Memory's End: A Powerful Sci-fi Romance Read online

  Memory’s End

  Luna Athena

  Copyright © 2019 by Luna Athena

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Chapter 1

  Tessa woke with a start. She could see out the window it was dark out. She turned and looked at her clock. It read eleven thirty-seven.

  It was nearly midnight! Tessa had slept for seven hours straight.

  “No, no, no,” Tessa gasped.

  She sat up. She reached for her phone, and she called the hospital. Maria at the nurse’s station answered.

  “It’s me, Tessa. I overslept. How’s my grandmother?” She asked.

  “Oh, Tessa, she was having a hard time about an hour ago. She gave us a really good scare. But she’s resting fine now,” Maria said.

  “If she wakes again before I get back there, tell her I’m on my way,” Tessa said.

  “Will do,” Maria said.

  There was a pause. Then Maria spoke again.

  “Tessa, I think you should hurry,” said the nurse. “Just make sure to take a cab, alright? It’s not safe on the streets. You know that, right?”

  “Yeah, got it,” said Tessa. “I’ll be there right away.”

  Tessa clicked off her smartphone. She took in a deep breath and then exhaled.

  “I need more time,” she said, ready to cry. “I’m not ready for this.”

  Gran was dying. Tessa could no longer deny it.

  Months ago, the doctor had tried to tell her, but Tessa had refused to listen. No doctor was going to tell Tessa how long Gran had left to live. That was between God and Gran, and no one else. And as far as Tessa was concerned, Gran was going to be around forever.

  But then reality had come crashing down. Over the last two weeks, things had taken a terrible turn. The last few days had been the worst.

  Tessa didn’t want to talk to the doctors. But Maria, the night nurse, had become a little bit of a friend. And one night Tessa had forced herself to ask Maria the question she’d been avoiding all along.

  “How much time has Gran got, Maria?” Tessa had asked. “What are the doctor’s saying?”

  The nurse had bitten her lip and looked down.

  “Most the doctors say it’s a miracle she’s held on this long. None of them even understand what’s keeping her going,” Maria had said. “It’s like her sheer will to live is all that’s keeping her together. But her body’s old, and it’s falling apart fast.”

  That was it, then. Tessa called her high school teachers and told them she wouldn’t be in school until...until the situation had changed. Tessa called her part-time job manager and told him the same. This was despite how much she needed the money.

  But what did school or money mean compared to Gran? They meant nothing.

  Tessa was going to stay by Gran’s bedside. And she was going to be there when Gran passed away. She was going to be holding her hand. More than anything else, Tessa dreaded Gran passing away from this world alone in the night at some lonely public hospital.

  Tessa would be there right now at Gran’s side, if Gran, herself, had not insisted Tessa go home and get some rest.

  “Tessa, you haven’t even bathed. You smell bad, and you look worse. Go home. You can’t stay here forever. Go home and get some rest,” Gran had said weakly. “I promise not to go anywhere until you get back.”

  Tessa had hugged her grandmother. Then she’d gone home. Just to check mail and messages and take one hot shower.

  But then she’d decided to lie down for just ten minutes. Just that. Just ten sweet minutes in her own bed.

  But that had been seven hours ago!

  Tessa had somehow slept seven hours. She hated herself now. What was she going to do?

  With her clothes on, and her knapsack slung around her back, Tessa got ready to leave the apartment.

  Then she stopped in her tracks.

  “Taxi fare!” Tessa said to herself.

  She unslung her knapsack and checked her wallet. She had no cash on her at all. She shoved her hand to the bottom of her bag for any loose change. Nothing!

  “No!” Tessa whined.

  What was she supposed to do now? The subway wouldn’t even be running at this hour.

  “Fine, I’ll walk it,” Tessa said.

  This sent shudders through her. The streets were not safe at night. Especially not now with some crazy serial killer on rampage each night.

  Tessa pulled a small can of mace from her bag and put it in her pocket. Then, she slung her knapsack once again onto her back.

  She headed out the door of her apartment. She saw down the hallway that someone was already waiting at the elevator door. Great. She could get on the elevator right away. Every second counted.

  As she began to hurry down the hallway, Tessa saw who it was. It was the creepy guy from room 313. He was the last guy in the world Tessa would want to run into at this hour.

  But when she heard the elevator door ding, she decided that it didn’t matter. She’d happily ride in the elevator with him if it meant saving a few moments.

  “Hold that door!” Tessa called.

  The guy from 313 totally blew her off. The doors slid open, and he stepped inside. He pressed an elevator door button. Then he looked straight forward at Tessa as the doors began to close.

  But Tessa was running now. And she got to the doors just before they slid shut. She stuck her foot in and triggered the safety mechanism. Then the doors began to slide back open.

  Tessa flashed a triumphant smile at the guy from 313. Then after the doors had opened, she stepped into the elevator. She took up a standing position facing the doors next to him.

  “That was dangerous,” said the guy.

  “If you hadn’t been such a jerk, I wouldn’t have had to do it,” said Tessa.

  Then there was silence.

  Tessa had known the guy from 313 was tall, but she hadn’t quite realized just how tall he was. Tessa barely came up to his shoulders.

  She gave him a sideways glance. He also clearly had some muscles under his long leather overcoat. But who wore long leather overcoats? Drug dealers?

  Everyone had been talking about the creepy guy from room 313 since he’d moved in recently. He kept odd hours, and he talked to no one. Everyone thought he must be up to no good. If he wasn’t a drug dealer, then perhaps he was a terrorist of some kind. Maybe he was a hit man.

  “You should go back to your apartment,” he said, breaking the silence.

  “Excuse me,” Tessa said.

  “You heard me,” he said.

  Tessa’s heart skipped a beat. Something told her the guy from 313 wasn’t dangerous, but what did she know? For all she knew he was the serial killer everyone had been recently looking for.

  “Why?” Tessa taunted him. “Do you have a drug deal going down right in front of our apartment building? You’re certainly dressed for it.”

  “No,” the guy said.

  Tessa sighed and shook her head.

  “So, you’re just an ordinary type of jerk that doesn’t hold elevator doors open for others?” Tessa said.

  Tessa gazed at him, but the guy just kept staring stonily ahead. The elevator stopped, and the doors began to slide open.

  Before Tessa could step out of the elevator, the guy’s long arm slipped in front of her. His finger landed on the open button. He kept it there, his arm blocking Tessa from leaving the elevator.

  “Oh, so you do know how to use the open button after al
l?” Tessa said. “Nice to see. But a little late. Now get your arm out of my way. I’ve got to get going.”

  “Don’t you read the newspapers?” He said. “You do know there’s a serial killer that’s been killing more than one person a night, don’t you?”

  Tessa let out a small scoff and shook her head.

  “Would you please just get out of my way?” Tessa said.

  “Two. He killed two people last night. Each one of them with their skulls carved off like a crown and their brains gone,” he said. “Now be a good girl and go back to your apartment. You can go out and play after the sun comes up.”

  There was a part of Tessa that wanted to listen. Even in the hospital, she’d heard the stories. The nurses that took care of Gran during the day were all talking about it.

  But who was this creep to tell Tessa what to do? As if he actually knew something about her or what she was doing.

  Tessa looked up at him. His eyes went right into hers. This caught her off guard. He actually had very pretty and very blue eyes. She realized at once she liked his face. She’d never even seen him this up close before.

  The truth of the matter was this, for a creep he was actually not only a bit cute but very attractive.

  Not only that, but he was younger than she’d realized. He couldn’t be more than a year or two older than Tessa, if that. Tessa, herself, was only seventeen, though her birthday was only a month away.

  Whatever. All of that didn’t mean he still wasn’t a jerk.

  “For all I know you could be Skull Carver?” Tessa said.

  It hit him like a punch in the gut. Way harder than Tessa would have expected? What had she said?

  But he recovered quickly. Then he spoke again in a calm voice.

  “Maybe I am. Maybe as soon as you hit the street out there, before even a taxi comes, I’ll grab you and then finish you off. Go back to your apartment. Stay safe,” he said.

  What was the deal with this guy?

  His words actually did make some sense. Skull Carver, as best the police could tell, only struck at night. One more time, Tessa almost considered going back up to her apartment.

  But then she thought of Gran. She thought of Maria telling her to hurry. No. There was no way she wasn’t going to the hospital right now.

  Tessa reached out. She gently laid her hands on the guy’s arm which still blocked her way. It felt somehow strange and intimate to be touching a complete stranger this way. But she gripped his arm, and then pushed it down, out of her way.

  “Thanks,” she said. “But I have someplace I need to be.”

  He then surprised her. He stepped right in front of her. He reached out and put a hand on an elevator door. The safety mechanism kicked in, and the doors stayed open.

  He looked at her. And it was so different, the way he looked at her. No one had ever looked at her quite like this before. Somehow it sent chills rushing up and down her spine.

  Part of Tessa wished she wasn’t in such a hurry. Part of her suddenly wished she could just ask this strange guy if he’d like to get a cup of coffee with her.

  It made no sense at all. But there it was.

  He was an idiot, but he was trying to protect her. She could sense it. He wasn’t going to hurt her. And he wasn’t going to stop her.

  “Look, I appreciate it,” Tessa said. “But I really do have a place I need to be.”

  “You’re not worried about Skull Carver?” He said.

  Tessa thought about it a moment before speaking.

  “If the devil himself decided to crawl out of hell and block my way tonight, even he’d be sorry,” said Tessa determinedly. “So, I recommend you move. I have to get going.”

  At last, he lopsidedly smiled and then got out of her way. Oh, those eyes. And the way he looked at her.

  “What’s your name, anyway?” Tessa said.

  “Rowan,” the guys said. “And yours?”

  “Tessa,” she said. “And for the record, Rowan, I still think you’re a jerk.”

  He almost laughed.

  “See you around, Tessa,” he said. “At least, I hope so.”

  Tessa smiled and shook her head. And then that was that. She turned her gaze away from Rowan, stepped out of the elevator, and moved down the hall without looking back.

  Soon Tessa was outside of the apartment building with the cool air smacking her in the face. She needed the cool air after an encounter like that.

  Tessa calculated the fastest way to Gran in her head. The fastest way would not be the safest.

  “In for a penny, in for a pound,” Tessa said.

  Then she started off down the dark street.

  “Hold on, Gran,” Tessa said. “I’m coming.”

  Chapter 2

  Tessa stopped short. She heard it again. Footsteps. Only for a second, and then they stopped.

  She was now ten minutes into her walk across town. She’d passed a fair share of homeless people, some streetwalkers, and even one group of gang members that had gawked at her.

  And she was still alive and fine.

  No one had even bothered her. If anything, everyone had looked nervous. Tessa guessed that everyone on the street was more than just a little worried about Skull Carver.

  But almost the whole time Tessa had been walking, she had had the eerie sense that she was being followed. She had felt as if there had been footsteps echoing just behind her own.

  Surely it was just her own imagination playing with her. She was nervous, and she was scared. Who wouldn’t be nervous and scared walking along dark streets knowing a serial killer was on the prowl? She probably was just hearing things. That’s all.

  “Stay on target, Tessa,” she said aloud to herself.

  Her own voice echoed down the empty street. She began to walk again. She listened carefully as she walked. There it was again, that echo.

  Impulsively, Tessa stopped short yet again. She wheeled around. She looked straight down the street. For just a fraction of a second, she thought she saw something. It was a tall, dark shadow.

  But it was gone so fast

  “No way,” Tessa whispered.

  But she’d seen it. Someone really was following her. And whoever it might be, they were very tall.

  Her mind immediately went to Rowan. She remembered the strange bitter smile he’d had when she’d taunted him about being Skull Carver.

  “Dammit,” Tessa whispered to herself. “I finally find a guy I might be into, and he’s probably a serial killer that cuts into people skulls and takes out their brains. And worse, he’s stalking me.”

  But what was she thinking? She really didn’t think Rowan could be a threat. She could probably only hope it was him stalking her. The reality was it was probably someone quite dangerous and not Rowan at all.

  Tessa swallowed. Her throat suddenly felt dry. She realized she was sweating. Her hands were shaking a little.

  She tried to remember her safety training. She’d been told that attitude was all important. On the street, one must never appear as an easy victim. Confidence was everything.

  Tessa was not going to let fear get the best of her. Gran was Tessa’s life. Her only family. She was going to get to the hospital, any stalker be damned.

  Tessa turned around and started walking forward again, toward the hospital. She casually reached into her pocket and found her can of mace. She pulled it out and got her fingers around it. She put her thumb on the trigger.

  As Tessa walked down the street, everything got even darker. There was hardly any light at all. Tessa was sure she could still hear footsteps behind her, perfect echoes of her own.

  Tessa looked around the street for anyone else that might be able to help her. There was no one. Not even a homeless person or a streetwalker. She’d even have greeted the site of gang members with glee.

  Without being obvious about it, Tessa began to quicken her pace. However, she forced herself to walk, not run. The last thing she needed to do was to run. Running said you were afraid. Runnin
g said you were ready to play the victim.

  Running would be the worse thing she could do.

  Finally, Tessa stopped short again. She listened. There they were, the footsteps that continued for just a heartbeat.

  A chill broke out across Tessa’s back. What had she been thinking by trying to walk across town?

  Still, if she appeared strong, the stalker might just give up. Why bother Tessa if he could find an easier target. She turned and faced the direction she’d just come from.

  She shouted. “I know you’re out there. Whoever you are. I’m having a bad night, and you don’t want to mess with me. So go find someone else to play with.”

  Tessa shut her mouth and swallowed. She wished she felt as confident as she was trying to sound.

  She turned back toward her destination and began walking again. She walked at as fast a pace as she dared.

  Then, finally, up ahead, she saw someone standing under a street light. It looked like a patrol officer. A wave of relief swept through Tessa. Who said there wasn’t a cop around when you needed one?

  Tessa had heard that they were putting more officers on foot throughout the city as a result of Skull Carver. This must have been one of them.

  And what a stroke of luck! The hospital wasn’t even that far at this point. Maybe she could convince the officer to walk the rest of the distance with her.

  Tessa approached the man. He heard her coming and turned to look at her at once. He had a very distinct face. He had a large bulbous nose and a low forehead. He had the blackest eyes Tessa had ever seen.

  Tessa cleared her voice.

  “Officer,” Tessa said.

  The officer grinned. His thick lips stretched toward his ears. He nodded.

  “Officer, I’m so glad to see you,” Tessa said, “I’m trying to get to the hospital. My grandmother is sick, you see. I know it was a stupid thing to do, walking across town at night, but I didn’t have another choice. The thing is, I think there’s someone following me.”

  The officer only stared at Tessa. Was he confused? Tessa must have been talking too fast. She took a step closer to him.