Random Number- NaNoWriMo Week Two Excerpt

Rachel got out of her car and turned to lock the door as a clap of thunder exploded making her jump.  The mist was turning to large raindrops as she looked up at the cloudy sky she pulled the hood of her hoodie from under her coat collar and draped it on her head.  No looking back now she thought as she walked up the street toward the driveway, holding her mace in her left hand she cautiously walked up the driveway.  Following the drive she saw an attached garage with a back door beside it with the porch light on, she headed towards the door.

The rain was starting to get heavier, she wished she had brought her umbrella.  As she approached the door she saw that it was open slightly, he must want me to come on in she thought.  Knocking on the door as she poked her head in she said loudly "Helloooo?"  there was no answer.  She decided to push the door open more before going in and noticed it seemed to be stuck on something.  It felt like something just under the edge of the door a rug or something like that she thought.  Pushing she looked into the room seeing that she was entering a really large fancy kitchen that to her looked like something from an interior design magazine. There was no one around just the kitchen lights and beyond she could see a lone lamp shown in what appeared to be a living room or den.

 She decided to bend down to see what was blocking the doorway putting her mace in her coat pocket. She saw it was a man dress shoe black with a heavy horseshoe shaped heel.  How had that happened? she wondered.  Grabbing the shoe in her right hand she unlogged it and stood back up. Pushing the door fully open she saw him and gasped!  There was a man lying just inside the doorway.  Was he dead? She went closer but looked around to see the kitchen quickly so see if someone  was there still.  As she got closer she could see his face was swollen with bluish horseshoe shaped bruises all about his face and bald head.   His expensive looking white dress shirt and navy blue slacks were rumbled with his navy and gold toed socked foot tucked slightly under his left leg she notice he only had on one shoe and it matched the one in her hand.  Looking at the man's shoe on his foot and then looking at the one in her hand she through it down with disgust.  She bent closer" Joe?" she asked more to herself than to him.  It was Joe....Oh, no, her hand went to cover her mouth.  There was a broken drinking glass with a puddle of liquid all around it's shards appeared to have slid further inside the kitchen than where she was standing.  She was not going in any further!  Was he murdered?  He was certainly dead, his glassy eyes were open as was his mouth and she could see he was not breathing.  Was he poisoned?   Was he beaten to death?  What if the killer was still there?

Backing out of the doorway, she noticed a single red rose in Joe's right hand.  Then she thought of the text she had gotten just minutes before she came in the house of the rose emoji!  Where else had she seen the rose tonight?  She recalled that at The Egyptian, the waiter Anthony had one on his lapel, also the couple she saw across the restaurant, the man had taken one from the table and given it to his girlfriend as they were leaving.

Oh, my God! The hair prickled on the back of her neck.  I am being set up she thought as she backed out of the house leaving the door wide open as the now pouring rain hit her face it sent a shock through her body.  She was being set up. None of this was random, the text's were not a wrong number at all they had been meant for her.  Somebody lured her here to frame her because they wanted to kill Joe.  But why? Who?  Was it the mafia looking guys from the restaurant, was it the man with one eye?  Was it the waiter Anthony?  He did start acting weird to her before she left The Egyptian?  But why would they want to kill Joe?  She was running to her car now the rain splattering and splashing her like it was all of the earths tears coming down on her at once while her own warm tears mixed with the cold raindrops as she ran.  

Getting into her car she wiped her face with her wet coat sleeves and began to shake franticly.  Crying and scared she knew she had to get away from there but where?  If she was framed they may have tipped off the police anonymously and they could be at her apartment right now just waiting for her to show up.  So she couldn't go home but she knew she could not stay here.  She started the car and touched her crystal and said "no one can see me, I am safe" which she really hoped was the case this time and she just started driving in the opposite direction of which she came.   She started thinking with tears still streaming down her face, should she call the cops herself right now?  But telling them what?   Telling them that she just found her ex lover dead and she think she is being framed for killing him?  With what evidence...just the texts?  Should she just tell them she was a stupid 21 year old who did stupid implusive things and should have known better than to come here?  Yeah that would work, she thought.

She kept driving until she was at least what she guessed to several miles from the house but completely out of University Park area.  She pulled over in an all you can eat diner parking lot toward the back hoping there were no cameras around.  She parked and pulled out her phone.  She had a text.  Her heart began to pound but from fear not anticipation this time. It was from the random number, it was a single skull emoji. 

Random Number (nanowrimo- week one excerpt)

Week one-beginning excerpt of Nanowrimo project-  Currently writing 1333 words per day need to up it to 1666 or play catch up at the end to make my 50000 word goal.... love how it is going so far!!
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It had been two days since Rachel had heard from him, him being her boyfriend, Tyler who was in prison again.  Sitting on the couch, she looked down at her phone, her knees jumping up and down she chewed the inside of her cheek creating a twisted pucker to her lips. It was the 100th time that day she had checked her phone.  Of course this was an exaggeration, she knew that, but it certainly felt like a 100 to her.

She had met Tyler while visiting her ex Michael who was also doing time at the Polunsky unit in Livingston Texas, it was named for Allan B. Polunsky and was considered one of the worst prisons in the country. Tyler would see her when she was on her way to visit Michael which she did weekly   and he began to pass her notes through one of the guards without Michael knowing.  It was in one the those first notes that Tyler called her his "Beautiful, dark haired angel, the one and only one who could save him with her love and beauty".  Rachel was in love, now with Tyler and not with Michael just like that.  Tyler said to her all the things Michael did not say anymore or had never said and he was just as handsome if not more so with his dark hair and piercing blue eyes.  She began to write him back sneaking the notes to the guard while on her weekly visits to see Michael.   When Tyler was released last August they moved in together in East Dallas. Michael being still in prison for at least 15 years before even having a chance at parole, Rachel decided to ghost him and hope for the best.

Now Tyler was back in jail for a longer stint this time, for armed robbery.  He had only been out 4 months before he was already back in and now she was on her own again.  And here she was on a Thursday night sitting in the Section 8 apartment on the cracked and worn dark brown pleather sofa in the apartment that she and Tyler got together on the sofa they bought at Thrift Town which smelled of a mixture of the previous owners cigarette smoke and decomposing plastic.  Franticly she wondered why he was not calling her.  Was she now being ghosted herself?  Her face flushed and her stomach turned over at  the thought and the dread of being alone.  Why did everyone leave her? Why must everyone leave her?  Looking up at the clock above the TV in front of her she saw that it was 9:56 pm.  Then her phone buzzed, she had a text.   Looking down again at her phone she saw that it was an unknown number.  "Did you get the address for tonight?" it read.  Should she reply? She could say they must have a wrong number or just not answer at all.  She decided to play along, after all it would be a way to distract herself front the whole Tyler situation.

 "No can you resend it?" she hit send.

"3651 University Blvd 75205, Park your car at the park across the street by the swing set and then walk to the back entrance of the residence" was the reply.

She sent back "Thumbs Up" emoji "What time?"

 "2 am" was the reply.

She sent back "Smiley Face" emoji

"Stop with the cartoons, you had better be there this time" the random number replied

"Okay" she clicked send and then laughed to herself. This was fun, she wondered who this guy was, she was certain it was a guy she could just feel it.

She started to wonder what was at 3651 University Blvd? It sounded like it was in University Park which if it was she thought it must be someplace fancy at that was a rich old money part of town. She looked up the address on her phone and the address with images from Zillow popped up, she clicked on it. Yep, she was right University Park she knew where that was at least and it appeared to be a really fancy house. She wondered whose house it was?  She wondered what was happening a 2 am?  So funny whoever this person who texted her was they were going to be really pissed when the person they were wanting to show up didn't make it.  She wondered if the guy who texted her would ever figure out he had sent the text to a wrong number? Oh well it was not her problem she thought. She really had not promised anything so if he called her back at 2 am when no one showed she just wouldn't answer back.

She got up and tucked her phone in her hoodie pocket tossing her dark brown wavy shoulder length hair her over her shoulder, she went to the kitchen.  Taking out a glass from the dish rack in the dishwasher.  She poured about two fingers of whiskey that was sitting on the kitchen counter into the glass and then turned on the tap and added a splash of water.  Her Angel wing tattoo peeking out of the sleeve on her left arm as she turned on the tap. Standing at the kitchen counter she twirled her glass to mix it  while shifting her weight from socked foot to socked foot.  She began to feel the previous dread return.  Why wasn't he calling? What if she was being ghosted?  She took a drink and could feel her stomach start to knot again at the thought of being left alone.  Why must everyone leave her she asked herself again.  Oh, Hell she thought who cares about Tyler.  Men were easy to come by especially for her she was a "beautiful angel remember?"  Well, she would show him, She would rekindle her romance with old faithful the middle age bald guy, Joe, who came into the diner everyday where she worked. He would pay her bills for a few months like before and she would make his day. Serve Tyler right too.  He was turning out to be just like Michael she thought, he did not know a good thing if it were to bite him in the ass.  She was furious with Tyler now.

She took out her phone again put in her code, still nothing.  The previous text from the random number was still up.  Still fuming she took a gulp of her drink. Warming and starting to feel the whiskey, she should go do this she thought, meet this guy tonight at 2 am!  Why not? She was not going to sleep anyway she was too keyed up.  Yeah, she would go!  She thought it is not like this person knows who she was or what she looked like he clearly texted a wrong number. She vowed to herself if she got a funny feeling she would just keep on driving. It would be a fun adventure.  She was off tomorrow at The Diner so she would catch up on her beauty sleep then, plus deep down,even if she mad or not she hoped Tyler would call or text somehow, someway and she worried if she were asleep she might miss it.