Dan woke up early that morning to scope out Nadia’s home. He knew he could get caught by the police, but he was willing to take that risk. Pulling into a parking lot down the road, he walked back and hid behind a few wild bushes, binoculars in hand. After watching for nearly two hours, he finally saw Nadia walked out of the house. Dan knew it would take a few minutes before she left, so he ran back to his car and waited for her to leave. He followed her all the way to Oakbrook Mall. She spent the entire day there shopping for clothes and things for the baby. He stayed in the shadows, close enough to see what she was doing, but far enough away not to be noticed.
Around 4:30, the sky began to cloud over and thunder could be heard rumbling in the distance. Nadia was walking to her car when Dan finally got enough courage to go up to her and talk to her. “Nadia!” he called out.
Nadia turned around, her heart racing. She was shocked to see that Dan had actually found her again. “What are you doing here?” she asked in her high-pitched tone.
“I had to see you,” Dan said.
“How did you find me?” Nadia kept asking.
“I’ve been following you,” he replied.
“What the fuck is wrong with you? Do you have no concept of law?” she yelled. “First you show up at my house unannounced and now you’re following me? You are one sick perv! This is why I don’t want you in my life. You have no concept of privacy.”
“Can’t you just shut up and listen?” Dan hollered back. He grabbed her arm to hold her in place.
Nadia instantly became frightened and slammed her fist into the side of his face. Dan let go and back off as she ran to her car and quickly pulled out of the parking lot. He watched her leave yet again, but his desire to tell her what he felt was left undeterred by her actions. There was something in her eyes that told him she wasn’t being truthful either.
~~~~~~~~~~
Midnight rolled around slowly as Dan through of ways to get Nadia back. A patch of ice covered his eyes as he paced throughout the room, thinking. He knew that if he didn’t take drastic measures soon, she’d be gone again except this time he’d never be able to find her. Incapable of coming up with anything at the hotel, he decided to go back to her house and scope out a way to her bedroom. As he walked outside to his car, Dan noticed the heavy raindrops that fell from the sky. He drove back to the house, except this time he parked across the street and waited to see if he could spot any activity inside.
A light suddenly went on in one of the windows on the top floor. Dan could see Nadia’s silhouette move around the room and finally come to rest near the windowsill. He gout out of the car just as the drops of water began to stream down from the sky. After crossing the empty street, he began looking for ways to get to the second floor without having to ring the doorbell. A thick branch of a tall oak tree extended to the window.
‘Bingo!’ Dan though as he began climbing the tree. Reaching the right branch, he slowly made his way onto its slick surface and to the window. He knocked on the glass, and when it opened, he immediately began to sing, “Gimme a reason why I’m feeling so blue. Every time I close my eyes, all I see is you. Gimme a reason why I can’t feel my heart. Every time you leave my side, I just fall apart. And when you’re fast asleep, I wonder where you go. Can you tell me? I wanna know. Because I miss you and this is all I wanna say. I guess I miss you, beautiful. These three words have said it all. You know I miss you. I think about you when you’re gone. I guess I miss you, nothing’s wrong. I don’t need to carry on.
“Gimme a reason why I can’t concentrate. The world is turning upside down, spinning round and round. Gimme a reason why I now understand the beauty and simplicity of everything surrounding me. You got a way of spreading magic everywhere. Anywhere I go, I know you’re always there. It sounds ridiculous, but when you leave a room, there’s a part of me that just wants to follow you too. Because I miss you and this is all I wanna say. I guess I miss you, beautiful. These three words have said it all. You know I miss you. I think about you when you’re gone. I guess I miss you, nothing’s wrong. I don’t need to carry on.
“It’s such a hard life in most of the time. I’m just surviving. That’s why I want you to know in the world where sincerity has lost it’s meaning, you fill my world with so much hope. And I miss you. This is all I wanna say. I guess I miss you, beautiful. These three words have said it all. You know I miss you. I think about you when you’re gone. I guess I miss you, nothing’s wrong. I don’t need to carry on.
“You know I miss you. And this all I wanna say. I guess I miss you, beautiful. These three words have said it all. You know I miss you and this is all I wanna do. I know it doesn’t sound too cool, but maybe I’m in love with you. You know I miss you and this all I wanna say. I guess I miss you, nothing’s wrong. I don’t need to carry on. I just miss you. Yeah, it’s true. I miss you, baby. And when you’re walking out that door, I know I miss you. You make me wanna ask for more. I just miss you. Yeah, it’s true. I miss you, baby.”
Nadia remained breathless as she listened to his voice. Her eyes filled with tears when she realized what he was saying. “Did you just say that you loved me?” she asked when he finished.
“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all along, but you kept shutting me out,” Dan replied as he scooted closer to the window.
“I’m so sorry,” she burst into tears. “I’m sorry for everything. I missed you so much.”
“I know. I missed you too,” he said.
“Come in before you catch a cold.”
As Dan slowly slid down the branch towards the tree, he could hear something crack behind him. “Oh, shit!” he yelled.
“Dan, don’t move,” Nadia ordered. “I’ll get help.” Just as she was about to leave, the branch snapped in half. “Daniel!” she screamed as she watched him fall to the ground 20 feet below. He landed with a loud thud, but not another sound came from him afterwards.
Nadia ran out of her room and galloped to her parents’ master bedroom. “Dad!” she yelled to wake him up.
“Nadia! What’s wrong with you?” he asked, startled. “Are you having the baby?”
“No, there’s been an accident,” she replied, calming down only slightly.
“Then call the police and let me go back to sleep.”
“No, Dad. There’s been an accident on the property.”
He quickly got out of bed and followed Nadia out into the rain-slicked night to where Dan lay in a lifeless mass on the ground. “Who is he?” Nadia’s father asked.
“That’s Dan. He’s the father of my baby,” Nadia almost began to cry.
“Nadia!” came a holler from behind them. “Martin!” Nadia saw her mother run out towards them. “What’s going on?” she asked as she came across Dan. “Oh, God!”
“Take your mother inside,” Martin told Nadia as he examined Dan’s listless body. With no apparent neck injury, he gently scooped him into his arms and carried him into the house.
“Is he going to be okay?” Nadia asked when she saw her father laying him on a couch in the living room.
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Get me a towel.” Martin gently set his hand behind Dan’s head to check for any bleeding. He pulled it away once Nadia came back with the towel and found it stained in red.
“No. No. No. No. No,” she cried as she kneeled down beside him. “Danny, no.”
“Nadia, you have to tell me what happened and why he ended up on our lawn,” Martin said.
“He came by yesterday, then I told him to leave. He found me again today, and I shut him out again. Then he came to my window and sang me this absolutely beautiful song and told me that he loved me. Then the branch broke,” Nadia replied so quickly that she could barley understand herself. “Daddy, help him, please. Don’t let him die.”
“I won’t,” Martin promised as he held his shaking daughter.