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Despite the short time in which I’d known Gunner, I totally believed what Kevin said Once Gunner made up his mind, he wouldn’t waver, and God help whoever stood in his way.
I drank him in from this angle, appreciating everything from the simple white t-shirt he was wearing to the dark, nearly black jeans. The clothes were almost an afterthought with Gunner, his body and all the hard work he had so obviously put into it taking center stage. He was powerful, but had also proven himself to be incredibly gentle. It was a wonderful dichotomy that left me wanting more.
Gunner typed in the code, and the keypad lit up green, the lock audibly clicking open. I clenched my fists, heart racing as he opened the safe. If we were lucky, the statue could be inside, and we’d be just hours away from life going back to normal. We’d be in danger no longer.
Gunner’s jaw was clenched too, but without even seeing the inside of the safe, I knew that the contents weren’t what we were hoping for when I see his body language change from tense to disappointed.
“Fuck,” Gunner rumbled.
He reached inside and pulled out the meager contents: another manilla envelope, and a handwritten letter.
Addressed to me.
He handed it over solemnly, and it was immediately apparent the letter was from Trevor. I was unsure what to do, frozen, until Gunner cleared his throat.
“If you want some personal space to go read that, feel free,” he said, waving me towards the open door.
I hesitated briefly before nodding, taking the letter and the envelope out into the living room. It was still morning, and the long picture windows gave me a glimpse of the outside world that seemed so discordant compared to what was going on in here. Out there, it was warm, maybe even uncomfortably so, with the sun so bright that glasses would be a must. There was a small flock of birds pecking at the grass, content in their simple lives. I was envious of them.
I lowered myself onto the couch, crossing my legs, and read the letter.
Dear Rachel,
If you’ve found this letter, then I’m either long gone, dead or otherwise. I never intended to leave you this way, but all of my plans burned to the ground the moment I laid my eyes on the statue.
I’m sure you know by now that our relationship wasn’t as transparent as you must have thought it in the beginning, but truly, I loved you in my own stilted, complicated way. Sometimes, you made me wish I lived a normal life, and had a real chance of making it work between us, but that wasn’t in the cards for me. If everything had gone to plan, you’d never have known that our marriage was based on false pretenses, and the luxury I could have afforded you would make up for the monster I was beneath the surface. Or so I had hoped.
But then there was Anubis, reaching out to me from beyond the veil in the form of his effigy. Black and gold. Life and death. I don’t know why he chose me the way he did, but from that point forward, my purpose had been to return his idol back from whence it came.
I was blinded at first, of course, trying to sell the effigy for profit. Geoff pretended to understand the importance of the thing, but no one knew the idol the way that I did. If only someone had taken it from me before Anubis had dug his claws too deeply into my soul, but it was not to be. I had to deliver him home.
But I am being hunted, sweet Rachel, as you will be hunted once I die. Around every corner, behind every door, they lie in wait to take him from me. They call themselves the Dark Hand Syndicate, but I know them for what they really are: blasphemers that desire the power of Anubis’s curse above all things.
They can’t have the statue. My life is wasted if I give in to them that way. Anubis whispers to me when I hold his effigy, and he promises salvation once I complete my task. The Dark Hand will kill me if they are given the chance, but it’s better than surrender.
I would have told you the truth, except you would not have believed me. No one, not even Geoff, who has held the effigy himself, believes that I have been chosen by Anubis. Handpicked by the God of Death himself. Geoff doesn’t believe that Anubis whispers to me his instructions and desires. You would think me crazy, too, but I know how special I truly am.
Whoever owns the effigy of Anubis inherits his curse, but if I follow his wishes, it will turn into a blessing beyond compare.
If I am dead, then I have failed the God of Death himself, and there will be no afterlife for me.
Do not mourn a stranger, Rachel. You don’t even know who I really am.
This is the most important thing of all, my love. If I die, I will take the Anubis effigy to my grave.
I love you, for whatever that is worth now.
-Trevor
Tears were hot on my cheeks, my heart in my throat as I set the letter down on the coffee table. The urge to curl up and sob was strong, but there was no time for that anymore. I had already grieved this man, who I was now sure had lost his mind. I would not do so again.
Inside the envelope was another shock. This one bittersweet.
Trevor left me the only shreds of his true identity that remained on this planet. A birth certificate, both the mother and the father portion left empty, and a release form for “One infant male child, christened Mark Trevor Anderson,” to be given to the State of Texas and into foster care. There was a high school diploma, a college degree in the Fine Arts, and what must have been the last piece of documentation from his true self: a picture of young, sweet Trevor in his cap and gown, holding said degree up with a huge grin. A friend or acquaintance must have snapped it for him …I wondered if they ever thought about where he disappeared to.
Well, Trevor,I thought sardonically,now that I know you, my mourning is justified. So there.
I tucked his letter, the picture, and all the other documents back into the manilla envelope. I didn’t know what I would do with it, but it didn’t seem right to keep even the picture, since the boy in that photo wasn’t the one I knew, anyway. He had made that very clear.
