This blue lab coat controls my entire life. To get into my job I have to have it on so people can see my badge. When my mom sees me wearing it she assumes I am a dark person with a very morbid mind. Sometimes I have to deal with families calling me a liar and they try to hit me. Sometimes they cry and hug me while they say thank you. This lab coat makes me who I am. People can assume what they want it won’t change who I really am.

Its 3 in the morning and my phone is ringing. Who calls someone at this time?!?! When I answer I realize its Jacob my rude boss. Apparently going into work at this exact moment should be my main priority.

Once I am fully awake I walk into my bathroom and start to brush my teeth and to get dressed. I check my watch; 3:30 A.M.. GRRRRR! The smell of coffee fills my nostrils. I follow the scent into my dark empty kitchen. There is no coffee anywhere in my house. Justin use to make coffee every morning. Memories start replaying themselves in my head. I tell myself to stay strong. I will get through this.

As I drive down the highway on my way to work I notice the rock salt all over the roads. The city is trying to melt the ice. The snow that covers the trees catches my attention. It’s so beautiful. A bright yellow building catches my attention. Sunshine Coffee Shop is painted on the side of it. Hmmmm a nice large hot chocolate sounds amazing right now. I decide to pull into the drive through, but once I get up to the window I realize the server is wearing a skimpy swim suit. Who in the hell would be wearing that right now in this weather. You could get frost bite on your boobs if you are not careful. Ordering my hot chocolate kind of made the girl surprised. I guess getting a regular large hot chocolate is out of the ordinary here. After a long twenty minute wait I am about to give up. I role up my window and as I take the car out of park the girl comes running. She has six inch high heels on also. Once she hits an ice patch and almost fall I can’t help, but laugh. This poor girl.

My phone starts ringing as soon as I get back onto the highway… Oh great it’s my douche bag boss. As soon as I answer I get a mouthful on how I should have been there over an hour. He keeps yelling so I just leave the call going the throw my phone into the backseat.

Finally after a long 10 minute drive I pull into the parking lot of the lab. I put on my blue lab coat and start to walk towards the door. Jacob meets me at the door. When I try to open it he gives me a dirty look and won’t open the door. He just glares. After five minutes of standing in 13 degree weather, he finally lets me in. Yelling is the first thing he does so I let it go in one ear and out the other. He notices I’m not listening and he hits the hot chocolate out of my hand. My pale pink sweater gets covered. There is a huge brown circle on my stomach now. How dare he! He had no right to do that to me! I couldn’t help it that the roads were bad!

My office is my safe house. Once I finally calm down from the whole thing with Jacob, I open up my emails and start reading. Apparently case number 0256 has more clues on what possibly happened. Some reason that case doesn’t ring a bell to me.

The room that has the body from case 0256 is on the second floor right next to Mr. Douche’s office. I sneak past his closed door so I don’t have to deal with him. The room smells like formaldehyde. Once the light finally turns on the light flickers for a couple minutes. The blue body bag catches my attention right away. We place murder victims in blue bags. As soon as I start to unzip the bag I begin to feel regret in my stomach.

A scar about the right eye brow catches my attention. He had that same scar. It can’t be. Please don’t let it be. Tears start to flow from my eyes and I can’t control them. The whole body is finally out of the bag and that’s when it occurs to me why they couldn’t give this victim a name. His face was pretty screwed up. His once blue eyes are stitched closed so you can no longer see his eyes, his mouth that once had soft lips is sewn shut and covered in scabs, and his nose is smashed, no doubt about it. This poor man.

I turn the light off and run. I run like someone is chasing me, but instead it’s just memories that are following. I make it into my office and sit down on my chair. Taking deep breaths is the only thing keeping me calm down. Calming down makes me realize my stuff that was on my desk is broken and on the floor. My computer is the only safe thing. How could Jacob do this? He’s such a terrible boss! I tell myself to stay calm; I must not let his stupidity get to me. Locking my office door makes me feel safe for some reason; even though I know he has a key. I have to do some research on this case.

Putting all my anger in this case is the best thing I can do. A picture from the crime scene is the first thing I look for. I find the one of him lying on the ground with pink spots all over his neck and chest. Zooming in onto the pink spots makes me realize their lipstick stains. Like from being kissed. He said he was going to work though, so that doesn’t make sense.

That’s when it hits me. A great idea. I grab some cotton swabs and run back to the room. As I start to enter I notice someone is about to examine the body. I freeze in my spot. He turns around and smiles at me. It’s just Tim. He offers me a hug, but I just ignore him. I pull the swabs out of the little plastic package that keeps them clean. I’m not sure where to swab so I just stare down at the body and try not to cry. Tim notices my struggle and he takes the swabs from me and begins to swab the penis, the anus, and the mouth. He hands them back to me and tells me its okay.

Every hour I call Sarah and ask if the DNA results have come back yet. At first she understands, but then she gets annoyed and turns her phone off. This wait is killing me. Whoever did this to him must pay for it. Obviously it was a girl who else would leave lip stick stains on him. Maybe he was at work and he went to lunch, then the girl followed him. That makes more sense than him cheating or something.

Sarah finally calls me back after a six hour wait. She tells me that we should go get something to eat. That means bad news.

I agree so we meet in the parking lot and just take my car. We get to our favorite little Chinese restaurant that we always go to. Sweet and sour chicken is my favorite and she always gets egg drop sound and like twelve egg rolls. Once we start eating she stops and looks me dead in the eye. Sarah had bad news and it was obvious. She thinks about her words before she speaks, “Hannah, he was married. His wife’s DNA came back. She has been missing for about a week now.” That hits me in the gut. Hard. He always told me he didn’t want to ever get married, it was too much drama. In reality he just was already married.

We finally get done eating and I drop her off at her car. When I get home I notice a dozen roses on my door step. The card says from him. I can’t figure out who “Him” could be. I don’t have a man in my life. Well not anymore.

I just sit on my couch and watch television. Even though I already ate dinner I start craving pizza so I call out. 30 minutes later I hear my door bell ring and I jump to my feet. I start singing “pizza, pizza, pizza.” Tipping someone is the main thing I’m good at. Two slices into my pizza I hear my door bell again. Who could that be? I check the peep hole and see no one. When I open the door I notice a box of expensive chocolates and a note that says check your email.

I have a new email. it’s from an email that is unknown. It’s in my spam folder at first.

My beautiful Hannah,

I have watched you from a far for some time now,

Your beautiful red hair always catches my attention.

Green Eyes that never lie is what I see when you look at me.

I hope you enjoy the little gifts I keep sending to you.

There is more where that came from.

Just wait.

The email scares me at first. Who could it be?! That’s when it is me; it’s probably my jackass boss pulling a prank. He should really get a life outside of making mine a living hell.

Crawling into my bed at 2 in the morning seems to be a habit lately. After I finally start to fall asleep I hear my door bell ring once again. When I check my phone for the time I realize its only 3:30 a.m. Who in their right mind comes to someone’s house at this time?! Walking down my spiral stair case makes my heart race. Each step I take the floor creaks a little. My mind starts to wonder who could be at the door. What if it’s my sister coming for help or worse what if it’s my boss here to drag me to work.

I approach my front door when I hear the doorbell again. Checking outside the window is always the first thing I do. That’s when I notice a tall skinny man with blonde hair. He seems unfamiliar. At first I don’t answer the door I just watch him from my window. Minutes pass before he turns to face the door. That’s when I see him look at me.

We make eye contact. His eyes make my heart stop. They are hazel, but now I know he is just a stranger. He is holding his hand close to his body, and it seems to be wrapped in some sort of white cloth. A cry of pain leaves his mouth. He begs me to open the door. At first I just back away from the door, but guilt starts to fill me. What if he is really just hurt and needs help? What if he is faking the whole thing and he wants to kill me? My head runs with different thoughts. Ten minutes of thinking leads me to opening the door.

He doesn’t say much at first, but I can tell he is really hurt. I lead him to my kitchen and have him sit at my table while I grab the first aid kit I keep under the sink. When I turn to go check his womb, he is gone. This makes me freeze in my tracks. He is standing in the middle of my living room just staring at my pictures of my sister and me. He tries to apologize for wandering away. His only excuse is his mind got the best of him. Making him sit on the couch is actually easy. He does as he’s told. The cut on his hand is so deep I see his trapezium. Stitches are needed obviously, but I’m not sure how to tell him. I clean his cut and wrap it in gauze. Once he is finally talking to me in full length sentences, I start to tell him that he needs stiches. At first he starts to freak out, but about five minutes later he calms down and just looks at the floor.

The emergency room is full of people, some are sick, some are hurt, and some are just what seems fine physically. After a long hour wait of dead silence they finally come and get him. They do x-rays and realize that he will need to have stiches and a small surgery to fix a couple small broken bones. They schedule a surgery and stitch his hand up and we leave. I still don’t exactly know who he is. Our stomachs growl and we just look at each other. Food.

I pull into the Steak and Shake parking lot. A smile appears on his face. He starts to tell me how he loves this place a lot. We take a booth seat and wait to be served. Before we even get our drinks ordered he orders a large fry, chicken strips, and a chocolate milkshake. This makes me laugh how he already knows what he wants right off the bat. I order a cookie dough milkshake and try to start conversation.

“So what is your name stranger?” His eyes freeze on mine as I ask the question. “Call me the man you have been searching for.” Laughter fills our booth. Something about him is different, but I can’t tell what yet. “Actually my name is Stuart, but you can call me Stewie.” A smile takes over his whole face as he tells me his name. “I’m Hannah…. Just Hannah I don’t have any cool nicknames like yourself.” He laughs again at my comment.

Food arrives after what seems like forever even though it was only like twenty minutes. My chicken strips are fresh out of the oil so I burn my tongue slightly when I take the first bite. Stewie has all his chicken strips gone before I even finish my first one. He must have been starving. Who knows when the last time he ate was. Our eyes meet. I feel like he might have noticed I was staring at him. He clears his throat, “why don’t you take a picture it will last longer.” He winks after his snarky comment. I turn a shade of red that matches my favorite red leather purse. Blood red.

We get back into my car and head straight to my house. We are sitting in the car for a few minutes and its dead silent. Finally I break the silence, “sooo do you have a place you would like to go? Maybe home to your wife or your girlfriend?” He is starring down at his feet as he answers me, “I don’t have any of those things. I live in this lonely world by myself. My girlfriend was murdered 6 weeks ago May 4th 2015.” Dread starts to fill me all because I asked that question. I know what he is going through. Should I tell him about Justin or just say sorry? This question echoes in my head for a few minutes before I respond. “I’m so sorry for your loss….. I know how it feels to lose someone close. I lost my boyfriend three months ago.” He looks up at me and freezes. “May I stay here for the night?” I just nod my head. I’m speechless.

We go into my house and I am about to show him to the guest bedroom when he just freezes. He’s starring at something, but I can’t figure out what. That’s when he points to the picture of Justin and I hanging in my hallway. “That was the man my girlfriend had sexual relationships with at one point.”

My heart drops. Tears just start to fill my eyes I can’t say anything at first. He turns to me and wipes away my tears with his thumb. “You had no idea about that did you?” I just nod my head in response.

Instead of taking him to the quest bedroom, I just have him follow me to my master bedroom. I forgot to clean up a little so there are some clothes on the floor and a couple books. I try to apologize for the mess, but I’m still speechless from learning about Justin’s sex life with another woman. All of the sudden I feel uneasy and I almost faint. Stewie notices my unbalance moment and he catches me. His voice sounds like honey as he speaks, “here lay down. You need to rest.” I go to lay down on my California king sized bed, that’s when I see him leaving the room. “Stop, please come lay with me.” He gives me a strange look. I guess he has a right to since were strangers to each other. He still slowly climbs onto my bed and lays his head on my pillow. I slowly close my eyes and ease my head onto his chest.

I wake up to the sun shinning right into my eyes. Shit I forgot to set my alarm, I’m late to work! I roll over and check my phone. No missed calls. This strikes fear into my body. Normally I would have had over twenty missed calls from Jacob. When I fully wake up I realize Stewie is missing. I jump right out of bed and run to the living room. The smell of pancakes meets me in the hallway. I haven’t had pancakes in years. I let my nose lead me to my kitchen.

There he is. Stuart the stranger standing in my kitchen shirtless, cooking pancakes, and bacon. He doesn’t turn around to even notice my presents he just tells me good morning. Sitting up at the bar is all I can do it seems. His back has a scar about two inches long. I want to ask about it, but I know that would be rude.

My phone starts to ring. Takes my brain a couple minutes to realize that its my cellphone. I reach down and pick up my phone. Its Jacobs number. When I go to answer I hear a woman’s voice. She’s sobbing as she tries to speak, “Hannah its Jamie, Jacobs fiancé. Have you seen him recently he’s been missing for two days now. “

My voice is very shaky, “I just saw him yesterday at the lab.” She starts crying harder this time. “He was suppose to just go to the store and pick up some bread, but he never returned home.” I could feel her heart breaking. He is the love of her life and now poof he is just gone. That has to hurt.