YOU ARE MY BETTER HALF

I’m new to this town and I sometimes hated this traveling as meeting new people was a task for me. It was always the same thing, by the time I made a few good friends I had to move out from there. This is the nature of my work, I was sent by my organization to do the ecological surveys before the projects began and I had to literally around the world. Being an introvert and this type of job was something perfect for me. Always away from people and close to nature. I never got a chance to love someone due to this traveling and to state another fact I never felt that jingle in my heart when I met any girl yet. I always wondered how do introverts like me get a girl.

Due to all these traveling, reading books was my hobby and I’ve read a lot too many books which varied in subjects from love, fiction, non-fiction, mystery and all. I was unpacking all my stuff and setting it up in my new house where I would be staying until I get a new notice to move to some new place. While unpacking stuff I saw that I had brought the newspaper from Josh’s coffee shop. He was my only friend at my last location and I had a habit of taking the newspaper from his coffee shop and I remember him saying that this will be the last newspaper you are taking from here. I hadn’t read that but now I needed some rest from this work so I made a coffee and sat down with the newspaper as it was just a day old and hadn’t bought the latest one yet. Being a local newspaper there was only some fancy news but what caught my eye on the front page was horrible news of some psychopath serial killer who had killed a girl, Rachel, and chopped her, but the interesting thing was her heart was missing. I couldn’t continue reading stuff like that and went out for a walk.

This new place was in the countryside and far from all the chaos. Lush green trees everywhere and I could just breathe in the freshness. I came to a halt at a restaurant and had some pancakes. These people do know how to make a good pancake and I decided that this is going to be my place for having good food as I was the worst cook I knew. I remember my dad was a good cook but never got any skills of his in that department.

My survey in this area was going on and these forests had more flora than fauna. I found only a few rabbits and foxes here and there. The company had set me up a small wooden house in the woods for me to work during the day and even had facilities to stay at night for a campfire. But the silence here in these woods was not calming but eerie. Being alone and in different places had got me habituated to this eeriness and I always carried my Rambo knife with me and that made me feel confident.

As my work continued, my daily visits to the restaurant continued. I got familiar with people there and it was Susie, my waitress whom I got to know better. It was neither her blue eyes nor blonde hair that I was liking but her ability to make even an introvert like me to talk. She was nice to me and I too started talking to her. To simply say she was the most eligible bachelorette in this town.

May be me being well built and having handsome features or me being an introvert that attracted Susie towards me. Whenever I went in there Susie would come up and ask “Hey handsome, the usual pancakes?” and I would always blush like a teenage boy. Slowly we started meeting often, even outside the restaurant and somewhere in me, I felt like a longing to meet her while in my work. This slowly grew and after a month we were officially dating and everyone in town was jealous of our love. I never thought a person like me would find love. My dad always used to say that to love someone for eternity is like they becoming a part of you. I always thought to love like that and it was like the mission of my life. We started getting more involved in each other and I felt that I could never let go of her.

I never missed an evening with Susie and was always there by the time she finished her shift. We liked staying hugged together in the nights and both of us liked camping outside under the sky and counting the stars. She was very playful and had a lot of friends as she grew in that town. Everyone there loved her and she was their cutie pie.

On that day we decided to camp in the woods near my cabin and I went to pick her from the restaurant and as we were moving out James, the old man at the restaurant changed the channel on the TV and in the local news, the anchor was saying,” A serial psychopath killer is on the loose and everyone needs to be careful. No one knows how he looks and everyone, especially women need to avoid strangers. As per reports from the FBI, he is expected to be in the region around here. ” After hearing that James suggested that we need to be careful and better leave postpone this plan. I showed him my Rambo knife and the bag containing other accessories and told, “I’m there to keep her safe, anyone will have to pass through me”, on hearing that Susie hugged me.

We started off to the cabin bidding bye to James and told him if in the morning he could get some food to the cabin and he said yes.

We reached the cabin and set up the fire kept the bag and other stuff in the cabin. I had taken my guitar and I started singing my heart to her. She was leaning on to me and I could see the love in her eyes. At that moment I could only wish for her to mine forever and that feeling of love was overflowing in me.

After roasting some marshmallows on the fire she told me to get some water and it was then I saw that the bottle which I brought had leaked. I remembered that there is another bottle in the cabin and even that was empty. Then I got an idea and told Susie that I’ll get some water from the stream nearby and let's boil it and drink. She was fine with that and I told her to stay in the cabin till I return. As I have been here for two months I could walk to the stream even blindfolded. I walked fast as I did not want Susie to wait and be alone in the night at the cabin.

As I was walking towards the stream I could think of only Susie and her love for me. I wished that she would always be by my side, be my half. I was hoping that she would always be mine and not like my mother who left me and dad. Deep within I knew that she was special and would always be with me. I might have covered maybe 100 feet and suddenly I felt a pain in my head as though something hit me, it was excruciating. And everything happened all of a sudden.

I could see Susie shouting, “Tell the code word handsome only then I’ll open the door”, hearing the knock on the door. Susie opened the door and I could see Susie surprised and then terrified. Then I could see the Rambo knife entering her chest. She was shouting “Why are you doing this to me” and she fell.

The next morning when James came to the cabin he was terrified and immediately called the police. The police came in and also an ambulance. I was taken to the hospital and on the way, first aid and other stuff were being performed on me. I was in ICU for two days and then moved to a room. After a few days, I was discharged from the hospital. And in all these days everyone seemed to avoid speaking to me, even James

After I reached home a police officer came in and I immediately asked him what had happened that night and where is Susie. The Inspector told, “Sorry to inform you, but Susie is dead.” I was shocked and starting crying. I could not stop the tears and I was cursing that night “Why had I gone out, even after knowing that a serial psychopath killer was out there.” He consoled me and I asked him all the further details and he said, “We think that the killer had hit your head and also stabbed you with your knife and might have been wearing some sorts of gloves as only yours and Susie’s fingerprints were on the knife. He then attacked Susie and had stabbed twice in her stomach after which according to postmortem reports, he might have allowed her to bleed to death. After which her body was cut and her heart was taken out and we could not find Susie’s heart anywhere. We think that he might have taken it as a souvenir. We tried for any boot or footprints but none were found other than yours and Susie’s. While you were at the hospital Susie was cremated. We feel sorry for you, but assure you that the killer will be nabbed as soon as possible. We already have our complete force on the lookout for that psycho killer. Is there anything else you want to know and also during the investigation you might have to come to the station if needed. I hope that won't be a problem.”

I said, “That will never be a problem, sir, I just want you to find that killer and ask him why he did that.” I could not hold my tears and I burst out. He consoled me and left

After he had gone I prepared some coffee and sat on the porch and went deep into thought, and only Susie was on my mind. I felt that the police department here is not that effective and they have no faint idea of solving a murder case like this.

Suddenly I felt the same excruciating pain in my head. I walked into the sun and smiled and I knew that she could never leave me like my mother left my father.

I sat there with my hand on my heart and thought, “Susie I love you very much and will never miss you as you are in me. I know your love for me was the best as your heart tasted better than Rachel’s. But why did you stab me even when you loved me, I just wanted to make sure that nothing could take you away from me.”

Your heart is forever in me.

But this mad world would never understand my love.