Memories and Faded Pictures

The strange man stared at Lorraine as she shakily took the picture from his hand. His hazel eyes scared her, the hurt peeking behind the seething anger. She tried to steady her breath long enough to take her eyes off his face and look at the photo trembling in her fingers. Lorraine exhaled, lowered her eyes to study the smiling couple. She saw the strange man, his hazel eyes twinkling with love instead of swimming in hate. He was dressed in a full tuxedo with tails, his now unruly hair, freshly cut low, diamond earring shining in his ear, the only thing brighter than his smile. He stood tall next to a regal chair and seated in it was...Lorraine dropped the photo. She looked up confused at the strange man, who stood nodding, then back down at the back of the photo on the ground. Lorraine picked it up and studied it again. She was seated in the chair, at least a younger her, with her big black curls pulled up in a high bun, wearing a jewel encrusted corset-top that highlighted her best assets as she called them, with flowy tulle on top of satin A-line bottom Wedding dress. It was the perfect shade of white, completely complemented by her full-figure frame and rich amber skin, the Lorraine-lookalike was gorgeous. She also looked a little sad.  

“This can’t be me. I’ve never seen you before in my life!” 

“Linda stop playing with me!” 

“My name is Lorraine!” 

“Whatever you want to go by now don’t matter, your name is Linda Davies. You are MY WIFE!” 

“I DON’T KNOW YOU!” Lorraine began to back away. “My name is Lorraine and always has been! I’ve never seen you and I’ve only been married once to my husband Leonard for the past 5 years!” Lorraine turned and began to walk back towards the parking garage. 

 “This picture is 12 years old. My name is Frank Davies. Your name is Linda.” Lorraine heard the strange man call from behind her. 

Lorraine grabbed her phone inside her pocket and held the home button and quietly said “call honey”. She waited for her phone to connect before she began to speak.

“Frank, please, I’m not this Linda you think I am! Just leave me alone! Do not follow me into the parking garage!” Lorraine could hear Leonard’s muffled yelling before silence.  

“Linda why are you doing this? I thought we were working on things? I thought things were getting better?” 

“Obviously not if she ran out! Now please, leave me and Linda alone!” Lorraine walked around the garage aimlessly looking for her car, before finally pressing the lock button. The car beeped, rows behind Frank. He gave a devilish grin before they began the race to the car. Lorraine moved swiftly, weaving in and out between the vehicles, closing the gap between the two, but Frank was too far ahead. He stood waiting for Lorraine at the driver's side breathing heavily. Lorraine walked around and waited by the passenger door, hoping Leonard remembered where she was shopping today.  

“So, Linda, are you ready to end this?” 

“Stop calling me Linda! My name is Lorraine!”  

“Are you telling me you remember everything from before 6 years ago?” Lorraine paused. The memories were like faded pictures, bits and pieces she could make out but not everything was clear. One thing that she could not was another husband.   

“No, but I would think this would be something I would remember.”

“Unless it's something you didn’t want to remember.” Frank said solemnly. “Linda, please, come back to me. I know we weren’t perfect; I know we had our issues, but I love you and always will. I know you still love me. You can’t just forget a love like ours!” Frank started to make his way to the front of the car, as Lorraine walked towards the back. “Please Linda, don’t run from me.” Frank turned back to the driver’s door. “Just come home please. I miss you! I need you, Lin!" 

Lorraine gasped as she heard those last four words, four words she had heard many times before a lifetime ago. Times when he sat crying on the floor, arms around her waist like a baby as she cleaned the open wounds on her face again. Or the time she was growing a baby and he got jealous of the idea that she might love someone more than him so he “lost his temper” and helped her get acquainted with the stairs. Every time she got the courage to leave it was always “I need you, Lin! Please don’t leave me Lin!” Until the last time she planned to leave, and he found the suitcase. She could still hear the punches landing as he told her the only way she was leaving him was in a body bag. She blacked out after the second hour and vaguely remembers flashes of being in the car, driving on the highway, then Frank carrying her and hitting the cold, hard ground. The next the she remembers is waking up in the hospital with doctors telling her she was in a coma for a year. He asked if she could remember anything but all that she could recall was the name Lorraine. She stayed in the hospital recovering for six months and in that time, she was helped by a kind physical therapist, Leonard Whiteside, who in those six months, lovingly assisted Lorraine in learning to walk again after suffering two broken legs. The pair fell in love with Lorraine seeing his gentle spirit shine each day and Leonard watching her determination and resilience. Six months later, he became her husband and vowed to always take care of her as he did from day one. Every day he kept that vow and was currently searching each floor of the parking garage for his wife.  

“Lin, please, I’ve been searching everywhere for you! After 6 years the state is ready to declare you dead!” 

“Leave me alone! I’m not your Linda!” 

“You have a scar! You fell onto our coffee table, you were always so clumsy, and you cut your arm. You have an eight-inch scar on your left forearm.” Lorraine grabbed her arm and moved towards the trunk. 

“I fell when I was a little girl and scraped my arm. You saw the scar!” Lorraine pressed the trunk button and ran around to the back, grabbing the bat out the back just as Frank was coming from the driver’s side. “Look you got two options, you can keep harassing me and become acquainted with Billy the Bat here, or you can keep looking for your Lin, somewhere else! Or leave the poor woman alone!” Lorraine twirled Billy around and walked towards him. 

“Here! This was your phone. Look through the pictures.” He tossed her an old Galaxy S5. 

“How do you expect me to unlock it?”

"Use your finger.” Frank replied. Lorraine pressed her index finger to the home button of the phone. The bile made its way to her mouth as the screen welcomed her. “See!

You ARE Linda!” Frank inched closer. 

“Just because some old phone unlocked doesn’t mean anything!” Lorraine threw the phone down and gripped the bat. “Linda died on the side of that road. My name is Lorraine!” She yelled. Frank roared and charged towards her with all the rage Lorraine remembered. She swung wide, barely missing him as he jumped out of the way. “Look, I will happily knock you into next week, but I’m trying to let you leave so leave!” 

“I will leave with my wife!” Frank lunged again; teeth bared. Lorraine swung, this time aiming for his temple, she connected with a thunderous crack that would put a homerun to shame. The guttural sound that came from Frank as he crumpled to the ground unnerved Lorraine for a moment, then she shook it off. She walked closer to the man twitching in the steady growing pool of blood. 

“LORRAINE!” she heard a frantic voice call from behind her and an engine roaring towards her. She turned as Leonard jumped out of his car and ran to her. “Lorraine are you okay?? I’ve been searching for you all up and down this garage!” 

“I’m fine my love, Billy had my back!” She said in between kisses. 

“Who is this man?” Leonard asked after checking over Lorraine. 

“The past, and now we never have to worry about it coming back to haunt us again.” 

“Are you okay? Maybe we should call the police?” 

“Yeah, that was my next step.” Lorraine dialed 911 and told the operator what

happened then hung up. 

“Baby, how did this man know it was you?” Leonard asked as they walked around to the front of the car to wait for the police. 

“Oh, because of some picture.”