Traces of Kara

Chapter One

He sat on the edge of his queen-sized bed, the morning light streaming across his knees as it crept between the slats of the metal blinds.

His dirty t-shirt hung loose over his protruding stomach.

His thick, hulking shoulders rounded forward, lifting and falling with each heavy breath.

He could feel the photographs on the wall opposite the bed calling out to him, taunting him.

He clenched his fingers until his gnawed-off nails dug into his palms. He leaned forward, the streaks of sun shooting across the room and bouncing off the mirror with blinding heat.

He pushed himself off the bed with a groan, arching his chest forward in an awkward stretch.

Each day the waiting became more difficult, weighing on him, suffocating his thoughts.

His greasy brown hair stuck to his forehead in thin strands as he turned to face the wall opposite the bed.

The edges of his lips curled upward in a sinister grin.

He lumbered forward and leaned his enormous palms against the wooden dresser.

His eyes, riveted to the photographs that surrounded the tall mirror, narrowed and widened as they shifted from one photograph to the next.

His heartbeat quickened. He reached one sausage-like finger up and ran it over the beautiful woman’s blond hair.

“Marissa,” he whispered.

He dropped his finger to the map he’d spent weeks poring over, memorizing, scrutinizing.

He knew every inch of the town where she lived, the route she took to work.

He clenched his teeth, thinking about the bastard who’d been taunting her.

Roland’s chest tightened and his hands fisted.

It would be so easy to snap his wormy little neck, or to introduce him to the riverbed, face first, until his body went limp.

Sweat beaded down the back of Roland’s neck.

He reached for a particular picture, worn and gray with age, the veins in his massive forearms bursting with adrenaline.

In the picture his child-self beamed. His arm was around Marissa, the newly formed scars and disfigurement on the right side of his face angry and pink.

He hated the way Marissa looked, as if she were pulling away from him.

Roland rubbed the photo of Marissa with his calloused thumb.

The paper beneath was crinkled, faded, from this habit.

He was careful never to rub over her face.

He closed his eyes, slowing his breathing to an even pace.

He had to bide his time, or his plan would fall apart.

It had taken him eight years to track down Marissa, and eight months to develop his plan—a plan to keep them from ever being separated again.

It was another rainy, gray afternoon, the kind that drained the energy right out of most people—but not Kara Knight.

Kara had a smile on her lips and a thin white envelope in her hands.

She bit her lower lip, running her finger across the return address: University of North Carolina.

She’d waited weeks to see if she’d been accepted to nursing school, and if she opened the envelope now, she’d have her answer.

Her nerves were afire. What if she didn’t get in?

She’d be stuck in this Podunk town forever.

Her dreams were bigger than the small industrial town of Williamsport, Maryland, and she hoped to break free from the heartbreak that surrounded her like an inescapable fog.

The edges of her smile drew south. She flipped the letter over in her hands, playing with the edge of the seal.

She couldn’t bear the thought of not getting accepted.

Kara pulled open a kitchen drawer, dropped the letter in, and slammed it closed.

She turned away with a loud sigh, then turned back, reaching for the drawer.

Even if she was rejected, she’d be damned if she’d be stuck in this crappy little place for another twelve months.

A rejection would be a minor setback, not a deal breaker.

Kara took a deep breath, pulled the drawer open, and picked up the letter with shaking hands.

“Here goes,” she whispered, and tore open the envelope.

Her eyes slipped over the contents, her heartbeat quickening with each word.

“Yes!” She pumped her fist, jumping up and down.

“Shit!” She laughed, and reread the acceptance letter. “I did it. I freaking did it.”

Excitement danced in her chest. This was just the beginning.

Soon she would submit her resignation at the power plant and start her new life.

The job at the plant was a stopgap, a means to an end.

She had begun working there shortly after she and Daryl were married, pushing her desire to complete school aside for the need to generate an income.

She’d tried to do it all—work, go to school, and maintain her relationship with Daryl—but Daryl had felt neglected, and something had to give.

School was that something. Now, she wished she’d had the foresight to see that Daryl hadn’t been ready for a monogamous commitment any more than she’d been ready to give up her dreams.

Kara felt her face glow. She was on her way. Now there was nothing standing between her and a real future. She set the open letter on the counter, grabbed her light blue windbreaker, and headed for the door of her second-story apartment.

Kara reached for the doorknob just as the phone rang.

Mom. Her hand hovered over the knob. Her mother had taken to calling her three times each day since she and Daryl had separated.

The last thing she needed today was her mother prodding her to fall back into Daryl’s arms. Kara didn’t have the heart not to answer.

Sighing, she walked back to the phone that hung on the wall by the stove.

“Hi, Mom.” Her mother hadn’t been supportive of her applying to a nursing school that was so far away.

Kara wasn’t sure if her lack of support was driven by her crazy notion that one day Kara might actually take Daryl back, or by her desire for her only child to remain nearby.

Whatever the reason, Kara had a plan and she was sticking with it.

Nothing Mimi said would dissuade her from moving on with her life.

“Oh, good, I caught you. Ted wanted to know if you could come get those boxes from the recreation room. He wants to set up a dart game with—”

“Yeah, sure. Tomorrow, when my car gets out of the garage.” She tapped her foot, anxious to tell her mother her news.

“Kara, it’s been two months.”

After two years of marriage, Kara’s worst fear had come true—Daryl had been having an affair.

He’d lied to her about Kelly Parnell, and though her mother didn’t want to believe that he would be unfaithful, her marriage was over.

Kara was well aware that it was taking her longer to pull her life together than Ted, her stepfather, might have liked.

Ted had not been happy about her moving back in with them after he’d finally had her mother all to himself, and the tension had been thick between them.

Then, when she’d finally moved out, he’d made no bones about his displeasure at her leaving items behind, though she’d had no other choice.

“I know, Mom. I’m doing the best I can. I can’t afford to move into a larger apartment while I’m saving for nursing school.

” Her enthusiasm deflated with her mother’s nagging.

Why was she explaining this again? They’d had the same conversation for months.

She wouldn’t let this ruin her excitement.

Kara mustered the energy to share her news.

“Mom, I got—”

“Daryl would be happy to pick it up for you.”

Kara sighed. What was I thinking? “Mom, please stop.” She’d spent the last four months trying to recuperate from her failed marriage, and from feeling like she’d been cast aside for someone better.

Even if Daryl was doing a great job of hiding his affair from the rest of their judgmental little town, she knew the truth.

Dodging her mother’s pathetic attempts to reunite her and Daryl had become the bane of her existence.

Not for the first time, she was thankful that she’d kept her own last name when they’d married.

Her mother would have taken great pleasure in reminding her that she still carried his name.

“I was just thinking, you know, he’s not your father. You can’t keep running from the good things in your life.” Mimi’s voice softened, apologetic.

“Mom!” Kara closed her eyes, pinched the bridge of her nose. She took a deep breath and sweetened her tone. “He lied about another woman—that’s pretty significant.”

“You don’t know that.”

They’d had this conversation far too many times, and the ending never changed.

Would her mother ever believe her? “Can you please focus on your own relationship instead of my lack of one?” Kara hated the way her mother refused to believe that Daryl had cheated.

If only Mimi would stop trying to fix Kara’s life, and listen to her instead.

Kara longed to share the excitement of her news with her mother, but she also knew it would just lead to another discussion about why she had to leave town, why she had to leave her mother… or Daryl.

Silence thickened between them.

“Mom?” Kara looked at the clock on the stove. “Mom? I’m sorry.”

“Okay, okay.” Mimi’s thin voice pulled at Kara’s heart. “I just—”

“I gotta go, Mom. I’m late for work.” She hung up the phone, her fingers pulsating from her firm grasp on the receiver. She blew out a loud breath, her smile long gone.