My phone started ringing. The caller’s name was under anonymous. They said they’d pay me $25,000 to return a lost item. I agreed for the money and they said that they’d stop by later that night to pick it up. There weren’t any specifics given about the lost item but I was told that it would arrive outside my dorm later that evening. I didn’t know what to expect. I was also weirded out by the fact that he knew where I lived but I assumed it was someone working for the college since that’s the only way they would know. I figured it wasn’t that huge of a deal and began to go along with my day. The weather forecast said something about it raining later that evening and ever since the crash I’ve developd ombrophobia, so I wasn’t planning on going out anyways. I decided to stay at the dorm and finish up some homework and eat away my stress. I poured myself a bowl of cereal without any milk because it makes me uncomfortable when it gets all soggy. I watched the football games that were on the TV to take my mind off the rain, but it was hard to ignore it when I was rinsing my dish off in front of the kitchen window. 

The campus was as dark as the night it happened. The clouds covered the ground and kept the sun hidden. I turned off the faucet and heard thunder as if it was on top of my head. It rolled through my mind and made me reminisce about the sound of my car slamming into the side of the bridge. When there was a loud knock on my door. I jumped at the sudden noise. All I wanted to do was bundle up and hide from the world, because that’s what I did, but I was too intrigued about what was outside my door. The knocking sound grew louder after a few seconds. When I looked through the peephole, I found myself staring into the eyes of a ghost. I unlocked the door as quickly as I could and just stood there in disbelief. 

“Olivia?” I said. 

“Well are you going to let me in or just make me stand here soaking wet?” she said looking around. 

I quickly let her in. “Oh yeah sorry, come in. Should I get you some coffee?”

She gave me an odd look as if I did something wrong. “Don’t you remember that I despise the taste of coffee? It’s only been two years since the crash Michael.”

I looked down at my feet and thought to myself that it didn’t feel like two years ago, it felt like yesterday. Everytime I think about what happened that night, all the pain comes back to haunt me. Ever since that night all I could think about was every possible way that I could’ve prevented what happened. I blamed myself for absolutely everything. For driving in the rain. For crashing the car. For killing her. 

“I thought you were dead!” 

“I had to be for a little while, or else he would find me,” she muttered under her breath.

“Or else who would find you?” I said as I walked closer to her. 

“Your mom!” she exclaimed.

I gave her a glare as I said. “Wow, I see your sense of humor hasn’t changed. You had two years to think of a joke and that’s what you decided to go with? But no, you said he?”

“Still the observant type I see.”

“Still good at changing the subject I see.” I said, throwing a playful punch at her. 

She flinched. She never did that before. We used to do stuff like that all the time but this time things seemed weird. 

Before she got to say anything else, a stream of headlights shone through the window. 

“Damn it! He’s here. I need you to hide me somewhere.” She frantically got up.

“Who’s here?”

“Michael Please! Just shut up and tell me where to hide!” she yelled.

“Okay, go hide in my closet and stay quiet,” I pointed down the hallway and she ran to the closet.

I open the door and see a 6’2ish, broad-shouldered, man waiting at the front of my door. He asked boldly, “Have you received the package yet?”

I was confused. “I genuinely have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He invited himself inside and sat down on the couch. Pulling out a giant roll of money from his pocket he set it on the table. The man looked me dead in the eye and asked “Well there’s your money and you know exactly what I’m talking about. Now, where is she?”

“Look man, I haven’t received any package today. I’d love to take that money from you but unfortunately I haven’t seen anybody all day and I’ve gotten no package of any sort. You seem on edge… Would you like a cup of coffee? I can make some right now.” I said, already picking up the coffee pot.

As soon as I finished my sentence I heard a noise from the closet. 

“What was that?” the man asked.

“It was probably my cat being weird,” I lied.

“I thought this was a no pet dorm building” He said, crossing his arms.

“Why don’t you show me what that really was or I’ll go show myself.” He said, as he slowly started walking in the direction of the closet. 

I tried to hold him back but it didn’t end up working. He grabbed me by the shirt and pinned me against the wall with one hand, and with the other hand punched my face. My glasses broke. I managed to get a blow to his head with the coffee pot but it didn’t do much damage. He shoved me one last time then started making his way directly towards my closet. There was nothing I could do as he put his hands on the closet handle. He flung open the closet door, to find it was just a bunch of clothes and my old toolbox. She was gone. I heard a scream coming from behind me. She ran by me with a hammer going directly towards the man, and hit him across the head. 

“I hate you Austin!” She screamed. 

The man fell on his stomach trying to see who hit him. 

“I hate you, I hate how you abused me,” She hit him again. “I hate how you kept me away for two years, I hate how you manipulated me this entire time and gaslit me into thinking I needed to fake my own death to escape our hellhole of a relationship.” She took the hammer and pressed it against his neck so hard he began to turn red. 

He started coughing and trying to push her off but she was resistant. I saw Austin’s face turn into a bright red tomato color and knew that she was going to kill him if I didn’t pull her off of him. I attempted to yank her away.

“What are you doing?” she yelled at me.

I reached for the hammer. “Living with the guilt of killing someone doesn't feel good. Trust me, I’ve experienced it for the past two years. It will eat you up inside. This isn’t what you want to live with for the rest of your life. I know he hurt you in ways that I could never understand, but killing him isn’t going to make the pain and the memories go away any quicker.” 

Olivia loosened her grip and Austin struggled to catch a breath before closing his eyes. I reached for the hammer from her hands. She handed it to me. Then we both looked at Austin who had blood splattered all over the hallway and was passed out on my floor. 

 She started to break down as she leaned into my shoulder and began crying. I understood where she was coming from and that it was hard for her but I had already lost her for two years of my life and I couldn’t stand the thought of losing her again. 

I quietly said. “Everything will be okay. We’ll figure everything out.”

She nodded her head in agreement and we embraced each other surrounded by a past that died two years ago.