A Short Story: Susan's Addiction

Almost three weeks had come and gone since the beginning of Susan’s disturbing addiction. Each day was the same, she would wake up in her funeral home of an apartment with a feeling of strange, inexplicable purpose. Later on, she would sit at her table, pretending to flip through the morning paper while discreetly observing Mary and Jonathan. Evidently, they never seemed to take notice, perhaps they were too enthralled with each other to see what was happening. They would sit together, drinking extravagant coffee and eating fresh blueberry scones, completely unaware of Susan’s prying eyes. Accordingly, when they would leave Susan would wait a customary two minutes before pursuing them.
Amid the three week span, she must have toured at least

half the city. Mary and Jonathan both worked from home, this allowed them an abundance of leisure time. Over the weeks, Susan had improved in her stalking, even reaching the point of donning disguises. Wigs and extra shirts were stuffed haphazardly into Susan's bag to be quickly thrown on given the opportunity. This particular morning was a Sunday and Susan knew that the couple would be attending morning mass at the church. Susan herself joined the congregation last week just to further her stalking of the couple. God had always been a preposterous idea to Susan, but the church gave her a perfect excuse to get closer to the couple.
As she entered the warm hearted shop, she noticed something was different, the couple were not sitting at the usual table, in fact, they were nowhere to be seen. Instead, a man sat there, he looked timeworn, with graying patches of hair on his head and the slightest indication of beard on his face. This appearance of a waning age may come from pure exhaustion, the man looked like he had worked himself down to the bone and then kept going. Something was unquestionably ominous about him. Susan was taken aback by his presence, his gaze was drawn to her the second she entered, almost as if he had been waiting for her to wander through the double doors. To avoid suspicion, she ordered her usual coffee and sat at her corner table. Sipping her beverage slowly, she tried to focus on the newspaper in front of her, but she could still feel the cold eyes of the man burning into her through the thin wafer-like paper. This was a new sensation for Susan, ordinarily, she appeared ghost-like to the rest of the world, floating through people and places; unknown and untouched by them.
Finally, she could not take it any longer and she stood to leave. She knew the couple would be at the church already, chatting with the other worshipers, waiting for the service to start. The man stood as well and grabbed his beverage from the table. He seemed to make a beeline right for her, she tried to move out of the way, but they collided and the man’s sweet tea consequently soaked her lavender blouse.
“Oh dear!” Exclaimed the man.
“I'm so sorry, here let me help you.”
He proceeded to collect napkins from a neighboring dispenser and helped her wipe the brown stain from her shirt.
“Looks like I will need to change” said Susan, forcing a little half smile.
She reached into her bag and pulled out a green T-shirt.
“I guess it's a good thing I have this.
The man's eyes narrowed as she pulled out the shirt and she could see them traveling to the open bag in her arms.
“Yeah, lucky…” His voice trailed off.
“Well, I have to go, I'm late for church.” Said Susan, trying escape the conversation.
“Oh,?” Inquired the man.
“I'm on my way there myself.”
Susan felt her heart sink into the pit of her stomach because she knew what was coming next.
“Why don’t we walk over together?” asked the man cheerfully.
“Sure,” replied Susan with another forced smile.
She kept that smile on her face as the man held open the door and they both walked out. As they strolled, Susan noticed how keen the man was to keep her with him, never straying more than a few paces from her. They walked along the cracked weather-worn pavement in silence. The man’s gray eyes still delving into her, almost like they were trying to seek out something intangible inside her that even she could not see.
After what felt like eons, they finally saw the golden cross looming in the distance. Ironically, it took on the role of savior for Susan, enabling a chance to escape the clutches of this unnerving man.
On any other day Susan would sit only a few rows back from the couple, but since this man would not let her out of his sight, she decided to sit further away. She spotted Mary in her long blue jacket chatting with another woman with blonde hair. Surprisingly, the man spotted her as well, almost as though he expected to see her there. Susan also noticed him scanning the pews until his eyes found the black- haired head of Jonathan.
“What is this?” thought Susan
“Does he know them? Does he know what I've been doing? This seems like more than mere fortuity.”
She then felt something she had not felt in many years, a deep crippling feeling that ate away at her insides. She was feeling panic.
“I’m sorry” she said, her face turning white
“I'm afraid I never caught your name”
The man looked over at her with his steely eyes and Susan felt the embers of panic rage into a burning fire. Something about those eyes made her want to run screaming from the church and jump off the nearest overpass.
“My names Thomas Mortimer and I work as a detective with the Seattle police department.” He said.
“How about you?”
“I...I’m Susan Mullard,” she said, her voice shaking with every breath.
“And what do you do for a living Susan Mullard?” He asked
“I work in accounting,” she replied, knowing full well that she had just lied through her teeth.

“I see,” he said after a pause
His eyes wandered back to Mary and Jonathan.
“Do you know them,?” he asked, looking into her eyes again.
“N... No, I don't know them,” she said, looking away from him.
“ Well, then let's go introduce ourselves.”
Susan froze in her seat, unable to release a single breath. What could she do but go with him? He was a detective, a detective who clearly knew more than he let on.
Her body seemed to move without her consent, like her own body was betraying her and dragging her and to their mutual destruction.
Suddenly, a strong hand gripped her arm, keeping her from getting away. Leaning against the wall was Mary, shining like a diamond in the musty church; she illuminated the room, revealing the cracks and imperfections in the woodwork, hidden from view previously. As they approached, she turned to acknowledge them with a warm red smile and luminous green eyes that scanned Susan up and down, but showed no evidence of recognition in their depths.
“Hello!” she said, with same charismatic voice Susan had heard so many times.
“Are you two

new?”
Before Susan could answer, the detective stepped in to answer.
“Yes, we are” he said, smiling for the first time since they met.
Susan almost chuckled at this, she had bluffed so many smiles in the past that she knew well, how to spot a faker.
“We both joined recently and we wanted to introduce ourselves,” he said
“My name is Thomas and this is Susan.” He gestured to her.
“Well, it's so nice to meet you,” she said, beaming.
“My names Mary Pessel and over there is my fiance Jon.”
She pointed over at Jonathan who was scribbling on a notepad as he leafed through a bible.
“We've both been members here for about a month since we moved up from Colorado.” she said.
“It... It’s nice to meet you,” said Susan, almost inaudibly.
“I’m glad to be so welcomed here.”
Mary’s smile grew to show two rows of perfect teeth.

“I’m happy too!” Mary replied
“Oh, I've got to go help set up the punch table, I'll see you two around!”
As she walked away her blue coat trailed behind her like butterfly wings. Susan stood in silence waiting for her sense of feeling to return to her. When she found her senses again, she noticed how tight the hand around her arm was. He finally relinquished her and they walked back to their seats.
“Did you like her?” he asked
“I suppose...” Susan replied
They sat in silence for about a minute, Thomas’s eyes piercing the back of her head as she focused intently at the wall to the right of them. She knew she could not avoid him anymore and she turned to meet his gaze.
“I know what you've been doing, Susan” he said slowly.
“You've been stalking that poor couple”
Two conflicting emotions flooded Susan, one was utter despair and the other, smaller one was relief. He finally just said it. The dam of truth had finally been breached and the water was flowing freely.
She wanted nothing more than to confess and be free from all this, the coffee shop, the church, Mary, and Jon but she just couldn't do it.
“I don’t know what you mean” she said, her voice suddenly sturdy and

convective.
“ I have photo evidence Susan, If I wanted, I could arrest you for this.
“I haven't done anything” she said, her voice growing stronger with every word.
She knew he couldn't arrest her, not based on photographs alone. He was bluffing, if he had anything else he would have already arrested her.
Just as she thought, they spent the rest of the service in silence. When it ended, she rose from the pew and walked down the marble steps into the rain.
“Susan!” Shouted a voice from inside the church
“Stop this now, don’t let this ruin you!”
She stopped in her tracks, but didn't turn to face him. The rain soaked her uncovered head as she stood, her back still to him and the church.
“Why do you assume I will be the one ruined by this?” She asked him before vanishing into the rain.