a quick hug.
“Thanks,” she whispered.
Then, she left the café without another word.
The End