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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 remember why, 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. &Related chapters
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 19
He spent the rest of Monday fretting in his office. There was no proof beyond his browser history that Evangeline’s Twitter account had ever existed. The direct messages to and from her had all disappeared, on both his computer and his phone. No posts mentioned her handle. She had even disappeared from the other social media platforms, where she’d only followed him. There wasn’t even any trace of her bouquet in the house. As far as he could tell, she was gone. He had to wonder if this was part of what she’d meant when she told him he’d never see her again. Was it really necessary to deactivate all her accounts?Then again, she did vanish into thin air back at the motel, so this is theleastshe could do. It t
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 20
“How are you feeling?” The patient didn’t answer, but this wasn’t surprising to Dr. Frost. He looked down at the notebook in his hands and raised his pen to make a note, but realized that there wasn’t anything to make note of. The patient had hardly said a word during the near-15 minutes that he’d been sitting in front of him. Discouraged but not defeated, Dr. Frost sighed and stood up. He began to pace behind his own chair. There had to be something to break the patient’s silence, something that would force a reply. “Would you like to talk about what happened?” Again, no response.&
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 21
Larisa found the tiny coffee shop nearby to be quaint and homey. She enjoyed the atmosphere it gave off, not to mention the smell of coffee and cappuccinos. On the table in front of her was one of the latter, with cinnamon sprinkled on top of the milk foam. As she sat in wait for her date, sipping her drink, she gazed at the pansy sitting in a glass vase on the center of her table. She was sitting right beside a large window. It gave her a nice view of the street outside, separating her from the brisk winter air with only a pane of glass. Because of the cold it gave off, she’d kept her coat on after sitting down. She’d only be there for a few minutes when, looking left and right, her date entered the shop. Then he made a bee-line for her table and sat down across from her. “Jesse,” she said his name with a loving warm
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 22
After waking up around five in the morning, Adam decided to spend a few hours lying in bed to gaze at his sleeping wife. He hoped this would help him fall back to sleep himself, but instead he stayed this way for two hours. At 7:01 sharp, he turned over and got out of bed. If he couldn’t sleep, he reasoned, he may as well do something productive. The goal was to get back to his normal routine, if only to appease Larisa so she wouldn’t send him to see Dr. Frost again. While he still wasn’t convinced he wasn’t in some sort of illusion, his best option was to play along. So even though he knew Larisa would protest were she awake, he got up and dressed in silence. As he left the bedroom, he closed the door behind himself, being both careful and quiet. Then he pulled out his phone. “I’m coming in today,”
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 23
There would be no returning to his normal routine. It was futile to even try. Even so, on Friday morning, he decided that resigning to the futility wasn’t something he wanted to do. His life could go on regardless; maybe he’d hallucinate Evangeline again. But did he really want a world where she existed only to him in moments of stress? Well, he figured, it’s better than nothing, right? Larisa wasn’t in bed beside him when he woke up, but he couldn’t tell if that was because she was downstairs or at work. It didn’t seem likely to be the latter; she’d taken the week off, hadn’t she? He couldn’t be sure, though. Once out of bed, the first thing Adam did was pull on his jeans. Then he considered what he could do today that would feel “normal”. Technically he should go to the pawn shop. But he didn’t want to risk hurting Jesse again. He found himself too unpredictable to ensure that wouldn’t happen, so he thought of his other options. If his
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 24
There was a flower shop nearby that he’d never been to before. In fact, he’d never been to any flower shop before; he wasn’t much of a flower-giving guy. He’d often stuck with buying girls chocolates or cards. Flowers, he’d thought, would die too fast. Before they did, they’d only be in a vase somewhere, ignored. They were too expensive for their worth. He much preferred the alternatives. But now he found himself frantic, desperate to buy flowers—only flowers. Evangeline’s bouquet and the pansies he’d seen everywhere were hints; this was the only way to get her back now. There was no way any doorman would turn away a love-struck man looking to adorn a beautiful girl with a bouquet, right? Flowers would help him convince them to tell him which apartment she was in. He could only hope that it was actually her apartment, and not someplace she’d visited. But she wouldn’t lead me on like that, knowing I was following her . . . Would she? There was no one
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 25
When Larisa finally returned home, she found the car in the driveway. The sight of it brought her overwhelming relief. Its presence meant that Adam had returned; that alone almost made the past three hours of searching for him worth it. Both angry and eager to see her seemingly missing husband, she hurried inside. The first thing she noticed was that Adam’s coat wasn’t hung up, nor were his boots near the door. There were puddles along the glossy hardwood floor leading to the dining room, though. She didn’t bother to undress either, preferring instead to follow the path of the puddles. “Adam? Adam, are you here?” What caught her eye in the dining room was the plant on the dining table, now replaced by a real bouquet. It contained purple pansies and a few red flowers that she had trouble recognizing. At first, the flowers touched her, as she saw them as Adam’s way of apologizing. But then she realized that the red flowers were in fact cyclamen flower
The Descending Winding of Adam Keir Chapter 26
How did I get here? This question plagued Adam’s mind, running through it over and over again. Try as he may, he could find no clear answer. A month ago, he’d been living life the same way he’d been living it for the past 23 years. Everything had been perfect. Mundane, but perfect. He had Larisa, he had Jesse . . . Two of his best friends. He hadn’t needed a psychologist. He’d been content with the routine of his life, even if Larisa was cheating on him. Now he had no one. He’d pushed everyone away, because the only person he wanted was Evangeline. But she didn’t want him, did she? No, she didn’t. He couldn’t blame her, though, because the first person he pushed away was her. How did I get here? It was around 9:30 PM, or maybe later. Adam didn’t know for certain; he’d thrown his cellphone out of the car’s window while driving and didn’t have a watch. Regardless, everything seemed to have worked out in his favor. He reclined in the chair
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