Beware the Obvious

Rachel lies silently in her boyfriend’s bed, careful not to wake him. She watches the slight rise and fall of his bare chest, memorizing every feature of his body that she possibly can. It surprises her how hard it is to restrain herself from tracing every line of his sleeping body. The smell of his cologne fills her nose. Not too strong it’s gross but a very pleasant addition to her morning. 

She’s been dating Jasper for about 6 months now and has been happier than she’d ever thought possible. There were some dark times in her past, but when Jasper introduced himself at her favorite bookstore in New York City, it was like she could see a light at the end of the tunnel. The things he said, the immediate connection over her favorite books, it made her believe in true love again. Something she never thought would happen to her more than once. 

Jasper stirs as Rachel swivels herself carefully to the side of the bed but doesn’t wake up. She slips the shirt he discarded last night over her head and tiptoes to the bathroom, quietly shutting the door behind her. The bathroom is amazing. His apartment isn’t small by any means, but the bathroom seems like it should be half its size compared to the other rooms. The best thing, in Rachel’s opinion, is the huge closet. She remembers opening it the first time and expecting to walk into Narnia. 

But when she opens it now and happens to look up, something new catches her attention. The top shelf is, to her knowledge, extra bedding and towels, but something that looks like an old beat-up shoebox is peeking over the edge. It’s as if he put it up there in a hurry. Rachel cracks the door open and peeks through. Jasper is still sleeping. 

She knows she shouldn’t look, that whatever is up there isn’t meant for her eyes, but the curiosity is killing her. Especially since she remembers his reaction last night. She can easily recall the look of surprise on his face as he answered the door. He wasn’t expecting her for at least another hour, but she got off work early. Is he hiding something? 

The shelf is just barely taller than her outstretched arm, so it will take concentration and grace to get it down, the latter being the one she struggles with. After she maneuvers the box to edge, she attempts to place her hand underneath to slowly lower it, but gravity has other plans. Rachel resists the urge to screech in panic as the box plummets towards the ground. At the last second, though, she catches it. Her heart pounds so hard she thinks it would wake Jasper more than the sound of a crashing shoebox. When her breathing steadies again, she opens the box. 

In it sits a new generation Polaroid camera and about ten pictures. In each picture there is one girl. None of them look like each other, just random women. They must be exes. But why isn't Jasper in any of them? And why does he have them hidden in a box? Rachel flips through the pictures. In the white space under each girl is a date. When they broke up?  

Each one is beautiful, striking even. Nothing like her. They look like they should all be walking fashion show runways or starring in movies. Rachel is just a book nerd that would rather stay inside than venture out and make friends. It’s truly a miracle that she and Jasper met. Maybe these are women that broke his heart? She is about to replace the box on the shelf when she notices the most recent date.  

It was two weeks ago. 

Jasper, the boy that has brightened her life for six months, the boy she would dare say she loves, cheated on her? Tears spring into her eyes. Is Rachel actually the other woman? Did this one find out Jasper was cheating on her and end it? If that’s the case, there would obviously be no reason to mention it to Rachel. She was already the backup girlfriend. Her heart aches thinking about all the times they weren’t together; all that time he was probably with her.  

“Rachel?” Jasper’s groggy voice is muffled through the closed door, but she hears it. She quickly turns the sink on to make it sound like she is washing her hands and shoves it all back into the box. She is about to slide it back on the top shelf when he knocks on the door behind her. It’s loud and startles her, almost making her drop the box again. 

“One second!” she says in a high-pitched voice. After what seems like an eternity, she finally replaces the box where she found it. Then she splashes her face with the cold water to take away the heat from her cheeks. “Come in,” she tells him. 

Jasper opens the bathroom door and joins her by the sink. He wraps his arms around her waist as she dries her face with the towel hanging on the ring. “Good morning.” 

“Good morning,” she greets, fighting the anger deep in her chest. How can he stand here holding her like this when he was with someone else two weeks ago? 

“You okay?” he asks, concern written all over his face. She looks at him through the mirror and wills her body to relax. She leans back into him, feeling his warmth through the shirt she is wearing. Why did she have to go and look in the box? If the date is right, then they already broke up. But how does she know he isn’t cheating right now? 

“I’m fine,” she smiles as convincingly as she can. “Hey, I was thinking, want to go to that new sushi place tomorrow for lunch?” 

“I’d love to, babe, but you know I’m busy on Sundays.” 

She does know that. “I know, but can’t you skip it? Just once?” 

“I wish I could.” Jasper kisses her temple. “I have to go, but I promise I will take you for dinner there soon.” 

“What do you do on Sundays anyways?” 

“I can’t tell you,” he says slightly forcefully, his brows knitting together. “I work in cybersecurity. I can’t tell anyone who my clients are or where I work for them.” 

“Fine, but why on Sundays? Don’t you ever get days off?” 

“Is there a reason you’re so doubtful this morning?” 

If there wasn’t a mirror in front of them, Rachel thinks she would have lost her feigned composure. “It’s just that we’ve been together for a while now and you’re keeping secrets. I want to us to be completely transparent with each other.” 

“You’re lying.” Jasper doesn’t sound angry. He simply states it as a fact, his expression eerily blank.  

“Wha...what?” Rachel swallows, trying to remain calm. “What do you mean?” 

Jasper spins Rachel so she is facing him, but he doesn’t keep hold of her. If she wasn’t so upset about the cheating and nervous from his current behavior, she would be breathless in a good way. “You’re lying to me.” 

“What would I be lying about?” She looks him in the eyes and holds them steady as best as she can. But, after a moment of him silently staring back at her, her body betrays her. Her eyes flick to the left towards the closet.  

“I should have guessed...” Jasper sighs, letting his head droop. Then he opens the closet and removes the box. He grabs the stack of pictures and flips through them slowly, as if remembering each one in detail. “These women are just tokens of my past. Nothing more.” 

“I would be more okay with it if the date on this one,” she points to the most recent one, “wasn’t while we’ve been dating. Is that when you broke up? Were you cheating on me? Or did you cheat on her with me?” 

“There was... some overlap.” Rachel feels a tear drop, and he lifts his hand to wipe it away. “But, I promise, it’s over. It was stupid of me.” 

“Why should I believe you?” she asks sadly. 

“I love you. I don’t know how I’m going to prove it to you, but I will.” Jasper takes her face in his hands and kisses her softly. “Go and watch some TV, relax. I’m going to make us breakfast.” 

Rachel doesn’t say anything as she leaves the bathroom. She doesn’t want to let him off that easy, but he sounded so sincere. Everyone makes mistakes, right? Laying back on the bed, she turns on the TV. The first channel that pops up is the news. Normally she would skip right away, but this story keeps her attention.  

“Yesterday, behind an abandoned building in Manhattan, the body of 27-year-old Natalie Reynolds was discovered by police. She appears to have been stabbed to death. The time of death is approximately two weeks ago according to a New York City medical examiner.” the reporter announces, but it’s not her words that has made Rachel stop breathing as she sits up slowly, eyes never leaving the TV. It’s the picture next to the reporter’s head that’s got her blood running cold. Rachel knows exactly who that is even though they have never met. 

Despite being two weeks after death, Rachel can tell that Natalie Reynolds, the newly discovered dead girl, is the girl from the most recent picture in Jasper’s box.  

Rachel glances up into the kitchen through the bedroom door. Jasper is cutting ham for their omelets without a care in the world. She wishes there were names on those pictures with the dates so she could do some research. She doesn’t want to confirm what she is thinking, but she is having a hard time thinking of another explanation. It can’t be a coincidence that the date on that picture is the exact time of death. 

She needs to get out of here. Now. Rachel quickly gets back into her own clothes and gathers her things. Once in the kitchen, though, she slows down so he doesn’t get too suspicious.  

“Babe,” she says with a surprisingly level voice. “I need to go. My mom just texted me and she needs some help at her house.” 

“Oh, well that’s unfortunate. Your breakfast is almost done. Can’t it wait until after we eat?” 

“She asked for me to come over right away. I’m sorry.” 

Jasper pauses, looking at her but not saying anything. After a moment of silence, Rachel turns away from him and grabs the doorknob, but Jasper speaks again, stopping her from opening it. “So sad to hear about Natalie, isn’t it?” 

“Yeah, it is,” she agrees, her voice betraying her, but she doesn’t turn around to face him. “How are you doing? She was your ex, right?” 

“Not exactly,” he admits with a dry chuckle that gets slightly louder. He is walking towards her. The hair on the back of her neck stands on end and her palms are slick against the metal knob. “But I think you’ve connected the dots already.” 

“I, uh,” she stammers nervously, “I don’t know what you mean.” 

“You know what I did.” His voice is sinister now. Her mind is telling her to run. Run as fast as she can out the door and not look back, but from the volume of his voice, she knows he is right behind her. The moment she tries to run he will grab her. 

Rachel takes a deep breath to try and steady her voice again. “I don’t think you did anything.” She decides against her better judgement to turn and face him. To attempt to convince him of that statement long enough for her to escape. But when she looks at his face again, all she sees is a wicked snarl before a flash of metal plunges towards her. 

It didn’t hurt at first. She knew the knife was in her chest, but she didn’t feel it. It isn't until she looks down to see it protruding from her body that the pain sets in. Rachel’s legs give out and she slides her back down the door behind her. Jasper isn’t worried or sad. He isn’t anything. He just watches her on the way to the floor. When she stops moving, he crouches down over her. 

“I wasn’t supposed to do this so soon, you know.” He slowly reaches towards the knife handle, and her mind chants do not remove, do not remove! He doesn’t, but with a last evil grin, he does even worse. Jasper twists the handle sharply to the left. Before she loses consciousness, she hears him say one last thing.  

“But you just had to find those pictures, didn’t you?”