The Cement Wall - Chapter Twenty Two

Chapter Twenty-Two1

When she hung up the phone, Roxanne felt relieved to have told the Officer of Connor. Something waiting in the future was radiating waves of energy that only her subconscious was picking up on. She quickly decided to head off now, something was telling her to hurry her ass over to Eddie’s apartment; and soon. 2

Roxanne pulled up in the parking lot to find the same Girl Scout slut prancing around. Rolling her eyes in disgust she mumbled to herself “This was what I came rushing over here to see?” The girls skirt seemed even shorter now, which is ridiculous since it had not been that long since Roxanne had last seen her, yet it still seemed to be. 3

The girl saw Roxy coming and quickly made for one of the apartment doors, to avoid contact with her. Rolling her eyes once more, Roxanne let herself in through the unlocked door to Eddie’s temporary home. 4

Lefay was sitting in a chair that was placed kitty cornered in the left side of the room, while Eddie was sitting on his sofa. Roxanne never truly noticed Eddie’s apartment before, it was completely masculine in every sense. Before she could control her thoughts, she began wondering what it would be like to add touches of female grace to this apartment. Once she stopped this thinking, she broke the silence that weighed down upon them all. “Well, the officer Charles called right after I got off the phone with you Lefay.” 5

She did not’t target what she said at either one of them, yet they both shot their gaze up at her directly when she said it. Eddie was the first one to respond, cutting Lefay completely off when she opened her mouth. “What did he want? I already answered his questions, did he find something else out?” Panic seemed to be rising in him, and Lefay seemed to notice it as well for she made eye contact with Roxanne.  6

“He wanted to make sure the number you gave him worked, he knew you were going to be staying with us and wanted to be able to reach you if it was necessary.” Roxanne moved closer to Eddie and without thinking she placed her hand on his stiff shoulder and added, “Relax, it will be alright.”7

Lefay smiled to herself, as she watched the magic of true love. She just hoped she would one day find what they possessed, but she would be damned to admit it to either of them. Shouting from outside broke her train of thought and the moment between Roxanne and Eddie. 8

“What the hell is that?” Lefay jumped out the chair at the sound of another scream. Roxanne followed her to the door, while Eddie watched the two. “It sounds like a scream, lets go make sure it’s not that girl. She might be a pain in the ass, but she is doing dangerous things that could get herself in trouble.” Roxanne said this as she was already walking out the door. She didn’t know why she really cared about that girl, apart of her said to turn around and forget it. 9

Then she saw what was unfolding in the street. A man with a ski mask and wearing all black was trying to get the girl into a red sedan. Roxanne was making sure she remembered the car and the man’s profile, making sure every detail was being recorded. Lefay was right behind her, and judging by the pounding of shoes against cement she guess Eddie was now running behind them. 10

“Leave her alone! Get away from her right now!” Lefay was screaming at the man with all the anger she could manage to throw out while running. The man stopped just long enough for the girl to struggle free and run towards them, Roxanne caught the girl as she ran into her. Sobbing the girl clung to her. Lefay was already pulling out a cell phone calling the police, while Eddie was running a hand nervously through his hair. 11

The masked man had already made a run for it, and was speeding away in his little red car. The license plates where removed, or never had been there in the first place. 12

A few minutes later the lights of a police car came noticeable from down the street, and the sounds of the siren were heard upon the wind. “You know, we are seeing way to much of these guys lately” Lefay made the statement as Officer Charles and an unfamiliar looking Officer came out of the police car. 13

The unfamiliar Officer told them his name was Bryan Shades, and he was going to be the main Officer on the case. They went on to explain why Officer Charles came along. Roxanne didn’t really care; she was still shaken up from what had happened. She didn’t care about the Officers standing in front of her; she didn’t care about the law. But she was beginning to feel drawn more and more to the wall, and to something unknown and foreign to her. 14

   Eddie explained what happened with the man, and Roxanne described him and the car perfectly. The girl who was now to afraid to do much more then sob and shake was clutching onto Roxanne with white knuckles. A women with dark circles under her eyes and claiming to be the girls mother came to retrieve her after an hour of hanging on to Roxanne for dear life. 15

Officer Shades and Officer Charles left them with a feeling of more dread, and even less faith in the law. After closing the door to the apartment they would all be sharing for quite some time Lefay said she would be going to bed early with two beers and a good book. This left Roxanne and Eddie alone in on the sofa, staring at each other.16

“Well, I hope this is the last we see of the police and of the man with the mask…” Roxanne made an attempt at communication as she scooted to the far end of the sofa. She tried to remember when she bought it with Lefay, at a store in the town, which has caused so many problems, and is still causing so many more. “Roxanne stop it!” Eddie tried to remain calm, he tried to wait it out, but he could not wait any longer. 17

“Stop what?” She thought playing dumb might be the best way to approach this right now. 18

“Tell me what happened back then, tell me why you left me here. Tell me everything that is causing you pain. Stop running from it; stop hiding. Stop doing everything that is building a wall around you. Roxy,” He turned and looked into her eyes, “walls are meant to be broken down.” 19

Roxanne knew there was no way out of this, and she knew there was no way to deny she loved him. “Alright, but tell me everything on your side as well. Okay?” He nodded, afraid that if he spoke she would resist once more. “My mother made me move, I fought to stay here. I ran away and tried everything. I never stopped wondering what happened here, I never stopped loving you. Which made my love life reduce to nothing, but eventually I told myself I had to move on. I couldn’t sit here and wait for you forever. I thought you might be in jail, or have a family and forgotten me. So I tried other people out, and no one seemed to compare. All my relationships were failures and I ended them all. And that’s pretty much my story. Except I have realized I am ready for something else now, I’m ready to start loving you completely again.”20

Fear struck her when he didn’t speak, he didn’t even move. And then suddenly he took her hand, and said “My story just began, for my life was put on pause after that day.” And now Roxanne understood what people meant by words not being important; she could almost feel the mist around her heart disappearing. A new page was beginning, and right now all they could see was the hope of the future.21