Obsession (Stalker #1) (23 page)

I’m smiling like an idiot.

I watched it all. It was such a long night. I drove to Jake’s because obviously that’s where all the action would be and I needed to see how my handiwork would unfold.

They all piled into Jake’s house. I saw all Abby’s friends, her cousin, and an older woman I’m going to assume was her mother. Her mom’s kind of hot, too!

It wasn’t until Jake arrived that I finally felt like it was ok to get out of my car and go to the house. I knew they would all be drinking and smoking out back. As I was putting on my coat, gloves and hat, another car zipped into the driveway. I saw it was Kevin.
What the fuck is he doing here anyway?
He said he was staying at a buddy’s place.
Is he BFF with Jake now? What the fuck is this?!
I saw one of Abby’s friends, I’m pretty sure it was Amanda, come out to greet him. It looked to me like something may be happening there.

I waited until they went inside before I made my way over to the house. I needed to watch, but I was worried about that fuckin’ dog sniffin’ me out again.

Going to the spot where I was found before seemed pointless, so I found a new area around the other side of the house. I watched them all drink, smoke, pass the joints around while everyone was trying to comfort one another.
Fuck me!!! Did I push them all closer together?
Well, that was not a part of my plan and I didn’t see it coming. You see, plans don’t always go accordingly.

This will be a long week for Abby, and I worry about her. I’m not sure she’s strong enough to handle it. From what I can tell, she feels like this was all her fault. I suppose, in a way it was. Not directly, but definitely indirectly. I hope she hurts. I want her to feel some of the pain she’s put me through.

Finding a cheap motel in the area wasn’t as easy as I thought. I did find one, and it’s a bit sketchy, which makes it perfect for me. The price is right, so I’ll bunker down here, at least until I figure out what my next moves should be. Fuckin’ plans…

Kevin said he’d call me and let me know when I could go back to the house. I’ll need to find a more permanent residence. I need an apartment in Etobicoke now. Abby is living in this part of the city, and so will I as soon as I find a reasonably priced place. It’s a bit more expensive here and I need the perfect place. Maybe I should try Tiffany’s building, hmmm, there’s probably an opening. I chuckle to myself.

The bathroom in this place is fucking disgusting.
Does anyone clean in here?
I won’t be able to stay here long. Hopefully a week is long enough for me to find a place and move my shit. I won’t be staying at Kevin’s again. He’ll understand, thanks to my performance of the year!
‘I’d like to start by thanking the Academy…’
I laugh out loud.
Maybe I should have been an actor?

Stepping into the dirty bathtub, I think about my night with Tiffany. She was one hot piece of ass. I feel my cock start to grow. Fucking her was a pleasure. I fucked Jake’s ex-wife before I killed her. I grab my cock and start jerking off. I let the water pound on my back while flashes of Tiffany and Abby are at the forefront of my mind. I’m fucking Tiffany while thinking, wishing she was Abby, and shoot my load in the tub.

Turning on the television, I flick it to the news. Low and behold, there it is. My work, televised for all to see. Reporters are always listening to police scanners so it was bound to happen. I smile to myself while getting ready for bed. I’m so exhausted I feel like I could sleep for two days straight.

With the lights out, drapes closed and the news on, I fall into a deep relaxing sleep.

Celebration of Life

Five days later

Today is the day. It’s like my life has been on fast forward and autopilot, yet, I’m acutely aware of everything going on around me.

It took Jake a long time to go over everything with Tiffany’s parents. I decided it was best if I just met them myself and explained what I wanted to do. I put on my big girl panties. I’m twenty-nine years old! I had decided, I’ve got this!

They were not initially thrilled with the idea, but I told them that this day would be all about Tiffany, but in a way that would be as comfortable as possible for their granddaughter. We actually talked for hours and I told them how sorry I was for their loss. Izzy’s, too. Tiffany was their only child. They don’t have much family.

I think near the end, they were of the impression that I am not, in fact, the spawn of Satan (maybe only half) and that my intentions are pure. I think they were more concerned about having access to Izzy and I let them know that they are always welcome in her life. After what seemed like forever, I set my plan into motion. Of course, with a lot of help.

As it turns out, Tiffany’s parents are members of The Royal Canadian Legion and were able to book a small hall for us. They even paid for it. They paid for all the food and we decided to have an open bar to help really get the party feel.

My bitches are the best bitches and I couldn’t have done any of this without them. We turned that little hall space into what we thought Heaven might look like. We all worked as fast as we possibly could. I went through the photo albums Jake brought back and picked out so many pictures I thought would be appropriate. Even Izzy helped pick out some of her favorites, too. She had no idea why we were doing this. I told her that when Heaven gets a new angel, the people that are still here on earth like to have a celebration. It’s so we can say goodbye, cry if we are sad, and say what we have to say. She seemed ok with my explanation, but I know she still doesn’t fully understand.

Jake went through a bunch of Tiffany’s belongings with her parents. He said it wasn’t as bad as he thought it would be, which is nice. They agreed that Izzy can just have all the stuff in her room except the obvious things she doesn’t need, like the bed, the dresser and furniture items. Tiffany’s parents would hang on to her jewelry items and give them to Izzy when she’s older, perhaps on different special occasions. Tiffany had a life insurance policy that would go into a trust for Izzy when she turns eighteen years old. They thought this was a great idea for when she wants to go to college or university one day. Everything has been settled and has been done peacefully. Sometimes, death can bring out the worst in people. I’ve seen it.

Everything seems to be going smoothly. There is like this weird calm in the air. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever felt before

Maybe it’s Tiffany
.

Watching
.                                                                 

“It’s time, guys,” Izzy says to Jake and me, sliding the back door open. Ozzy comes running up to her. It’s like he knows something is going on and he has been glued to her. We flick our cigarette butts into the can and head inside.

“We’re coming, baby girl.” Jake says, attempting to calm her down a little.

I hope I don’t fuck all this up.

We arrive at The Legion at about dusk, the sun is just setting over Lake Ontario. It’s beautiful. It’s not even cold out. It’s the perfect fall temperature. Jake comes up beside me and grabs my hand, Izzy has his other. They both seem to follow my gaze.

“It’s beautiful. It’s going to be a beautiful night,” I say, looking straight at the sinking sun over the lake. “You’re beautiful.” Jake turns to me, I turn my head and he places a light kiss on my lips.

“No kissing,” Izzy giggles at us. Jake lets go of my hand and swoops her up.

“What do you mean no kissing?” He plants little kisses all over her face while she squeals in delight. I love that sound and hope I can give her that one day.

“Wow,” Izzy says as we enter the hall. I hear Jake gasp.

It’s awesome and couldn’t look better. The lights are dim and there are Tealight candles lit everywhere. There are pictures of clouds, angels, rainbows and unicorns, pictures of bright lights coming down from the clouds, and it looks so beautiful. In all four corners of the room are stands of helium-filled balloons of every color of the rainbow. One of the girls has made a little sign for the guest sign-in table. It is decorated in a princess motif and invites everyone to take a marker and write a message on a balloon.
When the time is right, you’ll find out why!

Pictures of Tiffany are literally everywhere. They are mostly enlarged collages. We made sure Izzy and her parents are in a lot of the pictures. We have pictures of when Izzy was just born and even a picture of Tiffany and Jake with a newborn Izzy. It will be the only picture she will ever have of her mother and father together with her. I take Izzy and Jake around the room since we are the first to arrive.

“Holy Shit,” Kim mutters, making her entrance. “Abby, I know I helped, but seeing it now, it’s incredible!” She smiles at me.

“I couldn’t have done it without you, babe.” I wink back. She finds a table to throw her stuff on and comes over to say hi.

“Izzy, what do you think?” Kim bends down to give Izzy a hug and kiss on the head.

“I love it, Auntie Kim,” she beams.

“Oh phew,” she breathes an exaggerated sigh of relief. Kim’s always been good at breaking the ice when there’s tension. Izzy knows all of her new aunt’s and uncle’s names. She seems rather excited to have a whole boatload of new family.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” I hear Mr. Hart say. I whip around to see him and his wife. They can’t believe the sight before them. I rush over to them and Izzy comes running behind.

“Gramma! Grampa! Look at what Abby did!” She crushes herself into Mrs. Hart.

“Mrs. Hart. .”

“We are way past formalities, Abby, please call me Caroline, and my husband Joe,” she says, bending down to Izzy.

“Gramma, it’s Heaven!” Izzy exclaims rather excitedly to Caroline.

“Yes, it is,” Caroline whispers. A single tear slides down her cheek. I was hoping not to cry this early. I go right in for a hug.

“I tried to make it real,” I say.

She squeezes me. “You did a great job, Abby,” she says in my ear, so only I can hear her.

“Well, I didn’t know what the hell to expect,” Joe pipes in, which makes us laugh.

Jake is by my side all of a sudden, shaking Joe’s hand and pulling him in for a man hug. He then goes over to Caroline, kisses her cheek, and hugs her.

“Gramma, Grampa, can we look around?” Izzy pleads.

“Of course we can, let’s go see what Heaven looks like.” And they take off with Izzy, stopping to look at every single one of the pictures.

People are starting to pile in. The only people I recognize are my own friends and family. I’m just so glad they all came. I plug my iPod into the sound system and get the music going from my ‘Celebration of Life’ playlist. Izzy, my friends, and Jake helped me pick out songs and music.

Everyone who comes to the Celebration of Life makes a rather audible gasp as they walk in. Nobody’s been to a celebration like this before. I’m glad I could shock them all and make this into something that nobody will soon forget.

Everyone is in awe of the decorations. People are drinking, and mingling, and it has a nice sweet vibe going on, which is what I was going for.

I feel like now is the time to give a small speech, before the party goes into full swing. I make my way over to the sound system and grab the microphone, tapping it to make sure it’s on.

Here goes nothing!

“Hey, everyone, I’m Abby and I’d like to thank you all for coming tonight. It means a lot to us. I’m not sure if I’m the most appropriate person to be speaking right now, but, Mrs. and – err, I mean, Caroline and Joe have been supportive of the vision I had to re-create a piece of Heaven.” A single tear slides down my cheek. “I hope you all saw the sign for the balloons and you are all encouraged to write messages, words of love, or decorate them however you want, because at the end of the night we will be sending them all up to Heaven for Tiffany.” Another tear slides down.
Keep it together.

“If at any point you want to say some words, then feel free to do just that. For now, if you could all raise your glasses in a toast with me.

“To Tiffany… May she rest in peace and know that her beautiful daughter, Isabelle, will always be taken care of.”

Everyone raises their glasses and Izzy comes running over to me, slamming into my legs for a hug.

“Don’t cry, Abby. I love you.” I pick her up, hug her and kiss her little face.

“I love you too, Isabelle. Let’s ‘cheers’ to your mommy, ok, babe?”

She smiles at me and says ok. Everyone laughs and the first toast of the night is done. Izzy goes running back to the table with my ma and sits on her lap. I turn up the volume on the sound system again.

“Abby, you did such a great job.” Jake appears at my side while I’m taking everything in. “Dance with me,” he says and pulls me to the middle of the room and onto the dance floor while “
Tears in Heaven”
by Eric Clapton starts playing. He twirls me once and holds on to me like he never wants to let me go. I see more people move to the dance floor; Tiffany’s parents, Kevin and Amanda, Justin and Dallas, and some other people I don’t know. It makes me warm and fuzzy to see two of my best friends finding one another and I hope it works out for them.

The next song to play is “
Spirit in the Sky”
by Norman Greenbaum, and everyone stays on the dance floor, in fact, more people come on up and get their boogie on. I’m looking through the crowd to find Izzy and see her still sitting on Ma’s lap. I crook my finger at them and Izzy’s little face lights up. She comes running to the dance floor and starts dancing with us. In fact, everyone is up dancing now and it feels great. I mean, as great as it can, considering it’s a funeral of sorts.

After a few hours have passed, everyone has eaten, drank, danced and gone around to write messages on all the balloons. I go over to the microphone, turn down the music and ask if everyone wouldn’t mind heading outside. Grabbing our coats, we make our way to the beach. My friends all know to grab the balloons.

The night is perfect with only a slight breeze. Everyone is huddled around and waiting. Amanda, Kim, Nikki, Nat, and Dallas start handing out the colorful balloons and ask everyone to wait for a few minutes. Jake, Kev and Justin are lighting twenty paper lanterns to light up the sky. The guys get them all lit and make sure Tiffany’s parents get one, as well as other family members, and her friends. Jake helps Izzy with her lantern. Everything is in place and ready.

I walk to the front of the crowd. “I thought it would be nice to send all our messages to Tiffany up in Heaven. The lanterns will light up the sky and lead the way for the balloons.” I can see some faces with smiles, some are shedding tears. Izzy looks excited, which makes me smile.

“Isabelle, would you like to be the first to send your lantern into the sky to your mom?” I ask. She comes barreling forward with Jake behind her carrying the lantern. Caroline and Joe come up to stand with her, also. “You ready?” She nods her little head. Jake places the lantern safely in her little hands so she can let it go. “Ok, let it go!” And she does, tilting her head and watching in amazement. It really is beautiful.

“Ok, everyone else who has a paper lantern release them now!” They do and everyone looks up in wonder. “Now, everyone with a balloon release them and send them up to Heaven!” And they do. My girls held back a few special balloons. They give some to Izzy that she decorated herself and I found the one I wrote on.    

I love them both.

I promise to take care of them.

I’m sorry.

Abby

I let it go to into night sky, lit by all the paper lanterns. People start taking pictures with their phones. I grab mine, too, it’s too beautiful a moment not to capture. I also get some shots of Jake with Izzy, looking up into the sky, and with some of my friends. Caroline and Joe ask for a picture with Izzy, and we do a picture with Izzy, Jake and I. And for the finale, we do a picture of all of us. A group shot of Caroline and Joe, Jake and me, Izzy, my ma, and my friends.