The Coma (Part 30)

“Can we go back to the house first?” Sam asked, still breathless. Lydia crossed her arms tightly over her chest and shook her head.

“Tell me here and tell me right now.” She sat down onto the sidewalk impatiently and stared up at him. Sam looked at the ground and sat down across from her, crossing his legs into a pretzel and staring over at her angry face. His own eyes full of tears as he began.

“Lydia, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I do have a reason for having those tapes. See this guy, Enphinious, I’ve been trying to catch him for a while. I mean, he killed my mom.” He sighed and stared at the ground.

“I thought you said your parents were still alive?” Lydia groaned, getting more and more angry by the second.

“I said they were still together. That doesn’t mean they’re alive.” He replied in a whisper, not looking up from the ground.

“Sorry.” She said, her voice not changing from the harsh tone it held. He looked back up and cleared his throat quickly while wiping his eyes. Lydia noticed he had been crying as he had eyeliner running down his cheeks and some of the anger she had felt was slowly lifted and replaced with sympathy for him. She wanted to reach out and hug him, tell him it was okay, but she couldn’t. She needed an explanation first.

“It’s fine.” He looked up at the sky and smiled as if his mother was talking to him before beginning to talk again. “As I said, I found out Enphinious killed my mom because it was on this video camera I have. It’s really old, probably one of the first ones. I’ve taped killings on other video cameras and he never comes in, but on the old one he always does.

“So after my mom’s death I set to finding him. I saw him a couple times in person but he always disappeared before I could run over and knock him out. No doubt he knew what I was going to do. So I just kept taping the deaths, following him. That’s why I just moved here a month ago.” Lydia stared at him in disbelief.

“How do you find out when someone’s going to die? How do you know? And why did you have tapes of me from years ago?” Her questions came at him quicker than he could answer and he waited patiently for her to finish.

“After a while it just started coming to me. I just knew that someone was going to die. I would just know who they were, where they were, how they would die. It was like this weird intuition. I can’t explain it. I think it was just because of the years of trying to find people dying. The tape of you from years ago is because your baby died. In the miscarriage, I had been watching you two because I didn’t know when it would happen. It’s not just you two on those tapes; there are a lot of people there.

“Didn’t you see the way Enphinious’s hands were way inside your stomach? He was taking the baby, killing the baby while it was in your stomach.”

“What are you saying?” Lydia was confused, all this information filling up inside of her quicker than she could process it.

“Why don’t we walk and talk? This sidewalk is sort of getting hard.” He said quietly and they got up together. All the anger had left Lydia and all that was left was confusion. Sam reached over to take Lydia’s hand but she quickly pulled away, not trusting him quite yet, and he sighed.

“So, not allowed to hold your hand?” He asked; his voice very quiet. She sighed quietly and nodded as they started to walk again.

“You haven’t finished your story.” She said, clearing her throat.

“Well, do you have any other questions for me about it?” They walked past a large building with brick walls. The doors were large and black and matched the shutters exactly. Lydia shuddered; the house gave off a very ominous feeling.

“Why didn’t you tell me about those videos when I asked you?” Lydia turned away from the building, shaking off the creepy sense of it.

“I thought it might upset you. I didn’t think you would look at them. Besides, there’s some stuff in there I wouldn’t like you to see. They’re all deaths Lydia.” He stared down at her as he walked, obviously knowing the roadway well enough that he didn’t have to look. They appeared to be blocks and blocks away from his house. Lydia hadn’t realized she had run that far.

“Don’t you think it bothers me more that you don’t tell me about something and then when I put it in, it’s a tape of me?” She said, her voice rising a little again and frustration bubbling inside of her.

“I didn’t think you would have actually put it in. I was planning on telling you sometime if we were together long enough. I just didn’t want to scare you off in the first few days you know?”

“So that made you pretend to be interested in these stupid newspaper articles huh? That made you lie to me did it?”

“Lydia…” Sam said quietly and he stopped walked. Lydia, however, did not. She kept walking even though he had stopped. Finally he jogged to catch up with Lydia and put his hand on her shoulder, which she quickly shook off.

“I told you I loved you. And I meant it. Did you honestly mean it when you said it?” Her voice was high pitched and scared but she knew she had to know. There was a long silence in which they both stopped walking and stood staring at each other.

“Yes. I meant it. It’s weird, Lydia, I love you even though I’ve barely gotten to know you.”

“Barely gotten to know me huh? You were taping me years ago!” She quickly turned on her heel and kept walking.

“Lydia, I do love you!” He ran and caught up with her again.

“Why am I supposed to believe that?”

“If I didn’t love you do you think I would have chased you all the way down there when you were so angry with me? If I didn’t love you do you think I would have bought that easel and paint set for you and brought you all the way up to Lake Darling? If I didn’t love you would I have spent all that money on the dinner today? And what about Emily, if I didn’t love you do you think I would have sent her off for a day? You honestly cannot say that I don’t love you!” He was screaming by the end of his sentence and he had stopped walking again, as did Lydia. The sun was setting behind him, dark blanketing them slowly. Tears filled Lydia’s eyes as he talked and by the time he had finished she was speechless.

“I know. I love you too.” She cried to him.

“I am very sorry I didn’t tell you Lydia. But please forgive me?” His voice was sincere. His body shone in the light from behind him and the moon, which was just rising from in front of him, shone brightly on his face. Lydia thought he looked like an angel.

“I forgive you.” She hugged him tightly and he hugged her back, smiling that famous crooked smile of his. He stood back straight and looked down at her, carefully wiping the tears and running eyeliner and mascara from her cheeks. She smiled up at him as well and sniffed quietly.

“Are we okay now?” He asked quietly and Lydia nodded.

“I have just one question.”

“What is that?”

“Why is Enphinious the killer of so many people? Why isn’t he ever caught? And why is his friend – what was his name, Madison I think - always standing up for him?” Sam stared down at her as she raised an eyebrow.

“Don’t you get it Lydia?” She shook her head before he continued. “Lydia, Enphinious is Death.”