Chapter Twelve

Glen explains

 

It didn’t take much convincing for Glen to get Rachel to accompany him home.  He was, however, fairly certain that her motives were vastly different from his.  He would have liked nothing more than to spend the rest of the afternoon in the bliss of exploring Rachel’s every inch, taking in every detail.  He longed to bask in the softness of her, the smell of her body, and the taste of her skin.  Unfortunately, all of that would have to wait for a more opportune time.  He had much more pressing things to address than simply pressing against her.

 

They held hands again as he led her up the stairs to his apartment.  They entered the kitchen and Glen made sure she was comfortably seated at the table, before putting on a pot of coffee.  He glanced over at Rachel from the sink and saw her looking around the room, contemplating his paltry quarters. 

 

“This is a pretty nice place.” She offered politely.

“Come on Rachel; don’t get all proper and polite on me now.  I know it’s a dump.  It’s drafty, it’s messy, and it’s small.  How nice can it be?”

“No, Glen I’m being serious.  I like it.  It’s quaint.  I feel comfortable being here.”

Glen thought for a moment, spilling some coffee on the countertop as he poured. “Comfortable here, or comfortable with me?” he asked.

She smiled widely as she answered, “Both.”

 

Glen brushed aside some magazines and unopened mail that was cluttering the table in order to make room for the coffee.  As he placed the steaming cup in front of Rachel, she noticed the film sticking out from under one of the envelopes.  “You didn’t tell me you were a photographer.” she said as she slid the film fully into view.  Glen reached out and stopped her hand just in time. 

“That’s just it, I’m not.  This is what I need to talk with you about.”

“What do you mean?”

Glen sat down at the table in the chair closest to Rachel.  He took a long sip of his coffee before looking straight into her beautiful green eyes and explaining further.  “Rachel, please don’t get scared, or offended, or worried, or…..I just need you to listen for a minute so I can explain what’s happened.”

A look of extreme uneasiness washed over her face “Okay, I’ll brace myself.” She forced out an anxious giggle, then quite seriously added, “I told you, sweetie, whatever you need, I’m here for you.”

“It’s about my blackouts.”

“I thought it might have something to do with that, but why don’t you want me to see the film?”

Glen hesitated nervously before answering, bowing his head into his shaking hands.  He knew he would either start stammering incoherently, spitting out everything all at once, or he would need to pause after almost every word.  “Rachel”, he looked up at her again, “It’s not that I don’t want you to see the film.”  He could see that he had her undivided attention.  The look on her face begged him to continue.  “That particular strip of film,” he paused, considering the best way to say what had to be disclosed, “happens to be full of pictures of you, pictures I couldn’t possibly have taken with a camera.”  Rachel said nothing, her eyes locked in his.  Afraid of another blackout, Glen looked away.  “You witnessed an accident on Monday, right?”

She leaned forward, squinting slightly.  Confusion replaced the concern in her eyes as she cautiously answered “Yeah, I did.  How could you know that?  What does that have to do with anything?” 

Glen passed her the film, and gestured for her to hold it to the light.   “When I black out, I always find these strips of film in my pocket when I wake up.  I don’t know why it happens, but I think they show me images of what the person I was focused on was thinking or remembering at the time.  This film came to me in the diner.”

“I…I…who took these?  They’re all of me jogging when I saw the accident.”

“I know, but I’m telling you, no camera took these pictures.  They just came to me.  I know it’s a shock, but it’s like they got passed to me from your mind.”

“What does this mean?” she reached across the table and grasped his hand.

“In this case, it means a lot.  The accident you witnessed, a friend of mine was killed when her car rolled down the hill.”

“Oh my God!  I knew I should have stayed until the ambulance got there.  I…I should have checked on her.”  Rachel started to cry, “Glen, I’m so sorry.  If I…maybe I could have helped her.”

“Rachel, no…please don’t.  I don’t think anything could have saved Jessica.”

“That was her name, Jessica?”

“Yeah, Jessica Stearns.”  Glen slid his chair closer and pulled Rachel to him.  She continued to cry and he could feel the tears seeping through his shirt onto his shoulder.  Between sobs, Rachel kept muttering, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

“Please don’t cry.  You don’t know how much this helped.  These images of the car that hit hers helped me track down the man responsible.  I don’t know who he is yet exactly, but I know where he works.  I’ve seen him there.”

“Whatever it takes, I’ll help you find him.  He has to pay for what he’s done.”

 

Glen pulled the strip from the parking lot out of his pocket.  He leaned over so they could both see the last few frames clearly.  “This is the man.” He pointed, “I was waiting in the parking lot of Stowe, Buchanan and Associates when I saw him approach the car and blacked out.”

Rachel stared intently at the frames, seeing the man first walking down the front steps of his house, then in a garage; sanding paint off of the car she had seen leaving the accident.

“Wait a minute,” she spoke excitedly, “I know this guy!”

“What?  From where?  You’ve seen him before?”  Glen couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Yeah, it’s Kevin Buchanan.  I went through a nasty divorce about 3 years ago, and he was my therapist.  He really helped me get through some stuff, get rid of some baggage.  I always thought he was a good guy, not capable of something like this.”

Glen thought for a minute, bracing himself for her reaction to the rest of the strip.  Saying nothing, he slid the film between his fingers, moving backward through the grisly scenes of torture and beatings that had so shocked him earlier.  “Then you certainly didn’t expect something like this.”

Rachel screamed and jumped up from her chair.  Glen saw her run into the bathroom and slam the door behind her.  Even through the closed door, he could still hear her vomit.

Reviews

[Alexander W. Quinn]

Now that the seperate story lines have converged, the "big picture" is quite wonderful. The story as a whole is fantastic and original, with chapters that are quick and compelling reads.
This is a great chapter and a key point, but you might want to let Rachel "freak out" a little more. She seems just a little too willing to accept this mind blowing "gift" that Glen has.
I'm very eager at this point to find out more about Kevin and Guilia. Since Glen saw him one his lunch break at work, then time must have passed since he was in the basement with Guilia, so I'm wondering how severly she's been "punished" for trying to escape.
A great read all together!