2 Back to Normal

The next morning, Jessica was ready to leave for work. As expected, the sun shone brightly and the snow was starting to disappear. She took a long shower. She took a moment to breathe and leaned into the mirror above the sink. She stared at her reflection for a minute, the faint scar on her forehead, just below her hairline reminded her of the terrible accident she had a year ago. She shook it off. In a matter of seconds, she was ready for work. She walked downstairs and found Adam on a phone call. He had a habit of pacing around while he talked on the phone. Jessica had found him in the most bizarre places doing the oddest of things during a phone call. Sharp rays of sunlight penetrated the windows and landed on the carpet. The room felt welcoming after a long time. The noise outside made no secret of the resumption of everyday life in the town. The TV barked like always. She sneaked into the kitchen and prepared a modest breakfast. A misshapen sunny side up and a strip of bacon that needed some labeling to be recognized as one. Adam wouldn't complain. Cooking was never among her stronger suits but she still did it every once in a while. Adam loved to cook so he was the one with the chef’s hat when they weren't having a takeaway. It took her mere moments to understand what the phone call was about. Adam was booking a flight to Albuquerque. Adam’s friend, Frank, worked in a travel agency and struck good deals with the tickets. He was useful more often than not. The planes were definitely going to be packed after the long pause of activity. Booking a seat in advance was the wise way to go. She arrived with the breakfast and Adam hung up as soon as he saw the remedy for his hunger. They kissed and sat down to unleash their fury on the plates. 

“When’s it due?” Jessica asked, half way through the breakfast. 

“Noon,” Adam responded without looking up from the plate. He anticipated another question coming his way and decided to answer it before it was asked. 

“Two days max,” he added. The TV showed a weather forecast with a lot of suns scattered across the map. It was bound to be a warm day. The breakfast was finished and Jessica checked her watch. She was running late. She sprang up to her feet, grabbed her bag and made a run for it. She reached the door with a feeling of missing something.

“Jess!” Adam softly exclaimed from behind her. Jessica looked back and saw him waving her phone to her. The time at home had caused her to miss some of her basic routines which included patting her pockets before leaving for work. She thanked him and kissed him goodbye. 

The road was wet but not dangerous. It hadn't been that bright in her town in ages. The sun was in full force and the neighborhood saw a magnitude of activity it had almost forgotten. Everything including the birds and children made the most of the sun’s welcome return. Water splashed near the curb as Jessica drove past the puddles formed by the melted snow. Deformed snowmen stared at her Beetle in the final hours of their existence. She loved the feeling of her tires fully gripping the asphalt. The school kids didn't seem too thrilled over their return to the schools but their parents did. She drove past the stores that welcomed the trucks that had been awaiting the opening of the roads. Everything was being restocked and customers stood in queues. Jessica loved every bit of the return to the normal. In a matter of minutes, she had arrived at the bank. The parking lot was already half full. The guard nodded a greeting the moment their eyes met. The rearing stallion statue at the entrance of the bank still had the last of the signs of the blizzard. The ice was still melting off of it. Jessica entered the bank and found a load of customers already in queues. 

“Mornin’!” the guard greeted as she went past the door. By that time she was almost jogging towards her workstation. 

“Morning Carlos,” she responded while hastily undoing her jacket. The staff gave her scowling looks. The customers had been expected to pour in like it was the end of the world and Jessica had chosen that exact day to leave her coworkers in the cold. She arrived at the other side of the glass in a moment and assumed her counter. 

Her friend, Brenda, operating the counter next to her, gave her a look that said, ‘Where the hell were you?’ and Jessica couldn't respond. 

Brenda was at least ten years older than Jessica and had been a resident of the town since birth. The two long queues divided and a third one formed at her counter as soon as she flipped the sign. Most of the customers wanted cash withdrawals and deposits. 

Locals were known to panic after the annual spell of snow shut-ins so it was business as usual. They were acting as if the bank would disappear after sunset. Jessica asked Brenda if the president was there. She shook her head in response. It was expected. 

The founder of the bank, Charles Wheatley, had put his son in charge of the main branch to give him an opportunity to learn and the young brat had totally missed the point. Donald Wheatley was in his early thirties and rarely visited the bank. Nobody minded that as it eased the work atmosphere at the place. 

Jessica knew every customer by name. Everyone remembered her in return. Work didn't feel like work. It was just another one of those monotonous days. Hours passed and every once in a while, she sneaked a peek at the clock that jumped half an hour at every glance. It was the last hour and the traffic inside the bank had lightened to the point of nonexistence. The staff relaxed. Jessica was on her phone watching a movie to pass the time. An unusually hospitable tone from Brenda to a customer startled her. She looked up and found a man standing at Brenda’s booth. The man stared at Jessica with a look of astonishment. The stranger was a rare new face in the town. There were hardly any visitors and it wasn't the perfect place to migrate to. The stranger was presumed to be a passerby like most new faces. Brenda was a professional at what she did and was trying her best to make the man talk to her but the man wouldn't quit gawking at Jessica. It was obvious to Brenda that something was wrong with him. He abruptly walked to Jessica’s booth and stood there silently. Carlos gripped his baton tightly and gave Jessica a look to give him the signal if she wanted him to intervene. The rest of the staff was also watching it all. Jessica tried to keep her calm. The man looked under the influence of something that he regretted taking. There was a realistic amount of danger involved in dealing with him. 

“How can I be of service?” she dutifully asked the man, just like she was trained. The man’s eyes widened the moment he heard her voice. He turned and scampered out of the building. Carlos gladly let the man get past him. Everyone stood motionlessly wondering what to make of it. 

“Meth! Not even once!” The guard broke the silence. A few laughed including Carlos himself. In a moment, everything was back to normal as if nothing had happened. Jessica turned to Brenda who was looking back at her. 

“What the hell was that?” spoke Jessica softly and Brenda shrugged in response. 

“Seemed fine a minute ago. Broke down the minute he laid eyes on you,” Brenda said. Jessica hadn't seen the man enter the bank. None of it made sense. “Oh! To be young and pretty!” Brenda said dramatically. She expected Jessica to blush but Jessica was still in deep thought. 

“Relax! He’s probably on something. You ain't that pretty. Even Carlos is prettier than you,” Brenda spoke like a whip and Jessica smiled. The two were accustomed to that kind of exchanges.  

Brenda looked at the clock and found the arms where she wanted them to be. It was time to go. She hastily packed up and Jessica followed suit. The sky was turning dark. Jessica said her goodbyes to her coworkers and signed out. She drove through the town which was going darker by the minute. Businesses were closing and diners were dishing out their final meals. The local folks knew that even if the weather was hospitable in the day, there was no telling what the night had in store. The naked tree trunks casted long dying shadows on the road. There was minimal traffic and in no time, Jessica was alone on the road. Nothing was out of the ordinary. She had forgotten what had happened at the bank. But she couldn't shake off the eerie feeling of being watched. She convinced herself that it was just the shock. She drove on. Suddenly, she caught a glimpse of a car in her rear view mirror. The car was a black sedan with its headlights turned off. The vehicle was a fair distance behind her. She tried to shake it off as nothing but a part of her suspected stalking. The car was only visible on the longer and straighter roads. Jessica understood that she wasn't the only person living on that side of town but the off headlights tripped an alarm inside her. She decided to test her suspicion and abruptly turned her car for a u-turn. The Beetle screeched across the asphalt and moved in the opposite direction. In a few seconds, the two cars passed each other. Jessica couldn't clearly see the driver’s face. Jessica kept driving in the opposite way with her eyes glued to the rearview mirror, expecting the black car to return. It never did. She blamed her suspicions on the movies she was hooked on and drove home.