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Chapter 10
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The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 11
When Adam awoke, he was alone in bed. There was no alarm to wake him, no phone call. Instead, he woke up on his own, to an otherwise empty bed. A few minutes went by with him cursing Larisa in his head, believing that she’d left him in the night. But then came the realization that it was Monday morning, and that she must have left for work.I have to leave for work at 8:00. So if she’s already gone, then I should get up . . . Still groggy, he turned over in bed and reached to the table for his phone. But it wasn’t there. So he sat up, confused, and rubbed his eyes before looking at his alarm clock. 9:30, it read. For a few seconds, Adam stared at the numbers, trying to
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 12
It was Tuesday, and Adam was taking yet another day off. Ever since Evangeline left Waller’s Pawn Shop the day prior, he’d been feeling out of it. Not only had he seen multiple pansies over the course of the day, but he’d also seen other things much stranger. For example, the customer that came in to pawn something who was eating shards of glass out of his own palm. Because Jesse had seemed to notice none of the unusual things that Adam saw, they were even more unsettling. He had slept restlessly, plagued by nightmares of house fires, stalkers, and being buried alive in a graveyard full of blossoming pansies and dead honey flowers. When he woke up at 4:15 in the morning, he saw that he had unread messages from Evangeline. He read them all in the dark, while sitting up in bed. “I’m so sorry! I messed up. Please don’t hate me. I only wanted to be
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 13
“Why were we at a restaurant?” Adam asked, holding an ice pack over the bandage on his forehead. As he spoke, he sat at the dining table, staring at his phone. The message from Evangeline was still open. Though he must have read it a hundred times, he still couldn’t figure out if it was the truth. Larisa was behind him, in the kitchen. She wasn’t doing anything in there from what he could tell, but more went in there to avoid being in the same room as him. “You don’t know?” she asked back. “What do you remember?” “Nothing,” he answered, finally putting his phone down. “All I remember is that it was Tuesday the last time I was conscious.” “Okay,” she groaned, “let’s try something else then: what do you remember about Tuesday?” He gazed at the honey flower in the palm plant on the table, but didn’t see it. No, what he saw was Evangeline’s face as he looked down at her the day before. She mouthed the words “I love you”, and he h
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 14
He went to the store that Friday, rather than to the pawn shop. As much as he tried to convince himself that this wasn’t the case, he knew that he only did it to avoid Jesse for the day. If he went back looking the way he did—disheveled from not sleeping—he was almost certain that Jesse would bring up psychologists again. So, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to handle that, Adam walked to the store (since Larisa had the car for work), intent on making up a list of things to buy once he got there. Despite being long, the walk to the store was as close to relief as Adam could get. There was no hurry to get there, so he could go as fast or as slow as he desired. Every half a block, he would sprint for a burst to keep his troubled mind off of the unhealthy cocktail of negative emotions brewing inside him. He arrived at the store without incident. In fact, as he picked up a basket to shop with and made his way into the medicine aisle, he felt calm for the first time
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 15
“What do you mean, a bouquet of flowers?” Adam asked Jesse, while pacing back and forth. “What do you think I mean, dumbass?” Jesse hissed back, a tinge of humor in his voice. “When I got here, it was sitting in front of the door.” Saturday morning was already off to an interesting start. Adam hadn’t slept well, again, and when he arrived at the pawn shop, Jesse told him that there had been a bouquet on the doorstep of the pawn shop. A part of Adam hoped that it was for Jesse, but he knew immediately upon hearing about it that he was its intended recipient. But still, there could be a chance that he was wrong . . . “You must have a secret admirer, Jesse,” he joked anxiously. “I’d hope not,” Jesse replied, “seeing as your name is on it.” From behind the counter, the taller man pulled out the gift in question, and Adam stopped in his tracks to stare at it. In a wrap of light blue papier-mâché, the bouquet contained the two flow
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 16
Larisa didn’t show up until 9:10. The extra ten minutes he’d waited both enraged Adam and made him consider reconsidering. Did he have to confront her? What if he was wrong? But the moment he heard her key twist in the front door’s lock, his hesitance disappeared. There would be no dancing around the issue. The elephant in the room had to be addressed now. After listening to her remove her shoes and coat, he expected her to head into the dining room. Instead, by the sound of it, she started walking upstairs. “Larisa,” he called out, and she froze in her tracks halfway up. “Come in here.” She didn’t move for a few seconds, but when she did, she came back downstairs and did as he asked. “Yeah?” Though she tried to look normal, brushing a strand of loose hair behind her ear, her hands trembled a bit. He gestured to a chair he’d set near himself. “Sit down.” “Listen, I’m really tired—” “Sit down.”
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 17
The first thing Adam noticed was the rain falling on the windshield. Since the wipers weren’t on, it was near impossible to see past the waves of water running down the glass. All he could hear was the sound of the heavy deluge going on around him. He was in his car, but didn’t know how or why. The last thing he could remember was sulking in his office after arguing with Larisa. Why was he in his car now? More importantly: where was he? It was hard to make out his surroundings past the water, but he could at least tell that he wasn’t in the driveway anymore. He appeared to be in a parking lot, though not one that he recognized. Since he was in the driver’s seat, he must have driven here . . . but why? Andwhen? He had no recollection of leaving his office, much less the house.&nbs
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 18
As Adam awoke, he felt a hand laid on his chest. His first thought in his grogginess was that it was Larisa. So, thankful that he was safe at home and in his own bed, he turned over without opening his eyes and moved closer to her. There was a sweet smell lingering in the air—some sort of perfume—but he was too comfortable to register what it was. For the first time in a while, he’d woken up in a good mood, and though he couldn’t rememberwhy, he wasn’t about to waste it. No, he was going to snuggle with his wife and sleep in for a few more minutes before she got up to get ready for work. But even despite his determination, something about the way Larisa smelled bothered him.Her hair smells sweet, like . . .Like pansies.&
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