Caroline and The Body Under The Stairs

Chapter Six



Fear is a strange thing. The only fear I've ever known was empathizing with a heroine in a movie whose life is in jeopardy and she always seems to run upstairs instead of out of the building. I never could understand the idiocy of that. Not until now, that is.

Real fear affected me in much the same way except that I couldn't move. I was frozen in place. I'm not even sure my organs were functioning. I knew in an instant that I was in big trouble and had no way out.

The man I had only dimly recalled as a janitor mopping the hall on Tuesday stepped into my apartment and closed my door behind him. I guess my instincts were right about his shoes. He was taller and heavier than I remembered. It didn't really matter since I knew he would be able to overpower me very easily.

"I was afraid you might remember seeing me that day. I've been watching you and I can see by your face that you remember alright." His dark blue eyes practically sparkled even in the dimness of my apartment. "Why were you snooping around the neighbors? Think they saw anything?" He laughed gruffly. "Nobody saw nothin'. They never do."

I forced myself to swallow the huge lump in my throat. "I swear I didn't remember until just now. I'll just forget I ever saw you in the hall. Really, I will."

He only smiled at me. "No, I don't believe you. You're just like she was. You're both liars. Just because I'm a nobody I'm not worth remembering." While he was talking, his right hand had slowly retrieved a length of rope out of his pocket and was winding it around his left wrist. "People like me are invisible."

I briefly considered running for the window on the opposite side of the room but I knew it always stuck on the lower left corner and before I could pull it open, he'd be on me. The next choice in my fevered brain was to run upstairs. Yes, I know, don't say it. Just like in the movies. He must have read my mind because he immediately told me not to bother running upstairs. I tried something else.

"Richard, come downstairs. We have company," I called up the stairs and even though my voice was shaking, I tried to sound convincing.

Again he smiled at me. "I know your boyfriend isn't here. I watched him leave."

The only thing left to try was to keep him talking. I might be able to buy me some time, time that would allow the police to arrive.

"So, uh, Mister, uh, what did you say your name is?" I remember licking my dry lips at this point and stepping backwards.

He advanced a few steps closer and tightened the rope between his wrists.

"Name's not important. Let's just get this over with."

"Well, you could at least tell me why-"

"Why I killed her?" He stopped and pondered it for a few seconds. "I lived in her old building and I would watch her every day. I loved her and she never even noticed me. I was invisible to her. It took me almost a year to find her." He was looking off into the distance, caught up in his own memories. I used the precious few seconds to make a run for it.

He caught up to me on the stairs. I felt the roughness of the rope against my neck, tightening and cutting into my skin. I strained my throat for air but the rope only became tighter. I tried to pull it away with my fingers but I wasn't as strong as he.

I am here to tell you that the old saying of seeing your life pass before your eyes right before you die is true. As the air was being choked out of me and everything was going black, my mind flashed over my wonderful childhood, parents and friends. Then I realized that I would never be with the man I loved or share children with him. He and I would never grow old together and sit in our rocking chairs, recalling all the wonderful times in our life. He would never know how much I loved him. My heart grieved for the life I would never know.

I would be just another body under the stairs like the woman on the fourth floor. Since Annie was out of town and this was Saturday, Richard wouldn't even find me until Monday and maybe not even then. He might just think I was out shopping for the day. I knew in my heart that this just might devastate him.

The next few minutes were chaos and because of the lack of oxygen, I'm not sure of the order of everything that happened next. I do remember that I thought I was hallucinating because I heard my love calling my name. How ironic since my last thoughts on this earth were of him.

The pressure around my neck lessened and I was dimly aware of a scuffle and breaking glass. I lay across the lower steps of my staircase desperately trying to pull air into my lungs. I could hear other voices in the commotion that I found out later belonged to Lt. Phillips and Sgt. Watson. They had been in the vicinity when they heard my message.

Richard had heard me when he got off the elevator. He informed me that I was screaming like a banshee but I have no memory of this. He knocked the man flat on the floor, sat on his back and taken the rope that had been used on me to tie up his hands behind his back. This was the same Richard that was afraid to face the man that robbed him of his own wallet.

I guess he must have impressed the officers with his action. I heard one of them say, "Good job, son. What kind of a knot is this anyway?" He mumbled his answer and that he had read about it in a book somewhere. That's my Richard.

The moment I will never forget as long as I live is Richard running over to me, picking me up and holding me tightly in his arms. He kept saying my name and I thought I saw tears in his eyes.

"Oh god, Caroline. Please be okay. I can't lose you. It's not fair. Please tell me you're okay."

"Okay," I managed to whisper hoarsely.

He stroked my face lovingly and I remember telling him I loved him. I had to tell him now. After all, I was given a second chance.

Despite the emergency personnel surrounding me and my journey to the hospital, Richard never left my side or let go of my hand.



So this is my story of the event in my life that changed me forever. I no longer take life for granted but cherish every day. As I finish writing this, I can feel my first child kicking and tumbling in my stomach and I pray that he or she will be just like my husband, sweet and kind with a hidden strength that shows itself when tested. I can easily say that I have never felt happier in my life.

Annie is caught up in my pregnancy and informs me that she will be the best 'aunt' there ever was. Del makes jokes about my huge stomach and calls Richard and I the 'odd couple.' I think that he is secretly jealous of our happiness.

There are times when my hand strays up to my neck and I touch the scar left there from the rope. I'll catch Richard watching me anxiously and I know that he, too, remembers all to clearly that day that he almost lost me. He has told me that he wasn't sure he could have made it without me. Both of us have learned that life is precious and we speak often of our love for each other rather than hiding our emotions inside because we know that life can end in the twinkling of an eye.

All my love,

Caroline Karinsky