this morning coming out of a library's eye I fell on the back cover of a book is not well defined (I started to read the title) and had written a sentence that said something like:
" If you do good, be prepared then the evil that you will receive in exchange .
Here is a bit 'a summary of what I feel at this time .... Uu
Sorry, a bit is a time 'so, it will soon (I hope ... ^ ^).
Title: ONE STEP BACK
Author: Myrtle S.
Some considerations: Connections.
"Maybe at the end of this sad story
someone will find the courage to face the guilt and delete them from this trip .... To really live every moment, every disturbance as if it were the last ... "
( by Sally Vasco Rossi)
Chapter 65
Connections.
opportunities that fate chooses to put on the road because we can see it or, conversely, choose to ignore them and go further. Sliding doors that can change your life and mark the path of our future.
Choices seemingly trivial and unimportant, that determine the difference between happiness and regret that thin.
From the day he laid eyes on those ankles, in the corridor of one of the most expensive hotels in Geneva, his life was no longer the same. He had not been the same man.
It was damned soul to get it close and, likewise, had worked hard to keep her away when she discovered the truth.
But to try and repel evil with that game, because of pride, jealousy and passion, the feelings had become a day after another increasingly intense.
so intense as to make him afraid.
The truth was simple and pure as the water's surface where he learned to swim as a child. Michael loved Rebecca.
buts, or maybe.
Unwittingly, the woman had flayed the soul. And it would never allow any other to remove those scratches that stubbornly wanted to bring.
course, sooner or later, with time, someone else would take his place. He would have married and had children and probably would have managed to carve out a normal size for happiness.
But Becky, Becky would have been his part of him forever.
looked at, in no particular interest, that piece of cloth fluttering through the glass door. There and then, to break it had been suggested that some students near the University which, taken from the festivities on Friday evening, it was stupidly fun to do damage.
He pulled the phone from his pocket and dialed the police.
"Good evening, I just wanted to point out that someone smashed the front door of the aquatic center of Denver University to 47 of Groover Street. Yes, I agree. "
hung up and walked on. It was almost one o'clock at night and began to feel tired. The idea for us to start the trip to Baltimore, if he could not remember where he parked the ' Escalade, was beyond question.
wanted a hot shower and a couple of clean sheets. It was almost at the crossroads, when a faint sound forced him to turn around.
"That's weird. Yet I thought I heard something. "
At the time chose not badarci and walked with a strange feeling that's steeped in the stomach.
could decide to shut the feeling that everything continued to tease him, go his way, finally finding the car and reach the first hotel in the area for a rest '. The next day would read the front pages of newspapers the news of the death of Rebecca Harvey. Killed a second time.
would know of their child, who died before being born. It would damn your soul for life, torn by remorse for having ignored the incomprehensible feeling.
Or he could choose to listen to your instincts, go back and enter into that pool. There was no plausible reason to do so. But something told him that was what he should do.
Connections. Sliding doors. Seemingly random choices that can change the course of our existence.
Michael also made his choice.
came back. A slow steps, his hands in his pockets, pushed by the same instinct which was guided by when they take on the competition.
tighten his fingers entangled fabric between the panes. And that feeling became more intense smoldering inside. Stepped back and kicked undermines what was left of the entrance door.
The hall was draped in the shadows, but like the environments were so familiar that he did not need light to navigate, even though he had never been in that building. He walked aimlessly. Did not even know why he was there.
was attracted by the blue light of a vending machine. The rumble of his belly embarrassing reminded him that night had not yet had dinner. He inserted a dollar to buy a snack.
"Good" muttered satisfied with his mouth full of chocolate and toffee.
The cries of a woman sank like a sharp scalpel on the surface of his heart, stopping the heart.
opened his eyes, stunned by the echo of that voice that he knew very well.
"God, I must be mad. "
shook his head, taking up to chew the rest of the chocolate bar, smiling to himself. He was sure he had imagined the voice of Rebecca, and tried to banish that memory quickly, before he could hurt him. That night was not going to cry on.
devoured the rest of the snack in two bites and threw the paper into the trash and wiped his mouth, passing the back of his hand.
"It 's time to go" muttered looking for the exit.
Meanwhile, a few tens of meters beyond the wall of the corridor, Rebecca struggled to stay alive.
Kendall watched her climb the ladder of the diving platform, intrigued by the obstinacy which showed in wanting to survive. He laughed at her and, if he had not yet pulled the trigger, was groped by the fun of seeing the flight to no avail.
"Stop running away, princess, and get it over with!"
Despite late pregnancy, had managed to reach the top. He felt a strong sense of vertigo when he leaned down to look. A dozen meters separating it from the water surface.
was exhausted. A gun shot touched her shoulder. He collapsed to the ground and crawling reached the center of the platform in order to escape from the path of gunfire.
Kendall stepped back to get it back at gunpoint.
He stretched his arm, supported the wrist with your other hand to take aim and kill her. But from there it was impossible to hit.
"Stupid girl! You do not want to force me to come up there, "exclaimed nervously. Play, she amused him more.
had to remove them to return to normal life as a billionaire. Once removed the girl all the evidence against him would fall on deaf ears, and within a few months, he could rearrange the contacts in the sports world and return its trafficking.
Rebecca had seen him with his own eyes to make arrangements with some of the leaders of the USADA and, if she could testify, would raise a fuss as to undermine the entire American sports world.
If he had spoken would open the way for a series of investigations that have involved athletes not only willing to make use of doping just to win, but also coaches and clubs compliant. Not to mention some members of the National Anti-Doping Agency who had accepted money in exchange for their silence.
The stakes were too high and certainly worth more than the life of the woman.
"I do not want to die. Not so ... "he whispered to his lips tight.
He stood motionless, his face smashed on the floor of the platform. He passed a trembling hand on her stomach, praying that a miracle happened.
did not know what to do. If he had stood up, he would have no escape, but she could not stay there forever. Around her only water.
Kendall fired a second time, missing the target.
"Damn it! Get up, "cried his eyes out of their sockets, taking aim.
Rebecca closed her eyes to feel more secure and calm breathing.
For five minutes nothing happened. Kendall was waiting like a spider lurking in the corner of his web. He had stopped firing, but she knew that was still down there somewhere, ready to take a false step.
"Jeff? Is that you? "
A voice in the air seemed to ask that question. At first he thought he imagined it. The result of a strange twist of mind.
"Phelps" said nervous rubbed my eyes, "It 's a long time no see," stammered Kendall, trying to sound calm. Quickly hid the weapon behind his back, holding my breath.
Rebecca, his body stiff from tension, was crossed by a deep emotion when he recognized that voice. He raised his head and listened to hear better. It seemed to her impossible that Michael, his own Michael, was there in that pool. He smiled looking at the belly.
"That's our little miracle," she whispered, turning to her child.
happy expression that appeared on her face disappeared in a flash, just realized that Kendall would hurt Michael.
The guy is completely ignorant of what was happening, but also leaves room for man.
"So you want to answer? What are you doing in Denver and more in a swimming pool closed to the public, "asked a bit 'confused, frowning and moving forward with his hands in his pockets.
"Nothing particular, I was just enjoying a little 'answered the other, trying to stall for time, waiting to have it at gunpoint.
"Son of a bitch!" Railed Becky biting his lips, when he realized what he had in mind.
He had no choice. Stood up and ran to the edge of the shooting platform, shouting the name of Michael to warn him. Kendall could not allow him to hurt.
"Run, Michael! Run away! "He shouted with all the top of his lungs.
He looked toward the voice. It all happened so quickly that he had no time to be afraid or react. Kendall saw the corner of pulling out his gun, hidden behind his back, look towards the platform and fired three shots in a row.
Rebecca crossed his arms before his face to defend himself, but in the heat of the moment, put a foot slipped over the edge and falling forward into the void.
At that moment the mind ceased to think of Michael. Rapid focused image of his red hair that hung down over his eyes as he fell. It recognized it instantly.
"No way!"
Instinct took over on him. Totally.
A powerful and sudden surge of adrenaline rushed through the veins to the brain, short-circuit the its system of perception. In my ears still hear that voice crying scared.
"I ... can not be true." Despite what he had seen, that woman could not be her Becky, even if the face and voice were identical.
After a moment of blackout, he came to himself. He did not care to understand and, even though it had no effect, struck with the face of uncontrollable violence Kendall. Then, without further ado, plunged into the water.
The man fell to the ground unconscious, without even being able to see where the shot had come.
took a deep breath and dived to find her. He saw her float two feet from the bottom, unconscious. A long row of bubbles protruding from the mouth and nose. He held his arms open, completely adrift.
While reaching out with eyes wide open, still wondering what a dirty mind he could arrange such a joke, believing in a dream. But just grabbed her wrist to pull it up, an electric shock to the struck to the heart.
Once surfaced on the surface, dragged her neck while holding the other because they do not swallow water, to the edge of the tub. And, by lifting the arms, pulled her out of the pool.
Although Kendall was not able to center it, Rebecca had stopped breathing.
Michael stared at her in complete panic before doing anything.
"B ... Becky."
He stood there, transfixed, with trembling hands. He could not speak, or touch it.
She was pale, almost lifeless. A porcelain doll. Those who loved her delicate features so prominently framed by red hair stuck to his face.
Finally, the brain began to function. "Becky! Becky! "Shouted shaking his shoulders," Open your eyes! Becky! "
Folds head slightly back, the hold your nose with two fingers and placed his lips on her to help her breathe. He had never done such a thing, but he had groped.
As that was pressing on the sternum to massage the heart, become aware of what he was doing.
simply a miracle. Or the cruelest of nightmares, if he could not save her.
"Please open your eyes, love ..." begged her with a hoarse voice, continuing to provide artificial respiration. He stopped praying over his body to catch even a subtle movement to give him some hope. "Becky ..." he went on with shining eyes and the stomach to pieces by the emotions she felt, "You can not do this to me ...."
A cough made her return to the senses. Michael, without losing time, turned his head to one side because they choked as the water spills from his mouth. Slowly return the saw color. And he with her.
"Hello, Monsieur ..." he whispered with trembling eyelids, "you should teach me how to swim."
Michael said nothing, but her smile, suspended somewhere between incredulity and joy, she spoke to him. He had no doubts, that was her Becky, because only she could find the desire to play at a time like that.
Their eyes met for the first time in months. He did not take his eyes from her face, scared that vanish as the last time he had dreamed. Becky reached out and ruffled his hair wet with her fingers, communicating with that simple gesture that he could not say with words.
At one point, he saw something in the corner of my eye. He looked down.
opened his mouth and eyes, with the same expression of amazement on his face painted the first man landed on the moon. That vision sent him back to block the brain.
swallowed, trying to reset the neurons.
"What the fuck ..." was the only sentence that makes sense that he managed to say.
was pregnant. Unquestionably pregnant.
kept staring at her belly, stupid. He could not decide exactly which one truth he had just discovered the most shocking: the fact that she was alive or expecting a child. And he was scared to death to ask who was the father.
Suddenly, in the still air, the hiss of a bullet tore it from those shiny little reasoning.
Both turned shooting into the source of that sound. Michael lifted the back of Rebecca helping her to sit.
Kendall had regained consciousness and points the gun at advancing towards them enraged by the pangs of pain in his face and how the situation had got out of hand. Struggled to keep the direction, because Michael had hit very hard. A trickle of blood dripped from his right cheekbone.
"You should stay out of it! Now you will die with your bitch! And this time will be forever. " Outstretched arm muscles ready to fire, but before he could do it, Michael and fell on him. Thrown to the ground by the violence of impact, they began to fight each other. The gun fell to the feet of Rebecca.
The woman picked it up.
punch at Michael's pit of the stomach, then a second kidney. He could not know the details of what Jeff had done to Becky, but what he sensed was enough to want dead. An uncontrolled rage possessed him. The third shot in the face, stunning enough to make it harmless. The man lying on the ground, in pain.
"You're just a worm and rot in jail for the rest of your life," cried at last ceasing to hit him.
Michael, still sitting on the ground, turned to Rebecca, and sought eyes.
The girl, standing behind him, he still had the gun in the hands of Kendall.
"'s all over ..." he said to reassure her, while trying to get up.
Then another shot. Looked up and saw Becky crying with the gun aimed forward.
spun.
Jeff Kendall was dead. Rebecca did not hesitate to shoot as soon as she saw him pull out a knife to hit Michael in the back, in a last desperate attempt to get away.
"Throw the gun! FBI "
The voices of the agents who burst into the pool and were ordered to leave the gun at Rebecca for her were just sounds confused.
He felt his eyes slide over the skin lost to Michael, who was staring at her like a ghost. And in that glance took the bitterness and sorrow for what they both felt they had lived. And he could not help but wonder what the future had in Serbia for them.
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