Worst Fears

Just when Eliza thought her fears were alleviated, the phone calls from Ingrid began. She did not tell Rafe about them at first because she would take her pills, and not think about any of it. To some degree, she feared it was her fault that Ingrid was so mad. How did it look? She had befriended her, then took her ex-fiancé back and married him?

So she just ignored the calls. She ignored them anyhow because she did not want to talk to Ingrid, but then the messages began.

“You bitch, karma is a bitch too! I don’t have to do anything to you! Karma will! Name your firstborn that!”

Eliza would come into the apartment and see things moved from the way that she had left them. At first, she thought she was disoriented, then after the fact she realized she was not. Then the letters started. First sent to her, ransom style with the letters cut out of a magazine which was frightening.

“Mrs. Hughes,”

You are just a liability. Rafe feels sorry for you, he told me so you stupid cow! What can you do for him? Do you look in the mirror? You are not half the woman that you were, that I saw from pictures around the house. I am not saying that he should be with me…but you should let him be with someone worthy of him...

That was worse than any of the other things that Ingrid had done—she had tapped into Eliza’s fears that she was on a downward slide. She knew that Rafe could not keep his hands off of her, but at the same time she knew that she was not the woman that he had first gotten involved with. She was not who she imagined she would be at this stage. Still on hiatus from work, she was not ready to go back at all. Her PTSD was overwhelming, so she had called Adrien because he was part of the drama she had faced with cars. She never wanted to leave the house unless it was really close and even then, she was afraid.

Rafe knew this, and told her he was fine to take care of her. They certainly had the money, she had her own too from when she did work. But now, she just needed time.

“Have you been to see anyone?” Adrien had asked her. “I started seeing someone when I moved to New York. I got a prescription for anti-anxiety meds which had helped a lot.”

Eliza had been using her pain meds for her body for her mind, maybe she should see someone…

She was about to pick up her phone, when Ingrid appeared around the corner.

“Hi Eliza,” she said with a smile that did not match the rest of her face.

Eliza flushed with the scalding heat of fear.

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