Free MYSTERY: Distance Hours - Walking alone: (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Series ) (ADDITIONAL BOOK INCLUDED ) (Mystery & Suspense, Suspense Thriller Mystery Collection) by Jason Wood

Chapter one
    I had that painting in front of me. I’d taken it from the studio to get a closer look. I really didn’t know what I was looking at and maybe this was something that I was blowing out of proportion. I just didn’t understand how it was possible somebody could know me, when it was a known fact that I had hidden myself from the world. The only person that knew of those tendencies was Emily and I knew that she was above reproach. It was probably somebody from my past that had come back to call upon me as an answer to some kind of retribution.
    The words on the page cut me deeper than any knife. I thought that I had found a way to overcome the shadow of my past, but now it appeared that somebody wanted to make near relive the gory details of what I had done in the past. I didn’t want to think about the idea that I was going to have to brush off that cold feeling in my veins.
    Neil was going to be home in a few minutes and I had a decision to make. I didn’t think that there was much of a decision. If I was going to be completely honest, then I was going to have to be open with everything about me. I didn’t think that I could do that. I had denied that this was going to happen and that I could sweep it underneath the rug and not worry about it ever again. I thought that with Emily helping me to deal with this that I was going to find a way to eliminate that very idea of what I was before.
    I was down in the basement, a dark and dreary place that made me feel like I was at home. It was fitting to be surrounded by the macabre. This was a thread that I didn’t want pulled, but apparently somebody wanted to see just how far they could push me.
    I heard the door upstairs and the sound of the customary pizza box landing on the kitchen table. It was his night to cook and since we were both swamped with work, I guess I was going to have to contend with takeout. I wasn’t much into the greasy side of fast food, but he did manage to find a pizza joint that was run by a mom and pop. It was a family enterprise and I have to say that the pizza was something that only the artists of such fare could come up with. I had turned into a vegetarian, swearing off meat and dairy for the sake of believing that all life was precious.
    “Don’t tell me that you’re down there again meditating. Are you ever going to allow me to join you, or is this going to be something private for only your thoughts? I don’t mind either way and I suppose that I can understand the feeling of wanting to be alone. I’m going to heat up the pizza and pour us a couple of cold beers. I was this close to buying a couple of steaks and putting them on the barbecue, but then I got hit hard at work.” His voice was coming down the stairs and I managed to hide away the painting.
    “I don’t think that I have to dignify that with a response. You know that this is part of my therapy and something that I take seriously. I have a few cracks in my foundation that needs to be repaired and I think that you can agree that we both have a little bit more baggage than others. I don’t regret the day we met and I would never say that I would want to get rid of you out of my life. You made it better and I would never want to admit this to anybody else, but you made me better.” I walked up the stairs wearing my customary sweats with ½ t-shirt that was making his eyes bug out of his skull.
    “I’m sorry I asked. I should have known better than to interrupt your desire for mental health. I know what I have to go through and how many exercises that Emily has me jumping through hoops. I can only imagine what she has been telling you about how to live your life. I thought about going to somebody else, but she really is the only one that gets me. She has this way of making you think that you’re not in therapy and just talking to a friend.” I found him upstairs and he was slicing the pizza with the pizza cutter. The steam that was rolling off the pepperoni and