Chapter 74:
Julie’s Point of View
I took a step backward, feeling my chest tighten from sheer anger and confusion, and said in a wavering voice:
"What are you doing in my house? And why did you follow me?"
That provocative smile did not leave his face as he replied coldly:
"I want your number."
I gritted my teeth so hard I felt pain in my jaw, and said, pointing a trembling finger toward the outside:
"Get out of here! If my father sees you, he will kill you!"
I tried to push the door with all my weight to close it, but he was faster than me; he wedged the tip of his leather shoe between the door and the frame, and the door recoiled to strike my shoulder.
I shouted in astonishment:
"Are you crazy or what?"
With a sudden movement, he pushed the door with his strong hand to enter by force, then shut it behind him with a terrifying calmness.
At that moment, I felt as if my heart had stopped beating; the blood froze in my veins and my knees began to tremble. I said, my voice almost vanishing from sheer terror:
"Get out... get out now or I will call the police!"
He leaned his back against the wall with utter ease, placing his hands in his pockets, saying:
"Why are you so nervous? I just want to talk to you."
I found no choice but to defend myself; I turned to the right and my eyes fell on a heavy glass water bottle on the table.
I snatched it with a shaking hand and raised it high, while my whole body braced for an attack, and said with defiance mixed with fear:
"Either you get out... or I will smash your head with this!"
Karl straightened his posture, and his smile vanished to reveal a hint of tension in his eyes.
He said quickly:
"Calm down, Julie... I don’t intend to hurt you, I came for another matter."
I screamed at him, tears beginning to burn my eyes:
"I don’t care! Get out of my house now!"
But he uttered a single sentence that made the bottle nearly fall from my hand:
"It concerns your brother... Steve."
I felt as if the ground were swaying beneath me, and the strength suddenly drained from my limbs.
I whispered with great difficulty, shock paralyzing my movement:
"Steve?!"
He nodded and said in a serious tone:
"Yes, he is the one who sent me to find you."
I placed the bottle on the table listlessly, as if all my energy had been depleted, and said, my breath accelerating:
"Tell me, where is he? How is he? And where has he disappeared all these years?"
He replied calmly while watching my troubled features:
"Calm down, Julie, he will tell you everything himself."
I asked him, unbelieving, feeling a faint glimmer of hope shining amidst the ruins:
"Is he here?"
He shook his head no and said:
"Not now... but come tomorrow at exactly nine in the morning to the park you two used to go to in your childhood; you will meet him there."
I rushed toward him, clenching my fist until my knuckles turned white, and said in a stifled tone:
"Tomorrow? I can’t wait until tomorrow!"
Karl fixed his steady gaze on my trembling eyes and replied with cold firmness:
"You will wait, Julie."
I felt weakness running through my knees, so I leaned against the edge of the table behind me, whispering pleadingly while my eyes overflowed with tears:
"Fine... just tell me, is he okay?"
He nodded calmly and said:
"Yes, he is fine... don’t worry."
A heavy silence prevailed, in which I could hear my racing heartbeat thumping against my chest wall.
I asked him while scrutinizing him with suspicion, trying to understand the link between him and my world:
"And who are you to Steve? And what is the reason for your presence at Sandra’s engagement?"
He replied simply, tilting his head:
"I am his friend... so the engaged girl’s name is Sandra? I didn’t know."
My pupils dilated in shock, and I took a step back, puzzled:
"How do you not know? You were there!"
Here, a malicious smile formed on his lips that made a shiver run down my spine, and he said in a low voice:
"Because Steve gave me your home address, and I saw you leaving with your mother so I followed you there... it was my only chance to talk to you."
I felt a coldness in my fingertips; this man had followed me like my shadow without me sensing it. I said, looking at him with wonder tinged with fear:
"You are truly strange!"
Suddenly, a terrifying moment of realization hit me; my parents might return any second.
My body jerked and I moved toward the door in a panicked reflex, opening it wide as I pointed for him to leave:
"Get out of the house now! If my mother or father come, they will kill you!"
Karl moved with a provocative slowness, as if he didn’t care about my threat, and said in a calm tone as he approached the door:
"How about we get to know each other a bit?"
I pushed him from his shoulder with my trembling hand and said firmly:
"Go on, get out... go!"
He crossed the threshold of the door and turned to me with one last glance, saying:
"I will see you tomorrow."
I slammed the door in his face with force and leaned my forehead against the cold wood while panting deeply.
I slid down slowly until I sat on the floor, pulling my legs to my chest; my mind was buzzing with Steve’s voice,
images of our childhood, and the idea that tomorrow I would actually touch his hand, not in a dream.
I returned to my bitter reality, and with an instinctive movement, I pulled a pillow that was lying beside me, wrapping my arms around it tightly as if I were clinging to a lifeline.
I pressed my face into its cotton filling, summoning that warm embrace I had been deprived of my whole life;
in my home, arms were only extended to me for reprimand, so I learned since my early childhood to replace my mother’s tenderness with silent pillows.
I finally closed my eyes and surrendered to a heavy sleep loaded with images of Steve and Karl.
But the silence did not last long; the sound of the door hinges creaking violently pierced my eardrums.
I startled in my place and opened my eyes with difficulty, to see "Olivia" appearing with her slender stature, wearing tight black pants and a shirt red as the color of blood.
She stood at the threshold of the room in an imposing stance and said in a commanding, dry tone: "Get up!"