Temporary 
 

      “Drew, I need you to go reorganize the bookshelf in the back.”

      Drew Chase looked up from her US Weekly magazine and glared at her boss, Mr. Khan, who luckily wasn’t looking anywhere in her direction.

      “Sure, which one?” Drew quickly covered up her attitude by smiling at her boss and stepping out from behind the counter.

      “Non-fiction, last name A-H. Some customer obviously wasn’t careful and disorganized the whole thing. It might take a little while to put it all back in order.”

      “Yeah, I’ll get to it right away.” Drew smiled to herself at the thought of some customer purposefully disorganizing a bookshelf, or rather at the thought of her boss blaming the mess on a single person. Silence ensued for a few long minutes as Drew checked and rechecked the shelf, looking for mistakes in her alphabetizing.

      “I’ll have someone ring you up in just a moment,” Drew heard her boss say.

      Why can’t he do it himself? she thought. And why is he even here if he refuses to take a minute of his time to simply charge a customer? She made her way to the front of the store, and placed herself behind the counter, where she rang up the customer. He was a tall man, who must have been in his late thirties. His hair was dark brown, with a few grey strands mixed in. He was dressed in a dark blue sweater and jeans, and held a copy of The New Yorker in one hand, and a cigarette in the other. He placed the magazine on the counter and took out his wallet. She noticed a business card of some sort, but all she could make from it was the name of the city where she grew up, Los Angeles.

      “Is this bookstore new?” The man had been looking around the store, and turned his gaze back to Drew, who had been lost in thought thinking about her old home.

      “Uh, no, it’s not. It was already here when I moved to Saratoga Springs.” She scanned the magazine. “Will this be all for you?”

      The man thought for a short moment, and then answered. “Actually, I think I might want something else. I’m new here, and I was thinking it might be a good idea to buy a book about the town or something.”

      “I’d be happy to show you what we have here in the store, but I honestly don’t think you’ll need a book about Saratoga. I’ve lived here for ten years, and I didn’t learn what I know from a book. Of course, if you are looking for tourist spots in the area, or nearby, then I can show you what we have here, or give you the names of stores with better selections, since we are a pretty small store.”

      The man responded right away. “Would you recommend any places for me to check out?”

      Drew thought for a moment. She was having a hard time finding anything good to say about this town she had forced herself into so many years ago. She squinted her eyes and responded with a simple answer. “How about some restaurants?”

      The man laughed for a moment, and smiled. “I can tell this is just a temporary stop for you, although I guess ten years says something to the contrary. Any plans?”

      Drew shrugged her shoulders. “Just looking to leave.”

***************************

      The store closed at seven, and Drew was the one to lock up that Friday evening. She thought she had cleaned up well enough, but she noticed a map that had fallen and was now lying on the ground. It was nowhere near its original shelf. It was a map of Saratoga Springs. Drew folded it up and put it back where it belonged, finally grabbed her coat, turned off the lights, and locked the door. She looked up as she walked towards her car, and saw the familiar sign that read “Craven Books” placed a few feet above her. She looked back down at the sidewalk and noticed a couple of cigarette butts. There was no one else in sight, and Drew hated walking alone when it was dark. It must have been all of those shows I watched when I was younger, she thought to herself as she made it to her car.

      She drove to her apartment, parked in her usual space, and made her way to the courtyard behind her apartment building. Her phone started to vibrate, so she sat down on the bench and took it out of her purse. It read “1 new message: from Sarah cell-‘Wanna hang tonight? My place, 9?’” Drew began to text Sarah back when she heard a rustle come from one of the bushes. She stood up and slowly looked around her. Instead of finishing the message, she put her phone back in her purse and walked inside the building, making her way up the stairs to her apartment. She was relieved to be inside. Her phone rang again, but this time it was a call, not a text.

      “Hello?”

      “Hey Drew, it’s Sarah. I just texted you, but I thought I would call. Are you free tonight?”  

      Drew placed her bag on the table and sat down on her couch. “Yeah, I am. That sounds fun; I’ve had kind of a crap day. What do you have in mind?”

      Drew went to her window and looked down at the courtyard. She thought she saw movement, but couldn’t see anything clearly. Drew realized she had missed what Sarah had just said.

      “Drew, are you alright?”

      Drew brought her attention back to the conversation, and went to get some water. “Yeah, I think I’m ok. I’m just kind of freaked out right now. But what do you want to do tonight?”

      “I already told you, I was thinking we could just watch a movie or something, nothing special. But what happened, something at work?”

      Drew took a big sip of water and finally sat down, trying to calm herself down.  “No, I was walking to my car and I was a bit scared, but it was nothing. And then I got your message when I got home and sat down outside on the bench, you know, in the garden in the back of my apartment, and I thought I heard someone. I was standing at my window a minute ago and thought I saw something. But I’m just being paranoid. I swear it’s nothing.” She was finally starting to feel calm again.

      “Alright, if you say so. But you can come over now if you want, or I can come over there.”

      “I guess you should come over here, if that’s ok. That way you can comfort me by telling me that I am crazy, and that I really didn’t hear anyone outside.”

      “Sure thing. I’ll bring a movie or two.” They said their goodbyes and Drew cleaned up her apartment, consciously staying away from the window.

      Almost an hour later, Sarah arrived. She found Drew on the couch, with her arms hugging her knees, looking terrified.

      “Drew, did you see something?” Sarah sat next to Drew on the couch.

      “No, nothing since you called. But Sarah, I am sure someone is out there. I don’t know why I can’t let go of it. I just have a feeling.” Drew took a deep breath – she seemed to be taking a lot of those this evening.

      Sarah dropped her purse on the couch and went over to the window. “Drew…”, Sarah started to say. But Drew cut her off.

      “Look, I know what you’re gonna say. That no one is out there, that I have nothing to be scared of, and that I am just being paranoid.”

      “Actually, no. I think I saw something. Over there, by that bench.”

      Drew stood and up and slowly walked towards her friend. She would have rather believed that she was crazy than that there really was someone out there. “What? Are you sure?” Drew’s voice was quiet; she could barely make out more than a whisper.

      “No, I’m not sure. But…why don’t we go check it out?”

      “Sarah…” Drew felt even more afraid now that her friend believed her. Her fear lessened when Sarah said she was coming over to the apartment, but now that Sarah really did believe someone was out there, Drew felt her fear coming back.

      “Look, Drew, we both know that sitting here watching movies isn’t going to help anything. Unless we go out there and see for ourselves that no one is out there, we’re just going to sit here, afraid, for the rest of the night. So please, let’s just check it out.”

      Drew gave a slight nod, but was still hesitant.

      “Let’s bring something just in case.” Sarah walked over to the sink, and grabbed a pan that was sitting on the counter. “I know it seems weird, but believe me, it will make us feel better to have something like this.”

      Drew grabbed her keys and her cell phone, and they walked out of the apartment. Drew locked the door. “I guess it’s better to do it together than alone.”

      “That’s for sure,” Sarah said quietly.

      They made their way down the stairs, and a minute later they were in the courtyard.

      “So, I was sitting over there, on that bench. And I was only there for less then a minute before I heard something. But really, Sarah, it was probably just the wind or something, making the bushes move.”

      “Yeah, you’re probably right. Let’s just walk through the courtyard once. I’ll do the left side. You do the right.”

      “I thought we were supposed to do this together,” Drew whispered.

      “We are. I won’t be that far, just on the opposite side.” Sarah made her way to the left side, and walked adjacent to the fence.

      Drew hesitated for a moment, but made her way to the right side of the courtyard. She took her phone out of her pocket to make herself feel less afraid.

      “Drew.”

      At first, Drew thought it was Sarah calling her name, but soon recognized it as a male voice. It sounded familiar. She began to shake, and she didn’t know if she really heard it. “What?”

      “I’ve been waiting for you.”

      Drew sucked in her breath, terrified. She turned around, and standing before her was a tall man. She could barely make out his features in the dark, but he looked strangely familiar. “Who are you? I don’t understand.” Drew began to back up. She backed into the bench and fell, but stood up right away.

      “I’ve been looking for you for over a year. It was harder then I expected to find you. But I recognized you right away from all the photos I’ve seen. You’d think that someone who wanted to stay hidden would change their appearance.”

      Drew closed her eyes for a second, and noticed Sarah standing behind the man. She was holding the pan in her hand, and a second later she swung it towards the left side of the man’s head. His eyes rolled for a second, and then he fell forwards. Drew stepped out of the way, and watched his body fall beside her. She looked at Sarah, whose eyes were wide.

      “I uh, I guess we should call the police.” Sarah took out her phone and dialed 911. She then sat on the bench and put her head in her hands. Drew bent down to the ground, and looked closely at the man. She recognized him; he was the customer she had met earlier. He was dressed in the same clothes, but he was wearing a black coat as well. She took out his wallet, and found a business card that read – 
 

      “Drew, did you find something? What is that?” Sarah took the card out of Drew’s hands and read it. “I don’t understand. He was hired to find you?”

      Drew heard what Sarah said, but couldn’t find the words to answer, because she herself didn’t know. “I don’t know. Is he…alive?” Drew was stunned when she realized he could be dead.

      “Don’t be silly, it just knocked him out.” They heard the sounds of the police sirens, and before they knew it, the police were interrogating them both with questions.

***************************

      A week passed. It was a Tuesday morning, and Sarah and Drew were sitting in a café, not far from Craven Books.

      “So he was hired by your parents?”

      Drew took a sip of her latte and set the cup back down on the table. “That’s the story. Apparently my parents hired him. I guess I’ve been missing for such a long time that they needed to see how I was doing.”

      “I guess it’s better than him not being a detective. I mean, you were scared someone was watching you. And you were right. But at least….I don’t know.”

      “I know what you mean. But I guess I should thank you. I don’t know how I would have handled it if I was by myself.”

      “Are you going to call your parents?”

      Drew was surprised by Sarah’s question; she had been struggling with that decision for a while, but didn’t expect to be asked that straightforwardly.

      “I don’t know what I’m going to do. I left L.A to get away from them. I made some bad decisions; I rebelled against them in a lot of ways, and I made a lot of mistakes.

      “They’re your parents, Drew. They can’t just give up on you. And hiring this man proves that they still have some faith in you, in a really twisted way.”

      “I know that. And I know the longer I wait, the harder it’s going to be to call them. I don’t know how I should feel about the fact that they hired someone to find me. I don’t know if it means they have absolutely no faith in me, or that they have some hope. All I know is that I have a lot of issues I have to work out with them – issues I should have dealt with years ago. But I think I will. I think I need to try to make it work with them.”

      “You say the longer you wait the harder it is. So don’t wait anymore.” Sarah looked at Drew, and pushed her phone towards her. “Do it.” Sarah had a look of determination on her face.

      Drew nodded, and took the phone in her hand. Her home phone number, surprisingly, came to mind in an instant, and she dialed. Pretty soon, it was ringing.