Past Flames

Samantha poured herself a large glass of wine and melted back on the sofa.
The room still resembled a poorly organised jumble sale; boxes were stacked in corners waiting to be unpacked, like long vacated towers.
Samantha lit a couple of candles; the flame of the candles illuminated the glass causing the liquid to glow a deep ruby red. Samantha had worked hard all day, a reward was needed, and it was time to relax. Outside the wind had started to pick up and the rain that threatened to fall now started a slow descent to earth.

Things had been less then easy the last 12 months, Samantha felt she had been caught in a tornado; which had picked her up and spat her back out in an unfamiliar location. It had been a long walk back to home without a map.
The few friends that she had left and her family had been telling her it was time to move on, but it’s always easy for other people to give advice, following it was another problem.

The relationship had started so promising, but it soon took on a whole new dimension. Like a leech it fed on Samantha, draining her of substance and certainty leaving just an empty imitation of her former self.
James had been the perfect partner, attentive and caring. He even proved popular with her family and friends, in the beginning any way.

After three months they moved in together, that’s when things really started to change. At first it was just little spiteful comments and observations, mainly aimed at her and then at her friends. He would go through long periods of being uncommunicative and sometimes even hostile. Mood swings were regular.

Samantha felt like she was on a high state of alert in case he was in a bad mood.
Friends stopped calling, he told her she didn’t need them anymore anyway, after all she had him didn’t she?. True, until she found out he was seeing someone at work. Still she stayed with him, out of fear of it ending and being left alone. How strange to think she had once thought this an acceptable situation. Even she didn’t recognise that person she was, her friends must have seen a complete stranger.

Her brother Dan ceased to drop by, always having a reason to stay away. In the end telling her it was because of James and his surly attitude. This was really hurtful to hear; she felt she was being herded into making a choice she could not face making.

When she finally gathered enough strength to confront James, he flew into a rage trying to put the blame on her. He told her she had been to demanding and she had driven him away. Out of pain she argue back, knowing he was wrong, knowing she was right. That’s when things really took a wrong turn.
He hit her, a hard slap in the face, leaving a perfect handprint on her cheek. For what seemed like an age she was to stunned to move, open mouth she stood there.
She looked at his face in disbelief, expecting him to become remorseful. But he was so full of rage; it made her scared that a slap could become something worse.

She ran out in tears and went to Dan’s.
Dan tried to convince her not to go back and that James was never going to change. Look how upset and miserable she had become. Was that the kind of relationship she wanted to be in. A small voice inside, unheard until now, was suddenly deafening, calling out for her not to go back. This time the message reached home.

The next day Dan went and helped her packed her stuff and she left.
For the first few weeks James called daily tell her he was sorry, begging her to come back. A couple of times she almost believed him and nearly wavered in her decision; even considered giving him another chance. Dan was always there to remind her of what she had run away from.

In the end Dan got fed up and told James to stop calling, James responded in the only way he know how and got angry, threatened to make Samantha pay for leaving him. If confirmation was needed that going back to him was a bad idea, this was it. After a while the calls become more infrequent until they just stopped.
After a few months at Dan’s, she found the flat and moved out, and on with her life, even re-equating herself with old friends.

Samantha could feel the earlier state of relaxation ebbing out of her, being chased away by memories and sensations from the past, anxiety started to rise making her feel uncomfortable. Even after all this time it could still affect her. She tried to expel it out on a sigh, filling its space with a sip of wine.

Suddenly the telephone burst in to life, it’s ring sounding like an alarm. Samantha sat up, shocked by the sudden break in the quiet.
Samantha tentatively picked up the receiver,

“Hello?”

Silence.

“Hello, who’s there?”

Silence.
The phone had only been connected a couple of days and already a wrong number.
Yeh! Funny, she thought. She replaced the receiver unimpressed and return to her position on the sofa.
Again, the telephone rang out demanding attention, causing Samantha to spill wine on her lap. Samantha answered it.

”Hello” she said.

No response.
“Hellllooo” impatience creeping into her voice

Nothing, just crackle on the line.

“Fine, have it your way”, Samantha hung up.

No sooner had she put the receiver in it cradle, then it rung again. This time a little more annoyed, she grabbed the receiver, but stayed mute.
Again just static and traffic noise and then she heard it “Sam”, a man’s voice, muffled.

“Who is this?”

“…Sam”

“Dan is that you?” She asked, it did not sound like Dan.

More static “…I’m coming” crackle, crackle “… ten minutes”

Who was it? The voice sounded familiar. Surely it couldn’t, no how could it be? James. Samantha’s breath caught in her throat. But how did he get her number? Then she remembered she had not opted to go ex-directory when she had set up the new telephone line.
Sam dialled Dan’s mobile number, it rang once and diverted to his voicemail. Sam felt sure she was more sorry for having reached Dan’s voicemail then the recorded message claimed to be.

Samantha took a large mouthful of wine, calm down she told herself, James does not know you new address, at least she did not think he did, but what if he had some how found it out. She tried to convince herself that could never happened, but what if’s kept coming up to hinder her reassurances.

Just as she could feel herself starting to get really jumpy, there was a tapping on the window. Samantha swung round in her seat to face the window. The curtains were drawn against the dark. Again tap, tap, and tap. Sam started to feel trapped in a b rated horror movie.

She forced herself from her seat and slowly made her way over to the window. Tentatively she reached out to pull the curtain open, the only image coming in to her mind was off her pulling the curtain open and finding James standing in the darkness just the other side of the glass. The image forced her to pull her hand back.

Stop it she told herself, she reached out again for the curtain just as there was another three taps on the glass.
Sam took the edge of the material and slowly pulled it to reveal the garden outside and nothing else. There was no menacing figure waiting there only a branch, which had been bent in the wind and was now touching the window.
Sam allowed herself one small sigh of relief, before remembering the voice on the telephone and it’s intention to be with her in ten minutes. She looked at the clock ten minutes were nearly up.

That’s when she heard the footsteps coming along the corridor, heading in the direction of her flat. Maybe it was a neighbour coming home; there were 3 other flats after Sam’s along this corridor.

That hope vanished when the footsteps stopped right outside her door.
Sam held her breath scanning the room for something that she could use for protection.
The first knock on the door caused Sam to flinch like she had been hit in the face.
Panic.
What if it was James, what would she do? Then she heard

“Hello Samantha, are you in? It’s Dan”