Make Time For Me

She had always been in control. Like that time she’d pretended to get drunk to get Olivia to take her home, and then followed her back. She’d always been in control of her feelings, of her actions, of her choices. She was quite aware that many people didn’t approve of any of those things, but she didn’t care about others’ approval. She hurt people who hurt her. She did it because otherwise, they would keep hurting her. Her definition of what ‘hurting her’ meant had changed over the years, to mean ‘not giving her what she wanted,’ but it was the same thing, really, under all the layers.

By the time she was done with her lunch, Angela knew, of course, that Olivia had to pay.

She would make her pay.

Jason tried to get out of work, he did, but Olivia had been paged and into surgery, and then he was paged for an emergency. He tried to reach her on her phone, but, he remembered, it had been about to die on the way back and what little battery it had left must have died when she was in surgery.

By the time he managed to get out of his own emergency case and look for her, she was gone, and her phone was still off. He called Ellie.

“You’re home, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am. What’s wrong?”

“Will you let me know when Olivia gets there? I think she’s in… Look, Ellie, I can’t really explain but I think it’s Angela doing all those things. It’s not just think, I’m pretty sure it’s Angela. I got a cop friend to do a background check on everybody, I know, I’m sorry, but there are a few very funny things in Angela’s background, and please, just make sure she’s safe. She made her announcement at lunch, and I haven’t been able to get to her after that.”

“I’ll make sure she’s fine. I’ll go and check all our windows and our doors and the security system. Are you sure Angela isn’t at the hospital?”

“I paged her before I called you, and she hasn’t responded. I paged her over the system, and she hasn’t come. I’m worried. Look, just let me know when she gets home and have the sheriff on speed dial.”

“Done,” said Ellie, and cut the call.

Jason was about to leave, shift or not, when a kid with a bleeding face came in for treatment.

Two minutes. Two minutes and he would leave. Nothing would happen to Olivia. Nothing would happen to her.

He wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

Olivia walked home because she’d had enough of being in vehicles for a while, even her lovely Jeep. Maybe she’d get back to those lessons on Harley and rent a bike. That would be fun.

She got home and was surprised to find that it did feel like home. Usually, after spending a couple of days with her family, wherever she was started to feel like a cheap substitute for home. Not this time. This time, it felt real.

She let herself in, and was so happy and distracted that she didn’t set the alarm. Besides, it was daylight. It wasn’t even four in the afternoon.

She pulled the door closed.

“Ellie?”

There was nothing. She was probably out for a walk or something.

A cat, she mused. They should get a cat. Then neither of them would ever come home to an empty home.

Olivia was in her room and changing when she smelled it.

Smoke?

“Ellie? Did you leave something on the stove?”

She was about to go to the kitchen when somebody stepped into her bedroom, closed the door, walked to her curtains, and set them on fire.

“Angela?”

“Hello, Olivia. I didn’t mean to hurt you that time. I just wanted to send you a warning to stay away from Jason. But this time, I’m afraid you are going to die. I don’t want to die, but I don’t mind if I die, too. I’m not going to, though. I’m going to lock you in your bedroom and leave, and by the time they find you, you’ll be dead. Smoke inhalation, you know.”

“Angela, what the hell are you doing?”

“You’re meant to be mine, Livvy. We’re bonded. How could you not realize? You cheated on me, and you kept secrets, and you made a fool out of me. So now he can’t have you, and you must die. You understand.”

“No! No, I don’t understand. You never told me how you felt. How could I know if you didn’t tell me?”

Olivia coughed. She was beginning to go dizzy. Smoke inhalation, she realized – it worked fast.

“You should have known!” shouted Angela, the mask slipping.

“You should have known,” she said again, in the old, pleasant voice.

The smoke was getting bad. The curtains were definitely on fire. She tried to inch towards the door, but Angela swung her arm back, and it came back holding a bow and arrow. She moved to stand between Olivia and the door, with her back to the door.

“I’m good at this, I’m sure you noticed. If you move, I will shoot you. I don’t want to do that, though, so you really shouldn’t move. How about that?”

“Angela, we’ll talk this out. We’ll figure it out, I promise. We’ll work things out. Maybe Jason isn’t the one for me, it’s all very soon. Angela, please.”

She laughed, as if they were having afternoon tea and sandwiches and Olivia had said something particularly amusing.

“I’m a psychiatrist, Livvy. Or almost. I know when you’re lying to me to save your skin. But nothing can save you now. Nothing and nobody.

“What did you do to Ellie?”

“Oh, nothing. I just managed to grab your phone from your bag and texted her that you’d had a flat half a mile down the road. That’s all. And your precious Jason is not going to come riding to the rescue, either. He’s stitching up some brat’s forehead. So it is just you and me, Livvy, and now, it’s just you. Take the rest of your life to think about all the choices you’ve made that’s led you here, forcing me to do this to you. You shouldn’t betray the person who loves you most of all, Livvy. At least you can learn that lesson before you die.”

Olivia could hardly breathe. Her coughing was getting worse. Her throat was on fire, and so were her lungs. She was so close to the fire. It was spreading!

She could leap for Angela. She could leap for her, tackle her, and get away. She might get hurt, but it was better than certain death!

Olivia was taking a deep breath, ready to do it, when the door opened, very slowly. She didn’t let her eyes flicker. She gave no indication of seeing anything.

Ellie, with a towel over her face, and holding… a frying pan.

It was their cast iron skillet.

“I can learn the lesson, but you can still have me, Angela. What’s the point of killing me when you can have me? I should have known that you wanted me. I’m sorry I didn’t know. I’m so sorry,” she babbled between gasping breaths and coughing fits.

“You’re sorry?”

For a split second, she thought she’d seen something in Angela’s face. Something sad and forlorn.

Ellie swung the frying pan, hard, and Angela crumpled in a heap.

Olivia sank to her knees, the feeling faint, the world going grey. She didn’t know if it was a faint or the smoke.

“Come on. Come on, Livvy, we have to get you out of there. Sh*t, we can’t leave her in there, either. Sh*t.”

The door burst open all the way, and Jason ran in.

“I’ve got her. I’ve got Livvy. Grab Angela.”