As the World Falls Down (Jerod's Fourth Tale - Part 2)

I remained standing until after they shut the door. Then I sat next to Tania, gently taking her hand in mine. “Sweetheart? Sweetheart?” I said softly.

She pulled her hand away from mine. “Who are you? I don’t know you.”

“I’m your Shrimp. You know I’m bad. You’ve always known it.” I was talking softly, gently. “I won’t do anything to hurt you. I’d never hurt you or the kids.”

“I knew you were bad but murder? Shrimp, murder? That’s not just bad, that’s evil,” she shuddered and a trickle of tears traced its way down her cheek.

“Tania, Sophie Pesce tried to kill me. She trapped me in a pyramid to die. If I left her alive, she would have tried again. She would have kept trying until I was dead.” I very gently pulled her closer. She didn’t protest but she didn’t move toward me on her own either.

“Shrimp, you have to promise me. You’ll never kill anyone again.” She looked at me with hope and the start of a smile.

I closed my eyes. This could ruin our lives. “I can’t make that promise, Tania. I really can’t.” I put one finger under her chin, lifting her head so I could look her in the eyes. Tania knows I can’t lie if I’m looking her in the eyes. “Because if anyone ever threatens you or our children, I might have to kill them. I will do whatever I must to keep my family safe. Always.” I kissed her cheek very tenderly. “I’ve tried to protect you from this part of my life. To keep you from knowing the dark and ugly. Unfortunately, you had to find out. I’m so sorry about that.”

She pulled away from me and stood up. “Jerod, I can’t. I just can’t.”

I stood up and took a step toward her. She took two steps back. I didn’t try to close the gap this time. I just stood still and waited. As much as I wanted to try to convince her that nothing had changed, that it was fine, I knew that this wasn’t the time.

“Get out of this house, Jerod. Just go away,” she finally said, voice cracking.

I went and opened the door. “Know this, Tania Kennedy Shrimpton. I love you with all my heart and soul. I always have and I always will.” I walked out the door, closing it quietly. As the door shut, I could hear Tania start to cry and that nearly broke me.

I pulled out my cell. “Marta? Tania just booted me out, could you keep an eye out for her and the house?” “It was a heavy burden I put on her. She needs time.” “Thanks.” Just because Tania wanted me out, I wasn’t going to leave her without someone watching over her.

I then sent a brief text to Tania. Just “love you”.

Next was the question of where I’d spend the night. I probably could have crashed with Marta and Ted but didn’t want to be that close to home. I briefly thought about sleeping on a park bench but the police had been cracking down on vagrants and I didn’t need the hassle.

Finally I remembered that I owned another building, Simtastic Imports, the import/export business I ran for The Company. No one would protest me sleeping there. Though it wasn’t going to be the most comfortable night in my life. I started walking. I checked my phone a couple of times but there was no reply to my message.

Tania, my Tania. When I first moved to Twinbrook, I thought that having a housemate that was good would help hide the fact that I was evil. It wasn’t long before we were flirting and not long after that we were always jumping into bed for sex. Chat for a bit, have sex. Fight briefly and have sex. I thought of her as my fuck buddy instead of housemate, though I never once said that to Tania. Then something stupid happened and she left for awhile. While she was gone, I realised that Tania was the only woman for me. So I asked her to come home and marry me. I have never regretted it.

Now it wasn’t until I was nearly half to my business that I remembered I’d been threatened. Far too late to change my mind about walking. Besides, the note was obviously an opening salvo to a psychological campaign. If someone wanted me dead, they really should not put me on my guard. Whoever this sick puppy was, he or she wanted me to be worried first. Still, I found myself walking a bit faster, my heart rate went up and I was looking around more. My heart rate didn’t go back to normal until I was safely in the building.

There were some crates and barrels in storage. Enough legitimate business happened here to keep my only employee, Howie, busy much of the time. I pulled out a bag I had stowed here under a few floor tiles months ago. In the bag was a sleeping bag, change of clothes and a few freeze-dried meals. One of several emergency kits I’d stashed around town because you never know when you might not be able to go home. This wasn’t a reason I had anticipated but I definitely wasn’t going home tonight.

I wasn’t particularly hungry so I unrolled the sleeping bag. Then I sent a text “Sweetheart, sleep well. I love you 4ever.” After that I settled in for the night.

It was a bad night. First I’d worry about the writer of the note and what they might have planned. Then my mind would flick to thinking about Tania and what to do about our situation. I left when she asked tonight but I’m not giving up on us. No fucking way. I adore every part of that woman, from the top of her blond head to the tips of her shoes.

After approximately a century, dawn broke. I was exhausted, hungry and ready to punch something. I couldn’t do much about the exhaustion until I could sleep better. Hungry could be taken care of by a quick trip to the diner. As for punching, since I didn’t have a target, a trip to the gym would have to suffice.

My phone had no new messages. I didn’t really expect a message, not yet. I was going to give my wife a few days before I tried to really push my way back into her life. “I need you, Tania,” was the text I sent before starting off toward the diner. I set off at a brisk pace to get my breakfast. I just outside of my target when my phone rang.

My heart sang when I saw the caller id was Tania. “Tania?” “Calm down, I didn’t understand that.” “Sweetheart, listen. I’ll be there. I’m coming as fast as I can. I’ll be there.” My pace changed from a gentle jog to a flat out run. I still didn’t understand what had happened, I could barely make out any of the words she had said. Whatever it was, Tania was terrified.

I wasn’t that close to the house when I knew why Tania was terrified. Walking outside to discover that your house has acquired the word “Murderer” in large red letters would be enough to frighten anyone. I saw that Marta and Ted had come out and were standing within easy contact of Tania. I waved at them and ran up to Tania.

“Shrimp, this is horrible. What else could they do? What if they hurt the kids?” She was shivering violently. I pulled her into a hug, holding her tight until the shivers slowed. There was a light drizzle that wasn't improving things.

“Sweetheart, I promise to protect you and the kids. I’ll find out who is doing this and stop them.” I leaned close, “Does this mean I’m forgiven?” I whispered softly.

“I may never quite get over the idea that you really have killed someone. I didn’t think you were serious about that in France. But I feel much safer now that you’re here, so I guess…” she replied softly. “…I guess I trust you to protect us.”

Ted had been slowly walking toward us. “Don’t worry about the paint,” he said. “I’ve arranged for a couple of guys to come and clean it up. They should be here in five minutes or so.”

“Why the fucking hell didn’t my alarms go off? They should have been triggered by something.” I had stopped hugging Tania quite so tightly but I didn’t let go of her yet.

Ted shook his head. “They cut the power to the street first. Unless your alarms and cameras have a backup power source, they were dead.”

Fucking damn. Well, that did explain what happened. “Never thought we’d need backup power. Not here in Twinbrook.” Yeah, we do have the occasional outage but not that often.

Ted motioned to his bad leg. “Sometimes they really are out to get you.”

My brain kicked into overdrive. Our house wasn’t safe. They had just proven that fairly thoroughly. So first priority, get my family somewhere safer. “Sweetheart, how would you like to take the kids on a camping trip?”