Dear Dorthey

Dorthey woke at 3 a.m. to the sound of wind slashing her thin windows. She moaned and rolled over in her bed, frustrated that the storm raging outside would not retreat. She grabbed her pillow and angrily thrust it on top of her head, trying to block the sound of the eerie gale creeping under her door. The noise diminished but still Dorthey felt uneasy. Something was wrong and Dorthey knew it. She slipped out of bed and did a lap around her small house. Nothing. Dorthey cursed at herself and hopped back into bed. She closed her eyes, but the feeling would not subside so she leaned over and looked under her bed, but it too was the same as usual. She felt stupid. She got back in bed once more and shut her eyes.

Eventually Dorthey must have fallen asleep because now her alarm clock read 7 a.m. and was screaming at her to get up. She smashed her bony fist on top of it and rolled out of her silky white bed. She shed her lacey pink nightgown and threw on a pair of tan khaki jeans, a white blouse, and a magenta cashmere scarf. She slipped out of the door without breakfast and fired up her car to go to work- a small real estate firm. 

When Dorthey arrived at the parking lot outside of her office, she began to feel sick and nervous again. There were seven or eight cops all circling a melting snowbank surrounded by yellow tape. Dorthey parked and wandered towards one of the police men stationed outside of the investigation area.

“Officer?”, asked Dorthey. “What’s going on?”

“A man named John Scott called the local department this morning saying that there was a gun in the snowbank, so we came down to check it out.”, the officer responded.

“And?”, Dorthey questioned.

“I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but, the gun was there and a spent bullet shell right next to it.”, answered the cop.

“What type of gun?”, Dorthey asked.

“Sorry ma’am. That is classified information.”, the police man replied, now seeming much buffer and more threatening.

“Oh. Okay.”, Dorthey said now feeling more nauseous than ever.

“Go home and get some rest ma’am. Office won’t be open today.”, said the police man motioning towards her work firm.

Dorthey turned and moseyed back to her car. She slipped in and began to recount last night. She had gotten up, looked around the living room, then the kitchen, and then went back to bed. But she never checked the safe, the safe where she kept her gun.

Dorthey drove home running 8 miles over the speed limit. She whirred around the corner of Greenwood and Seventh and pulled into her gravel driveway. She raced out of the car and slammed the shiny blue door behind her. When she got in the house, she immediately ran to her wall safe which was hidden behind a crappy Picasso interpretation painting her office friend Shiree had given her. She dialed in “021496”- her birthday, and the airsealed safe decompressed and opened. Dorthey thought she would puke. The safe was empty except for one little yellow note. A note she hadn’t put in the safe.

Dorthey reached her skinny hand into the back of the safe and snatched the note. It read in small printed words:

“Find me in the park, alone before dark. Follow my commands, or his blood is on your hands.” -UrX

Dorthey shuddered. Who the hell was UrX? She ran to the phone and began to dial 9-1-1 when she looked down at the note again. “...ALONE before dark. ...or his blood is on your hands.” She glanced around the room like that would do something and then hung up. She wondered who’s blood would be on her hands. If she was going to go alone to make sure that didn’t happen though, she would need another gun. A bigger gun.

Dorthey drove to the local gun shop called “Ricci’s Triggers” and entered. A rather heavy man was sitting at the front counter polishing his pistol.

“What d’ ya want kid?”, The man asked.

“I’m not a kid first of all. And second of all, I want a gun.”, Dorthey replied forcefully.

“Are ya that girl that wanted a gun in case of an emergency ‘bout 3 months ago?”, The man said now seeming a little less on edge.

“Yes, actually.”, responded Dorthey. 

“Alright sugar.”, The man said, rolling his dark brown eyes.

“Don’t call me that you ass.”, Dorthey snapped back.

“Okay then sweets. Just follow me.”, The man responded with a mischievous grin on his face.

Dorthey clutched her purse tight and followed him to a small room in the back of the gun shop. The man grabbed a gun in each hand and spun them around. 

“This gun on the right, here, is a tramatizer. If ya shot ‘em deer with it, they wouldn’t bother ya again cause they’d be too freaked. The one on the left is a perfect murder weapon. One shot and ya be dead.”, the man said, his grin growing in size.

“I’ll take the one on the left.”, Dorthey said, grabbing at it and pretending like she knew what she was doing even though she had never even shot a gun on a range before.

“No please?”, said the man, mocking Dorthey.

“In your dreams.”, Dorthey said forcefully. 

She finally snatched the gun and went to the front of the store to purchase it along with some ammunition. She sped through the procedure of showing the cashier her drivers license and handing them her credit card, and then raced out of the door to her car. She pulled out onto the main highway now driving ten miles over the speed limit. She swerved down the road and tried to pull in front of a black Sudan when the loud blare of police sirens came up behind her. Dorthey swore and smashed her hand against the top of the drivers wheel as she pulled to the side of the road and rolled down her window.

“Ma’am, I'm gonna need you to step out of the vehicle and give me your registration and insurance.”, the cop said as she quickly brushed her new gun off of the passenger seat next to her.

“Sorry sir.”, Dorthey said as she stepped out of the car and put her hands above her head.

“I swear I didn’t know I was going that fast. I’ll never do it again.”, Dorthey pleaded.

“Call yourself lucky. I’m leaving you with only a warning, but if you speed again you will face serious consequences.”, the officer warned.

“Yes sir. It won’t happen again.”, Dorthey responded as the cop handed back her paperwork.

The cop left and Dorthey pulled back onto the freeway. She buckled her leather seat belt and checked the warped screen of her car navigation system for the time. 1:18 p.m. Where had the time gone? It was like it had been sucked out from under her. Dorthey knew she would have to make a faster plan so she pulled a U-turn and began driving to the only park in town-Silverlake Park. 

Dorthey arrived at the park with awe. It had changed and grown so much since the last time she had gone to see it. The weeping willow had fallen over the lake like icicles off the side of a cabin, and a new row of stunning blue flowers emerged from the frosty dirt like butterflies morphing from caterpillar to majestic flying insect. But the thing that Dorthey could not peel her eyes off of was the mossy white bridge that extended over the lake. It held her in a daze so strong she thought of nothing more than walking to the center of it and looking down at the reflection of the sky behind her wavy blond hair and deeply tanned skin. But then, the moment ended and reality stole her mind back from the heaven it was basking in. 

Dorthey hopped out of the car and walked towards the willow. She caught sight of yellow near the base of it and knew that it was merely another note. She sighed and walked over to get it. She unfolded it and read the small print inside.

“Dear Dorthey,

You’ve gotten this far, now follow the red car. Or you’ll find precious Jake at the bottom of Silverlake.” -UrX

    Unfortunately, that clue told Dorthey just who the note-writer was. It was her ex. She should have gotten the hint when she saw the clue signed UrX. It meant YOUR EX. And even at that, the only person who knew the combination to her safe besides her was her ex Preston. But why would Preston attack her boyfriend Jake? Then, it all occurred to her. 

    The night she broke up with Preston to be with Jake they were at a fancy dinner. It had rose petals and Cabernet Sauvignon and steak and all the other things her and Preston couldn’t afford. He must have been about to propose. She felt bad for the way things had ended but Jake was who she dreamt about. Now she realized that this was Preston’s form of revenge. She had never pegged him as the fight-it-out sort of guy but now she was rethinking a lot of things.

    She turned towards the parking lot and saw a red car backing out of its parking spot. Shit! She had to catch it! She ran to her car, fired it up, and pulled out of the lot after the red car as fast as she could. Once she was close behind the red car and safely on the highway she reached down and grabbed her gun. She placed the gun in her lap and while holding the wheel with her left hand, resting her right on the trigger. 

The drive was long and far away. Dorthey checked her phone. It read ‘no signal’ in the top right hand corner. She looked up again and saw the red car turning on a small dirt road. She swerved and looked at a large abandoned warehouse smack down in the middle of the road in front of her. She laughed. All these years she had thought that the whole ‘abandoned warehouse kidnapping’ thing was a hoax. But now here she was, sitting in front of one, with a gun and a useless phone. She stepped out of her car and walked towards the parked red one. The red door cracked open and there he was. Preston stood up giving Dorthey a good view of the two guns hanging out of either belt loop.  

“Good to see you Dorthey.”,  Preston said with a sly tone.

“Can't say the same.”, replied Dorthey.

“Follow me, Dorthey, sweety. Let go see how Jake E-poo’s doing.”, Preston came back snidely, ignoring her prior comment.

“Not unless you prove to me that Jake is actually in that warehouse!”, answered Dorthey.

“I see you’ve done your criminal research. Wait here.”, Preston said.

Dorthey watched as Preston sauntered to the door. He walked in and she heard only the sounds of footsteps echoing through the building for a few minutes before she heard the piercing sound of a shrill scream. Jake's shrill scream. She fingered the trigger of her gun and ran into the dark warehouse. The floor was covered in shattered glass of all different shapes and colors and the walls of old crates had tag-stencil graffiti engulfing them. Dorthey's eyes fluttered around the room until they caught on Jake’s heavily bruised body. 

“Jake!”, Dorthey said in a tone much more loving than it had ever been before.

“Baby!”, Jake responded enthusiastically.

“Both of you, SHUT UP!”, Preston yelled.

“Dorthey, sweety…”, Preston began.

“Don’t call me that!”, Dorthey interrupted.

Preston continued, “I’ll make you a deal. Marry me, dump Jake, and bare my babies.”

“No!”, Dorthey shouted.

“Or, I’ll kill your precious boyfriend.”, Preston threw back.

“I’m not marrying you or having your babies, you psycho. And Jake's not dying either.”, Dorthey screamed back.

Preston’s nostrils flared as he raised and pointed the gun at Jake. Dorthey saw him begin to squeeze the trigger. She knew she had to think fast so she raised her own gun at Preston and shot. Preston fell to the floor wheezing and his eyes began to roll back in his head. Dorthey ran to Jake and stroked his mane of black hair.

“Are you okay?”, Dorthey asked Jake.

“Um, yeah, not really. Let's get out of here.”, Jake replied

*** 3 weeks later ***

“I still can’t believe what happened.”, Dorthey said.

“Me either.”, Jake replied.

“At least I didn’t get in trouble for the ‘Jake defense shot’.”, Dorthey put in.

“Yeah. I think things are all smoothed over with the police department by now.”, Jake added.

“let's stop talking about that though. We should be relaxing and enjoying our beachfront candle light dinner.”, Dorthey said.

“On that topic..”, Jake said as he lowered to one knee.

“You are my everything Dorthey; my love, my friend, my soul mate and more. Now, I want you to be my wife…”, Jake said.

“Yes!” Dorthey cut in.

“Wait. You didn’t let me finish... Will you marry me?”, Jake said.

“Yes! Yes, yes, yes!”, Dorthey said.

Jake slipped the rose gold ring on her finger. Dorthey then leaned in and kissed him. 

THE END