Episode 3

The old mansion sat in between the rolling hills of the countryside. A long winding driveway leading to the house, where the royals of yore had driven their prancing horses up to the mansion had lost its pristine glory. The gravel was overgrown with weeds and grasses; the brazen lampposts that lined the driveway green with age and the once white glass globes above them broken and brown with layers of dust. Mathias noticed all this in the moonlight that intermittently flooded the opening where the mansion was.

‘Thank God for clouds’ he thought as he snuck up to the house in the shadows the aged trees surrounding it made. ‘Another day. Another dollar. Another night, another nickel? Corny.”
That night was not unlike other nights. In fact, it was more ordinary than most. All he had to do was get in, look for valuables if any, and then as usual, burn the house down. Or rather, burn the mansion down as it was in that case. His employer needed the property declared condemned so he could buy it at a throwaway price and develop it- in other words, make a killing. All in a day’s work.

After a thorough search of the house, Mathias came up with nothing. What looked like an antique cabinet turned into a decrepit ruin once he touché it. It fell apart even before he could open one of the drawers. Just as he was about to begin the work of setting the explosives, Mathias heard a sound. ‘Damnit. Someone’s here’ Steathily, he hid in the shadows. Light footsteps came up the stairs, sounding like they also had something to hide. A slight figure crept into the room. It walked the window, put down a bag and began to assemble something. A shaft of moonlight coming in through a broken skylight in the ceiling caught a lock of thick hair falling in sensual waves.

“Kim?” he said incredulously “What the hell are you doing here?”
His voice startled the figure. The figure turned around to get a look at who was talking. The shaft of moonlight illuminated the figure’s face; the beautiful features were Kim’s. In a heartbeat, the woman turned around and jumped out of a nearby window.
‘Kim!” Mathias screamed as he ran to the window. He looked down, expecting to see her in a pool of blood. To his surprise, he saw nothing there. Looking towards the tree line, he saw a quickly retreating figure disappear into the shadows of the trees.

Mathias stood there for more than five minutes, dumbstruck by what had just transpired. He tried to process the events but they just refused to fall into place. He continued doing his work on the house with a half a mind. The other half was preoccupied with what happened in that room. Within ten minutes, he had wired up a pyrotechnic explosion which would leave no traces and incinerate the mansion. He walked out of the mansion, into the shade of a nearby tree then pushed the button that set off a series of dull explosions that soon turned the house into a towering column of orange-red flames. As Mathias crept away through the forest, his mind turning over and over again as he tried to comprehend what has happened, the sound of fire engines could be heard in the distance.

‘Maybe it wasn’t her I saw. Maybe…NO!” Thoughts ran through his mind as Mathias walked to the small motel where he had parked his car. There was no way he could have mistaken that face for someone else’s. The face that had been in his thoughts incessantly for the past three months? No way. He felt betrayed. She was hiding some part of her life from him. Ironic, since he had been doing the same. So what was the point of something so beautiful but based on lies? He needed to talk to her. But not just yet. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number so familiar he could do it with his eyes closed.

“Hello…Tanya? Can you come over to my place in like half an hour?” There was a pregnant pause. He could practically hear the wheels turning. “Sure.” Click. He would talk to Kim the next day.
They met 45 minutes later at Mathias’ place. Not a word was exchanged between them. From the moment that she walked in the door, their lips locked and the two fell on the couch in a passionate embrace. From then on, the scenario played itself out like an old romance novel. The next morning, Mathias realized his mistake when he woke up with Tanya lying in the bed with her head on his chest. He immediately regretted calling her and doing all that they had done the whole night. He wished he had given himself time to find out the truth before acting brashly. Mathias jumped out of the bed, waking Tanya in the process.

“That was brilliant baby” Tanya said as she got out of bed and put on a robe. She walked over to Mathias, who was looking at himself in the dressing table mirror, and wrapped her hands around his wide shoulders. “We should do this more often” she said in a seductive tone as she rubbed his bare shoulders and played with his hair.
“Tanya, I…” he was lost for words. It was brilliant and he knew it. She did that thing that she always did back in the day and it drove him as crazy as it always did…it was as if nothing at all had changed. But there was Kim. He tried again, “I don’t think…”
“Hush”, Tanya said as she placed a finger on his lips. “Listen, I know I hurt you. And…” her eyes clouded with tears as she remembered. “I can’t explain why I did what I did. Not right now anyway. But one day I promise you, I’ll tell you. I want to be with you.” She kissed him and held him close. “I’m not going to lose you again.” She then proceeded to help him forget everything except her.

Mathias walked into class an hour and forty minutes later. He was late again, but it had stopped bothering him a long time ago whether or not he made it to class in time. “That’s what tape recorders were made for” he mused as he exchanged silent hellos with his comrades. They would furnish him with a copy of the tape they were recording the day’s lecture on, at a cost of course. He reached into his pocket to get his IPod to listen to some music and came up with air. ‘Damn. Must have left in my room when I was rushing to make it for class.’ He thought s he settled in to listen to the lecturer droning on and on about the Kenyan economy.
At lunch time, he strolled to the cafeteria and bought a heavy lunch. He sat alone in a corner, eating slowly as he mulled over the tumultuous night he had the night before. As his mind wandered, he didn’t notice the slight figure sneaking up on him. All of a sudden, a pair of perfumed hands covered his eyes.
“Guess who?” a melodious voice purred. The auditory orgasm, unmistakable in its 16.7 million colors. “
“It must be a figment of my imagination.” Mathias replied as he slowly removed the hands from his eyes, holding them in his own as he stood up. He turned around and received a long, passionate kiss from her. While he recovered from it, she looked lovingly at him, her hands still clasped within his.
Mathias led Kim to the seat opposite his on the table and pulled out the chair for her.
“You’re such a gentleman” she commented as she sat down. Mathias went back to his own seat and sat.
“So how was your yester night?” Kim asked as she settled into the chair.
“Normal. Did some work and it was kinda difficult but I survived.” Mathias replied in a joking tone as he tried to mask the fear that had begun welling up inside him.
“So where were you yesterday?” He asked as he looked straight at Kim, searching her eyes for a glimmer which would confirm or dispel his fear. Kim looked straight at him and answered “I was stuck in bed with a bad migraine, remember I called you and told you about it?”
It was then that it hit Mathias that she had called him before he left for the mansion.
“Why are you asking honey? Something you not telling me?” Kim asked as she took his hand off the table with both her hands and started stroking it. He had been nervously tapping the table. ‘I saw you in the mansion yesterday and you aren’t even hurt after jumping out a second story window’ he said in his head as he said out loud “No. It’s nothing. Just thought I saw you on my way home”

So who was it he saw at the mansion?