Free Winter's End by Clarissa Cartharn

chasing after her but she couldn’t tell
what it was. Her eyes rounded in fear, her heart beat racing. She looked back
occasionally to locate her predator but she never saw it. She felt it though.
She felt its breath on her skin, she felt fear in her bones.
    She saw Robert in the
distance and cried out for help. He looked at her strangely and turned away. As
he did, she saw Richard behind him.
    “Richard! Help me!”
she screamed, trying to race closer to him.
    But for some reason,
the distance between them remained, no matter how fast she ran towards him.
    She could feel her
predator gaining on its distance.
    “No! No! Go away!”
she screamed.

 
    She awoke with a
start. Her heart was still racing.
    Downstairs, she heard
the excited voices of the children and occasionally, Richard’s voice
overpowered theirs with his laugh.
    She ran a hand
through her hair, contemplating the strangeness in her dream. After a brief
while, she sighed, resolving that dreams were usually strange.
    She washed up and
then walked down the stairs and into the kitchen. The children had finished
breakfast and were preparing themselves for school. Richard was at the sink,
washing up the evidence of their meal.
    “Hi” he said,
noticing her at the door. “I thought we should let you sleep in and helped
ourselves.”
    She gave him a small
smile.
    “Do you want a cup of
coffee? The pot’s still hot,” he said.
    She nodded and sat at
the table. “Thanks.”
    He poured her a cup.
    “I…I’m sorry about
last night,” she muttered. Her eyes were lowered, her fingers played with the
ear of the cup. “I was rude. I shouldn’t have said that. I just didn’t expect
you. So you kind of caught me by surprise.”
    “Perhaps, I should
have let you know I was coming. I suppose I deserved it, arriving at your home
unannounced.” He was leaning against the sink, his arms crossed across his
chest.
    “No, no,” she stood
up abruptly. “It’s your right, Richard. You’re always welcome here. You know
that. You are after all the children’s uncle and they love you.”
    He looked at her, his
eyes were seething with anger. He brushed past her and out of the kitchen.
    “Okay, we’re ready,”
she heard Jai announce.
    Jai and Hannah ran
into the kitchen to bid her goodbye and then ran out the door into Richard’s
car.
    She heard him rev up
the engine and drive off up her driveway.
    She stood alone in
her kitchen. Her house was silent.
    But then her heart
began to race as she ran up the stairs and into the guest bedroom that Richard
had occupied. She swung open the door, her eyes filled with fear as she
searched the room with it. But there, beside the window, sat his little black
luggage bag.
    She leant against the
door frame and let out a sigh of relief. But it was only momentary, because her
heart was racing again for another different reason. She was going to be
alone…with Richard.

 
    *****

 
    Richard didn’t arrive
home until lunch. He sat sullenly at the table without a word.
    Emma was tongue tied,
confused as to how she should break the iceberg that lay between them.
    “You’re late,” she
started.
    “I didn’t know you
were keeping time.”
    Emma swallowed a
nervous gulp in her throat.   “I thought
we could have sandwiches for lunch and…”
    “I’m not hungry,” he
rose from his chair. “I had a snack in Portree .”
    “You went all the way
to Portree ?”
    “I didn’t know how
else to spend my time here.”
    “You could have come
home. We could have…”
    “I’m here for the
children. I thought you made that abundantly clear.” He turned to walk out of
the kitchen. “I’ll pick them up as well. I intend to spend as much time as I
can with them before I return to London.”
    Emma saw him head up
the stairs and towards his bedroom. She bit her lip. She had offended him.

 
    She sat on her couch,
attempting to watch a mid-day soap opera, but instead her eyes kept darting to
the stairs occasionally. When he