Story story story!
Here's the next part. And it's the saddest cuz Kim dies. Oops. Just kidding. Or am I? Read on to find out!
For four days he sat by her bedside, leaving only when he needed to eat or use the restroom. For four days, she lay motionless in her bed. Then, as he sat down on the fourth night to plead with her as he had done the three previous nights, Kim’s eyes slowly opened. She looked at her beloved fiancé and then at the things around her and tried to remember how she got there. Since she was unconscious before the medics had even arrived, she was at a loss to explain her whereabouts.
Slowly, she lifted her hand and tapped Billy’s shoulder, causing him to jump out of his chair at the shock of someone touching him. He looked behind him to see who had tapped him but found no one. Kim laughed weakly at the surprise on his face and he jumped again as he realized it was she who had tapped him in the first place.
“Thank you, God,” he sighed as he rushed to her side and gently pulled her up so he could hug her. He set her gently back down as he whispered, “I’ll be right back, don’t go anywhere!” He ran into the hallway and searched for her nurse. When he finally found her, he grabbed her arm and led her into Kim’s room, where Kim had slowly sat up in her bed. The nurse, seeing that Kim was awake again, left the room and rushed to find the doctor.
Within a few days, Kim was discharged from the hospital and all was well in Billy and her lives again. As they boarded the elevator up to her hotel suite, Billy holding her tightly so she wouldn’t fall, the elderly couple from the fifteenth floor rushed to get on before the doors closed. “Well hello,” Kimberly greeted. “Are you feeling well, dear? You look like if your young fiancé let go of you, you might fall over.”
Kim smiled a weak smile and explained everything as they rode up to their respective rooms. “Well, dear,” Kimberly said affectionately, “in honor of your return to good health, won’t you please join my husband and me for dinner tomorrow night? We are going to a wonderful little restaurant across town and we would love for you two to join us.”
Kim and Billy smiled and accepted the kind invitation. They decided to meet at 7 o’clock in the lobby and then Billy and Kim left them on the fifteenth floor and traveled up to their own suite on the twentieth. As they walked through the door that led to the bedroom, Kim gasped in surprise as she saw her bed. Covering every inch of the king-sized bed were hundreds of long-stemmed, thorn-less roses, smelling as sweetly fragrant as the perfume she wore every day. She turned to Billy, who was smiling broadly, and kissed him with all the strength she had left in her.
She suppressed her tears and whispered to him faintly that she was tired. Billy quickly grabbed her waist and carried her over to the bed, where he swept the roses aside and gently tucked her under the covers. She looked longingly into his eyes as he kissed her forehead. The second she had closed her eyes, she fell asleep and Billy smiled at her angelic face as he pulled a chair up next to the bed to watch her sleep.
Just as Billy was about to fall asleep more than three hours later, Kim began to stir as she slept. Her brow furrowed and she began to shake uncontrollably. Billy reached out and shook her softly. She awoke with a start and looked uncomfortably around her. When she saw him, she looked at him in fear and he reached over to hold her. “It’s me, Kim,” he whispered calmly. “It’s just Billy. Don’t be feart.” She looked at him and crumbled, then reached out and hugged him. He held her tight and whispered in her ear. “It’s okay, I’m here. It was just a bad dream, you’re safe now.”
She sobbed softly in his ear. “Don’t leave me, Billy,” she begged. “Don’t leave me alone.” He comforted her and told her he wouldn’t leave. Then he pulled her into his lap and rocked her back to sleep. When she finally fell back to sleep, he put her in bed and crawled in next to her. He wondered why she had been so frightened when she finally awoke, but finally fell asleep himself.
When Kim awoke the next morning, she felt like she hadn’t slept the entire night. Her dreams were haunted by scary images, and since she rarely had dreams at all, she was discomforted by their realism. But Billy was sleeping quietly next to her and she felt safer knowing that he was with her.
She climbed weakly out of the bed and went to the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water. She carried it back to the bedroom and lay down in the bed next to the love of her life. She smiled at his mildly ruffled hair, drank her bottled water, and waited in bed until he, too, awoke. Then she smiled sleepily at him and he kissed her gently on the lips. He reached for the phone and ordered breakfast from room service.
They ate breakfast in bed together and talked of their plans for the day. Because she couldn’t do any straining physical activity, Billy decided not to go into work, much to his agent’s dismay. He stayed with her all day until his director called and begged him to film one last scene for his movie. He tried his hardest to get out of it, but in the end, Kim told him that if he went, she would meet him later at dinner. He reluctantly agreed and set off to complete his task.
When Billy arrived at the restaurant in his limo, he was excited to see his soon-to-be bride. He had just spent five grueling hours filming the same scene over and over again until it was perfect. He was ready to see her smiling face and eat dinner with their friends from the fifteenth floor. He was unpleasantly surprised to find that only Kimberly and William had arrived at the restaurant and that his fiancée had not yet met them. He ordered a drink from the waiter and sat down to talk with the old couple while they waited for Kim to arrive.
An hour had past since Billy arrived at the restaurant and he was beyond worrying. He apologized to Kimberly and William and excused himself to call Kim’s cell phone. When she didn’t pick up, he knew that something was wrong. There wasn’t a time in the years that Billy had known Kim that she hadn’t answered her phone. He tried the hotel and got the same results, no answer, just a growing suspicion in the back of his mind. He apologized again to Kimberly and William and went to the front of the restaurant where his limo was waiting for him.
When the elevator doors began to open on the twentieth floor of Kim’s hotel, Billy knew immediately that something wasn’t right. The flower vase that had stood in the middle of the table earlier that day was now lying in shards on the hardwood floor. Wet footprints led a terrified Billy down the hall into Kim’s bedroom, where he found a huge mess of clothing and other things scattered across the floor.
His voice cracked as he called out for Kim, praying that she was unharmed. When he heard a small whimpering sound coming from the closet on the other side of the room, he rushed over and pulled the doors open violently. At first, he wondered where the sound was coming from, for the huge walk-in closet seemed empty, save for the clothes that daily hung in it. But on further investigation, he realized that hidden behind the tall dresser, crouching in a tiny ball was his frail fiancée, face stained by tears.
She looked at Billy with frightened, wide eyes, shaking violently when he reached out his hands to lift her out of the closet. She recoiled and he brought his hands away from her. Softly, he whispered comforting things to her and when he slowly reached his hand out again, she let him take hold of her and pick her up. When he had taken her in his arms, she was shaking uncontrollably and she whimpered softly in his ear.
He laid her in the bed and covered with the thick comforter to stop her shaking. Then her eyes widened and he saw that she was frightened by something behind him. He turned just in time to see a darkly clad, masked figure about to bring a club down on his head. He grabbed the man’s arm and punched him in the stomach, then grabbed the club and brought it down on the man’s head, rending him unconscious.
Billy rushed to the phone beside the bed and called down the front desk, whom he asked to call the police and send up security as soon as possible. Then he went to the unconscious intruder and pulled off his ski mask. He gasped in surprise as he realized he had seen the man before. It was the man who had stolen his seat at the Mexican restaurant he and Kim had eaten at not more than two weeks ago.
Kim, who did not take her eyes off of the man, shuddered when Billy had removed the mask. She, too, recognized the man, but not only from the restaurant. She knew him from the nightmares she had had the previous night and had she been any stronger, she probably would have screamed. Instead, she gasped and whispered her convictions.