Coraline
The entire space is full of my art on every wall.
The entire place is full of my paintings and drawings.
Dating back to the first year I started, when I opened my little online shop, to the most recent one here in Alaska.
There’s a rose bleeding red, and the painting of a field full of tulips I did during the summer time.
There’s a wall full of shelves with Gavin’s military awards and coins sitting on them.
A tear rolls down my face as I run my finger across the canvases.
Gavin.
I trusted him.
Is he the one anonymously buying up my art?
“Where is she?!”
That scream. That voice. I’ve heard it on numerous occasions.
When I’m traveling, booking events or deals, and even when I have no one else to talk to on nights when stress from my family boils over and spills into my personal life.
When I found out my husband was having an affair, I felt the most alone during nights when I just wanted to disappear into thin air—a shoulder to cry and laugh on.
It’s Maya.
I take off sprinting toward Merelyn’s with the shovel gripped tightly in my palm. Nostrils flaring, fists clenched, every step is harsh and purposeful as my heart chips and my world spins with a thousand questions swirling around Gavin’s true identity.
How could he do this? Was all of this planned?
I burst through the door to find a horrific scene.
I immediately feel sick to my stomach as bile rises in my throat, burning it with its acidity.
I can’t remember the last time I ate. I’m about to puke at the sight of Georgia dead on the ground with Maya pointing a gun at Gavin’s head and Gavin doing the same to her.
I instinctively put myself between them, attempting to protect them from each other.
Georgia is lying in a puddle of what seems to be her own blood, staining her clothes and wooden floors.
It’s dark, cold, and grim. The air feels dense and unbreathable as the two face off.
The feelings I have for Gavin are still very much present, even though I’m internally battling with the truth and spiraling thoughts.
I hate that they’re both pointing the gun at each other.
I can’t speak or talk, but only blink as I freeze with fear.
“Maya! What is going on?!” I clip coldly, holding up the shovel over my shoulder. I rush in between them.
“I came here to save you! Do you know who this man is?” She scowls, keeping her eyes on Gavin while blood leaks down her lips.
“Put the fucking gun down, or I’ll kill you,” Gavin threatens.
Maya huffs, shaking her head.
“Did you know he was arrested for being The Sleepy Coldwater Copycat Serial Killer? Everyone in this town stays away from him.”
I turn to Gavin, tucking the past few weeks away, pushing my personal feelings aside, but it aches.
“I took the first flight over here after I heard the crash while we were talking on the phone. I’ve been looking for you. Your family is worried, your supporters! I tried to get to you, but then an avalanche occurred and blocked the roads, making it harder to reach you.”
My whole body trembles as I stand in the middle of them.
“Wait, how do you know about all of that, Maya?”
“I come to Sleepy Coldwater a lot. My family lives here, remember?!”
Still with my palm aimed at her barrel, I stiffen.
I believe her. She did say something like that when she booked this place for me.
“Cora.” His tone was like a warning. My head snaps toward him, my heart still breaking from what I saw in the shed. “Don’t listen to her, sweetheart.”
His voice softens for me. My chin wobbles from the tension. I blink at him as he continues to point his gun at Maya. I don’t care if I’m putting myself at risk by using my body as their shield. There has to be a way to get out of this without someone dying today.
“You have all of my art,” I squeak out, my voice tremoring.
I point to the backyard with my finger, but Gavin continues to stay trained on Maya.
I know he knows the direction I’m pointing at.
“The art from my last viewing and from the event. Are you the one who has been anonymously buying all of it?”
My head feels light as a feather as I watch him. What I saw in that shed in the back contradicts the trust we’ve formed.
“You’re the one who’s been sending me those text messages? The person who ran me off the road?” I yell, walking backwards. He flicks an unrecognizable gaze my way. His expression is full of turmoil and sadness.
“Cora. Listen to me and drop the shovel. Get away from that woman!” he demands, but his orders slip through one ear and out the other, keeping my feet planted to the ground. Locking my knees, I shake my head as a rock in my throat forms.
“Answer me,” I insist as I walk toward Maya. I keep my front facing Gavin, and my back to Maya.
“I trusted you, Gavin!” I cry out, my voice breaking. I glance at the blood seeping out of Georgia.
Who hurt Georgia?
“You can still trust me.”
“No! Tell me everything!” I shout, my tongue shaking.
Please tell me I haven’t been sleeping with a serial killer.
He squints, narrowing his look at me, but still holding his gun pointed at Maya.
“Yes, I’m the anonymous buyer. Yes, I was arrested when I came back home from the Navy because everyone thought I was the Sleepy Coldwater Copycat, but I was released because I am innocent.
I’m not a killer. I’m not like my father.
” His tone is full of pain as I accuse him.
It hurts me to say these things after everything we shared.
After he opened up to me, even though I knew it was almost impossible for him to do so.
“It’s not enough!” I cry out, stepping closer to Maya’s side.
“I didn’t send you messages. I didn’t run you off the road. I don’t want to hurt you! I—”
“Fuck you, you fucking creep! You kept Coraline here without telling her who you really are. You are lying! You’re the one who has been after her,” Maya shrieks from behind, her voice booming with fury.
Maya has been my agent and close friend for years.
I trust her too. She’s always been very protective of me.
I just met Gavin, and from what I discovered in the shed, things are starting to make a lot more sense, and it all points straight to the man I found myself recklessly falling for—a stranger.
A stranger who has clearly been keeping a close eye on me now has me in his nest—a skilled predator with a military background.
“It’s you!” I scream, wielding the shovel higher over my head, planting my feet, getting ready to swing. “Were you the one who invited me to the art event?” I accuse him, already knowing the answer, but I want to hear him say it. “You’ve been watching me for years, haven’t you?”
Please say no. Please say no and tell me a perfectly scientific explanation for all of these weird coincidences.
He stops walking toward me, and his spine goes straight. His jaw flexes as he raises his hand, higher, evening out with his shoulders.
“Yes.” Hair falls over his forehead as he takes another step toward me.
My bottom lip twitches. Betrayal is drowning my heart until I feel it at the pit of my stomach, gutted, and ultimately feeling incredibly na?ve and stupid for letting the first man who was nice to me into my pants.
He was a stranger at the end of the day, and I fell for every single lie.
“You lied to me all this time. All of it wasn’t real!” I scorn through the rock in my throat. A tear rolls down my cheek.
Gavin tried to kill me.
He ran me off the road.
That’s why he was able to get to me so fast and into his home—a perfect setup.
“It was a trap all along, wasn’t it?” Another tear escapes my lashes.
“Coraline, I would never hurt you. I’ve been in love with you for a long time.”
“You don’t love me!” I scowl. “I don’t know you, do I? You coward.”
He shakes his head, letting my angry words roll off his back. My eyes continue to well with unshed tears.
“I’m in love with you.” He's still calm and collected, his body still, and his face deadpan. I’m shattered, confused, and full of worry, but he’s unshaken. The muscles in his arm flex as he holds the gun at Maya.
He still gazes at me like I’m the only woman in the world.
“Your talent drew me in. The art piece with the estranged mother and daughter? That’s the one that made me need to find out who you were.
The artist behind the brush. The person wielding the creativity.
The dreamer.” He tries to take a step toward me, but Maya clicks her tongue, warning him to keep his distance.
“Don’t be afraid of me…please, sweetheart,” he pleads, voice dripping with an earnest tone.
He’s visibly trembling, his eyes latched onto me even though a gun is pointing straight at him.
“Being with you is the most profound privilege I’ve ever been blessed with.
Finding you that night was the first time I took a breath, and it didn’t hurt.
I didn’t run you off the road. I’m telling you the naked truth. ” His lips curl with hope.
“I love you, even if that scares you, hell, it scares me.” He pauses, walking closer to me as Maya threatens his life with more bewildered shouts. It all sounds like blurred noise as I focus on what he has to say. He doesn’t cower or stutter, even when Maya fires a warning shot at the ceiling.
He continues to confess. “It’s always been real. Every kiss, every conversation, every glance. I’ll die a happy man knowing that what we shared in that cabin was real. It was genuine, and I’ll apologize to you every morning, every night, every day, until you believe me.”
The rock in my throat grows as I subconsciously lower the shovel.
A warm wave runs straight through my chest. He’s being completely vulnerable.
All this time, he was hiding the truth. Maybe he didn’t lie, but he disguised it perfectly with his charm.
My knuckles are no longer white from how hard I was holding the shovel. I let his words sink in and seep into my open heart until it bleeds into my next decision. I want to believe him. I need to believe him. This situation is incredibly impossible.
Suddenly, a beam of light and orbs surround him, and I get this overwhelming sensation of peace. It’s the ghosts again, presenting themselves as bright glimmering lights, like a beacon of encouragement.
“It was real. What I feel for you is real, and you know it,” he says, his voice dripping with ease. His hand searches for mine, and I look at it, tempted to grab it.
“Gavin Ariksen is just like his father. Arrested for being the Copycat Sleepy Coldwater Serial Killer and escaped prison. He brought you here because he stalked you. Invited you. Reeled you in. Fed you lies. Like father,” Maya says with a twisted tone to her cold voice. “Like son.”
“No,” Gavin growls, baring his teeth with each vicious vowel. He continues to stand over Georgia’s lifeless body.
I narrow my gaze at him, blinking away more tears rooted in betrayal.
“Don’t listen to him, Coraline!” Maya urges me with a desperate bellow.
What the fuck do I do?
“Believe me. Coraline Rosa.”
He reaches for me again fearlessly.
Leaning forward, unsure of what to say in this dark moment, my hand slowly outstretched for his.
I replay everything. From Maya’s surprising arrival to Gavin admitting his obsession with me. That’s when the puzzle pieces I’ve been given are assembling, drawing me to another awful conclusion.
It’s not Gavin I should be afraid of.
He shakes his head. His lids are closing until I can barely see the blue orbs I’ve fallen addicted to.
“I don’t want to scare you. I don’t want you to fear me. I want to love you,” he reiterates.
Gavin’s fingers are on mine. I sob softly, unsure of what to do or what the right choice is, but I’m leading with my heart and the ghosts. As soon as I try to thread my fingers with his, he gets ready to pull me into him, but he gets thrown back by a loud boom.
A shot goes off, and it pierces Gavin in the chest. He loudly grunts as blood sprays my face, getting into my mouth and the tip of my tongue. With an iron taste in my mouth, I scream, reaching out to catch or fall with him, but I’m getting pulled back by my hair and away from Gavin.