Fate Of The Voiceless Character tb37

Fate of the Voiceless Character by Hans Mann

Table of Contents

Title Page

Fate of the Voiceless Character

ONE Anne Peters wiped her forehead with a soft blue towel and opened and new bottle of water. She turned off the treill and looked at Jared. He was still working the dumbbells and focusing on the count of the lifts. His trainer was spotting and encouraging him. Jared looked smoking hot in that sleeveless Tshirt with his tight forearms gleaming with sweat. Anne checked herself out in the mirror. She hoped he found her looking just as hot. She was not tall, but had a lean body, almost all muscle as she was fanatic about working out and jogging. She loved the shape of her legs and the leggings she wore helped make them look even better. They were black with pink stripes and matched her pink T-shirt. She was barefoot as they were in his penthouse, and she felt more comfortable that way. Anne also knew Jared had a thing for toes. Just then she saw with the corner of her eye that he was catching a glimpse of her feet. Her dark brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail by a purple scrunchy and her face, although she smiled, looked as ice cold as the people around her always said. The workout room was at the first floor of his apartment. She could oversee most of the city through the ceiling high windows. It was the 20th floor and there were only few buildings taller than that in their town. The penthouse had two floors connected by a swirling staircase she wasn’t too fond of. At that first floor there was the gym, the huge bedroom and an exceptionally large bathroom. Everything was in pristine condition and that bedroom looked like a picture from the presentation brochure of the apartment. Anne was sometimes bothered by this because it felt cold and impersonal. Jared kept his apartment perfectly organized and obsessively clean. She was also all for cleanliness, however she wanted a bit of a warm personal touch. She had tried to bring small items to cheer the place, but Jared dismissed them with an icy smile. At the floor below there was the open kitchen and the huge living room. Jared had the most comfortable leather couch she had ever sat on. She almost wanted to sleep there on the usually two or three nights a week that she spent over at his place. She usually spent Tuesdays and Thursdays there because that’s when Jared had sessions with the personal trainer, and she wanted to also benefit from that expertise. It beat going to a crowded and sweaty gym any day.

Outside, the beautiful April afternoon was reaching its climax and the sun threw a beautiful light over the sky. Some of it, reflected off random glass buildings and created a mosaic of shades. Anne took a deep breath and nodded almost imperceptibly in satisfaction. Life was good that afternoon. She was in that beautiful apartment with a guy she was attracted by and who was almost obsessed with her and there were no strings attached to their relationship, at least, not yet. She had the upper hand and she felt far from risking to lose it. She took another sip of water and then slowly ate a couple of grapes. Jared finished his sequence and after he got the confirmation from the personal trainer that he was good, he came to give her a kiss. “Are you done? You can shower first and then we can eat, OK? I will finish with Jason.” She ed the sushi boxes they had ordered and felt a slight growl in her stomach. She smiled and nodded. As she headed to the bathroom Jared grabbed a handful of her ass. She smiled again. She had him hooked well. Anne took her cellphone off the counter, and it vibrated gently in her hand. The first message she saw was from Eric. He was a colleague from work who had recently taken an interest in Anne. They worked on the same floor of the office building and she had also noticed him before, first because of his voice. He had a clear, booming, masculine voice that stirred something inside her. She often heard him from across the room whenever he spoke on the phone, and she was happy when he sent her a birthday message out of the blue. She didn’t care how he knew the date exact. It was a good ice breaker and they started conversing in writing, only in writing. Looking from outside , for all others, they didn’t know each other. It was a comfortable way for her to get to know him and let him in. A month had ed and now he wrote her that he was in the airport lounge waiting for his flight to Hong Kong. He was going there for a work-related conference, and he wanted to chat.

“I am at the non-relationship’s place because he has the personal trainer sessions today. We just finished working out and we will have lunch soon. I will drink a glass of wine and enjoy whatever follows.” Her message ended with a wink. She wanted Eric to visualize what would ensue as he wasn’t quite hooked yet, their attraction was still superficial. Anne didn’t need Eric obsessed then, because she had enough to deal with, but she enjoyed the slow burning and who knew when she might need him at her feet. Eric was a different kind of attractive. He looked like the total opposite of Jared, a huge muscular guy at almost 2 meters and probably weighing well over 100 kilos. He always wore a thick beard and had an uncomfortable way of fixing her with his eyes. There was something unhealthy in that look. He was single so Anne could activate him at a moment’s notice. The next message was from Adam. Adam was not gentle. His obsession with her was already sick and yet he was the other one she spent her nights with. Anne was attracted by his and somewhat hypnotically ionate way of talking to her. Adam was a playwright and his way with words was unmatched. This is how they met, one of Anne’s friends took her to one of his plays and he came to introduce himself. After that Anne entered the selected group he tested his plays on in his experimental theater, before launching them officially. His erratic moods changed a few times a day and she never knew what to expect from him, from the most beautiful and rich declarations of love to the most violent bursts of jealousy. She hesitated before reading his message. She was too relaxed after the workout and her mood was fine. Curiosity got the best of her, and she sighed as she clicked his name. “Where are you? Are you coming over tonight? I need to see you!” Anne tapped her well-manicured fingers on the screen of her phone. She turned the shower on and got undressed. She tried to guess what type of answer would illicit the smallest reaction from Adam and went with short and concise. “Not tonight, Adam. I am at a friend’s house. I will see you at the play tomorrow evening and , sleep over.” Then she turned off her phone and enjoyed the rest of her evening, just like she had planned.

TWO The next day at work Anne missed Eric’s looks. She gazed at his empty chair and at the place in the recreation room where he usually spoke on the phone. She didn’t write him though. She never initiated with him. She never initiated with anyone because she didn’t feel the need too. If someone wanted to talk to her, he’d better start the conversation. She did spend some time going through her conversations with Eric. She had one free hour in between meetings, and she spent it like that. Eric was also a writer, but he wrote novels. She smiled when she read how she talked Adam up to him from the creative point of view. It wasn’t even just a ploy to toy with him. She hadn’t read anything of his, but she had enjoyed a few of Adam’s plays. She left work early so she would have time to get ready for the play. She lived within walking distance of work. She lived with her parents, and it was a constant source of discontent for her. Anne had gone through a messy divorce a couple of years before and she was left without a house. She hadn’t fully recovered financially from that hit, and she was saving money for an apartment. She only had to endure that place for one, maximum two night per week because between Jared and Eric, she had places to sleep. She put on a bright red short dress. She knew Adam loved that dress; it drove him crazy as if he was a bull striding towards a cape. That dress, black high heels and his favorite perfume. The night was sorted. As she put her shoes on her phone buzzed discretely. She smiled and her heart beat a little faster. Eric had sent her a photo from the hotel he was in. He had a gorgeous view from what must have been a very tall building. She could see mountains and skyscrapers in the far sight and a UFO shaped stadium right below. That was it, the photo and the caption “My view right now”. She replied quickly with “Enjoy” and thought of maybe replying to him later that night with her view from that moment. Adam had mirrors on two walls of his bedroom and on the ceiling. She left her car at home and took a cab. She asked the driver to stop some ways farther from the theater so she could walk. The building was on a back street from one of the most beautiful boulevards of the city and she wanted to walk. Her high heels bothered her a bit, but the fresh late spring air made up for it. She

walked on the left side of the boulevard, the side with all the shops. The other side had all the crowded cafes and she preferred to watch them from afar. The afternoon was once again warm and just right for a walk. The sun was setting but still let a few rays play hide and seek among the buildings around her. Spring was Anne’s favorite season and she wanted to enjoy the most of it. She was a little hungry but the buffet at Adam’s theater was always to her liking. He went all out to give his trusted advisers a classy experience. The only thing that bothered her on this walk was the noise of the cars. It was rush hour, and that boulevard was always crowded. After a few minutes she put on some ambient music to drown that noise. She took a right after a dress store and entered the hidden alley, where the “AJC” theater was. His name was Adam James Collins, and his vanity had no limits. The name of the theater was written in sharp, thin letters above the entrance. The building was old and broken down and it gave his theater a certain mystery. The story of the building was vague and questionable as well. Adam had once told her that some 60 years ago a gruesome multiple murder happened at the first floor and that’s why the owners had trouble selling the place. The owners’ grandson was a distant cousin of Adam’s and that’s why he was able to repurpose the basement for his theater. She opened the heavy door and advanced down the thin dark corridor. The walls were covered with posters for Adam’s plays, past and future. He liked to play with the audience like that. Anne descended the creaky wooden stairs that always seemed to crumble and found herself in the presentation hall. It was a small, gymnasium like place that had wooden bleachers that didn’t fit more than 50 people. For these experimental previews Adam only needed a dozen at most. The ceiling was high, and the lighting was bad except for the stage which was improvised in the center of the room. The place smelled of old no matter how much Adam tried to cover that smell with drinks and sophisticated snacks. Even through the perfumes of the people in the room Anne could smell decay. She wondered if some of the blood from those murders had seeped into the dark, ambiguous walls of the basement. Some of the usual suspects were already there. There was a girl, thin, brunette, dressed in black, who was hopelessly in love with Adam and hated Anne for the attention she got from him. There were a couple of guys, his best friends, whom

she suspected were gay and a couple. They always dressed very fancy, even when they came to visit Adam at his place. There was another guy who had a notepad with him. Adam considered him his assistant and asked him to take notes both of how the play went and how the audience reacted to certain moments. He was arranging the improvised buffet table when Ann went in. “Ah, there’s my muse!” Adam shouted on a desperate and mocking tone. He came to kiss her. Anne offered him her cheek and Adam scoffed. The other girl threw her a dagger of a look. “Are you ready?” Adam continued. “I think you will love tonight’s play the most. I wrote it for you”. Anne smiled and bowed her head a little. Allison, the friend who had introduced Anne to Adam’s theater, came in just then. She grabbed Anne immediately and told her about her latest love misadventures for a few minutes. They were interrupted by Adam’s vigorous clapping. Even if it was just a rehearsal, he wanted it to start at the announced time. The two girls sat in the front row. His assistant chose a seat on the other side of the scene. The other girl climbed up in the last row while the two guys giggled their way on the bleacher section that faced the scene.

THREE The play didn’t have a lot of characters, as it was often the case with Adam’s creations. There was a lot of talk and not a lot of action. Adam prized himself as a keen psychologist and this transpired in his writing. Anne’s mind was somewhere else though. A couple of thousand kilometers away. She wished she was up in that restaurant with the beautiful view, getting ready to spend the night with Eric. The basement she was in suddenly felt too low, too small. Jared yesterday, Adam tonight but she still wasn’t happy. On the stage the main character, a playwright, was clamoring his love to the female character. She was still hesitating and the more she pushed back the more power his words gathered. In the next scene the writer was alone in a poorly lit room and wished the girl’s life would become a play written by him and that she would only live what he wrote. Anne smiled and shook her head. Adam was staring at her, very curious and excited to see her reaction. Message received, her nod said, and she even simulated clapping. Her friend laughed and she heard the two guys scoff and one of them said “So subtle, Adam”. She also heard a door being slammed. The other girl wasn’t in the hall anymore. Anne’s mind wandered off again. She took out her phone and even if she saw the glimmer of surprise and hate in Adam’s eyes, she wrote to Eric that she felt hungry and she wouldn’t mind sharing his view. She heard Adam tell the actors to stop and make a snide remark at her expense. “There’s no need for that, come on. Keep the play going.” The female character in the play was acting much more obedient than her. In the final scene of the play, she brought her bags and moved in with the writer. Dream on, she thought. “Well, you wouldn’t enjoy my view right now because they gave me a room above the parking lot” Eric replied.

Anne smiled. Adam was near her, and he was studying her very carefully. He brushed off the others who wanted to share their opinion about the play and his eyes gleamed with anger and hurt pride. “You know, if you are too busy, we can call off the rest of the evening. I expect full attention when you are here, you know how important this is to me.” Anne put her phone back in her purse. “Alright then. I am not feeling very well anyway. We’ll talk.” She left right away with her girlfriend who tried to mumble an apology to Adam. “Are you OK, what was that?” she asked Anne as soon as they climbed to the ground floor. “Yeah” Anne threw her hand. “Wasn’t in the mood for his ego tonight.” “I have to go to my mom’s, I thought you’d stay with him tonight” her friend continued in an apologetic tone. “Don’t worry. I am tired anyway; I’ll just turn in and go to bed”. They split at the cab station at the corner of the boulevard. Anne didn’t take a cab though. She enjoyed the evening air and continued her walk in the opposite direction. She didn’t feel like going back to her parent’s house. She suddenly yearned for a crummy view of a parking lot. She found herself in front of an old hotel, one of the few of those that still stood on that boulevard. “Hotel Eric” the marquee said. Anne burst into a laugh that echoed loudly in the silence of that part of the street. She wished she could explain the joke to Eric himself, how she went from one guy’s vanity trip and stopped in front of the other’s. She had to go in. The lobby was small and rustic. It included a two-person couch, brown and torn,

and the reception desk which was thin and a bit run down. Behind it was a young guy who seemed to be sleeping because Anne’s entrance startled him to the point where he dropped his cellphone. Or maybe he was not used to guests, Anne thought. “Would you like a room?” he asked before she could say anything, still with disbelief in his voice. “Do you have any?” she replied. “This is still a functional hotel, right?” “Yes...sure” the young guy mumbled. “Let’s see...” “Do you have one with the view of a parking lot? Is there such a view in this hotel?” The guy blinked slowly towards her. “A parking lot?” “Yes, a parking lot” He convinced himself that she was serious. “It’s just that people usually ask for a view of the boulevard. We have rooms available like that.” Anne just looked at him without saying anything. “Right. Parking lot. Room 27, on the second floor.” He handed her a key with a wooden token. She paid and climbed the stairs that strangely creaked the same way as the ones from the old theater. She felt a strange excitement as she opened the room door. As run down as the lobby looked, the room was beautiful and clean. It had a modern TV, a kingsized bed with crisp white sheets and an elegant desk. She rushed to the window and indeed she could see a parking lot. She took a picture of it and sent it to Eric. “Now we have the same view. How many cars are there in yours?”

Her heart started beating fast as she imagined his surprise. He surely wouldn’t be expecting a message like this and especially not from someone like her. Her phone buzzed instantly. It was Adam who expressed gis disappointment for her behavior that night and hoped that next time things were going to be different. He also told her he missed her already and asked if she was coming over after all. Anne didn’t reply. “Are you real?” read the first part of Eric’s reply. “I swear I was just writing about this, how I wished you were here with me to share the view. You really made my evening!” Anne smiled and felt a sudden urge to be with him that night. It was an urge that took her over completely and if his city was closer, she would have looked for a flight. As if hypnotized, she wrote to Eric that she wished she could come but that she wouldn’t be able to make it back to work in time next morning. For a brief second Anne wondered what she was doing in a hotel room without any extra clothes or cosmetics but for some reason she couldn’t leave. She took her shoes off and went to bed in her bright red dress. She chose the position in bed which allowed her to see the view.

FOUR Anne didn’t going home, changing, or the first half of the workday. She didn’t seem to the moment with Eric anymore either. She found herself in the afternoon counting the hours until the workday was over, so she could rush and meet Adam. There was nothing else on her mind. It felt as if something stronger than her will was calling herthere and that nothing else mattered. Anne wasn’t used to these changes of mood and desires. What made her so good at everything she did was that she was always in control. If anything, she made others succumb to her wishes. But starting from the strange hotel visit the night before something had changed and she couldn’t figure out what. Her workday went by on automatic pilot and this was something else she wasn’t used to. Everything was a haze except Adam’s presence in her life, digital or otherwise. Another surprise waited for her at home. The red dress from the night before was all washed and ironed, just waiting to be worn again. Adam wanted to see her in that dress as a makeup from last night. How did she know that? There was his trail and then a blur all around it. Anne couldn’t drinking or taking anything the night before. Maybe the snacks at the play? But how could any type of drug be this selective? She was very aware and clear when it came to Adam. She felt too tired to think about it anymore, so she just got in her own car and drove to the center of the town, where Adam had an apartment in one of the old buildings. He loved that area very much, he always said it inspired him. Adam was waiting for her with a smile on his face. He gave her a strange, inquisitive look for the first few seconds before he motioned her to the couch. “How are you feeling?” he asked. “So, you did something to me?” she snapped. Adam looked at her surprised. He went to his desk and Anne heard him click a few keys. “No, I just meant, you were tired after the play, that’s why you left, right?” The play...the messages...Eric. Anne put her hand in her purse but couldn’t feel

her phone. She had left it at home. Adam watched her with a strange grin. “Something wrong?” “Nothing, babe” she heard herself say. “Just wanted to make sure nobody would distract us.” Anne suddenly felt very relaxed and happy to be here. All other thoughts and questions in her mind dissolved in a haze and she realized that there was no other place she wanted to be. The afternoon sun was casting a brownish light and she kissed Adam by the window. It was a tall window, taller than the two of them combined, but that’s how those old apartments were built. The rest of the studio was very artists like, with paintings everywhere, clothes thrown on the floor and a couple of portraits of Anne which hung above the small table where he had his computer and typewriter. She looked gorgeous in those. She couldn’t when they were taken or by who but as she sipped from her glass of red wine, she thought she wanted one of those in her house as well. Adam was in the small kitchen and the smell of roasted veil was maddening. She got closer to him and hugged him from behind. “I could get used to this.” He smiled. “Well, maybe you should.” “What do you mean?” “I mean maybe we should do this every day. Maybe this should be our life”. “I could get used to this...” she said again and felt the comfort of the wooden floor under her bare feet. Something about that afternoon, the dusk light, the coziness inside, just seemed to work. She felt very sweetly when she looked at him. He caught her look and turned off the stove. Anne got the signal and dropped her dress.

He took her in his arms and threw her on the bed in the bedroom. He made love to her quite aggressively, but Anne enjoyed every bit of it. She liked how they looked together. It was a nice view in the wall mirrors. A view.... The word shot through her mind like lightning. There was something about a view.... Another view... His climax stopped her train of thought. She screamed in pleasure. That wasn’t like her. She bit his shoulder hard before he got off her. “Don’t shower just now” she heard herself say. “Stay like this while we eat”. Adam went again to his computer and spend some 10-minute writing. It’s alright, Anne thought. That’s what he does. After dinner they sat on the couch to watch TV. There was no doubt in her mind that she was going to spend the night. Where else would she go? She didn’t want to be anywhere else. “So how about it?” Adam whispered in her ear. “How about what?” “Will you move in with me? There’s nothing to it. Just pack your bags and bring them here tomorrow”. It felt like the most natural thing to do. “I will, baby. As soon as possible”.

FIVE The next day seemed to start with her already packing her bags, even if it was six pm already. She couldn’t the morning or the workday. Was she even at work that day? She was because she was receiving emails from her bos congratulating her on a meeting she had apparently rocked. Good for her, she thought. All her clothes fit in three large bags. She was a tiny figure, and her clothes were small. The shoes were another matter though, but she reckoned she could come after them the next day, or in the weekend. The bags were important now. She had to move all her bags to his place. She wanted to live with him and only with him. Adam was busy meeting some reps from a foreign theater so he didn’t come pick her up, but it was alright. She drove her bags there and used the spare key he gave her to take them into his apartment. She was finally home, with all her stuff. Just like in the play she saw last time. She nodded her head satisfied. It was meant to be for sure. She didn’t eating anything, but she wasn't hungry. She didn’t feel any need really other than to see Adam and be with him. Anne opened her bags and arranged her clothes in an empty closet. This took her about an hour and since Adam still wasn’t home, she cleaned up the place and arranged his stuff as well. Then she poured herself a glass of red wine and sat at the small table on the terrace. It overlooked the pedestrian old city alleys and she enjoyed looking at the people swarming and looking for a place to have fun that weekend. They were at the fourth floor so she could hear the voices, the buzzing, the laughing. She could see as far as the main boulevard she ed walking a few days ago. His eyes remained fixed on the silhouette of a guy who seemed to be the only one not moving. He was at the edge of the street, and he faced the one modern building of that area, a construction made entirely of glass. Even from that distance the guy seemed familiar. She paused for a few seconds then shrugged away that sensation as if it was a cobweb. Adam came and they spent a lovely couple’s night together. The next day at work Eric was back. Anne was happy to be able to experience some time at work and surprised to observe the meaningful looks he was throwing at her. She didn’t find any grounds for those. Or for his short “What’s

up, everything ok?” message. She replied short and cold “Yes, I am sure it is” and that was the end of it. She didn’t have to suffer through more messages because once again the workday ended quickly and abruptly. There seemed to be gasp in her awareness and this time, for a brief few moments she wondered if anything was wrong with her. Just before she left work, she glanced at her desk at the withering flower. She ed she got it from some guy but now it seemed like a strange artifact, and she couldn’t who gave it to her. Adam wasn’t home when she got there. She didn’t know where he was. She did find a note on his small desk that said, “Day 3 rehearsal, 19:00 hours”. He didn’t invite her for that, but she deserved it because of the way she acted the last time around at a play. It was alright. She was going to wait for him. Her phone buzzed but she ignored it. There was a strange flicker reflected in the window behind the desk. The sun had set, and the streetlights hadn’t been turned on yet so she noticed that cursor blinking invitingly on Adam’s computer screen. Anne went around the desk and smiled, excited by the opportunity to peek behind the curtains of his great creative mind. The cursor was blinking in the middle of the page, after the last entry of what seemed like a chapter. “She waited for him at home all evening long and she couldn’t think of anything more satisfying to do. He returned close to midnight, and they made love. She was grateful to see him before going to bed. And SCENE” Anne smiled. “Day 4.” Said the next line. “Uneventful workday. What happened there didn’t matter to Anna and those hours folded into only a few minutes. All that mattered to her was getting home to him”. Anne’s smile faded a little bit. She put her glass of wine on the table and sat down on his chair. She scrolled towards the end of the document. “He waited for her with a surprise. Not only was she the muse behind his works, but she was also going to act in the plays. That way she would become the character in front of other people as well. It would be his greatest triumph. They would share the adoration and she would spend her entire life between the stage, whenever he called her, and their home. No one else existed for her, from family

to other men who thought they might get a taste of this amazing creature. She belonged to him. He deserved her. Andrew took her hand and they bowed together for the adoring crowd. It was time to take their production abroad. And SCENE” Anne froze as she read the last couple of lines over and over again. She searched frantically for the title of that chapter. “Day 14”. Day 14? That was 10 days from now. She then noticed that there was a gap between days 5 and 14. She didn’t know what to believe. Through that haze of desperation for Adam she had had flashes of questions about why she was acting so differently and why she was so far from her usual self but usually they dissolved quite fast. She read the first couple of entries, and they mirrored her experiences. One day he mentioned nothing of work or of how she came home. That’s because he didn’t know she went to a hotel after the party. The next day there was a brief, standard, one line mention of her day at work. Adam was writing and she lived only what he wrote. That realization filled her inside with a thick, black smoke. She wanted to look at her phone, but she couldn’t. Her phone wasn’t mentioned anywhere. It didn’t exist. Anne started hyperventilating. She opened the window; she could still do that. This explained why she moved in just like in his play and why nothing else but him mattered to her. She looked out the window. She ed the vague feeling of knowing a guy with a view. She looked down and contemplated jumping. She thought of trying just to see if she could and test the limits of his power. I mean she was supposed to be there the following day as well, in his play. She didn’t trust her judgment and her perception of reality enough to go through with it. She didn’t know the rules. She was not in control. That was the worst feeling for her. It didn’t matter who was in control of her and who dictated her moves. All her life she knew what went on and what to do and she herself manipulated or ignored the ones against her, depending on her needs. Now he controlled her through tiny characters written on a computer screen.

She sat back down and hit the delete key randomly. The blinking cursor didn’t move. She couldn’t delete anything. The way she knew Adam, she was sure he couldn’t either. He didn’t want to erase anything from their experiences together, so there was no way for her to do it either. Anne hit the keyboard in frustration. “Xcfdr” appeared on the screen, just between “And Scene” from day 4 and the beginning of day 5. She could add. She couldn’t delete anything, but she could add. His computer was right there, his play was there, and she could write her own lines. She felt very week though. Even lifting her hand from the table felt like a great effort. She must have been too close to the source of her creation. Anne moved the cursor right after his mention of her workday from tomorrow. She wanted to add something, a way out for her or at least a break from under his control but he was going to come home and read and see. He won’t be able to delete but he could add and stop her somehow. “Around four pm”. She figured the most discrete way she could do this was to add this after “those hours folded into only a few minutes”. She didn’t know how many minutes or how she would perceive them, but it was a chance. She waited for him at midnight and took him in the bedroom before he had a chance to sit at his desk. She cuddled and curled in his arms, and they fell asleep together.

SIX Anne floated through the workday on autopilot. She didn’t anything from the evening before. She just wanted to get back to Adam. At about four pm she felt a surge on energy inside her as if someone had used the resuscitation paddles on her chest. She jumped from her seat and startled the girl who sat near her. Her mind wasn’t blurry anymore. Four pm, a few minutes. She ed the play, her future story. She rushed to the corridor. That was her one chance to escape, to do something. She heard a booming voice around the corner. Someone was promising his son that they were going to play soccer in the weekend. The voice...the view...Eric!! She shouted after him to turn off the phone. Eric looked at her surprised and confused. She took the phone out of his hand and closed the conversation. They were in one of the recreation corners of the floor, in front of the large floor to ceiling windows. “O...K...” he smiled. “Hello there.” “There’s no time for that, I need your help, please!” she pleaded. They sat down on a couch that faced the windows. “That night” she started. “When you were in Munich and had that parking lot for a view. You said you were just writing about that when I texted you. About what?? What were you writing about? Were you actually writing?” Eric’s face lit up and he seemed ready to start a long story about that. Anne felt that and put both her hands on his shoulders. “Eric...the simple version now, please!” There were tears in her eyes. “Yes. I thought about you and imagined you were there with me, so I started to

write a little story. I wanted to see you, feel you. Only got as far as half a page but I wrote about you going to a hotel close to wherever you were just so you could get a similar view and share it with me” Anne felt Adam’s presence grow stronger in her mind. “Please, Eric. Write me out of here. Write a path for me for the day after tomorrow and meet me. I will tell you everything. Write something!” She heard the echo of her voice but couldn’t understand why she was talking with this guy. All she wanted to do was get back home to Adam. Her lover spent a lot of the next day writing. It was Saturday and he stayed home. Anne stood in the house, but it didn’t bother her. She was with Adam, and it was all that mattered. He didn’t speak to her a lot. All he said to her was that he was writing a special play and there would be a lot of dialogue and input from her there. That night they had a small party at home. His two fancy friends ed, his assistant as well and five more people, two couples and a girl that she didn’t know. She was supposed to be the focus of the party, it was organized to celebrate their new, official relationship. Apparently, none of his friends knew she had moved in. Anne was happy to get all the attention and play host. She adored Adam and getting this kind of awareness and exposure from him, as his girlfriend, was wonderful. Ben, one of the two guys, pulled her in a corner at one point of the evening and asked her what made her change her mind and take this step. Anne shrugged her shoulders, smiled and replied that she just wanted to be with him. Simple as that. Nothing fancy, nothing more complicated. Ben smiled iratively and patted Adam on the back. “You have got a keeper here, you know. All your efforts were worth it.” Adam nodded without smiling. “And you haven’t seen anything yet.”

It was one of the evenings when Adam’s obsession with her was at its peak and he wanted to be close to her. The way he looked at her made Anne both scared and excited. She knew how much he adored her and that he could also kill her in a fit of jealousy. The line between the two was very thin.

SEVEN The next day she woke up late. It had been a long evening and night and she felt his grip on her lessen that morning. She seemed to get a bit of her control back. The feeling lasted for just a few minutes. All of a sudden, she felt the urge to go for a run. She hadn’t thought about her fitness obsession. She was restless and needed to go for a run just then. Adam looked at her stunned. “What do you mean you need to go for a run?” “I think it’s pretty self-explanatory.” Anne replied with a sharp smile. Adam was confused. “Is there a problem, babe?” Anne doused his shock with a kiss and a caress. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours.” She put on a pair of light blue leggings, a yellow stretched T-Shirt and her blue sneakers. Adam watched her pull her hair back in a ponytail and grab her phone and earphones. He looked towards his computer as well. Anne also put a white cap on her head before getting out the door. She got in her car and drove to the largest park in the city, the one close to her work building. She headed there as if she was preprogrammed to do so. Her excitement grew the closer she got to the park. Yeah, she needed that run to clear her head and think about the strange week she experienced. Anne felt she had to run counterclockwise around the lake, from the parking lot. It wasn’t her usual route, but it was her route for that morning. It was close to 11 am and the weather was absolutely perfect. Sunny but not extremely warm. The air was still a bit damp, and it was refreshing. It was the hour when the running routes were least crowded on a Sunday morning, the break between the morning runners and the afternoon runners.

Anne started at a leisurely pace. She knew she had to be the most careful about 2 kilometers farther, near the fairground. The side of the lake she was running on included some of the fanciest restaurants in the city, before a section that was just lake, road and trees. When she got to that she relented her pace even more. She saw a guy run towards her just as she closed in on the fairground entrance. It was Eric, delighted to see her. She was there to meet Eric. This is what he wrote. “Hi there. Wasn’t really sure you were going to come” he started. “This is how you imagined the meeting? Almost random? Surprising? Didn’t I tell you how important this was? I am a prisoner!!!” Eric’s smile faded. “But this way was nicer, I got you here, didn’t I?” “I don’t know how much time we have; I don’t know how much more Adam wrote and how many blanks he filled” “Can you just stop and explain to me what’s going on?” Anne took a deep breath and told him that Adam was writing her life and she couldn’t escape. “We need to come up with a place to counter that.” “Well, did you try erasing his plays?” “It’s impossible.” “Destroying his computer? Throwing it out the window?” Anne was getting annoyed with how lightly Eric treated this. “Don’t you understand that I am no longer in control of my life? You need to help me, you are a writer, I see you have the same kind of power.” Eric’s face glowed with pride. “I am still not the only one for you, even now...?” Anne heard Adam’s voice

behind her. He was breathing hard and stood a few meters behind them. “What more do I need to do? What more?” “Are you insane? You turned me into your character, you stole my life?” “What did I steal? We are a couple who lives together. You are also the star of all my plays, both as a character and as an actress. Most girls would kill for something like this!” Adam insisted. “Maybe I should as well!” Anne hissed. Adam turned towards Eric. “How much did you write? How do you know her?” “Just in ing from work” “She is my girlfriend, my lover, my future wife, so just back off!” Eric grinned. “Do you know how long I have been looking for a character?” Anne turned towards him, shocked. “I mean I have been looking for a way into real writing for years and I couldn’t find it. Now, I have a character. I have a muse. No way I am going to let this go.” Good, good, Anne thought. He was playing Adam. He was playing on his insanity. Eric seemed cool and collected. Adam seemed neurotic and insane. “There’s no chance you can continue controlling her. Can’t you see she did everything in her power to escape from your play? She came to me. She asked me for help. You lost. Whatever you tried, you lost. You couldn’t even hold on to a girl you basically invented!”

Adam folded. He threw Anne a spiteful and disappointed look, turned around and left. “That good enough for you?” Eric smirked. Anne jumped in his arms. “That was truly something. Thank you! He was...not well.” “I think we should keep in touch, you know, to make sure you are protected!” Anne smiled. Eric smacked her slowly over her cap and continued his running. Anne looked after him and thought of what to do next. It was her choice, after all.

#

Anne was back in Jared’s gorgeous penthouse. She thanked the personal trainer for the workout, took a sip of champagne and headed for the massage table. It was set just so she could enjoy the marvelous view from the window. In one of the small, forgettable buildings below, Eric stood in front of his computer. He reviewed his latest writings. “Adam threw her a spiteful and disappointed look, turned around and left.” Eric thought a little bit then added “He was going to be back.” He opened the next chapter with Anne resuming her regular life. He didn’t know much about it, and he didn’t need to. He enjoyed the surprise. For now.

Copyright © 2021 Hans Mann All rights reserved The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.