The Door to the Left

The heat was unbearable. Emma laid sprawled on her white comforter, white T-shirt clinging to her skin. She felt the cold breeze of the fan tease her skin as it blew by. Scanning her room, her eyes fell upon her laptop which was placed on top of a pile of papers for her schooling. With a groan and as much effort as possible she rolled over off the bed, toes meeting the cold tiles welcoming the few seconds of pleasure with a sigh of relief. Grabbing the laptop, she flopped back onto her bed. As if on cue, as soon as her fingers lifted the computer screen, a Facetime call rang on her screen with the name “Becks”.

“Hey, Becca!” Emma smiled at the screen nervously.

“I swear if you are about to do schoolwork on your summer off, I will come over there and drag you out here myself!” Her voice was loud, music blaring in the distance. From the small view of the background it was clear she was at the bar located on the beach a few blocks down.

“It’s always good to get ahead of the game, I have a lot of short stories to read to prepare for fourth year…”

“You can read on the ride home, now let’s go! If you are not here in 20 minutes these guys…” Becca turned the screen to show a group of guys outside the bar, throwing around a football “…are gonna’ come drag you out.” She yelled into the screen and with that, the phone call dropped.

Emma slowly shut the computer; her eyes scanned the clock hanging on the wall. 4 PM with the sun still shining and would be for hours, her eyes drawn to her bathing suit and sundress that hung on the chair. ‘Fine’, she thought to herself jumping up, squirmed into her outfit and headed out the door. As Emma passed by a random white Mercedes parked in front of her house, she did a final makeup and hair check in the window of the car before jumping into the awaiting uber.

“You’re here!” Becca’s voice rang in her ear as Emma walked through the open doors of the bar. Becca and their friend Amber sat at one of the booths, drinks already placed in front of them. Emma gave her a worrisome smile. The realization on how sober she was in comparison to the other people now surrounding her sunk in. Emma quickly shook off the discomfort while Amber shoved a drink in her hand as she sat in the booth opposite of her two friends.

“Hey Babes! Take this!” said Amber, grinning as she turned to scan the beach through the windows.

“What is it?” Emma laughed starring at the blue slush.

“Heavens now drink up! You have a lot of catching up to do”

“You know this stuff gives me a headache…” Emma said putting the drink down in front of her. She turned to the waiter that approached them. “Can I have a glass of Merlot please?” Emma smiled at the waitress who returned the smile and walked off to retrieve her drink.

Amber rolled her eyes, taking the drink in her hand that Emma turned down, “more for me!” She grinned.

“Don’t look now, but there’s a hottie totally staring at you” Becca whispered raising her eyebrows. Emma turned, following Becca’s stare to meet the piercing eyes of a man across the bar. He grinned as Emma turned back to Becca and Amber, flushed bright red. “I told you not to look” Becca laughed.

“He’s not staring at her, he’s looking in this direction,” Amber sighed, giving Becca a nudge with her elbow.

“Hush, he’ll hear you” Becca hissed through clenched teeth.

“How? He’s far-” Emma questioned. Her voice trailed off as the man approached their booth.

“Hi.” He smirked, slipping into the booth next to Emma.

Emma and Becca were speechless, leaving Amber to speak up first, “Hello, handsome…” She chuckled.

“I’m sorry, I know this is forward of me, but I would love to take you out on a date.” His voice was deep, strong, sending a shiver down the girl’s spine as he peered into Emma’s eyes.

“I-” Emma began to say as the waitress came back to the table. She placed the wine in front of Emma with a curious look sprawled across her face.

“She would love to,” Becca answered the man for Emma who shot her a look.

“Perfect,” The man turned to the waitress, “Bill for these ladies, please.”

“I don’t even know your name, I am not leaving with you,” Emma was stern.

“Derek Clark,” He smiled stretching out his hand to Emma. “Emma, I presume?”

Emma hesitantly took the man’s hand, a shiver going down her spine as their fingers touched.

“I’ll meet you outside,” With a sly grin, Derek stood to his feet, pulled out a wad of cash placing it in the folder the waitress had brought to cover the girls bill, and disappeared through the doors.

The girls all looked at each other in amazement.

“That was so hot-” Becca laughed.

“Gosh Emma, if you won’t I will” Amber said in amazement.

“He is so hot!” Becca stated again.

“Guys this is crazy, I am not going with that man” Emma said shaking her head.

“Come on Em! Let us live through you” Becca laughed taking Emma’s hand in hers and squeezing it. Emma laughed.

“Your ‘find my friends’ is on, right? We’ll also creep his socials while you’re gone don’t you worry. We will call if he’s married or something,” Amber gave an encouraging smile.

Emma looked up at the door and back to her friends. “Am I really doing this?”

“Yes, now go!” And with that Emma chugged her Merlot and went through the door, hopping into Derek’s white Mercedes.

The car ride was quiet, Emma scanned her phone at the ‘find my friends’ app and slid her phone on her lap and looked at the stranger next to her. His car drove smooth, it was clearly expensive, but Emma didn’t know a thing about cars. She saw his hand clenching the steering wheel, eyes locked on the road. Her eyes turned to the trees as they passed by.

“Where are we going for dinner?” Her voice cracked as she finally found the courage to speak.

“I was thinking I would make you something at my place,” For a brief moment his eyes met hers before turning back to the road. Emma staid quiet. “Is that okay?” He questioned.

Emma let out a deep breath. ‘Okay, decent guy’ she thought. “Yeah of course, sorry I wasn’t exactly prepared,” she said looking down at her bathing suit and sun dress.

“You look beautiful,” his voice rang in her ears, smooth like silk. She couldn’t help but blush, turning her attention back to the trees.

They approached a large yellow Victorian house with a large white wrap around porch set deep into the woods.

“Wow,” Is all Emma could say leaving the car.

With a quick chuckle that roared from Derek’s chest, the two headed to the double entry doors.

Emma scanned the house, eyes falling onto a painting on the wall that eerily resembled her. Shrugging it off, she took in the rest of the grand entryway and open spaced room.

Derek handed Emma a glass of Merlot as she stared at the library of books around the room. “I know you prefer Merlot over anything else because of the headaches” he winked.

Emma’s brows furrowed. ‘How does he…’ Derek quickly added interrupting her thought, “I overheard you at the bar.” As if he could read her mind. Emma instantly relaxed turning towards the books once more.

As Derek was finished making dinner, they sit down at the table that was made prior to them entering the home. The dinner was nice, candle lights shined throughout the room. Emma was quiet and let Derek guide most of the conversation.

“So, you grew up here? Parents alive?” He pressed his coke and whiskey to his lips, taking a small sip.

“I go to school here, grew up the city over” She answered part of the question politely, poking around at the dinner in front of her.

“Only child? What are your parents like?” He inquired.

“Um…yeah, just me. I am really close to Amber and Becca though, they’re like my family. Parents passed away, car accident…” Her voice trailed off. Resisting the urge of chocking up at the thought of her late parents, Emma excused herself to go to the bathroom.

“Down the hall, last door to your left” Derek states as Emma stands up from her chair. Emma heads down the hall and pulls out her phone from the dress pocket revealing 18 missed calls from Amber and Becca. Confused, Emma pressed the phone to her ear, calling her voice mail to hear the message from Becca as she approaches the door of the bathroom, opening it slowly.

Emma took a hesitant step into what she believed to be the bathroom. Scanning the grand room, she took in the photos sprawled over the walls and bed. Pictures. Pictures of her! Drawings of her. She gasped at the sight. Moving slowly to leave the room, her back pressed against a hard surface, causing her phone to smash against the hard floor. She swung around quickly to meet the gaze of Derek. He muttered the words, “I meant the door to the right” as he motioned behind him. His dark gaze peered back and forth between Emma’s disturbed eyes and the photos sprawled around the room.

In an instant, Emma shoved past Derek, hurrying to the front door. Derek was quick behind her until his ears were met with sirens blaring and flashes of red and blue coming through the windows. Heart racing, Derek turned and ran down the hallway.

Emma swung open the front door to reveal a worried Becca and Amber. Arms quickly embraced her as the police officers moved briskly by her and into the house.

“We are so happy you’re okay!” Becca beamed as they made their way to the police officers that were standing by the cruiser.

“I am so confused; how did you guys know?” Emma felt a rush of adrenaline.

“We were trying to search him up, guy has no social media, which was super sketchy…so we did some more research and found his photo linked to a wanted ad. Apparently he has been on the run for over a year and rents out houses luring females in after stalking them to rob them of their inheritances. He obsesses over them, and by the time they catch on, it’s too late and they are left with nothing.” Becca explained to Emma as a police officer wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.

“Thank the heavens I have overprotective private eyes as friends” Emma tried to joke to lighten the mood, “and you guys are never allowed to force me on a date again.”

“Noted,” Amber chuckled.

Emma let out a sigh of relief as her friends wrapped their arms around her shoulder, guiding her to their car.

“Let’s get some wine in yea,” Amber chuckled .

“Merlot please…” Emma laughed in disbelief as she looked over her shoulder to witness the cops putting a resistant Derek in the back of their vehicle. As Emma looked forward again, she could not believe that tonight’s events occurred. Emma, sitting between her two best friends, felt an overwhelming sense of love and safety. She was happy to have such amazing friends that were there for her.

The end.