Author's note: I have no idea where this idea came from, but work with me. Let me know what you think. I decided it was time to spice things up just a little. Please R&R. Smiles.
The opening night of my tour went amazingly well. The audience screamed and cheered, yelled for encores and still kept coming back for more. I couldn't have asked for a better reception. I could see Tommy smiling beguilingly at me in the audience, and I couldn't help but dance in the afterglow of the pride I saw in his eyes. It's amazing how important his opinion had become to me. I was just coming off stage to the congratulations of everyone around me when I suddenly felt a strange sensation crawl nastily along my spine. Have you ever gotten the feeling you were being watched and no matter how hard you try, you just couldn't shake it. Well, I had that and more. I looked around me quizzically, noting the crowds of people that surrounded me. And that's when I saw her—Tommy's psycho fan from L.A.. Of course, she would have a backstage pass. Her father was one of the executives sponsoring my tour. I smiled at her as I noticed her stare, but she just gazed at me blankly as if she were looking right through my body. The thought made me shiver as a hand touched my shoulder, and I jumped at least a half-mile into the air.
"Woe, Harrison!" Tommy said laughingly. "Are you alright?" He asked as he noticed me glancing around the room.
"You didn't see her?" I asked quickly as I pointed to the corner of the room. Tommy looked at me quizzically.
"See who, Jude? Are you sure you're okay?" He asked, his voice suddenly filled with concern. A laugh filled the air as Felicia sidled up beside me.
"Losing your mind already, Harrison? That's pretty quick for a first tour." Felicia remarked wryly. I barely glanced at her as I scanned the room one more time before looking up at Tommy.
"I swear, I just saw the girl that chased you around when we were in L.A." I said lamely as I walked to the corner and then looked back at him quietly. Tommy shuddered just at the thought of it. The girl had literally sent him so many things that he was beginning to think she bordered on psychotic.
"You want to go on a walk, Jude? It might clear your head." Tom said softly. I looked over at Kwest who nodded.
"Your job is pretty much done here. The rest is up to us. Go take a breather and congratulations." He said with a smile as he waved us on. I took Tommy's offered hand, and we walked side by side down the dark streets of Rome. Wow, I thought as I looked at the scenery around me.
"I feel like I am an extra in that movie Gladiator." I said in awe as Tommy chuckled beside me.
"Minus the Tigers, you mean." He said whimsically as we strolled until we came up on the famous Trevi Fountain. I looked up at Tom and noticed the way the lights from the water reflected off his face making it almost look like porcelain. I ran my fingers over his cheeks just to make sure I wasn't dreaming the whole thing. He smiled and grabbed my hand with his, trapping it against the stubble of his unshaven jaw.
"You know," I said quickly as I pulled my hands away from his cheeks and placed one of them in my jeans pocket. "They say that if you stand with your back facing the fountain, make a wish, and then throw a coin over your shoulder into the basin that your wish will come true." I stated authoritatively as I glanced up at Tommy before pulling a penny out of my pocket and turning so that my back faced the water.
"And you, Ms. Harrison, who knows very little about history, know this how?" Tommy asked as he turned his back toward the fountain as well. I shrugged.
"Hey, I've been reading up on it." I said with a grin as I closed my eyes, made a wish, and threw the coin with a 'splash' into the fountain. I opened my eyes with a broad smile.
"Okay, your turn." I said with a raise of my brow as I turned so that I was facing him. He closed his eyes and made his wish and I watched mesmerized as the coin flipped over and over again through the air sparkling as the light hit it before it landed in the water.
"So," Tommy said softly as his head leaned suspiciously close to my own. "What did you wish for?" He asked only a hairbreadth away from my lips. Seconds later, warmth enveloped me as his lips met fully with mine and I sighed as he pulled back a minute later cautiously as if he didn't know exactly what he was doing. I just smiled softly at him with an expression that said forget about it as I leaned against the wall of the fountain.
"Part of it just came true." I said almost in a whisper as I turned to make my way back down the cobbled streets of Rome toward our hotel. I wasn't going to let him say something to ruin the magic. I just wanted to revel in it a while. Tommy followed more slowly, running for a minute to catch up with me before taking my hand in his own as we continued to the front of our lodgings. Good, he didn't want to ruin the magic either. In the shadows, neither one of us noticed the figure peeking at us murderously.
I was in my room changing for bed when I noticed the figure through my window standing outside of my fire escape. I had pulled up the glass pane to let in some air and the curtain swung in the steady breeze that flowed through it. Staring in shocked fear at the shadow, I backed toward my bedroom door slowly, looking away from the window only a second to grasp the knob of my hotel room door. And that, obviously was all it took because the next thing I knew the world went black.
I awoke who knows how long later to find myself tied up in a fetal position inside what appeared to be a large chest. I kicked at the top of it, but it didn't budge. Fear wracked my body as I wondered desperately if this was an airtight trunk."Oh dear God, I'm going to die in here." I thought in a panic as I kicked at the chest trying desperately to get the lid open. I could see a little light coming from a crack in the bottom, and I leaned over placing my mouth against it as I gulped in as much air as I could. "Do not hyperventilate, Jude. Just relax and breathe." I kept telling myself over and over again as I sucked in air slower and slower each time until my breathing finally resembled something a little closer to normal. The beating tempo of my heart was much faster than it should be as I bit hysterically at the knots tying my wrists together, working to loosen them as best that I could. "I absolutely, positively will not die in here!" I told myself stubbornly as I wrestled with the ropes until my gums were bleeding. "Oh God!" I cried as tears wet the sides of my cheeks to puddle around my face on the base of the chest. "Hurry Tommy!" I begged silently as I turned my face toward the crack and let myself fall into a fitful sleep for I knew deep down that he would come looking for me.
