Pretending Perfection

Melanie Two days passed, and then Melanie awoke in the night due to a nightmare about being chased. She should’ve figured as much—the kind of horror she went through would trigger such a thing. The only light in the room came from the soft glow of the light just outside the room’s large window. Sounds of freeway traffic could be heard down below. She glanced over at the bed next to her and could just about make out Teresa’s sleeping form against the light glowing through the sides of the drapes in the window. A glance at the clock on the nightstand between the two beds showed it was well after midnight. She thought about the previous day’s events. It was hard for her to wrap her mind around all that had happened and just how close to death she truly had come, if only for a few seconds. She glanced at Teresa again. She would never have thought that she would be in a hotel room with her dentist of all people. It was a good thing that she always considered her to be such a pleasant person. At the advice of the police, she changed passwords to accounts she had online that the assailant might have accessed from her smartphone. It was believed that the punk could easily have collected sensitive info from some of her accounts and might even be able to figure out where she lived. Therefore, it was suggested that she move. “I’m not exactly made of money,” Melanie complained. “Also, if I move, that’s letting the bastard control me. Others can do what they want, but I don’t want to let this guy win.” “Even if we caught him right now,” the redheaded detective said, “and even if he was convicted, he’s not likely to be sent to prison for the rest of his life. When he gets out, there’s no saying how angry he might be and how much vengeance will be on his mind. So I hate to break it to you, ma’am, but if he gets out in a few years or less, breaks into your place, and kills you, that’s not exactly winning, is it?” Melanie said nothing. The detective did have a point, after all. The dentist put a reassuring and calming hand on her arm and said, “Hey, how about this? Why don’t you come stay with me for a while? As you know, I have plenty of room in my place.” Melanie thought a moment and then said, “Well, that’s really sweet of you, but I really hate to put you out.” “Oh, not at all,” said Teresa. “You wouldn’t be putting me out in the least. If anything, you would be doing me a favor because that way I wouldn’t have to worry about my star patient.” She and a female detective exchanged smiles. Melanie finally agreed, although the police felt they were closing in on Ennis and wanted them to remain in the hotel a little longer. Melanie’s last two days had been filled with a small percentage of running errands with escorts and a huge percentage of boredom. She and the doc didn’t get to talk much because of the doc’s long hours. Melanie made a point of trying to respect her space and privacy when she returned to the hotel room at the end of the day. After a long day of diving into people’s mouths, she deserved that much. Besides, the dentist didn’t seem all that interested in chatting much anyway. The days went on, and their routine became familiar. Melanie liked spending time with the doc and having the day alone to look forward to doing her thing online and then seeing the doc later on. They had room service for dinner, chatted, made some phone calls, and sent some emails, and then Teresa hit the shower and would read for an hour or so before she fell asleep. Melanie showered in the mornings. Melanie enjoyed Teresa’s stories about her travels and other things. Whenever the dentist would ask her about her own life, she felt like she had very boring stories in comparison. Even so, Teresa didn’t seem to look down on her simply because she had been less fortunate in life. Instead, Teresa seemed to portray perfection in every sense of the word, both professionally and personally. Although she wouldn’t say so, Melanie actually found herself looking forward to moving in with the dentist so she could trade her loud and dumpy apartment for more comfortable surroundings. She assumed she would still hear children outside playing and barking dogs, but anything would be better than the apartment. Almost anything, anyway. Ten days after the incident, there was still no sign of Ennis. Or her phone. It was finally decided that they should leave the hotel. They couldn’t stay there forever, after all. “What’s Gisselle going to do?” Melanie asked Teresa. “She’s going to be staying with a close friend for a while.” “That’s good,” said Melanie. Upon arriving at the dentist’s house, Melanie was every bit as impressed as she expected to be. “Wow,” she said. “This is totally amazing.” The dentist smiled and provided her with a tour of the spacious three-bedroom house. “So as you can see,” she concluded, “I have more than enough room for a house guest.” Just as they had settled into a routine in the hotel, they settled into a routine at Teresa’s home as well. It was a very comfortable one that they both enjoyed. Sometimes Melanie felt bad and as if she was taking advantage of the dentist, but the dentist assured her she should not feel guilty about taking this opportunity to focus on her writing in exchange for cooking and cleaning because Teresa was tired of doing these things herself. “It takes up way too much of what little free time I have, and I certainly wouldn’t trust just anybody to come and clean the house.” And so Teresa took care of teeth while Melanie took care of dust and dishes, always making sure things were clean and shiny and that Teresa had a decent meal to come home to at the end of her long days at the clinic. The daytime was much more peaceful than Melanie could ever hope for or expect, even in a posh neighborhood. She was truly in heaven. The place made her feel rich and privileged, even though she had few possessions in addition to the small life insurance checks she received monthly. She offered to pay Teresa some rent, but the dentist refused, saying that she paid her enough for her room and board just by relieving her of the household duties, and encouraged her to use the money on other things she may want, like clothes and any extras like that. “If you want something and don’t quite have enough money for it, let me know,” Teresa told her. “I’ll be happy to help out and supplement the shortage.” Melanie appreciated the hell out of the offer, but she wouldn’t accept it, of course. Cory Ennis was eventually apprehended, and there would be no need for a trial because he pled guilty and agreed to a three-year sentence so that he wouldn’t risk getting additional time by going to trial and losing. Melanie fully expected to be asked to start looking for a place of her own at this time, but Teresa assured her that she would love for her to stick around. “Wow, are you sure?” she asked. “Absolutely,” the dentist said without hesitation. “I enjoy your company, and you are welcome to stay as long as you’d like.” In the first month that she lived with the dentist, she didn’t see all that much more of her on the weekends than she did during the week because she would be out visiting friends and doing things that didn’t include her. Melanie didn’t mind or feel left out. She had her own friends both on and offline. As the weeks progressed, however, Teresa seemed to want to do more and more things with just her. Melanie liked it at first. It was an honor to be in Teresa’s presence. She appreciated how interesting Teresa seemed to think she was, someone who lived such an ordinary existence. She didn’t understand what it was the dentist saw in her. She could tell the lamest story—like going to the grocery store—and Teresa would find it fascinating. It was an honor to be held in such high regard by someone as refined and as lovely as the good dentist. Teresa asked her about some of her favorite websites, and Melanie would discuss that along with other things related to computers. Teresa seemed to understand what she was talking about, even though she always claimed she wasn’t computer savvy despite having a nice laptop, which she seemed to spend a lot of her free time on, along with a top-of-the-line smartphone. But things eventually began to change. Strange things started happening—things that Melanie had no clue about as to who could be behind them. Ennis was locked up, so if he was behind any of it, then he had somebody doing his dirty work for him on the outside.