Chapter 2
Lee shot up from his sleep, panting and sweating heavily. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust and once they did, he was able to get a clear view of his surroundings. His breathing slowed as he tried to calm down, no longer in the world of his dreams. He stretched his arm out, felt around for the lamp on the side table and turned it on once he was able to get a good grip on the switch. Fully calmed down, he swung his legs off the couch into a sitting position and looked at the time on his alarm clock.
"Damn, only 4am." He groaned as he rubbed the back of his neck. He pulled the blanket off of his lap, stood up and searched for the clothes he threw on the ground the night before.
"Might as well do something productive before I get tired again." He thought bitterly as he gathered his clothes and walked upstairs to the bathroom. He dropped the clothes in the hamper by the door, stripped his boxers off and threw the in the hamper as well and stepped into the shower. As he tuned on the water and began washing himself, memories that he wished could be destroyed began to flood into the forefront of his mind. There were times when he could still picture everything in his head perfectly. He could feel the playful kisses on his neck as a head rested against his chest, smell the scent of vanilla from soft dark black hair and hear the light airy laugh that used to bring him so much joy. He tried his best to ignore the memories. They always came after the nightmares and focusing on them always led to more pain. The fact that he had to deal with them in the first place always caused his chest to tighten up and his heart to ache. Frustrated, he quickly rinsed and left the shower. He dried himself off before walking into his bedroom, finding his clothes for the day and heading downstairs to find something to occupy his mind.
Beep
Lee jumped slightly and looked around frantically for the source of the sudden noise. He quickly calmed down once he saw that it was that the answering machine on the side table was blinking. He walked over and pushed the button next to the blinking light and listened.
"Hi Lee, its mom. Your father and I were wondering if you were still bringing Clementine around this morning to stay for the weekend. I know it's pretty early for a phone call but I wanted to just make sure you were. Even if you don't want to do the job hunt this weekend we don't mind having Clementine over. Call me when you get this message. Love you."
"Shit, I forgot about that." Lee cursed to himself as he ran around the house and began to prepare for the drive from Savannah all the way up to Macon.
"Carley! Carley, wake up!"
Carley thrashed around in her sleep as Lilly held onto her screaming her name. Soon, her eyes shot open and looked around wildly. Lilly relaxed and let go of her, leaning back to sit on the couch. Carley sat up, curling her legs up under the covers to give Lilly room and looking at her sheepishly.
"Sorry."
"Another nightmare? That's the fourth time. Just a 'nightmare' made you scream that loud?"
"Yea, it did." Carley's tone left no room for more questioning and Lilly relented.
"Whatever. Just remember, it's my couch you're crashing on." Carley knew that Lilly wouldn't make good on her threat though, especially since she's so worried about her.
Lilly stood up to walk back to the room but then turned sideways to face Carley. "Don't forget, you're buying breakfast again this morning."
"Yea, yea, I know." Carley groaned, flopping back on the couch.
Two hours, a cold splash of water and one cranky and short haired brunette later, Carley and Lilly were once again seated at the small kitchen table with two packages of take-out breakfast from the diner down the block. As Carley began to slowly devour her waffles and Lilly her pancakes, an awkward silence fell over the pair. Lilly suddenly stopped eating a few minutes later, setting her fork and knife down and staring at the girl in front of her, her face hard as stone.
"Look, we need to talk." She said slowly, making Carley quickly swallow her food and set her utensils down as well.
"Is it about last night?"
"Yes and the night before that and even the night before that. You've been here for almost a week Carley, and last night you had another nightmare. I know I said I'd let it go but I'm worried about you and if my hunch about why you left is true then I'm sorry but I can't just leave it alone."
There was a long pause before Carley answered. "So, what's your hunch?"
Lilly took a deep breath before talking. "Last night and the nights before when you were having those nightmares, you were screaming out a name. At first I let it go but it's the only name you call out and it's every time you have a nightmare. It was the name Michael, your ex." Carley paled upon hearing his name and Lilly noticed.
"Did he do something to you?! Is that why you left?! What did he do?!" Lilly was almost breathing fire and her eyes were a mix of rage, sadness and concern.
"Calm down Lilly. He didn't hurt me or anything like that." Lilly calmed her rage and noticed the distant sad expression that Carley held.
"Define 'hurt you'. What did he do?" Carley looked down into her mug of coffee as Lilly moved her chair closer.
"Fine, I'll tell you."
"Grandma Mari, Grandpa Ray, Uncle Bryan!" Clementine yelled out as she ran into the pharmacy.
"Clementine! How's my favorite girl doing?" Ray greeted the young girl as he walked out from the office, cane in hand. Clementine ran to him and wrapped her arms around his waist as he patted her head.
"Did I just hear Clem come in?" Bryan said as he walked out from behind the pharmacy. Clementine bolted from Ray over to Bryan and he easily swung her up into the air and into his arm.
"Whoa, now! Have you gotten taller since I last saw you?"
"Maybe." Clementine shrugged. Bryan laughed. He had forgotten how Clementine never really understood it when someone was joking with her.
"Hey son." Ray addressed Lee as he was walking through the door. "How ya doin?"
"Good dad. How's everyone here?"
"We're good. You guys made it down here just in time." Marianne interrupted as she walked over to Clementine who was still in her uncle's arms. "I made cookies, Clem. Would you like to help the boys eat them?"
Clementine's face lit up as she furiously shook her head. Bryan let her down and she ran over to hug her grandmother and hold her hand.
"Did you have any trouble on your trip up here?"
"Not at all mom. The trip up here was surprisingly quiet for the morning." Lee laughed. "Just make sure you don't spoil her too much."
"How can we not? She's so precious!" Ray chimed in. Lee shook his head as he handed Bryan Clem's overnight bag.
"Thanks again guys. Call me if anything happens."
"It's never any trouble Lee. Good luck with the job hunt." Marianne said as she went to kiss her son on the cheek.
"Thanks. Be good for Grandma and Grandpa Clem." Lee said as he gave his daughter a goodbye hug.
"Bye daddy."
"I'm going to kill him." Lilly growled.
"Lilly..."
"No! I'm. Going. To. Kill. Him. I will hunt this son of a bitch down and make him suffer!" Lilly said, pacing the living room floor with a look of complete and utter rage and hate covering her face. Carley was sitting on the couch, her leaning forward with her head looking down and her hands on the sides of her head. As Carley had begun to explain her reasons behind leaving two years ago, their conversation had traveled from the kitchen and into the living room once Carley had to jump on Lilly to stop her from calling the police.
"Lilly, calm down."
"How am I supposed to calm down when I know what that bastard did?! He drove you away to Atlanta out of fear! And no one knew and oh god-"
"That's the other reason why I'm back in Savannah. I realized I couldn't stay away just because of someone like him. If he's still around, then I will face him and I won't let him keep me away from the people I care about." Lilly looked at Carley and saw the determined and angry look in her eyes, how she felt the same rage towards Michael that Lilly was feeling.
Lilly sighed. "I trust you Carley, and I'm glad you told me. But can you please promise me something?" Lilly said softly as she kneeled down in front of Carley.
"What?"
"Promise me that if you see him, you call me. This guy is a monster and I don't want you trying to deal with him by yourself anymore. You shouldn't have to. Plus I want to cut his balls off myself."
Carley laughed. "I promise."
"Good. Now, its past noon and I have work in an hour." Lilly said while standing back up.
"I'm sorry Lilly; I've been holding you up."
"No you haven't stupid, I asked you to tell me anyway. Just come on and help me clean up from breakfast."
As the girls began to clean up the cold breakfast that had been left at the table, Lilly decided to turn their conversation towards something lighter, for Carley and so she can calm her raging fury towards Michael.
"So what are you going to do today?"
"Well after a week of job and apartment searching, I found both. I'm going to talk to Steve tomorrow and see if I can't get a job back at my old News Station again. Today I'm going to take a look at an apartment I found down at Turtle Creek."
"You know you can stay here as long as you like Carley." Lilly replied as she scraped the remainder of her food in the garbage.
"I know, but as lovely as your couch is, I need to find a place. Plus I still have a shitload of stuff in storage that needs to get put somewhere. I was also thinking of visiting Molly. Do she and her sis still live at the same place?"
"Yea, she and Hannah still live just a few blocks from here. I thought you would have called her by now."
"I never got around to it. I was going to visit both her and Lee today so I thought that maybe I shouldn't try to call ahead of time."
"You're going to visit Lee?"
There was a pause. "Yea. I've been putting it off along with Molly, so I just need to do it today. I guess I'm kind of worried about their reactions like I was with you."
Lilly patted her on the back. "Don't worry. Molly has been missing you more than I have. I've got to go get ready now." Lilly said as she left the kitchen.
"Lilly."
"Yea?"
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
Lee stared off into space as he mindlessly flipped through the channels for the third time. It had only taken around two and a half hours for him to get back from Macon where he left Clementine for the next two days. This small vacation from his daughter was another way his family and friends tried to help him get back on his feet, but it seemed like every time they tried, Lee just couldn't do much with the time given to him.
Every time he tried to find a job, he would search until he found something that seemed right, only to think of his past as if it was a shadow looming over him. He thought of how the potential employer would probably do a background check, only to find him to be a murderer, a monster. The anxiety would turn out to be too much for him and he would just give up finding a job altogether. As much as he knew he needed the money and hated the seemingly endless cycle that happened every time he tried, the end result would be the same. Sometimes he wishes that he could just give up.
The doorbell sounds and Lee stands up and walks over to answer the door. As he opens it, his eyes widen in shock at the sight in front of him.
"Carley."
"Hey Lee."
A/N Thank you to everyone for the awesome reviews! I try to update once a week on Thursday, Friday or Saturday so look forward to it. Next up: Lee and Carley catch up again!
An added note: This takes place in Savannah, so everyone except Lee's family (who lives in Macon) and Ben (who lives in Stone Mountain) lives here. Carley ran away to Atlanta and Lilly works at The Hunter Army Airfield, not The Robins Air Force Base. Just in case anyone was confused!