Chapter 1: Sonnets In Black
The street was cold and damp as Jillian made her way across the busy Melbourne Street. The sound of her heels clicking on the foot path mingled in with the rest of the sounds of the street as she walked down the fractured concrete foot path.
She was tired, her eye lids lazily opening and closing behind her sunglasses, but yet again, she was glad that her day was almost over. Only one thing left to do before she could put her feet up and relax at home.
Removing her sunglasses, setting them on top of her head as she approached the door of the florist, the tinkle of the tiny bell above the door alerting staff of a customer coming in or leaving.
"Hello Miss Somerfield, how are you today?" came the cheerful voice of the young man at the counter.
"Tired and over worked." she replied, falling into the familiar comfortable couch by the counter. "How are you Thomas?"
"I'm fine." he replied as he laughed, pulling out a few photo booklets, handing them to Jillian.
"Adrian asked me to give these to you so you can have a look at."
Jillian's face lit up. "Ah! The sample booklets she said she'd make up for me!"
"Also," Thomas said, giving Jillian another hand full of booklets. "Adrian said have a look at some of the bouquet designs in this one. She said something about you wanting red roses."
"Oh yes! That's right! Thanks for that, Thomas." she said as she got up off the couch and slipped the booklets into her hand bag.
Thomas grinned back at her, "Not a problem."
"Thanks heaps!" she replied before leaving the store, Thomas' eyes following her the whole time.
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Thomas pulled up a few door down from the house, the late evening sun reflecting off the windscreen. His sole focus, the woman who had just pulled into her driveway.
He watched her intensely, his gaze never wavering as she got out of the car, her overcoat whipping furiously around her, her long brunette hair battering about her face as she quickly pulled a black leather case along behind her, closing the door and locking the car behind her as she quickly made her way inside, out of the cold Melbourne night.
He sat and sat, patiently watching her as she went about her evening rituals that he had come to know over the period of time he had been watching her.
The sun had set and a light rain had started to descend upon the city. The lights of the houses turned on, basking the street in an insipid glow.
Thomas watched as her's turned on as well, her shadow being cast across the curtains, highlighting her every movement.
He sat there for hours, enthralled by every movement, until finally her lights had began to flick off, starting with her kitchen followed by her living room lights, leaving only her bedroom light on, casting soft shadows across the curtains.
Thomas watched until finally her bedroom lights flicked off, basking her whole house in darkness before driving off into the dark cold night.
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Thomas walked up the steps onto the porch before ringing the door bell, a book of photographs in his arms.
"Just a minute!" came the female reply from deep within the house.
He stood waiting until the door opened, being greeted by a young brunette woman.
"Adrian wanted me to drop this off for you." he said, handing her the book of photographs.
"OH!" she said, accepting the book, smiling at Thomas. "Thanks heaps Thomas!"
"Not a problem, Jillian," Thomas said, smiling.
"OH! Can you return something to Adrian for me?" she asked.
Thomas nodded his head. "Yeah, no problem."
"Great!" she said, happily. "Let me just get it." she said before quickly walking down the hallway, not noticing as Thomas followed her, closing the door quietly behind him.
Turning around, Jillian was startled at Thomas standing behind her, one of her lamps in his hand, raised, ready to strike.
"Wha-" she started to say but was cut off as Thomas brought the lamp heavily down upon her head.
She felt the pain shoot up each nerve in her body as it split her head open. It was so surreal to her, she had never felt pain anything like this.
She felt each and every blow as she tried to flee, falling to her knees as she did so, the attack continuing on ruthlessly.
Thomas kept bringing the lamp down on her head over and over, her blood splattering across the walls with every blow. He kept hitting her as she staggered up the hallway trying to get away.
Finally she stumbled to the floor, all the fight drained from her as he kept bringing the lamp down across her head.
Finally she stopped fighting, the pain becoming too much to bare as she slumped to the floor, the darkness finally claiming her, taking her away from the pain and suffering.
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Thomas left the chaotic scene, envisaging it in his mind's eye as he went.
Jillian lay in the middle of the bed. A sheet stained with her blood, once warm, covered her body from her chest to her thighs, her hands clasped together across her breasts. A single black rose was resting under them.
He had to make sure that the next was just as precise as the last. A smile formed on his face as he drove off into the late afternoon sunset.
Tbc…
